id
stringlengths 9
9
| categories
list | date
stringlengths 10
10
| title
stringlengths 5
171
| abstract
stringlengths 132
7.13k
| keyword
stringlengths 9
170
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
jp0003648
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/14
|
Creation of civilian government demanded by protest organizers during talks with Sudan's new military rulers
|
KHARTOUM - Sudanese protest organizers presented demands — including the creation of a civilian government — in talks with the country’s new military rulers late Saturday, the group spearheading demonstrations said. Thousands remained encamped outside army headquarters in the capital overnight to keep up the pressure on a military council that took power after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday. A 10-member delegation representing the protesters held talks with the military council and delivered their demands Saturday, according to a statement by the umbrella group leading the protests, the Alliance for Freedom and Change. One of the alliance’s leaders, Omar al-Degier, said in the statement that the demands include restructuring the country’s feared National Intelligence and Security Service, whose chief, Salih Ghosh, has resigned following the ouster of al-Bashir. “We will continue . . . our sit-in until all our demands are met,” including the formation of a fully civilian government, al-Degier said. The alliance insists that civilian representatives should be accepted onto the military council, and that a fully civilian government should be formed to run daily administration. “We surely want our demands to be met, but both sides will have to be flexible to reach a deal,” said a protester who spent the night at the army complex. On Saturday, the chief of the military council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, vowed to dismantle al-Bashir’s regime, and he lifted a night time curfew with immediate effect. Al-Burhan also pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters will face justice and that protesters detained under a recent state of emergency will be freed. Al-Burhan took the oath of office Friday after his predecessor, Gen. Awad Ibn Ouf, stepped down just a day after the ouster of al-Bashir. Tens of thousands of people have massed outside army headquarters since April 6, initially to urge the armed forces to back their demand that al-Bashir be removed. On Thursday the army toppled the veteran leader, who swept to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989. But the protesters have vowed to remain in place until the military council demonstrably accepts its demands. Dozens of people have been killed in protest related violence since demonstrations erupted against al-Bashir’s rule in December.
|
politics;sudan;omar al-bashir;khartoum
|
jp0003649
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/14
|
Drive-by shooting outside Melbourne nightclub leaves one dead and three injured
|
SYDNEY - A drive-by shooting outside a nightclub in the Australian city of Melbourne inflicted “horrific injuries” that killed a security guard and wounded three men, police said Sunday, but there was no suggestion yet that the attack was terrorism-related. Australia has some of the world’s toughest gun control laws, adopted after its worst mass murder, when a gunman killed 35 people at Port Arthur in the island state of Tasmania in 1996. Sunday’s shooting took place around 3.20 a.m. in the lively entertainment district of Melbourne’s southeastern suburb of Prahran, police said. Three security guards and a man waiting to enter were taken to hospital with gunshot injuries, police said in a televised news conference in Melbourne. “It would appear that shots have been discharged from a car in this area into a crowd standing outside the nightclub,” homicide inspector Andrew Stamper said. The victims suffered “horrific injuries” from a weapon fired in close proximity, he added. One guard died in hospital, another man was in critical condition and two escaped life-threatening injuries. One guard was shot in the face, the Age newspaper said. However, there is no suggestion yet that the attack is terror-related, a police spokeswoman said by telephone. Bloodstained clothing and bullet casings littered the street outside the entrance to the second-story Love Machine nightclub early Sunday. Police urged witnesses who saw any vehicle moving at speed around 3 a.m. to come forward, and mentioned a black Porsche SUV that was later found burned-out in the north Melbourne suburb of Wollert. No arrests have yet been made, and investigation continues. A murder-suicide last year in Western Australia that killed seven members of a family was the country’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur case. Neighboring New Zealand has adopted legislation to ban semi-automatic firearms and assault rifles after its worst peacetime shooting in March, which killed 50 worshippers in two mosques in the city of Christchurch.
|
australia;shooting;crime;melbourne
|
jp0003650
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/14
|
One victim of March attack in Ethiopia is identified as Japanese national
|
LONDON - One of the five fatal victims in an attack by an armed group in Ethiopia in March has been identified as a Japanese woman in her 40s, the Japanese Embassy in the African country said Saturday. The embassy has not disclosed the woman’s name upon request of her family. DNA testing was conducted for the identification. Of the other victims, three were from Ethiopia and one from India. They were all mining-related officials. The five were attacked while traveling by car in a region about 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
|
terrorism;ethiopia
|
jp0003651
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/04/14
|
Hyogo police arrest man after he opened door of shinkansen train and stepped out onto tracks
|
OSAKA - A man in his 50s was arrested Sunday after he opened a door of a shinkansen train and stepped onto the tracks after the train made a sudden stop. Hyogo Prefectural Police officials said the man, who was on a Sanyo Shinkansen Line train running between Shin-Osaka and Shin-Kobe stations, opened one of the train doors at around 11:10 a.m. using an emergency handle. The man, who went outside the train after it abruptly stopped, was caught by West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) staff before being arrested, police said. Train services on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line were suspended between the two stations for about 45 minutes due to the incident. According to JR West, someone aboard the train opened a door in the ninth carriage soon after it left Shin-Osaka Station. The driver noticed the warning sign was on and immediately stopped the train. It was not certain whether the man was injured after he went outside or whether he was carrying any dangerous objects.
|
shinkansen;west japan railway co .;shin-osaka station
|
jp0003652
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/14
|
During visit to crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, Abe gets updated about ongoing reconstruction work
|
FUKUSHIMA - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toured the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant complex and nearby areas on Sunday to check on progress in reconstruction following the 2011 crisis. His visit came after Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada stepped down last week when remarks he made were deemed offensive to people affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which also triggered one of world’s worst nuclear disasters. “The government will do its utmost to rebuild (this area), engraving in our heart once again that each minister is in charge of reconstruction,” Abe said following his visit to the disaster-hit nuclear complex, his first since September 2013. Abe said he confirmed “steady progress” in the decommissioning work at the plant that suffered core meltdowns in three of its reactors but noted that “many challenges” remain. “The state will continue to stand at the forefront of the decommissioning work and the containment of radioactive water (that is accumulating at the plant),” he said. Earlier in the day, Abe attended a ceremony to open a new town hall in Okuma, one of the two municipalities hosting the nuclear plant, and visited a soccer facility from which the Japan leg of the Tokyo Olympic torch relay will start in March 2020. Abe said he wants to visit again to see the first torchbearer start the relay. The J-Village facility, which was used as an operational base for dealing with the nuclear crisis, will fully reopen on Saturday. The government lifted its mandatory evacuation order just last Wednesday over parts of Okuma. The new town hall, however, is in a different area from where the original town hall was located in what was once Okuma’s center, as that part remains a no-go zone. At the opening ceremony, Okuma Mayor Toshitsuna Watanabe said, “The new government building is at the forefront of the town’s revival, and it’s a symbol of the pledge to realize our reconstruction.” The new town hall will start providing services on May 7. But in the parts of Okuma where the evacuation order has been lifted — which cover 40 percent of the town’s total land area — only 367 people, or around 3.5 percent of the original population of 10,341, had registered as residents as of late March. With people in parts of the Tohoku region still struggling to return to the lives they led before the disasters hit, Abe effectively sacked Sakurada over his gaffes and apologized to the public for appointing him. At a fundraising party for a fellow ruling party lawmaker last Wednesday, Sakurada joked that the lawmaker’s political career was “more important” than the reconstruction of the affected region.
|
shinzo abe;fukushima;fukushima no . 1;radiation;tepco;nuclear energy;okuma;disasters;3.11
|
jp0003653
|
[
"reference"
] |
2019/04/14
|
The week ahead April 15 to April 21
|
Monday Japan and the United States to start the first round of new bilateral trade talks in Washington. They are scheduled to run through Tuesday. Officials will discuss the scope of negotiations, with Washington hoping for a pact that will cover a range of areas such as goods, services and investment, and Japan aiming to limit the talks to goods only. Foreign Minister Taro Kono to meet his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing. Kono is visiting China for a high-level economic dialogue, which is expected to lay the groundwork for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Japan in June to attend the Group of 20 summit. Fukuoka High Court to hand down ruling on lawsuit filed by two chronic hepatitis B sufferers seeking compensation. Tuesday Third anniversary of one of the two powerful quakes that successively hit Kumamoto Prefecture. The jolts registered the highest level of 7 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale in the town of Mashiki, killing 50 people. Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court to hand down ruling on lawsuit filed by Okinawa residents seeking compensation over U.S. military aircraft noise near the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Wednesday Finance Ministry to release preliminary customs-cleared trade statistics for March, the last month of fiscal 2018. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to visit Mie Prefecture through Friday. It will likely be the Imperial Couple’s last trip outside Tokyo before the Emperor abdicates on April 30. Thursday Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to pay respects at Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture. Cabinet Office to release monthly economic report for April. Friday Japan to send two Ground Self-Defense Force officers to the headquarters of an international organization monitoring the cease-fire between Egypt and Israel in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Their dispatch is based on controversial security legislation that expanded the role of the Self-Defense Forces overseas. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to release nationwide consumer price index for March, the final month of fiscal 2018. Saturday Fukushima soccer facility J-Village, used as an operational base for dealing with the 2011 nuclear disaster, to fully reopen. Sunday Lower House by-elections in Osaka No. 12 and Okinawa No. 3 constituencies to be held. The elections are seen as a prelude to the Upper House election later this summer. Elections to be held to choose mayors in 11 of Tokyo’s wards and in dozens of cities across the nation. The annual spring festival at Tokyo’s war-linked Yasukuni Shrine to begin. It will run for three days. World Table Tennis Championships to be held in Budapest through April 28. Japanese players including Tomokazu Harimoto, Kasumi Ishikawa and Mima Ito are expected to take part.
|
weekly events;the week ahead;schedule
|
jp0003654
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Police in Georgia clash with gorge-dwelling protesters hoping to block hydro plant
|
TBILISI - Georgian police used tear gas and rubber bullets on Sunday to break up a protest by residents of a mountainous region against the construction of a hydropower plant, the independent Rustavi-2 TV station reported. Around 300 residents of the Pankisi gorge gathered near the village of Birkiani to protest the planned plant, saying it could damage the environment and force them to leave their homes. Some threw stones at the police, Rustavi-2 reported. The TV station showed several residents with minor injuries from rubber bullets and said some police officers were also hurt. Interior ministry officials and a spokeswoman were not immediately available to comment.
|
protests;renewables;georgia;hydropower
|
jp0003655
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Gulf powers promise Sudan $3 billion in latest bailout for ally
|
KHARTOUM - Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have just written another check to bail out their latest troubled ally. The Gulf nations on Sunday pledged $3 billion to Sudan after longtime President Omar al-Bashir was toppled this month. In a statement, they said they’ll deposit $500 million in Sudan’s central bank to ease pressure on the currency. The remainder will go toward food, medicine and fuel. It’s the latest in a string of pledges as the two nations seek to maintain their political influence and prop up allies in the Middle East and beyond, even as lower oil prices weigh on their own economies. Over the past two years, they’ve promised aid to countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen and Pakistan. Reasons for the support vary. The two nations, along with Kuwait, signed off on a bailout package for Bahrain to avert a currency devaluation that could have harmed the riyal. Jordan was teetering on the brink of an economic crisis that threatened the stability of a fellow Sunni Arab monarchy. Sudan is one of the leading contributors of troops to the Saudi-led war in Yemen, where the kingdom and the U.A.E. are fighting rebels allied with Iran. Al-Bashir’s government renounced ties with Iran when it joined the coalition in 2015. The move may give some breathing space for Sudan, whose military overthrew al-Bashir on April 11 and is under pressure from protesters, the African Union and U.S. to give way to a civilian government. Africa’s third-largest country, it’s been rocked by four months of fatal unrest sparked by soaring living costs. Demonstrations continued in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities over the weekend. The funds were pledged “out of a sense of duty toward the Sudanese people,” Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. said in the statement. Al-Bashir, who himself took charge in a 1989 coup, became the second leader on the continent to be forced from office this month in the face of nationwide demonstrations, following Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The events have stirred echoes of the Arab Spring uprisings that rocked the region from 2011. The military council’s head, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said Sunday in televised comments that it’s ready to hand over power as soon as Sudan’s political factions agree on a way forward. In what appeared a bid to deflect activists’ criticisms that al-Bashir’s ousting was a palace coup replacing one form of autocratic rule with another, al-Burhan described the council as a “bridge” to building a new Sudan. He said a Sudanese delegation will visit Washington to discuss the U.S. removing the country from its list of state sponsors of terror, where it was placed in 1993. The Declaration of Freedom and Change, an opposition coalition organizing the protests, earlier said there’d been no progress in Saturday’s talks with the council on establishing a timetable for civilian rule. Authorities have met other demands, including lifting a curfew, replacing some of the council’s leaders and arresting key figures of al-Bashir’s 30-year regime. The 75-year-old, who’s wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and genocide, was last week moved to a notorious prison in Khartoum. Prominent members of his National Congress Party have since been jailed too. Al-Burhan on Sunday said more than €7 million ($7.9 million) had been found in al-Bashir’s home. Local media reported the previous day that the ex-president was being investigated for alleged money laundering.
|
saudi arabia;sudan;uae;omar al-bashir
|
jp0003656
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
U.S. to eliminate Iran oil waivers for countries including Japan after May 2 expiration
|
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration won’t renew the waivers that let countries buy Iranian crude oil without facing U.S. sanctions, according to four people familiar with the matter, a move that could roil energy markets and risks upsetting major importers such as India and China. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will announce the decision on Monday morning, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a plan that hasn’t been formally unveiled. The current set of waivers — issued to China, India, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Taiwan — expire on May 2. The administration also will announce commitments from other suppliers, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that will offset the loss of Iranian crude on the market, according to two of the people. It was not immediately clear how the move would affect Japan, but Japanese refineries put a halt on imports of Iranian oil late last month after buying 15.3 million barrels between January and March ahead of the expiry of the temporary waiver, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon. Japanese refiners had wanted to ensure enough time for all cargoes already loaded to arrive in Japan and for payments to be completed. The decision not to renew the waivers is a victory for national security adviser John Bolton and his allies who had argued that U.S. promises to get tough on Iran were meaningless with waivers still in place. Pompeo and his team had been more cautious, though they also had argued that the market was well-enough supplied to ramp up the pressure on Iran. “The maximum pressure campaign could not be maximalist until the administration cut off Iran’s oil exports,” said Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive officer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a supporter of additional sanctions on Iran. “With this decision, Iran’s economy will be under severe pressure as its hard currency earnings dry up and its foreign exchange reserves plummet.” The State Department declined to comment on Sunday night. One of the people said that President Donald Trump had briefed Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed on the decision in phone calls in the last few days. The U.S. decision was reported earlier by The Washington Post. Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers almost a year ago and revived a range of sanctions against Iran and any countries doing business with the Islamic Republic. But he and his top advisers have been wary of roiling energy markets — and spurring a hike in prices at the pump in the U.S. For that reason, they allowed waivers for Iran’s biggest buyers of crude, including China, India and Turkey. One of the people said that some of the countries that had previously received waivers would be given a little more time to wind down purchases. The person described that not as a waiver but more as a brief grace period. Bolton and officials in the Energy Department argue that it’s time for the administration to make good on its desire to push Iran’s oil exports to zero. Pompeo’s team, led by Iran special representative Brian Hook, cautioned that a sudden removal of Iranian crude from the market — about 1.1 million barrels a day — could fuel volatility and lead to a price spike. “We certainly aren’t looking to grant any exceptions or waivers,” Hook said in an interview this month with Kevin Cirilli on Bloomberg Radio’s “Sound On.” Oil markets are better supplied this year than last, and that “puts us in a better position to accelerate the path to zero,” he said. The risk now is the decision could spike crude prices just as Trump begins to gear up to campaign for a second term. His administration had been wary of doing anything that could push crude prices above $70 a barrel, but as of Friday, the price of Brent was at $72. The administration had also faced growing pressure from Iran hawks in the Senate, including Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, to cut waivers to zero. Some senators had threatened to hold up administration nominees if the waivers stayed in place and argued that continuing to grant exemptions would be a direct contradiction of the Trump administration’s decision to leave the Iran deal.
|
u.s .;oil;iran;donald trump
|
jp0003657
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Home appliance shipments in Japan hit 22-year high in 2018 due to heat wave
|
Domestic shipments of large household electric appliances hit their highest level in 22 years in fiscal 2018, with the heat wave last summer contributing to an uptick in sales of air conditioners, according to an industry body. The shipments in the year that ended March 31 reached ¥2.47 trillion, up 4.3 percent from the previous year, marking a year-on-year increase for the fourth year in a row, the Japan Electrical Manufacturers Association said Monday. By product, shipments of air conditioners increased 8.4 percent to 9.82 million units due to extreme summer heat, the most since 1972, when officials started collating comparable data. Shipment values jumped 9.5 percent to ¥804.44 billion. The association said there has been consistent demand for other large household appliances, with refrigerator shipment values rising 4.3 percent and those of washing machines increasing 5.0 percent. But the association, according to a projection released last month, expects overall shipments of white goods to fall in 2019 for the first time in five years, dropping to ¥2.41 trillion because shipments of air conditioners will likely drop back to normal.
|
heat waves;white goods;air conditioner
|
jp0003658
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Facebook signals softer stance on political ad rules for EU elections
|
NEW YORK - Facebook Inc.’s head of global affairs said the social-media company is willing to explore ways to exempt some European parties and EU elections from its rules about online political advertising, the Financial Times reported. Executive Nick Clegg made the offer in a letter to the president of the European Parliament, the FT reported, citing a document it reviewed. The comments are a response to a backlash created by Facebook’s new transparency rules that would require people or groups posting political ads to register in each EU state where the ads appear, the FT said. Clegg identified 19 EU institutions that the platform could exempt from the rules for a month leading up to the European elections, which run from May 23-26, according to the letter to Antonio Tajani. Facebook is “exploring whether we can technically build tools that would allow authorized administrators of the 19 institutional pages we identified to target ads to people right across the EU,” Clegg wrote in the letter, according to the FT. “It will be a challenge to do this in the requested timescale and I will need to confirm whether or not it is possible with you if we agree that this is the right solution.” A spokesman for the European Parliament told the FT it expected Facebook to grant the temporary exemption, while Facebook declined comment.
|
eu;elections;facebook;political ads
|
jp0003659
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Singapore talking with more electric car companies after Dyson, but Tesla apparently not among them
|
LOS ANGELES - Following Dyson Ltd.’s plans late last year to manufacture its first electric car in Singapore, the city-state is now in talks with other makers of green vehicles to set up shop on the island. Singapore is pitching its connectivity to global markets through free-trade agreements, its high-skilled workforce and stringent protection of intellectual property, which is critical for the industry, according to the government agency set up to attract investments to the country. “Hopefully they won’t be the only one we land,” Chng Kai Fong, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said in an interview, referring to Dyson’s plans. “We’re in active negotiations or discussions with a couple of others. The whole idea is to build clusters.” Bringing in other electric car manufacturers will create scale for the sector in Singapore, which is also spurring the development of autonomous vehicles in the country. The use of high-tech robotics and automation, as well as supply chain management and connectivity, could help dispel concerns on the high labor costs in Singapore. “It’s much more of a capital game than a labor game,” Chng said in San Francisco, where his agency hosted two technology-related conferences, including the Bridge Forum. “That plays to our strength.” Dyson, the closely held manufacturer of hand dryers and vacuum cleaners, said in October it plans to complete its factory by 2020 with the goal of rolling out its first model by 2021 as part of a £2 billion ($2.6 billion) effort to expand into automobiles. Earlier this year, billionaire inventor James Dyson raised the stakes by announcing plans to relocate his company’s head office to Singapore from the U.K. with the growing importance of Asia to its business. Singapore doesn’t have a single car-manufacturing plant and is one of the costliest places in the world to buy an automobile. And not every electric carmaker is a fan. Elon Musk tweeted in January that Singapore has been unwelcoming to Tesla Inc., adding to his previous assertions that the government doesn’t support electric vehicles. The billionaire chief executive officer was responding to a tweet inquiring why Tesla wasn’t in the Southeast Asian nation. Musk had said in May that Tesla tried to bring its cars to Singapore but was unsuccessful because the government was “not supportive” of electric vehicles. Singapore is also getting pushback from some companies for introducing a carbon tax. The government says it’s to help meet its Paris Agreement obligations, but it would also in turn drive up costs compared with other Asian markets. “Increasingly, carbon will be a constraint,” Chng said. “But we have to do it. It’s a trade off between our obligations, our environmental sustainability, and our economic growth.”
|
transportation;singapore;carmakers;elon musk;tesla;ev;dyson;bridge forum
|
jp0003660
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/22
|
'Anomaly' incident on SpaceX pad could delay its first manned flight
|
WASHINGTON - A mysterious but apparently serious incident occurred Saturday in Cape Canaveral, Florida, involving the SpaceX capsule intended to carry American astronauts into space late this year, the private company and NASA announced. “Earlier today, SpaceX conducted a series of engine tests on a Crew Dragon test vehicle on our test stand at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” a SpaceX spokesman said in a statement. “The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand.” A photo on the Florida Today website showed large amounts of smoke pouring out of the test site, and there was speculation about a possible explosion, but neither SpaceX nor NASA would provide any immediate detail. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine referred on Twitter only to an “anomaly.” “This is why we test,” he added. “We will learn, make the necessary adjustments and safely move forward.” Crew Dragon undertook a successful test flight in March, sending an unmanned capsule to dock for five days with the International Space Station before returning to Earth. NASA called the flight “a major milestone,” and it raised hopes that the Crew Dragon’s first manned flight could take place before year’s end. The capsule is equipped with eight rocket engines (named SuperDraco) that can provide an emergency backup system: for example, if the launch vehicle encounters a problem, SuperDraco allows the capsule to quickly detach and return the astronauts safely to Earth. NASA is counting on SpaceX’s capsule, as well as Boeing’s Starliner, to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, a task handled since 2011 by Russia. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to help reduce space transportation costs — and with an ultimate goal of helping colonize Mars.
|
nasa;space;florida;elon musk;spacex;jim bridenstine;crew dragon
|
jp0003661
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Half of economists now expect Bank of Japan's next move to be more easing
|
About half of economists now expect the Bank of Japan’s next policy move to be monetary easing, including three who see it coming this week, according to a Bloomberg survey. The other 45 of 48 economists surveyed said they expect the BOJ to leave its policy settings unchanged at a two-day meeting ending this Thursday. The number of economists predicting further easing from the BOJ has risen sharply in recent months, from 14 percent in December to 48 percent this month, as economic growth has slowed and inflation sagged. In April 2018, more than 90 percent said the next move would be tightening. Japan’s key inflation gauge remains below 1 percent, less than halfway to the BOJ’s target, after six years of radical monetary stimulus. And other central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have recently taken dovish turns, bolstering expectations that the BOJ will follow suit. One of the three economists who expect the BOJ to add easing this week said it would come in the form of a stronger commitment in its “forward guidance” to keep interest rates at extremely low levels. One also predicted the central bank would increase its buying of exchange-traded funds. Overall, 31 percent said they expected the BOJ to revise its forward guidance by October. The BOJ’s guidance currently states that it “intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short- and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time,” taking into account the effects of the consumption tax hike set for October. As the date for the tax increase comes closer, some economists expect a change of wording. The survey also found that 90 percent of economists expect the BOJ to cut at least one inflation forecast for coming years when it releases its quarterly outlook report with its policy statement. More than three-quarters said it would also trim at least one growth forecast. One focus in the outlook report will be the inflation forecast for the fiscal year starting in April 2021. The figure will be 1.6 percent, the lowest for a new year during BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda’s six-year tenure, according to a median forecast of 39 economists. Key elements of the BOJ’s yield-curve control policy: interest rate of minus 0.1 percent on some commercial bank reserves; yield target of about zero percent for 10-year Japanese government bonds; pledge to keep interest rates extremely low for an extended period; increase JGB holdings by about ¥80 trillion a year. (Actual pace is now far slower); and increase holdings of exchange-traded funds by ¥6 trillion a year.
|
boj;haruhiko kuroda;federal reserve;monetary easing;etfs
|
jp0003662
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Dollar almost unchanged around ¥111.90 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was almost unchanged around ¥111.90 in Tokyo on Monday as trading was subdued amid a lack of fresh incentives. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.89-90, compared with ¥111.91-92 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1246-1246, against $1.1243-1243, and at ¥125.84-85, against ¥125.82-83. “Trading was thin during Tokyo hours as the Australian and Hong Kong markets were closed,” an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The dollar briefly rose to around ¥112 thanks to higher U.S. long-term interest rates in off-hours trading. But it fell back shortly. The currency tends to be sold when it rises to around ¥112, an asset management company official said. In late trading, the greenback was pressured by selling from market players to square positions as well as from Japanese exporters before the Golden Week holidays start Saturday, an official of a Japanese bank said. An official at a bank-linked securities firm said currency market players are paying attention to the Bank of Japan’s two-day monetary policy meeting starting Wednesday and a meeting between Finance Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin later this week.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0003663
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Japan and China sign agreement on exchange-traded funds cross-investment program
|
BEIJING/SHANGHAI - Japan and China have signed an agreement for a program that will make it easier for investors to buy exchange-traded funds listed in each other’s markets. Under the program, a Japanese or Chinese firm would create an ETF that mainly invests in the other country’s listed ETFs, the Japan Exchange Group Inc. and Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a joint statement Monday. Nomura’s asset management unit will partner with China Asset Management to participate in the project, Nomura Holdings Inc. said separately. China is pressing ahead with plans to allow more foreign investors into its market, including those from Japan, before Xi Jinping makes his first visit to the country as president for the Group of 20 summit in June. The ETF program would allow some of the trillions of dollars stashed away by Japanese savers to flow into the world’s best-performing stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index has risen almost 30 percent this year, the biggest gain among more than 90 global indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Inflows are expected to increase after global equity index provider MSCI Inc. said it will more than quadruple the weighting of China-listed equities in a benchmark index. The ETF providers would need to obtain quotas under China’s Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor or Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programs. Additional investment quotas for this program will be subject to special treatment, meaning approval will take less time than usual, the bourses said. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission is discussing with Chinese authorities about the possibility of dual-listed exchange-traded funds in China. But an ETF Connect, a scheme that aims to link the ETF of Hong Kong and China, is proving difficult to build, Christina Choi, SFC executive director and head of the investment products division, said last year. She cited issues including differences in cross-border settlement systems and operating timings.
|
china;stocks;tse;etf
|
jp0003664
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Tokyo stocks see slight rise
|
Stocks closed marginally higher in directionless trading Monday amid a dearth of fresh market-moving incentives. The Nikkei 225 average rose 17.34 points, or 0.08 percent, to end at 22,217.90. It gained 110.44 points Friday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 1.69 points, or 0.10 percent, higher at 1,618.62 after a gain of 1.96 points Friday. Both indexes fluctuated around Friday’s closing levels before inching higher in late trading. Investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of announcements of earnings by major Japanese and U.S. firms later this week, market sources said. “Nonresidents and institutional investors were unable to move” ahead of the full-fledged earnings season, said Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. While indicating that active trading was held in check before the Golden Week holidays begin Saturday, Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., noted that short-term players hunted stocks. “Domestic demand-oriented issues attracted repurchases with investors expecting demand to grow during the holiday period,” said Hiroaki Hiwada, a strategist at Toyo Securities Co. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,058 to 976 in the first section, while 106 issues were unchanged. Volume dropped to 869 million shares from 928 million Friday. Daiwa House jumped 6.82 percent with investors taking heart from an upward revision in its operating profit forecast for the year ended last month. Convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny, optical equipment maker Olympus and drugmaker Eisai were among other major winners. By contrast, Shima Seiki sagged 1.71 percent after the knitting machine maker cut its operating profit estimate for the year ended in March. Also sold were advertising agency Dentsu, chipmaking gear maker Tokyo Electron and technology investor SoftBank Group.
|
stocks;nikkei;tse;topix
|
jp0003665
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Nomura Holdings CEO Koji Nagai vows to cut costs and keep struggling brokerage independent
|
Nomura Holdings Inc.’s chief executive vowed to keep Japan’s biggest brokerage independent and quickly implement his latest turnaround plan as a slumping share price puts the question of a potential merger in focus. “We cherish the strengths and utility that we have through our independence as a Japanese financial group,” CEO Koji Nagai said in an interview Friday in Tokyo. “It’s not going to happen that we’ll become part of a financial company elsewhere. We’re not thinking about such a thing.” Nagai, 60, unveiled plans this month to cut $1 billion worth of expenses from Nomura’s struggling global trading and investment banking business, a move that has already resulted in dozens of job cuts worldwide. The firm’s valuation is close to the biggest discount to global peers in two decades, as investors digest whether the restructuring plan will end years of overseas losses since it bought Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. operations in 2008. Nomura is among firms worldwide that have been battling to compete with Wall Street banks since the global financial crisis, prompting some to consider mergers as a solution. Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG are now in talks on a potential deal as the German government seeks a “national champion” for its exporters. Yet Nagai doused any speculation for a similar move in Japan, saying he’s not interested in teaming up the 94-year-old brokerage with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the nation’s biggest bank. MUFG already has an investment-banking alliance with Morgan Stanley, and is the U.S. firm’s largest shareholder. Nagai signaled that he may step down before the completion of the three-year overhaul as long as it goes smoothly. Two previous efforts since he became CEO in August 2012 failed to sustain an earnings recovery overseas, where Nomura has only posted an annual profit once during his reign. “I will take responsibility until things get on track,” said Nagai, who is Nomura’s longest-serving CEO in more than 30 years. He said it would be “natural” for him to leave in less than three years. Overseas operations will probably start generating annual profit if Nomura achieves 60 percent of its $1 billion in wholesale business cost cuts in the year ending March as planned, he said. Nomura is on course to post its first annual net loss in a decade when it reports earnings Thursday. It lost ¥101.3 billion in the nine months ended December, thanks mainly to write-downs, including of its acquisition of Lehman Brothers operations in Europe and Asia. Shares of Nomura have gained almost 4 percent since the revamp was announced April 4, and are down 32 percent over the past 12 months. It’s trading at 0.54 times the book value of its assets, close to the cheapest relative to global financial companies in the 20 years since Bloomberg began tracking the data. Analysts have questioned how Nomura can grow revenue after cutting front-line trading staff. Nagai is pivoting toward what he calls “client-focused” businesses, such as advisory, which tend to be less volatile. However, he suggested that it’s too early to get into details on where revenue growth will come from as the restructuring program has just started. “What we are saying is, let’s remove our old clothes and put on something that matches the new era,” he said. “What we do in our new clothes is something that we should tackle later.” Nagai isn’t entirely in retrenchment mode. He said he may look to acquire wealth management assets in Asia excluding China to make the most of the region’s growing ranks of rich people. “If there’s a good opportunity, we will naturally consider it,” he said, without elaborating on potential targets. At home, Nagai said he wants to swiftly launch the securities venture being formed with messaging platform provider Line Corp. once the Financial Services Agency approves it. The company filed a registration application in late March, he said. Nomura is turning to technology to modernize its domestic retail business, which has relied on expensive face-to-face services at branches and is confronted by intensifying competition with online brokers. The firm is cutting about a fifth of its outlets under the latest overhaul plan.
|
nomura;brokerages;nomura holdings;koji nagai
|
jp0003666
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Toyota to tie up with major Chinese automaker on fuel cell vehicles
|
NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will supply its fuel cell vehicle technology to major Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Group Co. as it seeks to expand business in the world’s largest auto market by volume. In the first such tie-up between Toyota and a Chinese automaker for hydrogen-powered vehicles, the commercial car division of Beijing Automotive Group will manufacture buses with Toyota’s fuel cell system. The production of the buses may increase toward the Winter Olympics to be held in the Chinese capital in 2022. Fuel cell technology, which converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, is attracting attention in China along with electric vehicles as the country seeks to address air pollution. Toyota announced earlier this month that it is allowing royalty-free access to nearly 24,000 patents for electrified vehicles, such as gasoline-electric hybrids, seeking to become a “supplier” of low-emission technology as the industry adopts stricter emissions regulations. The patents include those for the fuel cell vehicles.
|
toyota;carmakers;hydrogen;beijing automotive group
|
jp0003667
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Elon Musk takes on Panasonic in rare public tweet battle with key Japanese supplier
|
SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk has engaged in Twitter spats with a long line of folks, from rival automakers to short-sellers and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He’s at it again, but this time the stakes could be even higher. He’s in a rare public dispute with a critical supplier: Panasonic Corp., the company that makes all of the lithium-ion battery cells that power Tesla Inc.’s electric vehicles. The rift started with reports the companies are tempering expansion plans at their jointly operated battery plant near Reno, Nevada. Musk shot back in tweets that Panasonic is the culprit by operating at a reduced pace, constraining production of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. Even by Musk’s standards, it’s highly unusual for a company and its largest supplier to duel so openly. And the tiff once again raises questions about Tesla’s ability to sustain profitability amid concerns about demand. Tesla delivered just 63,000 cars globally in the first quarter, compared with almost 91,000 in the previous three months, and its stock is down almost 18 percent this year. Panasonic’s apparent reluctance to boost battery production only adds to the skepticism — and it may portend greater troubles. “Tesla and Panasonic need couples counseling ASAP,” said Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners. “This is looking like a much more acrimonious relationship.” Tesla and Panasonic have been joined at the hip since the “gigafactory” agreement was first announced in July 2014, even if on paper they’re a bit of an odd couple. One is a 16-year-old maker of electric vehicles run by an impetuous boss, the other a century-old conservative Japanese manufacturer. Tesla manages the gigafactory but Panasonic is the principal partner, responsible for churning out cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells that Tesla buys and then packages into battery packs for the Model 3 sedan. The goal was to produce 35 gigawatt hours, or GWh, of cells per year by 2020, enough for roughly 400,000 Model 3s. But two weeks ago, Osaka-based Panasonic shocked the investment community when the Nikkei financial newspaper reported that Tesla and Panasonic were freezing plans to expand capacity beyond the initial 35 GWh amid concerns about Tesla’s sales. “Panasonic is a 101-year-old company,” said Chris Redl, senior portfolio manager at Gordian Capital Japan. “It’s extremely rare for a Japanese company to publicly air its grievances about a top customer via a story in the Nikkei.” Musk said that Panasonic’s cell lines have actually constrained Model 3 assembly because they are operating at just two-thirds capacity, or 24 GWh. Panasonic did not directly respond to that assertion. But it said in a statement that as of the end of March the plant does have capacity for 35 GWh. Both companies are in agreement that the gigafactory is far from running at full production. What’s less clear is why and how they will proceed in the future. “Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh theoretical,” Musk said in a tweet. Most analysts said they believe slow Tesla sales warrants capping battery-production lines. But another explanation offered up is that Panasonic is unhappy about a third party possibly messing up their marriage. While it is currently Tesla’s only supplier of automotive-grade batteries, Tesla is building another factory — known as Gigafactory Shanghai — and has talked with several Chinese-based suppliers, including CATL. “Tesla is starting to flirt with other battery makers in China, and Panasonic doesn’t like that,” said Sam Jaffe, managing director of battery consulting firm Cairn ERA. Tesla declined to comment beyond Musk’s tweets. It has warned investors that it expects first quarter net income will be “negatively impacted” by lower than projected delivery volumes and multiple price cuts. Tesla hosted an Autonomy Investor Day at its Palo Alto, California, headquarters on Monday and will report earnings Wednesday. This isn’t the first time the two companies have struggled to match production lines. In a November interview, Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga said that in 2017, Panasonic held back while Tesla worked through problems in its automation line. Then in 2018, as car output ramped up, it was Panasonic who lagged. Tsuga said the output on both sides was close to being evenly matched in early November and two additional cell-production lines would be added. The two companies are intertwined to a degree that any permanent split is likely out of the question, said analyst Irwin. Panasonic needs Tesla for the stability it brings to its battery business, he said, while “Tesla has nothing in batteries without Panasonic.” Still, the now-public rift shows how Panasonic may be worried about Tesla’s future, said Kazunori Ito, an analyst at Morningstar Investment Services in Tokyo. “With EV sales not growing as expected, Panasonic is increasingly unwilling to take risks,” Ito said. “Where it used to be two companies sharing a common destiny, it’s clear that Panasonic wants to distance itself from Tesla, and Tsuga is beginning to draw a line. Musk cannot be happy about that.”
|
panasonic;elon musk;autos;tesla
|
jp0003668
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Tokyo Century to buy fifth of Yoma Strategic auto leasing unit as it looks to expand in Myanmar
|
SINGAPORE - Tokyo Century Corp. will buy a fifth of Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd.’s vehicle leasing business in a bid to expand in Myanmar and explore further collaboration with the Southeast Asian conglomerate. The Japanese leasing services firm will buy a 20 percent stake in Yoma Fleet via newly issued shares for $26.6 million, Yoma Group said in a statement. Myanmar’s fast growing automotive market presents high potential for growth, said Yasushi Yoshino, executive officer at Tokyo Century. “We will also explore the possibility of further collaboration in other business areas of Yoma Strategic in coming years.” The funds will help the Yoma Group expand its vehicle leasing business, which is targeting asset under management of $200 million by 2023 versus $40 million as of last month, according to the statement. Low vehicle penetration in a “largely cash-based” economy and limited bank lending outside of key cities has created opportunities in automotive and heavy equipment business and for nonbank lenders, said Melvyn Pun, chief executive officer at the Singapore-listed conglomerate. “The partnership will also explore other nonbank financial opportunities to better serve this huge, underserved market. “In the future, Tokyo Century may want a larger stake and I will be not against that,” Pun said in an interview, adding that the Japanese company owns about 50 percent of some of its ventures in Asia. The group is also working toward pursuing similar partnerships at the subsidiary level in nonbank lending, real estate and mobile payment platforms by the end of 2020, he said.
|
myanmar;yoma strategic holdings;tokyo century
|
jp0003669
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Tight labor market in Japan forces companies to revamp recruitment
|
Major firms will begin hiring university graduates year-round, Keidanren said Monday, revamping Japan’s long-standing education-to-employment pathway in response to the changing labor market. Keidanren, the country’s most powerful business lobby and also known as the Japan Business Federation, will no longer expect its members to adhere to the custom in which job offers are made to college seniors in October and they go to work the following April. After consulting with universities, the lobby announced the policy in an interim report. The decision to change the hiring system demonstrates the recruiting difficulties facing major Japanese companies. Nonmember companies such as technology startups and foreign companies can hire new employees throughout the year, including those who studied abroad and returned home in summer following their university commencements. Keidanren Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi told reporters after meeting with the universities that “diversity is very important,” adding that the lobby will “research a system to create various hiring practices.” The panel was set up in January to discuss recruitment practices after the Keidanren chief himself raised questions last year about the federation setting new graduate hiring guidelines for its member firms. The Japanese academic year starts in April. Many Keidanren members have followed the guidelines that allow them to hold job orientation sessions starting in March for college juniors and begin the process of interviewing and screening applicants in June. But universities have expressed concerns that allowing recruitment activities throughout the year will make it hard for students to concentrate on their academic work. The report said that the new practice must be introduced in an orderly manner and that companies and universities must ensure quality education is delivered. Unlike in Western countries, Japanese companies generally don’t hire workers with specific skills to perform particular work when needed, instead taking applications from students before they graduate and trying to select ones with the potential to do any sort of task that the company may require of them.
|
jobs;keidanren;universities;hiroaki nakanishi
|
jp0003670
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Tokyo prosecutors indict Carlos Ghosn on misappropriation charge in 'most serious allegation' yet
|
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office on Monday indicted former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn for a fourth time, this charge for allegedly misappropriating the company’s money for personal use — an accusation described by legal experts as the most serious brought against him so far. With the latest charge, Ghosn is accused of expropriating a Nissan subsidiary’s payments to Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, a Nissan distributor in Oman. Prosecutors allege that some of the money, about ¥560 million, had been siphoned off by Ghosn and sent to Good Faith Investments (GFI), a Lebanese investment firm he effectively controlled, for his own personal use, such as for the purchase of a luxury yacht. Ghosn’s defense team submitted a request for bail later in the day. He had already been arrested and indicted on charges related to underreporting his remuneration for years and making Nissan cover some of his personal investment losses in 2008. He denies any wrongdoing. “Carlos Ghosn is innocent of the latest charges brought against him by the Tokyo prosecutors, aided and abetted by certain Nissan conspirators,” a spokesperson for Ghosn said in a statement Monday. “Mr. Ghosn will continue to vigorously defend himself against these baseless accusations and fully expects to be vindicated.” In a related development Monday, Nissan filed a criminal complaint against Ghosn over aggravated breach of trust. The carmaker said in a statement it has determined that the payments in question “were in fact directed by Ghosn for his personal enrichment and were not necessary from a business standpoint.” “Such misconduct is completely unacceptable, and Nissan is requesting appropriately strict penalties,” the statement read. Stephen Givens, a Tokyo-based corporate lawyer, said the fourth charge is the most serious accusation prosecutors have made so far against the 65-year-old former auto titan. After Ghosn was arrested in early April his wife, Carole, ramped up her worldwide media blitz defending him and criticizing Japan’s legal system. Kyodo News reported that prosecutors believe some of the money sent to GFI was diverted to Beauty Yachts, Carole Ghosn’s firm registered in the British Virgin Islands. She has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Earlier this month Carole Ghosn left Japan for France soon after his fourth arrest. On Friday, Yasuyuki Takai, an attorney and former prosecutor, said such a move could jeopardize any bail request by Ghosn as he might conspire with his wife and destroy any evidence. But Shin Ushijima, a Tokyo-based corporate lawyer, said the Tokyo District Court will likely grant bail for a second time, adding that his bail request has already been approved and there is no reason for the court to deny another request for release. He also dismissed speculation that Carole Ghosn’s trip to France would unlikely affect the decision to grant bail. Ghosn’s first trial, which was expected to take place some time this autumn, may be pushed back due to the latest charge, Ushijima added. “The focus will be on whether the trial will be held by the end of the year,” Ushijima said. Ghosn was rearrested while out on bail on April 4. He and his lawyers denounced his fourth arrest, blasting it as an “arbitrary” attempt to sabotage his planned April 11 news conference. He has been held since that day at the Tokyo Detention House, where he had been detained for 108 days until he won his release on bail March 6. “Even though it was a separate case, it’s unthinkable to rearrest someone who has been released on bail,” one of his lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, told an April 4 news conference. Ghosn joined Nissan in 1999 and is credited with saving the automaker from bankruptcy. He was initially arrested at Tokyo’s Haneda airport last Nov. 19 after Nissan said an internal probe found that Ghosn and close associate Greg Kelly had engaged in financial misconduct. Kelly also denies any wrongdoing. In a video filmed April 3, the day before his fourth arrest, Ghosn characterized his ousting from the automaker he led for 20 years as “a conspiracy” by “selfish” Nissan executives who were afraid to forge ahead in its alliance with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Renault SA.
|
nissan;carmakers;carlos ghosn;junichiro hironaka
|
jp0003671
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
'Convulsion of hatred': Paris prosecutors probe 'suicide' taunts targeting police at protest
|
PARIS - Paris prosecutors have launched an investigation after French anti-government protesters in the latest of a series of demonstrations shouted slogans mocking police over a spate of recent suicides in the force, judicial sources said Sunday. The “yellow vest” protesters took to the streets of Paris Saturday for the 23rd weekend to protest the policies of President Emmanuel Macron, again clashing with police in a tense standoff. But French politicians and police unions angrily condemned some demonstrators who chanted “commit suicide, commit suicide!” at the police forces on Saturday. France’s national police force has been troubled by a worrying increase in suicides within its numbers this year, with 28 officers taking their lives so far in 2019. In 2018 as a whole, 35 police officers committed suicide nationwide. “Shame on those who have given into such ignominy,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner wrote on Twitter above a video of protesters chanting the slogan. Paris prosecutors have now opened a probe into “contempt of a person carrying out public authority at a meeting,” a judicial source told AFP, confirming an earlier report by French radio station RTL. “We have reached a convulsion of hatred. These words are intolerable and unacceptable,” said Frederic Lagache, the director of Alliance, the main police union in France. “It is an insult to all the police who have died, to their families and to the institution as a whole,” he told AFP. French police have been in the front line seeking to control the yellow vest protest movement, which erupted late last year in the biggest crisis of the Macron presidency so far. Even before the incident at Saturday’s protest, suicides of police was becoming a major talking point in France. National police chief Eric Morvan raised the issue in a letter to France’s 150,000 police, acknowledging there had been a “dramatic sequence” of suicides among police in recent days. He said suicide was something that “needs to be talked about, without fear of being judged.” Morvan added: “the human responsibility that someone has in taking this terrible decision does not exonerate us from ours.” Police union activists have complained that French officers are being put under huge stress by the pressure of having to work every weekend at the protests. On Thursday alone, two police took their own lives. A policeman shot himself at home with his service weapon in Villejuif outside Paris while a female police captain shot herself in the heart in her office in Montpellier. The death of the police captain, a mother of two children, provoked a wave of grief in Montpellier where hundreds of police held a minute of silence outside police headquarters on Friday.
|
suicide;protests;paris;emmanuel macron;police;yellow vests
|
jp0003672
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Thousands protest in support of jailed Morocco 'Popular Movement' activists
|
RABAT - Thousands of people demonstrated Sunday in the Moroccan capital Rabat, calling for the release of dozens of activists jailed for up to 20 years over their role in a protest movement. “The people want the release of the detainees” demonstrators shouted as they marched behind a banner supporting activists linked to the Hirak movement. Earlier this month a court upheld the ruling against 42 people linked to the Al-Hirak al-Shaabi — or “Popular Movement” — protests, which took hold of the marginalized Rif region in October 2016. The rally, dubbed the “march of the Moroccan people: stop political injustice,” was organized by detainees’ families along with political and rights groups. AFP reporters saw thousands of people in the streets, some clutching photographs of those serving jail terms ranging from one to 20 years. “We call for an end to political arrests and for the release of all detainees (linked to) social movements and a response to their legitimate demands,” said activist Boubaker al-Jawhari. The sentences first handed down last June were upheld on April 6 by the Casablanca court of appeal, sparking criticism from rights groups. Moroccan authorities insist the judicial process has followed international standards. Social unrest in the Rif region was sparked by the death of a fisherman and escalated into a wave of protests demanding more development, and against corruption and unemployment. The movement’s leader Nasser Zefzafi and three others received prison terms of 20 years for threatening the security of the state. Prison authorities say the activists were moved on April 11 from Casablanca to a facility in northern Morocco to be “close to their families. “They were transferred to the worst prisons in the kingdom” and “started a hunger strike,” said Ahmed Zefzafi, father of Nasser. Addressing a press conference after the Sunday demonstration, he called on “decision-makers to find a way out of this crisis. Prison authorities said Friday the detainees’ health was being very closely monitored. Other family members confirmed that their detained relatives are protesting against the conditions they are being held in. Beyond the 20-year sentences, other prison terms confirmed on appeal ranged from one to 15 years. Eleven others were pardoned last year by King Mohammed VI.
|
protests;morocco;rabat;popular movement;rif
|
jp0003673
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Climate protesters vow to halt London action if U.K. government discusses their demands
|
LONDON - Climate change protesters who have brought parts of London to a standstill said Sunday they were prepared to call a halt if the U.K. government would discuss their demands. Some 831 arrests have been made and 42 people charged in connection with the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests. On the seventh day of the demonstrations, which have occupied key spots in the British capital, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the protesters, telling them: “Humanity is standing at a crossroads.” Organizers said they were willing to switch tactics from disruption to dialogue — if the government entered talks. “We are prepared to pause, should the government come to the negotiating table,” Extinction Rebellion spokesman James Fox told AFP. “What the pause looks like is us stopping an escalation,” he added. “We can discuss leaving if they are willing to discuss our demands. At the moment, we haven’t received a response from the government … so we’re waiting on that.” Extinction Rebellion was established last year in the U.K. by academics, and has become one of the world’s fastest-growing environmental movements. Campaigners want governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and be led by new citizens’ assemblies on climate and ecological justice. “We’re giving them an opportunity now to come and speak to us,” said Fox. “If they don’t take that opportunity, and if they refuse to come and negotiate with us, then this is going to continue and this is going to escalate in different, diverse and very creative ways.” Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist who has inspired pupils worldwide to boycott classes to join climate protests, addressed cheering crowds at the Marble Arch landmark — the only authorized demonstration site. “For way too long the politicians and people in power have got away with not doing anything at all to fight the climate crisis and ecological crisis,” she said. “But we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like? “Humanity is now standing at a crossroads,” Thunberg said. “We must now decide which path we want to take. We are waiting for the others to follow our example.” Police said they had managed to clear the protesters from Parliament Square, and the Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus junctions. Those charged range in age from 19 to 77. They hail from around England and Wales, with one person from France charged. The charges are for various offenses including breaching public order laws, obstructing a highway and obstructing police. Calling for an end to the protests, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more than 9,000 police officers had been responding to the demonstrations, which had left the force as a whole overstretched. “This is now taking a real toll on our city — our communities, businesses and police. This is counter-productive to the cause and our city,” he said. “I’m extremely concerned about the impact the protests are having on our ability to tackle issues like violent crime if they continue any longer. It simply isn’t right to put Londoners’ safety at risk. “You must now let London return to business as usual.” In blazing sunshine on Waterloo Bridge, police lifted protesters and carried them off to waiting police vans. “I’m genuinely terrified. I think about it all the time. I’m so scared for the world. I feel like there is going to be calamity in my lifetime,” said student Amber Gray. “I don’t even feel comfortable bringing children into this world knowing that that is coming. And I don’t want people in the future to say to me, ‘why didn’t you do anything?'” Retiree Kathy Hayman said politicians were “ignoring and denying. “I’m amazed really at the lack of consciousness that they have and the lack of responsibility.”
|
u.k .;protests;climate change;london;extinction rebellion
|
jp0003674
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Landslide in rain-soaked southwestern Colombia kills at least 14
|
BOGOTA - At least 14 people have been killed and five injured in a landslide in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca, the country’s disaster relief agency said on Sunday. The landslide, which was caused by heavy rain, took place in the early hours of the morning in a rural area of Rosas municipality, the agency said in a statement. Five people have been hospitalized and rescue operations are ongoing, the statement said. At least eight houses have been damaged and a portion of the Pan-American Highway is blocked because of the landslide, it added. Landslides are common in mountainous Colombia, especially during rainy season and in areas where precarious informal housing and narrow roadways are constructed on deforested Andean hillsides.
|
colombia;landslides;cauca
|
jp0003675
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Stone stackers defy gravity at European championships
|
EDINBURGH - Expertly balancing one rock on top of another at the European Stone Stacking Championships, competitors combine skill and artistic creativity to come up with gravity-defying constructions. Now in its third year, the event takes place in the Scottish coastal town of Dunbar, east of the capital Edinburgh. Saturday’s competition down on the Eye Cave Beach was all about quantity: the most stones balanced vertically in 30 minutes. Sunday’s battle put the emphasis on artistic merit: creating anything from stones or found objects within three hours. The winner receives a trip to the Llano Earth Art Festival in Texas where the 2020 World Rock Stacking Championships will be held. “Stone stacking is one of the most ancient art forms. It may go back to the beginning of mankind,” organizer James Craig Page told AFP. “However, it was brought to the attention of the public over the last 15 years by Bill Dan from California and more recently Michael Grab,” two of the best-known artists. “Events like Llano Earth Art Festival and its World Rock Stacking Championship, and the European Stone Stacking Championships, are helping to promote this ever-growing art form. “The skills required to become an expert balancer artist are patience, focus, a love of nature and an unwillingness to be unhappy any more.” The abstract shapes produced by rocks eroded by the tides over the centuries means sculptures can be produced with impressive, seemingly gravity-defying angles. Stone stacking also requires concentration and forethought to pull off the most dazzling creations. France’s “SP Ranza” was declared the overall winner, as well as winning the quantity category. The winner in the artistic category was Marianne Winter, from the Netherlands, who came second overall.
|
europe;u.k .;scotland;texas;stone stackers
|
jp0003676
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Malawi to test groundbreaking malaria vaccine
|
LILONGWE, MALAWI - Malawi will on Tuesday spearhead large scale pilot tests for the world’s most advanced experimental malaria vaccine in a bid to prevent the disease that kills hundreds of thousands across Africa every year. After more than three decades in development and almost $1 billion in investment, the cutting-edge trial will be rolled out in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe this week and then in Kenya and Ghana next week. It aims to immunize 120,000 children aged 2 and under to assess the effectiveness of the pilot vaccine and whether the delivery process is feasible. Four successive doses must be administered on a strict timetable for it to work. Trade-named Mosquirix, the drug has been developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. It passed previous scientific testing — including five years of clinical trials on 15,000 people in seven countries — and was approved for the pilot program in 2015. Malaria episodes reduced by 40 percent in the trials. Although the potential vaccine will not give full protection against the mosquito-borne disease, it is the furthest along in development and so far the most effective. Scientists say if it was rolled out on a large scale it could save hundreds of thousands of lives. The World Health Organization believes that the new vaccine brings a key new tool beyond mosquito nets, insecticides and drugs in the battle against the disease. Malaria killed 435,000 people in 2017. The majority of them were children under 5 in Africa. “Malaria can kill a child in less than 24 hours,” said researcher Tisungane Mvalo, a pediatrician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-Malawi in Lilongwe. “And even if the child survives, malaria can impact every organ, causing brain injury or even kidney issues. Prevention is better than treatment.” Malaria is spread to people through the bites of infected female anopheles mosquitoes. The WHO’s latest report on malaria showed that the number of cases climbed to 219 million in 2017, 2 million higher than 2016. “Despite gains over the last decade, we have seen a stagnation in malaria control efforts in recent years,” said researcher Jonathan Juliano from the University of North Carolina. “In certain areas of Africa, we have actually seen rates of malaria infection get worse. New interventions are needed to continue advancing toward elimination.” The fight against malaria has also been complicated by mosquitoes building up resistance to some commonly used insecticides, according to the WHO. Malawi, Ghana and Kenya were selected for the trial because malaria rates are high and they have a long history of use of bed nets and other interventions. The large-scale pilot program is the latest step in decades of work seeking to eradicate malaria. Despite concerns over recent rises in malaria cases, the numbers dying from the disease has fallen nearly two-thirds since the turn of the century.
|
medicine;malaria;malawi
|
jp0003677
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Islamic State claims attack on Saudi security base that left four dead
|
RIYADH - Four men were killed Sunday in an attack on a Saudi security services base north of the capital Riyadh, official media said, as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the assault. Quoting a spokesman for the state security services, the Saudi Press Agency said three policemen were also wounded in the morning attack in the Zulfi province north of Riyadh. It said a “group of terrorists” tried to “storm the building” but security authorities repelled them, killing four. An investigation was launched to identify the assailants as well as the type of “explosive material” they had in their possession, SPA said. The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper earlier reported that the attack targeted state security forces in the town of Zulfi, 260 km (160 miles) north of the capital. It said the attackers had rammed a vehicle into a security barrier around the base in an attempt to gain entry. Two gunmen then stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire, sparking a gun battle with police, who killed them, the paper reported. A third was gunned down as he attempted to flee, while a fourth died as he tried to set off an explosive belt, the paper said. The Saudi-owned satellite channel Al-Arabiya also reported four people died during an attack, but gave no details. IS, in a statement carried by its propaganda arm Aamaq, said “the attack on the security services base in the town of Zulfi northwest of Riyadh was carried out by Islamic State group fighters. It gave no further details. The kingdom has seen numerous attacks in recent years by jihadis, including al-Qaida and IS, against security forces. It has also seen clashes between Shiite militants and security forces in the eastern provinces. Islamic State’s elusive supremo, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had in recent years called for attacks on Saudi Arabia, which is part of a U.S.-led coalition that has been battling the jihadis in Syria and Iraq since 2014. The Sunni extremist group has claimed previous attacks in Saudi Arabia, targeting mostly security forces and members of the Shiite community who they view as heretics. On April 7, two men armed with explosives were killed and two others arrested as they attacked a security checkpoint in a predominantly Shiite region in eastern Saudi Arabia, which has seen years of demonstrations against the Sunni royal family. Sunday’s attack took place in a majority Sunni region. An estimated 10-15 percent of the ultra-conservative kingdom’s 32 million population are Shiite, although no official figures exist.
|
conflict;terrorism;saudi arabia;islamic state
|
jp0003678
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Gunmen kill British aid worker and local man and kidnap four tourists at north Nigeria resort
|
KANO, NIGERIA - Two people including a British aid worker have been shot dead and four tourists abducted in an attack by armed gunmen on a holiday resort in northwestern Nigeria, police said on Sunday. Police and aid agency Mercy Corps named the dead woman as Faye Mooney. “Faye was a dedicated and passionate communications and learning specialist,” chief executive Neal Keny-Guyer said in a statement posted on social media, adding that colleagues were “utterly heartbroken.” Mooney had “worked with Mercy Corps for almost two years, devoting her time to making a difference in Nigeria,” Keny-Guyer added. Gunmen stormed the Kajuru Castle resort, 60 km (40 miles) southeast of Kaduna City at 11.40 p.m. (2240 GMT) on Friday, Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo told reporters. The Briton “was gunned down from the hill by the kidnappers who tried to gain entrance into the castle but failed,” Sabo said. “They took away about five other locals but one person escaped,” he said. A Nigerian man believed by local residents in Kajuru to be Mooney’s partner was also killed in the attack on the resort where a group of 13 tourists had arrived from Lagos, southwest Nigeria, the police spokesman said. In Kaduna and the wider northwest region, kidnapping for ransom has become increasingly rampant, particularly on the road to the capital, Abuja, where armed attacks have thrived. Kidnapping in Nigeria’s oil-rich south has long been a security challenge, where wealthy locals and expatriate workers are often abducted. Yet the problem has escalated in northern areas too, like Kaduna where criminal gangs made up of former cattle rustlers have been pushed into kidnapping after military crackdowns on cattle theft. Kajuru is also flash point in the deadly conflict over increasingly limited land resources in Africa’s most populous country, between herders and farmers, predominantly across central and northern Nigeria. The conflict has increasingly taken on ethnic and religious dimensions in the region, with the Fulani Muslim herders in conflict with Christian Adara farmers in Kajuru. Tourists are rarely affected by the herder-farmer violence and Kajuru Castle resort has attracted many foreign and local visitors. Yet police have struggled to thwart kidnappers in the region. The latest attack comes in a resort in northern Nigeria, particularly popular amongst foreign and well-to-do local tourists. In January four western tourists — two Americans and two Canadians — were also abducted in Kaduna by gunmen in an ambush in which two of their police escorts were killed. Earlier in April, recently re-elected President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered his most senior security chiefs to curb kidnapping in the region.
|
murder;boko haram;nigeria;kidnappings;islamic state;muhammadu buhari;kaduna;mercy corps;kajuru castle;faye mooney
|
jp0003680
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Trump lawyer Giuliani attacks Mueller report, saying he sees nothing wrong in taking Russian-hacked info
|
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump’s top lawyer on Sunday attacked “calumny, lies and distortions” in the Mueller investigation report, and said there is “nothing wrong” with taking hacked information from Russia. Rudy Giuliani mounted a combative defense of the president in Sunday talk show appearances that took aim at special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, the evidence they amassed and the witnesses they cited. The former New York mayor heaped special scorn on Sen. Mitt Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate who said Friday he was “sickened” by the report’s findings and “appalled” that Trump’s election campaign “welcomed help from Russia.” “What a hypocrite. What a hypocrite. Any candidate in the whole world in America would take information,” Giuliani said of Romney on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He was referring to Democratic emails that were hacked by Russian operatives and disseminated by WikiLeaks in 2016 to hurt Trump presidential rival Hillary Clinton. “Who says it’s even illegal?” Giuliani added. “Does the information turn out to be false, by the way? The information that was gleaned and disseminated, every newspaper printed it.” Trump publicly encouraged Russia and WikiLeaks while top campaign officials, including his son and son-in-law, met in Trump Tower with a Russian promising dirt on Clinton. “There is nothing wrong with taking information from the Russians. It depends on where it came from,” Giuliani said, adding that as a lawyer he would have advised against it. “This didn’t become an international scandal because of immorality. It became an international scandal because the president was accused of violating the law falsely,” he said. His comments echoed Trump, who mocked Romney on Twitter Sunday, after lashing out Friday at the “bullshit” Mueller report. The president was in Palm Beach, Florida, where he attended Easter services. The special counsel’s 22-month-long investigation concluded that Trump and his team did not collude with the Russian effort to sway the elections in his favor. But it detailed 10 episodes of potential obstruction by Trump, including his firing of FBI director James Comey and demands that Mueller himself be removed. The special counsel declined to bring charges, however, and Attorney General Bill Barr, a Trump appointee, said that cleared the president. Democrats, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, now are considering whether to move to impeach the president, an effort likely to fail because Republicans control the Senate. “We will have to decide, do we nonetheless go through an impeachment — because to do otherwise would signal that somehow this president’s conduct is okay, that future presidents can engage in this kind of corruption without consequence — or do we decide that we are better off doing oversight … rather than a formal impeachment?” Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s going to be a very consequential decision” and one that would be made “over the next couple weeks,” he said. Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, equivocated when asked on NBC about impeachment. “We may get to that, we may not,” he said, adding that lawmakers needed first to “go through all the evidence.” So far, only two of the 18 declared Democratic presidential candidates — Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro — have called for impeachment. The White House’s strategy, meanwhile, was on bristling display in Giuliani’s talk show appearances: attack the investigators as biased and the witness testimony as self-serving and untruthful. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Giuliani called the report “a prosecutor’s version of what happened.” “It’s two or three pages of calumny, lies and distortion,” he said. “Half of it is not true.” Some of the most damaging episodes detailed in the report came from former White House counsel Don McGahn, who described to investigators Trump’s escalating demands that Mueller be removed. McGahn refused to do so and threatened to resign but was talked out of it. “I’m telling you he’s confused. He gave three different versions,” Giuliani said on CNN. The White House has prepared a rebuttal of the Mueller report but has yet to release it. “We’re ready to put it out when we have to,” the president’s lawyer said.
|
u.s .;congress;hillary clinton;wikileaks;mitt romney;robert mueller;donald trump;rudy giuliani;adam schiff;russia probe
|
jp0003681
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
King restores citizenship of 551 convicted Bahrainis after global outcry
|
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Bahrain’s king Sunday ordered the citizenship of 551 Bahrainis to be restored, after his country was harshly criticized by the U.N. and rights groups for revoking people’s nationalities. “His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has issued an order, reinstating the citizenship of 551 convicts whose nationality had been revoked as per court rulings,” state-run Bahrain News Agency reported. U.S. ally Bahrain has been gripped by bouts of unrest since 2011, when authorities cracked down on Shiite-led protests demanding political reform. Since then, hundreds of protesters have been jailed and those convicted of terrorism offenses have been stripped of their nationality. Bahrain has accused Iran of training and backing demonstrators in order to topple the government, charges Tehran denies. BNA news agency said King Hamad, who can reverse court decisions, requested that the competent authorities take into account “the nature of crimes committed. He has instructed the interior ministry to examine each case and prepare a list of those whose nationalities can be reinstated. Human rights groups estimate that 990 mainly Shiite people have had their citizenship revoked since the start of judicial proceedings in 2012 against those who took part in the protests. Ruled for more than two centuries by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain has a majority Shiite Muslim population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government. Sunday’s decision comes after a Bahraini court on Tuesday sentenced 138 people to prison terms and revoked their citizenship, at the end of a mass trial denounced by rights group Amnesty International. Those convicted — Shiite Bahraini citizens, according to a judicial source — belonged to a group of 169 people accused of forming a “terror” group with links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. This was the biggest group of people to have been convicted and to have lost their citizenship as a result of a single trial since 2012, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on Thursday expressed alarm about the court’s decision. “Tuesday’s convictions give rise to serious concerns about the application of the law, particularly through a mass trial that reportedly lacked the procedural safeguards necessary to ensure a fair trial,” rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. “Deprevation of nationality must not be arbitrary, especially on discriminatory grounds,” she said, stressing that “arbitrary deprivation of nationality places the individuals concerned and their family members in a situation of increased vulnerability to human rights violations.” Bahraini authorities have repeatedly denied taking discriminatory measures against citizens of the kingdom, and say they are facing violence from Iran-backed groups despite denials from Tehran of any involvement. Since 2011 all opposition groups have been banned and disbanded. In January, Bahrain’s supreme court upheld a life term against Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq, for allegedly spying for rival Qatar. Prominent rights defender Nabeel Rajab in December lost his final appeal against a five-year jail term for writing tweets deemed offensive to the state. And last year King Hamad signed off on a decree allowing military courts to try civilians accused of “terrorism.”
|
iran;amnesty international;bahrain;shiites;hamad bin isa al khalifa
|
jp0003682
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Iraq condemns to death four Islamic State members repatriated from Syria
|
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s judiciary condemned to death four Islamic State group members on Sunday, the first known sentence for hundreds of Iraqi jihadis repatriated in recent months from neighboring Syria. In early April, Iraq’s specialized terrorism courts began preparing cases against nearly 900 Iraqis accused of joining IS. They had been caught in Syria by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, and transferred to Iraqi authorities. On Sunday, the judiciary said it had tried four Iraqis “accused of belonging to Daesh (IS) and carrying out crimes against innocent civilians in order to destabilize Iraq and Syria.” They were sentenced to “death by hanging” in accordance with Iraq’s 2005 counterterror law, the statement said. The sentence was the first one of its kind for accused jihadis from Iraq who were caught in Syria. Additional Iraqi suspects are in SDF custody and are awaiting repatriation, a security source told AFP earlier this month. Iraq has already tried thousands of its own nationals arrested on home soil for joining IS — including women — and has sentenced hundreds to death. The country remains in the top five “executioner” nations in the world, according to an Amnesty International report released last week. The number of death sentences issued by Iraqi courts more than quadrupled from 65 in 2017 to at least 271 last year. But fewer were actually carried out, according to Amnesty, with 52 executions in 2018 compared to 125 in 2017. In addition to locals, Iraq has also tried hundreds of foreigners, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, although no foreign IS members have yet been executed. Among those awaiting trial in Baghdad are 12 accused French IS members, who were caught in Syria and transferred to Iraqi custody in February. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticized the trials, which they say often rely on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under torture.
|
conflict;terrorism;syria;death penalty;iraq;amnesty;islamic state;hrw;syrian democratic forces
|
jp0003683
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
FBI arrests leader of 'fascist militia' armed group stopping migrants in New Mexico
|
TAOS, NEW MEXICO - The FBI on Saturday said it had arrested Larry Hopkins, the leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border into New Mexico. The arrest came two days after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused the group of illegally detaining migrants and New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered an investigation. Hopkins, 69, also known as Johnny Horton, was arrested in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on a federal complaint charging him with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. “We’re not worried about it, he’s going to be cleared,” said Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), blaming his arrest on political pressure from Lujan Grisham. Hopkins is the “national commander” of the UCP, which has had around half a dozen members camped out on a rotating basis near Sunland Park since late February. The UCP describes itself as a “patriot group” helping U.S. Border Patrol cope with record numbers of Central American families crossing the border to seek asylum. Dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles, UCP members have helped U.S. Border Patrol detain over 5,600 migrants in the last two months, Benvie said. Videos posted online by the group show members telling migrants to stop, sit down, and wait for agents to arrive. Critics accuse the UCP of impersonating law enforcement. Crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe on Friday barred the group, citing policies not to promote hate or violence, after the ACLU called the UCP a “fascist militia.” “Today’s arrest by the FBI indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes,” New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement of Hopkins’s arrest. Hopkins was previously arrested in Oregon in 2006 on suspicion of impersonating a police officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement it did not support citizens taking law enforcement into their own hands and instead encouraged the public to be its eyes and ears on the border. Benvie said the UCP was doing just that and had the support of local Border Patrol and police. Mostly military veterans, UCP members carry weapons for self defense and at no time pointed guns at migrants, as they have been accused of, Benvie said. Despite having funding sources cut off, Benvie said the group’s online support had swelled since it came under attack this week. Its Facebook followers have more than doubled since Thursday. Asked what the group would do if told to leave by state police, Benvie said they would probably go and, if they felt the order violated their constitutional rights, sue the state of New Mexico. “There’s not going to be any standoffs, this isn’t the Bundy Ranch,” Benvie said, in reference to a 2014 armed confrontation in Nevada.
|
u.s .;immigration;mexico;new mexico;fbi;aclu;cbp;larry hopkins;united constitutional patriots
|
jp0003684
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Khamenei appoints avowed Israel foe as new chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
|
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has replaced the head of the influential Revolutionary Guard, state TV reported on Sunday, days after the United States designated the elite group a foreign terrorist organization. The TV station did not give a reason for the change when it announced the appointment of Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami to the position. “The Supreme Leader has appointed Salami as the new commander-in-chief of the Guard, who will replace Mohammad Ali Jafari,” it said. Maj. Gen. Jafari had held the post since September 2007. President Donald Trump on April 8 designated the Guard a terrorist organization, in an unprecedented step that drew Iranian condemnation and raised concerns about retaliatory attacks on U.S. forces. The designation took effect on April 15. Tehran retaliated by naming the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization and the U.S. government as a sponsor of terrorism. The IRGC, created by late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, is more than a military force. It is also an industrial empire with political clout and is loyal to the supreme leader. Comprising an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, the Guard also command the Basij, a religious volunteer paramilitary force, and control Iran’s missile programs. The Guard’s overseas Quds forces have fought Iran’s proxy wars in the region. The IRGC is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Tehran has warned that it has missiles with a range of up to 2,000 km (1,242 miles), putting Israel and U.S. military bases in the region within reach. Salami, born in 1960, said in January that Iran’s strategy was to wipe “the Zionist regime” (Israel) off the political map, Iran’s state TV reported. “We announce that if Israel takes any action to wage a war against us, it will definitely lead to its own elimination,” Salami said after an Israeli attack on Iranian targets in Syria in January, Iranian media reported. Israel sees Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs as a threat to its existence. Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only. Israel, which Islamic Iran refuses to recognize, backed Trump’s move in May to quit a 2015 international deal on Iran’s nuclear program and welcomed Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.
|
u.s .;israel;terrorism;iran;revolutionary guard;donald trump;ali khamenei;hossein salami
|
jp0003685
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Sudan protest leaders halt talks with military as push for immediate civilian rule is rebuffed
|
KHARTOUM - Sudanese protest leaders Sunday suspended talks with military rulers, after the army failed to meet their demand for an immediate transfer to civilian rule. The protest leaders had planned to name members of a civilian body to take over from the ruling military council, which took power on April 11 after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir. The momentum had been building all day Sunday as a sea of protesters waited outside army headquarters for the planned unveiling of the civilian council, but by nightfall it was clear it would not happen. “We are suspending our talks with the military council,” Mohamed al-Amin, a spokesman for the protest movement, told the tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the army complex. He said the weekslong sit-in will continue and accused the military council of being little different from al-Bashir’s ousted regime. “We call for escalating and continuing the demonstrations until the demands are met,” said Amin. “We are treating the military council as an extension of the regime.” Wagdi Saleh, a leading figure of the protest movement, blamed the military rulers for the delayed unveiling of a civilian council. He said that during talks on Saturday “the military council had shown its dark side.” “The chief of the council’s political committee told our delegation that they are still considering our demand among 100 other demands from other political parties.” Madani Abbas Madani, a spokesman for Alliance for Freedom and Change, said late Sunday a “sovereign council, a government and a legislative body” would be announced “within days” by protest leaders. The crowds responded by continuing to sing and dance, holding their mobile phones aloft, as the torches on their devices created a sea of light and speakers churned out nationalist songs. “High! High! Sudan is up high,” they chanted. “Our revolution is civilian and protected by the people,” they vowed. Earlier Sunday, new military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vowed he was committed to handing power to the people, and pledged to respond to the demonstrators’ demands within a week. The military council has been put in place for a planned two-year transition period. “The council is committed to give power to (the) people,” Burhan insisted, in his first interview on state television since taking power. But he later hit out at protesters for erecting road blocks. “I condemn the blocking of roads and searching people without authority,” he told senior army officers, according to the military council. “It can’t continue like this because security is the responsibility of the state,” Burhan said. Protesters have set up their own make-shift checkpoints to frisk people who come to the protest site where they have been encamped since before al-Bashir’s ouster. Burhan on Sunday also confirmed that cash worth over $113 million had been seized from deposed al-Bashir’s residence. He said a team of police, army and security agents found a cash haul including €7 million ($7.8 million), $350,000 and 5 billion Sudanese pounds ($105 million) during a search at al-Bashir’s home. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates meanwhile offered $3 billion on Sunday in financial aid to the cash-starved country. The northeast African nation is one of the world’s most impoverished countries and faces an acute foreign currency shortage — a key factor which helped trigger nationwide protests against al-Bashir. The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), at the forefront of the protests, had said it would unveil its own civilian council by Sunday night. “All Sudanese people are in favor of the council to be announced by the SPA,” said Romaysaa Omar, one of the protesters at the sit-in area. On Saturday, protest leaders and the military rulers held talks about a power handover and had initially agreed to continue discussions. The two sides have struggled to agree on the shape and form of a civilian leadership. “What we want from them (the military) is a timetable to hand over power, so things don’t drag on,” said Ahmed al-Rabia, a leader of the umbrella group of unions for doctors, engineers and teachers. Protest leaders say the civilian council would form a transitional government to rule Sudan for a four-year term, followed by elections. “All we hope for is to be ruled by civilians and get rid of the military rule,” said protester Ehsan Abdallah. The military council has made some concessions to the protesters by agreeing to demands such as detaining al-Bashir and releasing many political prisoners and demonstrators.
|
protests;sudan;omar al-bashir;sudanese professionals association
|
jp0003686
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
From comic to commander-in-chief: A steep learning curve for Ukraine's new leader
|
KIEV - Ukraine’s election has catapulted Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old stand-up comedian and television star with no political experience, into the nation’s top job. As leader of a country dependent on international aid and battling separatists, Zelenskiy will have to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, deep economic problems and possibly rebellious elites. Here is a look at the main challenges facing Ukraine’s sixth president: War with separatists Voters expect the new commander-in-chief to end a five-year war with Moscow-backed separatists in the industrial east. The conflict has claimed some 13,000 lives since 2014 and is a huge burden on the economy and society. Despite numerous attempts to staunch the bloodletting, the conflict regularly claims the lives of soldiers and civilians, and a solution is nowhere in sight. Zelenskiy’s rival Petro Poroshenko accused the comic of lacking the gravitas and stamina to stand up to Putin. But analysts say Zelenskiy could use his outsider status to strike a political deal with the Kremlin, which has said it does not want to deal with Poroshenko. “Zelenskiy will look for diplomatic solutions and try to avoid settling the conflict through military means,” said Ukrainian political expert Mykola Davydyuk. In a major faux pas during Friday’s debate with Poroshenko, Zelenskiy called the separatists “rebels,” sparking the military’s anger. “We do not have ‘rebels,'” wrote Ukraine’s General Staff on Twitter. “We have Russian aggression.” Zelenskiy has said he would not resort to force to take back Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Struggling economy After a popular uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014, the new Ukrainian government secured a $17.5 billion deal led by the International Monetary Fund to buttress the struggling economy. But disbursement of the funds has often been delayed as Poroshenko’s government has struggled to push through the reforms required by the IMF, which include anti-corruption measures and raising household gas prices. Zelenskiy has said he will continue cooperating with the IMF, and promises to do whatever is necessary to service the country’s debt. Analysts warn that he is facing a huge challenge as Ukraine’s debt obligations are set to peak in the next few years. “In the next three years Ukraine will have to pay off more than $20 billion in state debt,” said Oleksandr Parashchiy, head of research at Concorde Capital, a Kiev-based investment bank. “It’s not exactly clear where the money would come from.” Economic growth is also slowing down, added Parashchiy. “He’ll have to do something with that, too.” Zelenskiy does not have a firm economic program, though his team does include Poroshenko’s former finance minister, Oleksandr Danylyuk. The young president will also have to rein in oligarchs who wield huge influence, and prove to supporters he is not in the employ of tycoon Igor Kolomoysky — whose channel broadcasts his shows. Hostile establishment Zelenskiy will also have to demonstrate his ability to negotiate with various political forces to push through much-needed reforms. He does not have a proper political party of his own and will likely face huge resistance in parliament, where Poroshenko’s faction has the most seats. “It would be very hard for Zelenskiy to secure parliament’s support,” said Anatoliy Oktysyuk, an analyst with Kiev-based think tank Democracy House. “He will have a hostile parliament on his hands.” Parliamentary elections are set to take place in October. Poroshenko and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was knocked out of the presidential race during the first round of voting last month, may be looking for revenge during the legislative polls. Analyst Davydyuk said assembling the right team will be crucial for the neophyte president. “The main challenge for Zelenskiy is neither the army nor the war with Russia,” he said. “It is putting together a team: who will be his chief of staff, his deputies, who will fill the key positions.” Analysts say Ukrainians expect radical change quickly, so Zelenskiy will have to move fast before he faces a possible legitimacy crisis. “Everyone will criticize him,” Oktysyuk said. “I have a feeling Zelenskiy will soon fizzle out and everything might end with impeachment.”
|
russia;elections;ukraine;volodymyr zelenskiy
|
jp0003687
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
EU urges new Ukraine leader to push reforms
|
BRUSSELS - The European Union delivered formal congratulations to Ukraine’s novice president-elect Monday but made clear it expects TV comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy to pursue halting reforms, including fighting corruption. In a joint letter as Zelenskiy’s landslide victory over President Petro Poroshenko was confirmed, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker praised the conduct of the election even though parts of Ukraine remain under the control of pro-Russian forces. But they stressed that five years after Poroshenko was elected in the wake of a popular revolt against a Moscow-aligned predecessor, Ukraine still has a long way to go to deliver on people’s demands for peace, democracy and prosperity. “Significant progress has been made in the five years since Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity,” they wrote. “And much remains to be accomplished to fully realize the peaceful, democratic and prosperous Ukraine that its citizens have called for.” They added: “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.” Proposing an early meeting with Zelenskiy, Tusk, a former Polish premier who chairs summits of EU national leaders, and Juncker, a former Luxembourg prime minister who heads the bloc’s executive, said further steps to implement Kiev’s trade and political pact with the union could provide “crucial” help. That agreement, seen by the Kremlin as shifting the biggest of Moscow’s Soviet-era satellites toward the West, was a notable 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. Tusk and Juncker also told Zelenskiy: “You can also count on the EU’s continued and steadfast support of Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.” 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 which spent decades under the control of Moscow. While the 28-member bloc has maintained a fragile unity in maintaining sanctions against Russia, it has also grown frustrated with continued corruption and democratic failings in Ukraine.
|
eu;elections;ukraine;volodymyr zelenskiy
|
jp0003688
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Sudan's army ruler vows to hand 'power to the people' as protesters' deadline looms
|
KHARTOUM - Sudan’s military leader vowed Sunday the army was committed to handing power to the people, as a protesters’ deadline for unveiling a rival civilian council loomed. New army ruler Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also pledged to respond to demonstrators’ demands within a week. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates meanwhile offered $3 billion in financial aid to cash-starved Sudan. The Northeast African nation is one of the world’s most impoverished countries and faces an acute foreign currency shortage — a key factor which helped trigger nationwide protests against longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. Bashir was ousted on April 11 after three decades of iron-fisted rule, when the military deposed him bowing to weeks of mass protests which began in mid-December. A military council has been put in place for a planned two-year transition period, but despite talks with protesters the two sides have struggled to agree on the shape and form of a civilian leadership. “The council is committed to give power to (the) people,” Burhan insisted, in his first interview on state television since taking power. He also said that a delegation would travel to Washington soon to seek Sudan’s removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), at the forefront of the campaign, has defiantly said it will unveil its own civilian council later Sunday, and thousands have gathered outside the army headquarters in Khartoum ahead of the 1700 GMT announcement. “We are waiting for the announcement today,” Romaysaa Omar, one of the protesters at the sit-in area, told AFP. “All Sudanese people are in favour of the council to be announced by the SPA.” Whistling and waving Sudanese flags, dozens of demonstrators were sitting on a bridge at the site, rhythmically banging stones against metal. On Saturday, protest leaders and the military rulers held talks about a power handover and agreed to continue discussions. “We clarified our main demand, which is the transfer of power to civilian authorities,” Siddiq Yousef, a senior member of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, told state television after Saturday’s talks. “We agreed to continue negotiations to reach a solution that satisfies both the sides, so that the transfer of power will happen in a peaceful way.” Since Bashir was ousted by the army, the military rulers have resisted calls to transfer power to a civilian body. “What we want from them is a timetable to hand over power, so things don’t drag on,” said Ahmed al-Rabia, a leader of the umbrella group of unions for doctors, engineers and teachers. He said mounting pressure from the street and from the international community was expected to make the military council cede power in “two to three weeks. “We are done with the easy part. We want to remove the entire regime,” said Rabia. On Sunday, the Alliance for Freedom and Change said it will continue with the sit-in “until all our demands are met.” Protest leaders say the civilian council would form a transitional government to rule Sudan for a four-year term, followed by elections. “All we hope for is to be ruled by civilians and get rid of the military rule,” said protester Ehsan Abdallah. On Sunday Riyadh and Abu Dhabi pledged to inject $500 million into the Sudanese central bank and $2.5 billion to help provide food, medicine and petroleum products, the official Saudi Press Agency said without specifying if the money is a gift or a loan. The Sudanese pound surged on the black market on Sunday, trading at 45 to the dollar against 72 last week. The military council has made some concessions to the protesters by agreeing to demands such as detaining Bashir and releasing many political prisoners and demonstrators. Prominent Sudanese journalist Khalid Tijani said the protest leaders were in a “tough situation” over finalising the civilian council. “If they are not ready with the names, it will send a negative signal, and this will not be to the benefit of the revolution,” said Tijani, editor of economic weekly Elaff.
|
africa;saudi arabia;aid;sudan;uae;omar bashir
|
jp0003689
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Poroshenko concedes as comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy wins Ukraine presidency in landslide
|
KIEV - A comedian with no political experience won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, exit polls showed, dealing a stunning rebuke to the country’s political establishment. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose only previous political role was playing the president in a TV show, trounced incumbent Petro Poroshenko by taking 73 percent of the vote, according to exit polls. Poroshenko took just 25.5 percent, losing to the 41-year-old comedian and actor across the country. It was an extraordinary outcome to a campaign that started as a joke but struck a chord with voters frustrated by social injustice, corruption and a war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives. The star of the TV series “Servant of the People” will now take the helm of a country of 45 million people beset by challenges and having run on the vaguest of political platforms. “I will never let you down,” Zelenskiy told jubilant supporters at his campaign headquarters where he was showered with glittering confetti. “I can tell all post-Soviet countries: ‘Look at us! Everything is possible!,’ ” he declared. The remark appeared aimed at neighboring Russia, where Vladimir Putin has been in power for 20 years and many followed the Ukrainian election with keen interest. On the streets of the capital Kiev, some Ukrainians expressed guarded optimism about their new leader. “Ukraine has passed the democracy test,” said Mykola, a 66-year-old pensioner. “I hope it will be the people and not the elite who will live better.” Zelenskiy took 87 percent of the vote in eastern Ukraine and defeated Poroshenko even in the west, where the incumbent traditionally enjoyed strong support. Poroshenko, 53, said the results were clear and enough reason to “call my opponent and congratulate him. “I will leave office but I want to firmly stress — I will not quit politics,” Poroshenko said in a speech at his campaign headquarters, where supporters clapped, cried and chanted “thank you” to the outgoing leader. A tycoon who made his fortune in chocolate, he also appealed to the international community to help safeguard Ukraine’s pro-Western course. “We realize that the Kremlin might be enjoying the election result,” he said. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine congratulated his rival in a tweet, saying: “We look forward to continuing the strong US-Ukraine partnership with president-elect Zelenskiy.” Observers say Ukraine’s new leader may seek to use his outsider status to try to improve ties with Moscow. Zelenskiy said he wanted to “reboot” Western-brokered peace talks that have so far failed to end the conflict. Moscow said the vote result showed Ukrainians wanted “change.” With about four percent of ballots counted, official results showed Zelenskiy taking 72 percent of the vote and Poroshenko on 25.5 percent. From Ukrainian-speaking regions in the west of the country to Russian-speaking territories in the war-torn east, many voters said they feared uncertainty but yearned for change. “We’re tired of all the lies,” said Marta Semenyuk, 26, who cast her ballot for Zelenskiy in Kiev. “I think it just cannot get any worse and I hope he’ll live up to his promises,” said Larisa, an 18-year-old student from the government-held eastern port city of Mariupol. Zelenskiy supporters say only a fresh face can clean up Ukraine’s politics and end the separatist conflict. But others doubt the showman will be able to take on the country’s influential oligarchs, negotiate with the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and stand up to Putin. “People have gone mad,” Viktoriya Olomutska, a 39-year-old Poroshenko supporter, said in Kiev. “Cinema and reality are two different things.” Poroshenko had previously mocked his rival’s lack of political experience, arguing he was unfit to be a wartime commander-in-chief, and the two traded insults during the campaign. But on Sunday the two men were respectful, with Poroshenko offering to coach the political novice and Zelenskiy saying he might seek Poroshenko’s advice. The outgoing leader came to power after a 2014 pro-Western uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. His supporters credited him with rebuilding the army and securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia. But many feel the country’s ruling elite have forgotten the promises of the revolution. The comic shunned traditional campaign rallies and instead performed comedy gigs and used social media to appeal to voters. The Ukrainian president has strong powers over defense, security and foreign policy but needs backing from parliament to push through reforms. Poroshenko’s faction has the most seats in the current legislature and new parliamentary polls are due in October. The West has closely watched the race amid concern a new government might undo years of economic reforms. Voter turnout stood at 62 percent, according to a preliminary count.
|
vladimir putin;russia;elections;ukraine;petro poroshenko;volodymyr zelenskiy
|
jp0003690
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Islamic State claims responsibility for Afghan ministry attack that killed seven
|
KABUL - Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack at the communications ministry in the Afghan capital Kabul that killed seven people, the militant group’s Aamaq news agency said on Sunday. Saturday’s attack began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives just outside the ministry building and three other assailants then entered the premises. Three attackers were killed by security forces who battled and also evacuated over 2,800 Afghans from the government buildings. Among the dead were four civilians and three police officers, while another eight civilians were wounded. The Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active in the country since 2015, fighting the Taliban as well as Afghan and U.S. forces. It is difficult to say how many Islamic State fighters are in Afghanistan because they frequently switch allegiances, but the U.S. military estimates there are about 2,000.
|
terrorism;kabul;islamic state;aamaq;state khorasan
|
jp0003691
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Libya strongman Khalifa Hifter's forces press offensive, close in on Tripoli
|
TRIPOLI - Forces backing Libya’s unity government battled to push back an offensive by strongman Khalifa Hifter on Sunday as his troops approached the gates of Tripoli after air raids overnight. Hifter’s self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), galvanized by victories in its eastern stronghold and in the country’s desert south, announced an offensive early this month to seize the capital from the U.N.-recognized administration of Fayez al-Sarraj. But his forces have faced fierce resistance from armed groups backing the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), including powerful factions from the western city of Misrata. The bloodshed has derailed efforts to bring peace to a country where jihadis and people smugglers have exploited the chaos unleashed by the NATO-backed overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. At least 227 people have been killed since Hifter’s forces launched their offensive, the World Health Organization said Sunday, adding that a further 1,128 have been wounded. Clashes intensified on Saturday when forces loyal to the GNA announced a counter-attack. “We have launched a new phase of attack. Orders were given early this morning to advance and gain ground,” said Mustafa al-Mejii, a spokesman for GNA forces. Sustained rocket and shellfire could be heard in several districts of Tripoli on Saturday, after several days of less intense fighting and stalemate on the ground. Explosions were heard from the city center overnight, and some witnesses reported airstrikes. Pope Francis, delivering his traditional Easter message, called for an end to “conflict and bloodshed” that was killing “defenseless people” in Libya. “I urge the parties involved to choose dialogue over force and to avoid reopening wounds left by a decade of conflicts and political instability,” he said. Tripoli air traffic was suspended overnight to Sunday for “security reasons,” the city’s only operating airport said Sunday. At least two flights were rerouted from Mitiga airport to Misrata, more than 200 km (125 miles) to the east, the airport’s authorities said on their Facebook page. They said flights had resumed early in the morning to Mitiga, east of the capital. The former military air base was hit by an airstrike on April 8, claimed by the LNA, and has since only operated between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.. The GNA counterattack put pro-government forces back in control of Ain Zara, in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, where a team of journalists confirmed pro-GNA forces had advanced, shifting the front line a few kilometers south. GNA spokesman Mejii on Sunday morning that “after a long day of military success, our forces are consolidating their (new) positions.” Some witnesses spoke of air raids and drones, but Mejii said the blasts were caused by strikes from LNA helicopters aimed at “terrorizing civilians. He said they had not caused any casualties but had taken place away from the front lines, without offering any further details. Military sources say the aging Soviet and Russian fighter jets used by both sides are not equipped to carry out night-time strikes, but Mejii said Hifter’s forces have a helicopter with night vision capabilities. The U.N.’s Libya envoy warned Thursday of “a widening conflagration” in the North African country. Ghassan Salame said that “international divisions” prior to the assault on Tripoli had emboldened Hifter, who is backed by Russia and seen by his allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as a bulwark against Islamists. The White House revealed Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump reached out personally to Hifter, as a push at the United Nations to broker a cease-fire hit trouble. A statement said that Trump “recognized Field Marshal Hifter’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources,” adding that “the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.” Observers saw Trump’s words of praise for the strongman as evidence of U.S. support that explains Hifter’s determination to pursue his offensive to seize Tripoli. On Thursday, Russia and the United States opposed a British bid backed by France and Germany at the U.N. Security Council to demand a cease-fire in Libya. Russia insisted on having no criticism of Hifter in the proposed resolution, while the United States said it wanted more time to consider the situation.
|
conflict;u.s .;russia;u.n .;libya;tripoli;donald trump;khalifa haftar
|
jp0003692
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Extensive flooding in eastern Canada forces evacuations
|
QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC - Flooding in eastern Canada forced the evacuation of 1,200 people while more than 600 troops have been deployed in response, authorities said Sunday. Warming weather over the Easter weekend has brought spring floods due to heavy rains and snowmelt from Ontario to southern Quebec and New Brunswick. A man was killed Saturday in Pontiac, Quebec, after he failed to see that a bridge had been swept away by the floods and drove his vehicle into the water. Authorities, who initially feared a repeat of catastrophic 2017 floods in Quebec, the worst in half a century, appeared more confident about the situation on Sunday. “We are optimistic about the coming days,” civil security spokesperson Eric Houde told AFP. “There will be significant floods but globally not at the level of 2017, except in certain areas like Lake St. Pierre,” a widening of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, he said. “The big difference from 2017 is the level of preparation of municipalities and citizens,” he added. Over the past several days, towns have mobilized volunteers and distributed tens of thousands of sandbags to erect barriers or protect houses in threatened areas. The areas most affected Sunday were the region around Ottawa, and Beauce, a region south of Quebec City where nearly 800 people were evacuated. As of midday Sunday, about 1,000 homes had been affected by the flooding in Quebec. The provincial governments of Quebec and New Brunswick asked for reinforcements from the military. About 200 soldiers had deployed in Quebec by Saturday night, and 400 others near Ottawa; in Laval, just north of Montreal; and in Trois-Rivieres between Montreal and Quebec City. About 120 additional soldiers were available to be mobilized in New Brunswick.
|
weather;canada;floods;quebec
|
jp0003693
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Environment emerges as major issue for Australian voters ahead of May election
|
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - The environment has emerged as a major issue for Australian voters, a poll showed on Sunday, but health care and the cost of living are the top concerns ahead of next month’s election. For 32 percent of Australians, access to affordable health services is the biggest worry, followed by the cost of living at 31 percent and crime at 25 percent, according to the Ipsos Issues Monitor, cited by the Sydney Morning Herald. But the monitor, Australia’s longest running survey of community concerns, found that 23 percent of respondents cited the environment as one of their biggest concerns, making it the No. 4 issue. In the last federal election in 2016, the environment ranked No. 9 at 14 percent. “Now there is a real momentum around it,” the newspaper cited Ipsos social researcher Daniel Evans as saying. According to government agencies and environmental organizations, Australians are paying increasingly more attention to climate change, renewable energy, drought, environmental regulation and protection of natural habitats, such as the Great Barrier Reef, under threat from global warming. Two-thirds of Australians believe their country is already being affected by climate change and 46 percent agree that the change is “entirely or mainly” caused by human action, an annual climate survey issued by Ipsos this month suggested. Australia’s 1.87 trillion Australian dollar ($1.3 trillion) economy is slowing, but the number of voters for whom it is a major worry has fallen since the last election to 23 percent from 30 percent. It ranked as the fifth major concern in this month’s poll. Australians vote on May 18, with opinion polls showing Bill Shorten’s center-left opposition Labor party well ahead and the coalition of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberals and the rural-focused Nationals heading for a resounding defeat.
|
australia;elections;climate change;environment;scott morrison;bill shorten
|
jp0003694
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
South Korea to mark anniversary of Moon-Kim summit with event — but will the North show up?
|
South Korea will hold a ceremony later this week to mark the one-year anniversary of the historic first summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. There’s just one catch: North Korea’s attendance is uncertain. The Unification Ministry in Seoul said in a statement late Sunday that the event — called “The Long Road” — is scheduled to feature artists from South Korea, the U.S., China and Japan and will be held Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom. The ministry said that while it plans to inform Pyongyang of the event, it currently plans to organize the show without its northern counterpart. Moon and Kim held their first of three inter-Korean summits in April last year, helping pave the way for June’s meeting in Singapore between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, the first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president. But in the wake of a second Kim-Trump summit in Vietnam at which a nuclear deal failed to materialize despite expectations, ties between the two Koreas have faltered, leaving nuclear talks deadlocked. Any absence of North Korean participation in Saturday’s event would highlight the challenges the rival Koreas face amid the stalled U.S.-North Korean nuclear talks. Moon has attempted to play the role of mediator in bringing the talks back on track, a move that has been roundly criticized by Kim. In an April 12 speech Kim urged South Korea to act independently of its U.S. ally to improve relations and “come back to the original intention they had at the time of the Panmunjom summit and the September Pyongyang summit” and fully implement the declarations agreed to at them. “They should not waver in their attitude as they see the tide nor pose as a meddlesome ‘mediator’ and ‘facilitator’ as they busy themselves with foreign trips, but be a responsible party that defends the interests of the nation speaking what they have to say squarely with the mind of their own as members of the nation,” Kim said. The Moon administration, for its part, has played down these remarks by Kim, saying that it would continue to play a key role in denuclearization talks. While it remains to be seen how much of a role Seoul can play going forward, Moon has said that he is seeking yet another meeting with Kim. This could come in the form of him delivering a message from Trump to the North Korean leader, CNN reported Sunday. That report cited an anonymous source as saying that Trump’s message, which was delivered to Moon during their meeting in Washington earlier this month, includes “things that matter to the current course of action, things that have to lead to something positive for the U.S.-DPRK summit.” DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “I believe (Kim) will be very, very curious about what my president (Moon) will have to say after his meeting with the Trump administration,” the apparent South Korean source said. “President Moon has been clear and simple. Small deal, big deal, good or bad, something has to happen; the process has to be sustainable.”
|
u.s .;north korea;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;south korea;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump;moon jae-in;kim-trump summit
|
jp0003695
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Cambodia and Thailand reconnected by rail after 45 years
|
POIPET, CAMBODIA - A railway reconnecting Cambodia and Thailand was officially inaugurated Monday in a bid to slash travel times and boost trade between the Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Prayuth Chan-ocha, witnessed a signing ceremony at a Thai border post before riding together to the Cambodian town of Poipet on a train donated by Thailand. The pair — with Prayut dressed in a bright yellow shirt — stepped from the train in Poipet with their clasped hands held high to the cheers of waiting crowds, waving flags of both countries. Hun Sen described their journey as “historic” and thanked Thailand for its efforts “to reconnect the railway between Cambodia and Thailand.” The railway would also better link his country to other Southeast Asian neighbors and boost economy and trade, he added. Bilateral trade between Thailand and Cambodia currently stands at $6 billion. Cambodia last year re-opened the final stretch of a 370-kilometer railway running from the capital, Phnom Penh, to the Thai border. The Asian Development Bank bankrolled the reconstruction of the link to the tune of $13 million. Much of Cambodia’s railways — built by the French in colonial times — were damaged by the years of bitter conflict that engulfed the country during the Cold War era. The 48-kilometer section of track near Poipet was destroyed in 1973 while the rest of the track to Phnom Penh had been suspended for over a decade due to its poor condition. The Southeast Asian country has more than 600 kilometers of track extending from its northern border with Thailand to the southern coast.
|
trade;thailand;rail;cambodia
|
jp0003696
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Sri Lanka searches for answers after Easter terrorist attacks kill hundreds
|
COLOMBO/NEW, DELHI - Sri Lanka sought to restore stability following one of Asia’s deadliest terrorist attacks in years, detaining 24 suspects and asking the world for help in investigating possible involvement by international terrorist groups. Authorities said 290 people were killed and about 500 wounded by a string of bombings that tore through churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday. The government announced a curfew in Colombo from 8 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. A Sunday night curfew was lifted in the morning. The government believes a local Islamist extremist group called the National Thowheeth Jama’ath was behind the deadly suicide bomb attacks, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said Monday. The strikes, which targeted foreign tourists and Christians, marked a shift from the violence that fueled a three-decade civil war on the Indian Ocean island. Senaratne, who is also a Cabinet minister, added that the government was investigating whether the group had “international support.” Not much is known about the NTJ, a radical Muslim group that his been linked to the vandalizing of Buddhist statues. A police source said that all 24 people in custody in connection with the attacks belong to an “extremist” group, but did not specify further. Sri Lanka needs assistance from security officials abroad to “check foreign links of these groups,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an address to the nation late Sunday, without providing more details. “We have to look deeper into this, but the first task is to make sure that the country is not destabilized.” Wickremesinghe suggested authorities had received warnings but “not enough attention had been paid.” One of his Cabinet ministers, Harin Fernando, tweeted an internal police memo dated April 11 warning that NTJ planned to bomb Catholic churches and the Indian High Commission. The bombings were carried out by seven suicide bombers, a government investigator said Monday. An analysis of the attackers’ body parts made clear that they were suicide bombers, said Ariyananda Welianga, a forensic crime investigator. He said most attacks were by one bomber, with two at Colombo’s Shangri-La Hotel. A government source said President Maithripala Sirisena, who was abroad when the attacks happened, had called a meeting of the National Security Council early on Monday. Wickremesinghe would attend the meeting, the source said. Sri Lankan military who were clearing the route from Colombo airport late on Sunday in preparation for Sirisena’s return found a homemade bomb near the departure gate, an air force spokesman said. They disposed of the device in a controlled explosion, the spokesman said. A sense of unease pervaded the nation Sunday following a period of relative calm in the decade since the end of a brutal conflict between the predominately Buddhist Sinhalese majority and mostly Hindu Tamil minority. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders condemned the attack and offered support. Sri Lanka confirmed that 11 foreigners who died in the attacks had been identified — including citizens of India, Portugal, Turkey, the U.K. and U.S. — and said 25 unidentified bodies believed to be foreigners were in a Colombo morgue. Most were targeted at the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the capital. Authorities blocked platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp. The Colombo Stock Exchange put its Monday opening on hold and schools will remain closed until Wednesday. SriLankan Airlines Ltd. advised travelers to arrive four hours before their flights to undergo additional security checks. The attacks will test a government that is still reeling from a political crisis last year that has weighed on the economy and led to downgrades in Sri Lanka’s credit rating. “What these bombings potentially do is take it from inertia and political infighting and rudderlessness to a real fear of instability and a sense of a return to the bad old days,” said Alan Keenan, a senior Sri Lanka analyst with the International Crisis Group based in London. “It’s striking that in almost three decades of war between the Tamils and government forces, foreign tourists were never targeted.” Catholics, split between the Sinhalese and Tamils, make up 6.5 percent of Sri Lanka’s population, according to the nation’s 2012 census. Buddhists account for 70 percent of the total, while Hindus and Muslims make up the rest. In the early 1980s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — known as the Tamil Tigers — began fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The conflict, marked by the use of child soldiers and human rights violations on both sides, killed more than 100,000 people before former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government won a decisive victory in 2009. Rajapaksa has been a key player in Sri Lanka’s political fighting over the past six months. Last October, he was suddenly appointed prime minister by Sirisena, leading to a constitutional crisis. Wickremesinghe, the deposed prime minister, was reinstated in December after a Supreme Court decision. It remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka’s politicians will unite in the face of the attacks, which threaten to further hurt economic growth. Wickremesinghe warned that tourism will suffer and investors may pull money from the country. Sri Lanka’s economy has struggled in recent years, forcing the government to take out a $1.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Economic growth in the quarter to December was the slowest in 19 quarters. The rupee dropped to consecutive record lows last year amid the political crisis, before recovering this year. “That is bad news for the country where the memories of the civil war are still very much alive,” said Raffaele Bertoni, head of debt-capital markets at Gulf Investment Corp. in Kuwait City. “Tourism is a very important sector for the economy and one of the major source of external reserves.” Sri Lanka has a history of communal violence between virtually all groups, according to Keenan from Crisis Group. “What’s surprising about this is the particularly brutal and coordinated nature of the attacks and targets, this combination of what appear to be Tamil Catholic churches and high-end hotels,” he said. “These are the first classically terrorist attacks since the end of the war.”
|
religion;terrorism;sri lanka;ranil wickremesinghe;_asia;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003697
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Sri Lanka bombings put Christians on front line of religious divides
|
COLOMBO - The Easter Sunday attacks on three churches in Sri Lanka mark a devastating escalation of violence against a Christian minority that has been targeted in the past, but never to such brutal and deadly effect. Ethnic and religious violence has plagued Sri Lanka for decades, with a 37-year conflict with Tamil rebels that claimed 100,000 lives and an upswing in recent years in clashes between the Buddhist majority and Muslims. While there have been attacks on Christians, their community had been left relatively unscathed, with anti-Muslim riots — whipped up in part by hard-line, right-wing Buddhists — grabbing the headlines. But that changed with Sunday’s bombings on St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo to the north of the capital and the church in the eastern city of Batticaloa. All three were left in ruins, bodies slumped over pews or lined up in aisles, torn Bibles strewn over the floor. Along with attacks on four hotels, more than 200 people were killed. The U.S. State Department’s most recent report on religious freedom said the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka had documented “97 incidents” of attacks on churches, intimidation and violence in 2017. Only around 6 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20-million-strong population is Catholic. Analysts say the harassment is long-standing and goes on. “There is a long history of attacks on churches,” said Alan Keenan, a Sri Lanka expert with the International Crisis Group, a monitoring body. “There was one on a Methodist church last week, though nothing as massive as this case. It just does not get international attention.” Sunday’s attacks were the worst acts of violence since the Tamil civil war that ended in 2009 and, during its long history, saw numerous bombings and assassinations across the country. Rucki Fernando, a human rights activist, said there have been regular cases of “local villagers or Buddhist monks intimidating a pastor or interrupting a prayer service.” “Sri Lankan governments have overlooked violence against religious minorities — both Christians and Muslims — that has been on the rise in recent years. “But we have never seen anything of this scale or magnitude before.” Sri Lanka’s police chief, Pujuth Jayasundara, issued a nationwide alert 10 days before the attacks saying suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches. Although no group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, a radical Muslim group named in the police alert, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, came to prominence last year when its followers were accused of vandalizing Buddhist statues. The group’s secretary, Abdul Razik, was arrested in November on charges of inciting religious disharmony. He was also detained in 2016 for comments about other religions. Galagodaatte Gnanasara, head of a radical Buddhist group, the BSS, warned then of “a blood bath” unless Razik was arrested. Gnanasara has himself since served a jail term for intimidating the wife of a missing journalist. Sri Lanka saw weeks of riots last year when Buddhist-majority Sinhalese mobs attacked Muslim targets in the central district of Kandy. Three people were killed and hundreds of homes destroyed. Sunday’s assault on Christian targets will only widen the sense of fear and uncertainty fueled by the communal tensions. “There is a lot of fear, not just in the Christian community but among everyone,” said the activist Fernando. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, said those behind the attacks should be punished “mercilessly. “Only animals can behave like that,” he told reporters.
|
terrorism;sri lanka;christians;muslims;national thowheeth jama'ath;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003699
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Overcrowded church was a blessing in disguise for Sri Lankan family who survived bombing
|
NEGOMBO, SRI LANKA - When Dilip Fernando arrived at St. Sebastian’s Church in the Sri Lankan seaside town of Negombo on Easter Sunday, it was so crowded he went elsewhere for Mass. The decision probably saved his life. Shortly after he left, a massive bomb ripped through the church as worshippers observed the Christian holiday. Dozens died there on a day of carnage across Sri Lanka that saw at least 290 people killed in eight blasts. On Monday morning, Fernando returned to the church in the town to see the damage at the site where he and his family narrowly escaped death. “I usually come to services here,” the 66-year-old retiree said as around three dozen security personnel stood outside the church. “Yesterday me and my wife arrived at 7:30 a.m. but it was so crowded there was no place for me. I didn’t want to stand so I left and went to another church.” But seven of Fernando’s extended family, including in-laws and his two granddaughters, decided to stay, sitting outside because the church was so crowded. And it was there that they saw a man they believe was the suicide bomber behind the deadly explosion. “At the end of the Mass they saw one young man go into the church in with a heavy bag,” Fernando said. “He touched my granddaughter’s head on the way past. It was the bomber.” The family wondered why he was entering the church with Mass nearly over, Fernando said, adding that the man had looked to be around 30 and “very young and innocent,” according to his relatives. “He was not excited or afraid. He was so calm.” Shortly after the man entered the church, there was a massive blast. “They heard it and quickly ran away, they were so afraid. They called me immediately to ask if I was inside the church, but by then I was in a different church.” He said no one in his family had been killed or injured, but that the community had been devastated by the attack. “I’m so lucky because normally I would go to this church. We are relieved, we were so lucky but we’re really sad for the whole village,” he said. “There are going to be huge funerals in this village soon.” But he added that Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic community, a minority that makes up just 6 percent of the population, will not be intimidated. “If the church was open this morning then I would have gone inside. We are not afraid. We won’t let terrorists win, no way.” And he said that he hopes the attack will not trigger revenge killings. “Revenge is useless. It’s the responsibility of the government to control this, not us.” He criticized the government, which has acknowledged there was information warning of attacks before Sunday’s blasts. “An attack like this should have been avoided,” he said. Around the church, Negombo appeared to be waking up as normal, after the lifting of an overnight nationwide curfew at 6 a.m. A steady stream of people were walking or moving on streets on bicycles and motorbikes or in tuk-tuks. Outside the church, Fernando and other bystanders looked at the damage to the church, which had been renovated just a month earlier. “It was looking so beautiful. We were so happy,” he said. “The priest was awarded for the job he had done. But now this has happened, it’s terrible.”
|
religion;christianity;terrorism;islam;sri lanka;negombo;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003700
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
North Korea's Kim heads to Russia to revive old friendship
|
PYONGYANG - On the neighboring mound to Mansu Hill, where giant statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il look out over North Korea’s capital, stands the Liberation Tower. The star-topped stone obelisk has a bronze Soviet Union flag at its base and a panel showing Soviet and Korean troops going into battle together against the Japanese. The ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, once its most important ally, go back decades. And after years of abeyance, current leader Kim Jong Un — the son and grandson of the chiefs immortalized on Mansu Hill — is looking to revive links with nuclear negotiations with Washington deadlocked and as he seeks a counterbalance to China. Kim is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok this week, reportedly on Wednesday and Thursday. Few details have been released, but the summit — the first between the two neighbors’ leaders since Kim Jong Il met Dmitry Medvedev eight years ago — comes less than two months after the Hanoi meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump broke up without reaching agreement on the North’s nuclear arsenal. Pyongyang last week launched a blistering attack on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, demanding he be removed from the negotiations. Kim has met Chinese President Xi Jinping four times in the space of a year but is now looking for wider international support in the standoff, analysts say. Moscow has already called for international sanctions on the North to be eased, while the U.S. has accused it of trying to help Pyongyang evade some of the measures — accusations Russia denies. After the Hanoi summit, Russia’s ambassador to the North, Alexander Matsegora, said Pyongyang was disappointed by the outcome. In its state media, when Kim “departed from Pyongyang the purpose was the second summit and when he returned he returned from an official visit to Vietnam,” he said. “It means that it was not the result they wanted to get.” Washington should offer concrete concessions rather than “only promises, which are nothing,” he added. “It is not acceptable.” The inscription on the monument in Pyongyang proclaims that “the great Soviet Union military” had “liberated Koreans from Japanese oppression” and their “heroic” deeds “will shine for 10,000 generations and more.” In fact the Soviet Union only declared war on Japan on Aug. 8, 1945, after the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. The destruction of the city and the follow-up strike that reduced Nagasaki to a post-atomic hellscape forced Japan’s surrender, ending World War II and Tokyo’s colonial rule over the peninsula. But Pyongyang’s official history gives the U.S. barely any credit for its role in that conflict, and blames it for the division of the Korean Peninsula, glossing over an agreement to do so between Moscow and Washington. The Soviets later installed Kim Il Sung as the North’s leader. An exile who fought as a guerrilla against Japanese forces in occupied China, he had fled to the Soviet Union, where records show his son Kim Jong Il was born — although Pyongyang insists his birthplace was a secret camp on the sacred Mount Paektu. Moscow was a crucial backer of Pyongyang and main aid provider during the Cold War, while Russian became a compulsory foreign language in the North’s schools — Kim Jong Il is said to have been a fluent speaker. That legacy will help the two leaders cement their relationship, said Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul. “Kim Jong Un’s role model has always been his grandfather, not his father,” he explained. “Many believe he has a romanticized view on the North’s shared past with the Soviet Union, largely because of his romanticized view of his grandfather.” The Soviet Union began to reduce funding to the North as it began to seek reconciliation with Seoul in the 1980s, and Pyongyang was hit hard by the demise of the Eastern bloc. China has since stepped in to become the isolated North’s most important ally, its largest trading partner and crucial fuel supplier. Now Kim could be looking to balance Beijing’s influence, analysts say. During the Cold War his grandfather was adept at exploiting the rivalry between Beijing and Moscow to extract concessions from both. “It’s part of the North’s juche — self-reliance — ideology not to rely on a single ally,” said Jeong Young-tae, an analyst at the Institute of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “Pyongyang has a group of experts on diplomacy who have been in their post for decades. They’ll know how to play the game if it ever becomes necessary for Pyongyang to play off its allies against each other.”
|
north korea;russia;kim jong il
|
jp0003702
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Chinese workers demand release of labor rights activists
|
BEIJING - Some 100 Chinese workers suffering from a work-related disease have signed a petition demanding the release of three prominent activists in southern China amid a crackdown on labor activism. Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, editors of a labor rights news site that reported on the workers’ cases, were arrested last month for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” — a broad charge that Chinese authorities often use to sweep up activists and dissidents. Yang Zhengjun, editor-in-chief of the iLabour news site, has been in police detention since January. “They’re not guilty — they have caring hearts and because of that they face pressure from the government,” said Gu Fuxiang, one of the workers who signed the petition. “I’ve been thinking, this isn’t what my country is about. They should look after us.” Hundreds of migrant workers, mainly from central Hunan province, protested last year for compensation in Shenzhen after contracting silicosis, a deadly lung disease, when they helped transform the southern city from a market town into one of China’s biggest tech hubs. When workers were ignored by the government and pressured to stop protesting, the three labor activists were there for support, said Gu. Their petition, which is posted online, urges the Shenzhen police to release the three labor activists and is addressed to the government-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions. “The iLabour editors’ care and support for us, and their kindness and righteousness, is genuine,” read the letter, which was signed and fingerprinted by the workers last week. Many said they were surprised and confused when they heard news about the arrests. “I really sympathize with them, I don’t understand why they were arrested for helping us,” said Wang Haijun, another worker who has late-stage silicosis. Last week, the workers attempted to travel to Shenzhen by train to hand the letter to authorities but were stopped at train stations and prevented from boarding. Gu said he has had police visits in recent days, noting the sensitivity of the issue. According to family members of Wei and Ke, citing local police, the two activists were moved on Saturday to “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL), a form of detention that allows authorities to hold people for serious crimes, such as endangering national security. Authorities “are using RSDL to continue to hold them,” said Wei’s wife Zheng Churan, who is also a prominent feminist activist. “They’re no longer in police custody and their whereabouts are unknown, so anything can happen to them,” she said. “We are very scared.” “We have seen some of the reasons for using RSDL, and it’s not appropriate for (Wei and Ke’s) supposed crime,” Zheng added. Police in Shenzhen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese government has been tightening its grip on labor activism across the country over the last year. Factory workers from welding machinery company Jasic Technology and activists were arrested in July after they tried to form their own union. The following month, a group of student protesters from prestigious Chinese universities supporting their efforts were rounded up. More than 40 people related to the Jasic case remain in detention. “I think that the Jasic dispute last year made the authorities very nervous because it effectively brought together workers, labor rights groups, Maoist groups and students in a united cause which represented a potential threat to the Communist Party,” said Geoff Crothall, a spokesman for China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based labor rights group. “By going after activists, however, they will not stop worker protests,” he added. “These protests will continue for as long as the government allows employers to disregard and violate labor law with impunity.”
|
china;censorship;labor laws;rights;protests;jobs
|
jp0003703
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Anger erupts as Malaysian woman is cleared of murdering Indonesian maid she allegedly tortured
|
KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian woman has reportedly been cleared of murdering her Indonesian maid, who was allegedly tortured and forced to sleep outside with a dog, causing activists on Monday to criticize the “shocking” decision. Adelina Sau died in February last year after being found outside her employer’s home on the northern Malaysian island of Penang with her head and face swollen and covered in wounds. Many Indonesian maids opt to work in more affluent Malaysia and tales of abuse are common, but the horrific nature of Sau’s case generated headlines and sparked diplomatic tensions between the neighbors. Her employer, S. Ambika, was charged with murder — an offense that carries a mandatory death sentence in Malaysia — shortly after the 21-year-old was rescued, only to die in a hospital. But the High Court in Penang dropped the murder charge against her last week, local media reported, without saying why. Prominent Malaysian human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen called the decision “shocking and unacceptable.” “This was one of the most public and harrowing abuse cases ever recorded and yet the attorney general’s chambers somehow saw fit to drop the charge,” Paulsen, a member of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, said. Steven Sim, an MP from the area where Sau died, said the court decision was “as tragic as the death of Adelina.” Sim said he had contacted the attorney general, Tommy Thomas, who had vowed to look into the case. In Indonesia, Wahyu Susilo, executive director of NGO Migrant Care, condemned the acquittal and described it as “far from justice.” He said the employer may have been cleared due to a failure to get key witnesses, such as Sau’s parents, to testify at the trial, and called on Jakarta to lodge a protest. Her murder caused anger in Indonesia, with the foreign minister branding it unacceptable. Allegations of maid abuse, ranging from overwork to beatings and sex attacks, are a regular diplomatic flash point between the Southeast Asian neighbors.
|
malaysia;murder;indonesia;death penalty
|
jp0003704
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/22
|
As Japan's banks snub personal stamps, hanko makers pin hopes on growing foreign population
|
With Japan’s foreign population expected to grow in light of the new visa statuses introduced this month, makers of hanko (personal seals) see a new opportunity for business. The traditional seals are still required to conduct various kinds of transactions in Japan, from purchasing cars and houses to opening bank accounts and confirming registration documents. Their use, however, is getting phased out at major banks, and the government is allowing a larger portion of their administrative procedures to be completed online without them. Hankoya.com Inc., an Osaka-based company that sells personal stamps online, began offering a service last November that transcribes foreign clients’ names into kanji with similar pronunciations. After receiving an order, the company creates a stamp with the kanji that is sent to the customer together with an explanation of the characters. One seal it made uses the four kanji 奉流駒凛 to spell Brooklyn. It says the characters represent “respect and dignity.” Other examples on the firm’s website include 亜流敏 for Alvin and 栗洲泰能 for Cristiano. A Hankoya.com official said personal stamps for foreign people are selling well and offering the company a new source of income. According to an organization in Nagoya that supports foreign trainees, there are companies abroad that make personal seals for people moving to Japan. But since most use roman characters or katakana, they tend to bloat to the size of corporate hanko. In recent years, major banks have started to launch services that do not require hanko to complete. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. fully adopted the signature authentication system in business 2018. Customers can register their signatures in a digital form that includes data on the strength and direction of their pen strokes. The data is used to confirm identification, eliminating the need to carry their hanko around for such procedures as opening bank accounts. In September 2016 MUFG Bank started offering a way for people to open accounts without using personal seals. Instead, they send the bank an image of their driver’s license using a smartphone app. Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, took a different route by adopting a palm vein recognition system in May 2017. The government, too, is moving away from the trusty hanko. In March, the Cabinet approved a so-called digital-first bill aimed at making all administrative procedures paperless in principle. “Currently, more than 90 percent of the documents that need to be submitted to the government, including real estate registration applications and tax documents, can be done online,” said lawyer Hiroshi Miyauchi, 58, a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association who is well-versed in contracts that use electronic signatures. “It’s a hassle to use hanko and personal seals are easy to counterfeit,” Miyauchi said. “As the number of foreign people is increasing, companies should take this opportunity to seriously think about whether they really need hanko.” Still, Shachihata Inc., a major hanko maker in Nagoya, is confident Japanese society and the business world will retain the use of hanko. “Even with the increase in foreign people, our established culture will not be easily forgotten,” a Shachihata official said.
|
hanko;banks;expats;foreign trainees;hankoya.com
|
jp0003705
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Abe likely to use upcoming big events to distract Japanese public from election routs, experts say
|
The Liberal Democratic Party’s defeat in two by-elections on Sunday is likely to prompt the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to use upcoming diplomatic events to deflect domestic attention from recent political setbacks, as he looks ahead to a key Upper House election in the summer, experts said Monday. Sunday marked the first time the ruling LDP has been defeated in a by-election for national representatives since Abe returned to power in 2012, with the exception of one Kyoto race in 2016 where the ruling party lost by default. The weekend’s losses added to a recent string of political headaches for Abe, including the gaffe-triggered resignations of two high-ranking officials including former Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada, further strengthening the view that Abe faces an uphill battle as he heads toward the July poll. “This is a very disappointing result. As we brace for the summer Upper House election each and every one of the LDP’s lawmakers must take this result seriously, and straighten themselves out so we can secure victories,” Abe told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday. Going forward, the Abe administration is likely to take full advantage of the positive political events on the horizon to distract voters from memories of its recent mishaps, in hopes of maximizing the odds of the LDP prevailing in the July election, experts have said. “The most likely government strategy will be to maximize the benefits it can gain from the rising celebratory mood that will come with the (May 1) transition to a new era and the Group of Seven summit (in June) — not to mention (U.S. President Donald) Trump’s expected state visit to Japan” next month, said Norihiko Narita, a professor emeritus of political science at Surugadai University. Political observers have noted that LDP losses in the recent by-elections bode ill for the Abe administration, regardless of efforts by party officials to minimize the fallout. The by-elections in Okinawa and Osaka were largely seen as a bellwether to the LDP’s standing in the key July poll, which has significant implications for Abe’s longtime ambition to revise the post-war Constitution. Soon after the results poured in, high-level officials in the LDP reportedly sought to downplay the severity of the losses by attributing them to the politically “unique” nature of Osaka and Okinawa constituencies — a not-so-veiled attempt to dissociate them from a national trend. In Okinawa’s No. 3 constituency, opposition-backed freelance journalist Tomohiro Yara emerged victorious by riding a wave of local resistance to the government’s plan to relocate a U.S. military base. In the No. 12 district of Osaka, meanwhile, Fumitake Fujita of conservative opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai beat an LDP-backed candidate by successfully taking advantage of surging local support for the party’s push to reform the city’s administrative structure. It is true those unique factors inherent to each region played a part in triggering the LDP’s twin losses, said Yu Uchiyama, a professor of political science at the University of Tokyo. But the results — coupled with the fact that key LDP-backed candidates were also defeated in Fukuoka and Shimane in gubernatorial elections earlier this month — suggests “the Abe administration’s grip on power in regional areas is now destabilizing,” Uchiyama noted. “Just how much its support base is waning is open to further analysis,” he said. Serving as a distraction during the final campaign phase for Sunday’s by-elections was Koichi Hagiuda, an Abe sidekick who sent a shock wave through Japan’s political epicenter of Nagatacho by abruptly floating the possibility that Abe may shelve, for the third time, a consumption tax hike slated for October depending on the strength of the economy. In order for the hike to be postponed, “a public mandate must be sought,” Hagiuda reportedly said on an internet broadcast last week, reigniting speculation that Abe, political gambler that he is, may go ahead with a “double election” by dissolving the Lower House to coincide with the pre-scheduled July poll. Sunday’s election losses might make the Abe administration less confident about surviving an unpopular tax hike. But at the same time, experts are skeptical that Abe will really go ahead with postponing the measure, describing such a move as too risky. “The government will likely continue to calibrate, until the very last minute, whether voters will simply welcome the shelving of the tax hike or consider it irresponsible … That’s a tough call,” Uchiyama said. Narita, too, voiced skepticism, saying that many smaller retailers have already moved toward introducing the cashless payment systems needed for consumers to qualify for “reward point” refunds, effectively nullifying the effect of the tax hike — a measure encouraged by the government. Given their investment, backing off from the hike now has a high likelihood of backfiring, the professor said. Meanwhile, the Osaka by-election has cast renewed attention on the idiosyncratic relationship between the Abe administration and opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai. It wasn’t until Saturday, a day before the election, that Abe joined the campaign trail in Osaka to deliver a speech supporting LDP-backed Shinpei Kitakawa, who eventually lost to Ishin-backed Fujita. Experts say Abe’s apparently lukewarm backing of Kitakawa, as was shown by his eleventh-hour appearance in Osaka, points to his unwillingness to antagonize conservative Ishin, whose support he sees as essential to constitutional revision. “At a time when early voting is increasing, the prime minister making an appearance on the last day of campaigning isn’t as effective as before,” Narita said, noting that Abe’s actions suggest he may have sought to create merely the veneer of support for Kitakawa.
|
shinzo abe;nippon ishin no kai;osaka;ldp;elections;diet;scandals;local government
|
jp0003706
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Reform promotion panel to propose expanded use of original surnames for nursery teachers and care workers
|
A government panel plans to include in a set of recommendations a proposal calling for nursery teachers and others to be allowed to continue using their original surnames at work after marriage. The Regulatory Reform Promotion Council is discussing expanding the range of professions involving national vocational qualifications in which people are allowed to continue using their original surnames after marriage. The recommendations are part of measures aimed at empowering women set to be compiled as early as May, in line with a policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Among holders of national vocational qualifications, lawyers and certified public accountants are allowed to continue using their original surnames. But license registration under original surnames is not currently allowed for nursery teachers and care workers. Many in these professions are women, and have to change their registered names after marriage. Satsuki Katayama, minister for regulatory reform and minister for women’s empowerment, has indicated she is willing to review the current restrictions in a bid to create a workplace environment friendly to women. In the meantime, the envisaged expansion of the use of original surnames may influence discussions on introducing a system that would allow married couples to use their original names after marriage, pundits said. Conservatives supporters of the Abe administration tend to oppose the dual-surname system, claiming it could lead to the collapse of what they see as Japan’s traditional family system. If nursery teachers and care workers are allowed to keep using their original surnames after marriage, momentum for promoting discussions on the dual-surname system may weaken further, sources familiar with the situation said. “Expanding the use of original surnames is like a double-edged sword,” said a member of the regulatory reform panel, which is headed by Hiroko Ota, professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
|
shinzo abe;rights;women;cabinet
|
jp0003707
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Record six women secure mayor jobs in Japan's local elections, though two won uncontested
|
A record six women have secured city mayoralty in this year’s quadrennial unified local elections. On Sunday, the second and final round of the elections took place. There were mayoral elections in 59 cities (including three prefectural capitals, Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture, Nagasaki and Oita), 11 of the 23 special wards in Tokyo, and 66 towns and villages. Additionally, there were municipal assembly elections in 294 cities, 20 Tokyo wards, and 282 towns and villages. Of the six women, two incumbents — Yukari Kaneko, 60, mayor of the city of Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, and Noriko Suematsu, 48, mayor of the city of Suzuka in Mie Prefecture — secured their second and third terms, respectively, because no challengers had come forward by April 14 when the elections were announced, so they won by default. The other four women won the mayor position in Sunday’s elections. Of them, Akemi Fujita, 48, won her first term in the poll in the city of Kamo in Niigata Prefecture. Ritsuko Fujii, 65, also secured her first term as mayor of the city of Shunan in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Noriko Kawai, 63, mayor of the city of Kizugawa in Kyoto Prefecture, won her fourth term. Two women competed in the election in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture. The winner was Mai Ito, 49, who secured her first term. In the previous unified local elections in 2015, four women, then a record high, won city mayoralty. In the 294 city assembly elections held nationwide, a record number of 1,239 women won a seat, equivalent to 18.4 percent of the total number of seats up for election, also a record high percentage. In the mayoral elections in the three prefectural capitals, Kiichiro Sato, 61, mayor of the city of Oita; Yasushi Takahashi, 53, mayor of Mito; and Tomihisa Taue, 62, mayor of the city of Nagasaki won their second, third and fourth terms, respectively. Taue managed to beat three rivals. He drew broad-based support for his campaign pledge to promote the construction of facilities for international conferences and exhibitions in Nagasaki. Sato and Takahashi both defeated Japanese Communist Party-linked candidates. Voter turnout came to 45.10 percent in the Mito election, 47.33 percent in the Nagasaki poll and 27.72 percent in the Oita election. Osaka Ishin no Kai, a regional political party in Osaka Prefecture, fielded candidates in the mayoral elections in three cities in the prefecture, and won two of them, in the cities of Ikeda and Yao. Of the mayoral elections in Tokyo, Kita Ward Mayor Yosota Hanakawa, 84, won his fifth term. He is the oldest of all incumbent city and ward mayors in Japan. Toshima Ward Mayor Yukio Takano, 81, secured his sixth term. Vote counting will be conducted Monday for some mayoral and assembly elections in Tokyo. In the second round, mayors of 27 cities, including Tsu and Takamatsu, the capitals of Mie and Kagawa prefectures, respectively, and 55 towns and villages, and members of the municipal assemblies in 104 cities, towns and villages were elected uncontested. In the first round on April 7, gubernatorial elections were held in 11 prefectures, mayoral elections in six ordinance-designated major cities, and assembly elections in 41 prefectures and 17 ordinance-designated cities. Osaka Ishin won the Osaka gubernatorial election and the mayoral election in the city of Osaka.
|
kyoto;women;elections;local government;hyogo;ashiya
|
jp0003708
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Cosplaying eccentric Mac Akasaka of the Smile Party snags seat in Tokyo ward assembly
|
He clambers out from under the table, wearing a pink Hooter’s tank top while sporting fluffy angel wings and a halo, before bowing deeply toward the camera and taking a seat. “People of Tokyo — have you been smiling lately!?” he says suddenly, breaking into a wide grin and striking a pose. This is Makoto Tonami, 70, better known as Mac Akasaka of the Smile Party, at a campaign broadcast shown on public broadcaster NHK ahead of the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Mac Akasaka | KYODO On Sunday, after years of campaigning in national and local elections, Akasaka finally won an assembly seat on the assembly for Minato Ward in Tokyo. Akasaka is known for his eccentric campaign broadcasts that have captured viral attention, in which he has dressed up as a variety of colorful characters — including Mohandas Gandhi, an angel and “Superman” — all while promising to bring smiles to people’s faces through his policies. The campaign broadcasts are punctuated with his signature calls for people to “smile!” “Smile therapy is my lifework,” said Akasaka during an interview with the Japan Times after the Tokyo gubernatorial race in 2012. In his manifesto for this year’s vote, his campaign promises included tripling the number of elderly care facilities as well as paying a monthly allowance of ¥30,000 to Minato residents aged 65 and over, as well as young people who have not yet completed their final year of junior high school. Mac Akasaka (second from left) walks in the Nanba district of Osaka in March 2014 to support Toru Hashimoto, who was running in the Osaka mayoral election. | KYODO Responses to Akasaka’s win have been varied, with some taking to Twitter to post stills from Akasaka’s past election broadcasts and congratulating him on his win while one Twitter user, going by the handle @mtkfmtkf, jokingly tweeted “This guy really won a seat? Minato residents — what are you even thinking.” Despite the goofy costumes and his eccentric campaign speeches, Akasaka graduated from the prestigious Kyoto University before working at major trading company Itochu Corp. for over 20 years according to his website. After his stint at Itochu, he set up his own trading business specializing in rare metals — experience he has promised he would apply to his career as a politician.
|
tokyo;elections;local government;minato ward;mac akasaka
|
jp0003709
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Abe leaves for Europe, U.S. and Canada with Osaka G20 and China's 'Belt and Road' on his mind
|
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarked Monday on an eight-day European and North American trip hoping to rally support to jointly tackle global issues such as free trade as chair of this year’s Group of 20 summit. With China seeking greater influence with its “Belt and Road” infrastructure scheme in Europe, Abe is expected to push Japan’s own initiative — highlighting its aim of helping other nations build “high-quality” infrastructure that supports economic growth and ensures fiscal sustainability. But Abe will also try to strike a balance in such discussions amid a recent thaw in Japan-China ties, as Tokyo prepares for President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Japan as China’s leader for the G20 summit in Osaka in late June. “I will exchange views on major topics thoroughly with my foreign counterparts and coordinate efforts toward making (the summit) a success,” Abe told reporters at Haneda airport in Tokyo before leaving for the six-nation trip. The prime minister will travel aboard the new government Boeing 777-300ER that entered into service earlier this month. The plane, primarily used by the prime minister and the Emperor, is more fuel efficient and has a longer range than the previous government aircraft, a Boeing 747 that entered service in 1993, as well as in-flight Wi-Fi. Abe will visit France, Italy, Slovakia and Belgium before traveling to the United States and Canada. The prime minister will return to Japan on April 29, the day before Emperor Akihito’s abdication. One overarching theme of the G20 summit under Japan’s presidency will be the state of the world economy, Japanese government officials say, reflecting heightened trade friction between the United States and China and the threat posed to free trade. With roughly two months to go to the summit Abe hopes to exercise his leadership in coordinating views among the G20, the diverse membership of which has often led to divisions. Abe chose France as his first stop, hoping to work closely with Paris — the holder of this year’s Group of Seven presidency. In a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Abe is expected to express readiness to provide support for the reconstruction of the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral, according to Japanese officials. On the second leg of the trip, Abe hopes to get Italy’s support for achieving a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region, a concept being pushed by the United States as well as Japan, when he meets with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The visit follows Rome’s endorsement of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative in March, becoming the first G7 member to do so and raising concern in the group of leading industrial nations as well as within the European Union about the prospect of China getting a stronger foothold within the 28-member bloc. Abe will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit Slovakia, where he is scheduled to hold a meeting on Thursday with leaders from the Visegrad Four — Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Eastern Europe is seen as a key area for China’s envisaged expansion. “European countries are paying attention to Chinese moves and we want to convey our stance (on infrastructure development) and also hear their views too,” a Japanese official said. In Brussels, Abe will sit down for talks with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to make sure that both parties are united in pursuing free and rules-based trade, now that an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the bloc has come into force. The leaders may also discuss Brexit after the European Union gave the U.K. until Oct. 31 to leave, with Tokyo wary of the potential negative impact to Japanese companies operating in the country. Abe will then travel to the United States and meet with President Donald Trump on Friday to reaffirm cooperation in achieving North Korea’s denuclearization. Trade is likely to be another key item on the agenda, with Trump eager to address his country’s hefty trade deficit with Japan and the second round of talks on a bilateral trade agreement expected to take place before the two leaders meet. The prime minister may play golf with Trump and celebrate first lady Melania’s birthday. His visit to the United States comes about a month before Japan is due to receive the Trumps as the first state guests of the new Imperial era of Reiwa, which will run from May following the ascension of a new emperor. In Canada, the final destination of his trip, Abe will seek to deepen bilateral economic and security ties further in a meeting Sunday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
|
china;shinzo abe;europe;u.s .;trade;canada;g20;belt and road;prime minister shinzo abe
|
jp0003710
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/22
|
One Japanese national killed, four others injured as Sri Lanka attacks rock expat community
|
One Japanese national was killed and four others injured in terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday. The attacks left at least 290 dead and more than 500 injured. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that Tokyo “never tolerates” such violence, and is “determined to combat terrorism” by cooperating with the Sri Lankan government and internationally. The dead Japanese national was a woman identified as Kaori Takahashi, a local resident whose age was not immediately known, according to a Kyodo News report quoting unnamed government sources. One of the four injured was reportedly a worker at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo, and another was Kazukiyo Yajima of telecom carrier KDDI Corp., according to Kyodo News. A spokesperson for KDDI Corp. confirmed to The Japan Times that one of their workers was injured at a local hotel and was hospitalized as of Monday afternoon. He was able to speak and walk despite his injury, the spokesperson said. The worker had been visiting Sri Lanka together with 10 other KDDI workers on a business trip. Churches, luxury hotels and other sites were hit by explosions in the nine bombings. At least 35 foreigners are counted among the dead, including Takahashi, according to Kyodo News. Local police have reportedly arrested 13 suspects in connection with Sunday’s bombings. Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, although there was no immediate declaration of responsibility, according to AP. During the news conference in Tokyo, Suga declined to identify any of the five Japanese victims, saying the government had yet to gain the consent of their families. “It is extremely regrettable to see such serious damage” to the local Japanese community in Sri Lanka, Suga said. “We feel a strong sense of indignation,” he said. According to the Foreign Ministry, a total of 767 Japanese were living in Sri Lanka as of October 2017, 365 of whom reside in Colombo. The Japanese population there is much smaller than that of many other Asian cities. In Sri Lanka, there were 89 offices belonging to Japanese firms as of October 2017 — placing the nation 50th among all countries where Japanese companies have offices. Japan’s government has dispatched a special unit to Sri Lanka to gather information related to the victims and attackers from local investigative authorities, according to Suga. The bombings could deal a blow to the country’s tourism industry, which had been recovering following the end of a 26-year-long civil war in 2009. Major Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. said it had confirmed by Sunday night the safety of all tourists staying in Sri Lanka via its tours. The company said it was weighing whether to proceed with upcoming tours during the 10-day Golden Week holiday that begins this Saturday. The Tokyo office of Sri Lankan travel agency Yathra Travels Ltd. has already seen several cancellations among the roughly 100 people who had signed up for tours during the holiday period, an agency official said. The company said it is considering changing itineraries to ensure the safety of tourists.
|
terrorism;yoshihide suga;sri lanka;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003711
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Gold tub at Japanese resort recognized by Guinness as world's heaviest
|
SASEBO, NAGASAKI PREF. - An 18-carat gold bathtub weighing 154.2 kilograms at a Japanese hot spring resort has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the heaviest on the planet, the resort’s operator said. The tub worth ¥800 million measures 1.3 meters in diameter, large enough to allow two adults to relax, Huis Ten Bosch Co. said Monday. “This gold bathtub outclasses all others in the world, and we hope our customers enjoy it and increase their luck,” the company said. The tub was made by Tokyo goldsmiths while the resort’s hot spring facility was undergoing a renovation. The tub, which Guinness confirmed to work properly for practical use, is located in a reserved space and can be used by up to four people for ¥5,400 per hour. The resort, known for its salty, brown-colored spring water, has various themed baths and reserved private baths.
|
nagasaki;guinness world records;gold;sasebo
|
jp0003712
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/22
|
U.S. may back commercial use of Yokota base during 2020 Tokyo Olympics, top officer says
|
A top commander of U.S. Forces Japan backed the idea Monday of allowing commercial aircraft to use the U.S. military’s Yokota Air Base, located in the suburbs of Tokyo, during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. “We will support it a hundred percent” if the State Department approves specifics for it, said Brig. Gen. Christopher Mahoney, deputy commander of U.S. Forces Japan, at a group media interview in Tokyo. Japan’s government has requested that the U.S. Air Force base be open for partial use by commercial aircraft on a temporary basis, to address traffic demand expected to surge throughout next year’s games. The commander said nothing had been decided yet concerning the possible military-civilian use of the Yokota base, but suggested that the two countries are discussing requirements for the plan at working-level talks. In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush agreed to start studying the possibility of allowing civilian aircraft to use the Yokota base, but the plan has not progressed since that time.
|
tokyo;u.s. military;u.s. bases;2020 tokyo olympics;yokota air base
|
jp0003713
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Hiroshima bone marrow donors dwindling with age amid lack of registration volunteers and education
|
Following renowned swimmer Rikako Ikee’s announcement of her leukemia diagnosis, public interest in donating bone marrow has increased, especially in Hiroshima Prefecture, which has more than its fair share of patients as a result of the atomic bombing in 1945. In Hiroshima, though, the eligible donors are getting older, forcing officials to hammer out plans to find new donors. Bone marrow provides blood-forming cells for individuals with such diseases as leukemia. In the prefecture, a little over 60 percent of all donors are in their 40s or 50s, with the ratio of those in their 20s or 30s below the national average. The age limit is 55, so when a donor reaches that age, his or her data are automatically deleted. As of the end of February, there were 8,873 registered bone marrow donors in Hiroshima. Nearly half (47.9 percent) are in their 40s, and the ratio combined with those in their 50s is 63.3 percent — surpassing Japan’s average of 56.6 percent. Donors in their 30s constitute 23.3 percent of the total, and donors in their 20s amount to 12.6 percent. Those ratios are 4 points and 2.5 points, respectively, below the national average. In Hiroshima, there are only 7.3 registered donors per 1,000 people between the ages 25 and 54, which is also below the national average of 8.9. Kazushi Noda, director of Hiroshima Donor Bank, in Minami Ward, said donor registrations are sluggish because there are only 10 volunteers who can help with the procedures and only three fixed donation stations where people can register in the prefecture. Some said that awareness of bone marrow donation must be spread through education. “It’s not that young people are not interested in learning about leukemia. They just don’t have many opportunities to learn about it,” said Noriko Hirohata, a 69-year-old public relations official at a local branch of the Japan Marrow Donor Program. “They’d feel more comfortable with registering as donors had they learned about it through high school and college and experienced donating blood first.” Ikee announced her leukemia diagnosis in February. After that, 374 people in Hiroshima Prefecture signed up to become donors the same month. The total in fiscal 2018 was expected to be about 1,100, nearly double the total from the year before. An age-based breakdown of the donors has not been disclosed, but one official who wished to remain anonymous said many were in their 20s. “I want to launch a seminar encouraging bone marrow donor registrations alongside blood drives at universities and companies,” Noda said. “I also want to hold more information sessions about donor registration throughout the prefecture. In order to do that, I hope more volunteers join.” The prefecture plans to host marrow-donation workshops to increase the number this fiscal year, recognizing the lack of volunteers as a problem.
|
hiroshima;leukemia;organ donation;rikako ikee
|
jp0003714
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/04/22
|
Former LDP lawmaker Tsuyoshi Tabata referred to prosecutors over alleged rape while woman slept
|
NAGOYA - Police on Monday referred a former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker to prosecutors following an allegation of forced sexual intercourse involving a woman he was dating in December, according to investigative sources. Tsuyoshi Tabata, 46, a former Bank of Japan employee who has served three terms in the House of Representatives, has reportedly admitted to the allegation, said to have involved the woman at her home while she was sleeping after they had dinner together in Nagoya on Christmas Eve. The former lawmaker is also suspected of having committed an offense by taking photos of the woman, who is in her 20s, with his mobile phone while she was naked, the sources said. Tabata resigned from the LDP in February and from the Diet in March after facing criticism from both the ruling and opposition camps over the alleged assault.
|
ldp;rape;diet;scandals;sex crimes;tsuyoshi tabata
|
jp0003715
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
More than 40 million people work in artisanal mining, digging precious ore by hand: report
|
LONDON - More than 40 million people around the world work in artisanal and small-scale mining where minerals including gold, diamonds and cobalt are dug up often by hand, a report by the World Bank and development organization Pact said on Wednesday. Increasing demand for metals and rising prices have triggered a boom in small-scale mining in recent years, mainly in poorer countries in South America, Africa and Asia. These mines are a vital source of income for communities, but many operate outside the law and leak chemicals into rocks, soil and rivers. Working conditions can be appalling, and the metal and stones dug up are often smuggled across borders on a vast scale, sometimes by criminal operations. Billions of dollars worth of gold is being smuggled out of Africa, a Reuters investigation found this week. The World Bank and Pact said too little was known about how many people worked in small mines and previous estimates, which were often far lower than 40 million, tended to be partial or rely on outdated data. “It’s time to shine a light on this vital sector so we can accelerate investments in people and communities for greater equity and sustainable economic growth,” Riccardo Puliti, the World Bank’s head of energy and extractives global practice, said in a statement. The report said 16.3 million people worked in small-scale mining in South Asia, of which 12 million were in India, and 9.8 million people in East Asia and the Pacific, of which 9 million were in China. Another 9.9 million people worked in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said, with 2 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo and between 1 and 1.5 million each in Sudan, Ghana and Tanzania. Just over 2 million people work in the industry in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 1.9 million more in the Middle East and North Africa and 100,000 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, it said. Thirty percent of the workers globally were women, the report found. Minerals mined in small-scale and artisanal mines include gold and diamonds, used for jewelry and investment, and tin, tungsten, tantalum and cobalt consumed in industry, electronics and batteries that power electric vehicles.
|
pollution;smuggling;world bank;gold;diamonds;pact
|
jp0003716
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Marijuana pioneer Uruguay to be first in Latin America to export for medicinal use
|
NUEVA HELVECIA, URUGUAY - Already the first country in the world to legalize recreational use of marijuana, Uruguay now aims to go further by becoming the first in Latin America to export it for medicinal purposes. It has taken a year to get to this point but in Nueva Helvecia — 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Montevideo — the first harvest is ready to be sent abroad. Employees of the U.S. company Fotmer — the only one currently licensed to export — are cutting and drying the plant before it is exported to Europe, Canada and Australia. In taking this step, Uruguay is joining the ranks of medicinal marijuana exporters dominated by the United Kingdom, which according to United Nations data from 2016 had cornered more than two thirds of the market. The Netherlands (16.4 percent) and Austria (8.7) are the other major players although a growing number of countries are investing in producing medical marijuana, which is legal in around 30 countries worldwide. “Uruguay has been visionary,” said Jordan Lewis, 46, one of Fotmer’s owners. “The market is growing” and Lewis believes Uruguay — a country in which cannabis can be bought in pharmacies — could lead the way. This year, Fotmer aims to produce 6 tons of medicinal marijuana but Lewis’ ultimate goal is to reach 400 tons a year in return for a $15 million investment. It has installed 18 greenhouses in Uruguay covering 30,000 square meters (320,000 square feet). The plants can grow to 2 meters (6.5 feet)high after which employees such as 33-year-old Santiago Bardanca prune them and separate stems and flowers into colored boxes. “It takes between five and 10 minutes” for each person to process a plant, Bardanca told AFP. Fotmer employs 150 people in peak season when the plants are harvested. That is an intense and stressful time that lasts just a few days as employees work in shifts to ensure a 24-hour operation. The whole process is tightly regulated as the flowers and extract which the plants produce are mostly destined for the pharmaceutical industry. “Our aim is to become the main provider of medical marijuana” in the world, taking advantage of Uruguay’s liberal laws surrounding the drug, added American Lewis, a veterinarian by profession. Starting with 10 plants, he jumped at the opportunity afforded him by the South American country to run his own business dealing in a plant he has studied extensively and whose economic potential he considers huge. Through cloning, he now has 10,000 plants. A 2017 study by U.S.-based Grand View Research has estimated the global market for medical marijuana could reach $55.8 billion by 2025. The flowers are sent to countries such as Germany — one of 21 European Union nations where medical marijuana is legal — while other chemical components are used in specific remedies, says Lewis. In the production process, each area is strictly separated. To pass from one room to another, employees must pass through a pressurized area in which connecting doors can only be opened one at a time. Workers must even change clothes, shoes and masks when moving between the different production areas to reduce the risk of contamination. “This is hyperparanoia,” said Fotmer’s scientific director, Asim Beg, but necessary given “this is a medicine like any other medicine.” The production process involves cutting the plants at exactly the right moment, then leaving the flowers for six days to dry and another six to “stabilize,” during which time the chemical components reach their final state. It then takes two days to pack the final product. “The plant’s entire life is monitored from plantation to sale,” said Beg, adding that it is a pharmaceutical industry requirement. Each packet weighs around 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and will be sold for between $9,000 and $21,000 on the international market, where prices range from $3 to $7 per gram. The first packages will be heading to Germany. “It’s very emotional,” admits Lewis.
|
medicine;drugs;marijuana;uruguay
|
jp0003717
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
BOJ vows to keep rates super-low for at least a year, and trims Japan growth and inflation forecasts
|
The Bank of Japan told investors it would keep interest rates at superlow levels for at least one more year, indicating a time scale for anticipated rate stability for the first time and seeking to dispel uncertainty over its commitment to ultraloose policies as the economy comes under fresh pressures. The bank’s decision to give more specific policy guidance to financial markets comes amid signs that weaker global demand and Sino-U.S. trade tensions are taking an increasing toll on Japan’s export-reliant economy. The move puts the BOJ in line with the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, which have been forced to pause efforts to scale back crisis-mode policies due to heightening uncertainty over the global economic outlook. “The BOJ intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short-term and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time, at least through around spring 2020,” it said in a statement announcing its decision to keep policy settings steady. Previously, the BOJ had not offered specifics on how long it would maintain very low rates, saying only that it would be “for an extended period of time.” BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank was ready to adjust policy swiftly if necessary to sustain momentum needed for the economy to achieve its 2 percent inflation target. “It’s likely to take some more time to hit our target,” Kuroda told a news conference. “The economy is maintaining momentum to achieve our price target. But that momentum lacks strength.” In fresh projections released Thursday, the BOJ slightly cut its economic growth and inflation forecasts. It now sees growth of 0.9 percent in the next fiscal year beginning in April 2020, down from 1.0 percent projected in January but still above the expectations seen in a recent Reuters poll of economists. It also forecast consumer inflation would hit 1.6 percent the following year, conceding that price growth will fall short of its target for at least three more years. Core inflation in March was 0.8 percent. As widely expected, the BOJ maintained its short-term rate target at minus 0.1 percent and that of long-term yields at around zero percent at a two-day meeting that ended on Thursday. It also reiterated it will keep buying assets such as government bonds and exchange-traded equity funds. “The fact the BOJ tweaked its forward guidance to include overseas economies signaled its caution over the economic outlook,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief market economist at SMBC Nikko Securities. “As the global economy slows further, the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates later this year or early next year. The BOJ may be forced into further easing around the same time.” The BOJ said it had decided to clarify its guidance to show its resolve to maintain powerful easing, as it was likely to take more time for prices to pick up. The bank also announced steps to make its monetary easing framework more sustainable, such as expanding the type of collateral it accepts for supplying funds to financial institutions. Slowing global demand and trade tensions have hurt exports and business sentiment, adding to headaches for BOJ policymakers who are clinging to the hope that overseas demand will recover and help the economy later this year. In the quarterly outlook, the BOJ stuck to its view that the economy will continue to expand moderately as a trend. But it said it would be vigilant to various uncertainties such as the effect of a sales tax hike scheduled for October and overseas economic developments. Years of heavy money printing have failed to fire up inflation to the BOJ’s target and left it with little ammunition to fight the next recession. Prolonged easing has also added to stresses on regional banks, already facing slumping profits due to a graying population and an exodus of borrowers to big cities. Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho Securities, said the fact the BOJ did not ramp up asset purchases showed it was aware of the growing side effects of prolonged easing. “The BOJ is worried that consumer prices may not rise even after risks posed by overseas economies recede,” he said. “It’s saying it will continue to keep policy easy but there are limits to what more it can do, both in terms of duration and the kinds of tools available.”
|
boj;inflation;economy;monetary policy;economic indicators;negative interest rates
|
jp0003718
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/25
|
SoftBank and Google parent tie up on flying 5G stations for phone services using balloons and drones
|
SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO - Mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. and Google LLC parent Alphabet Inc. said Thursday they will jointly set up airborne mobile phone base stations, using balloons and aircraft in the stratosphere, to cover wider areas for next-generation 5G wireless services. SoftBank’s year-old HAPSMobile and Alphabet’s Loon, which spun out last July from the research incubator of the Google parent, have been trying separately to fly networking equipment at high altitudes to provide high-speed internet in spots where ground-based towers are unreachable. Loon carries the gear with a large balloon, while HAPSMobile uses a large drone. Despite internet coverage gaps in rural areas or during natural disasters, mobile network operators, governments and other potential customers have yet to demonstrate much enthusiasm for buying airborne technologies. Also competing to fill the coverage gaps are several billionaire entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. Each is backing separate early-stage ventures that want to beam internet from satellites in near-Earth orbit. Under their tie-up deal, HAPSMobile Inc. will invest $125 million in Loon to build a telecommunications network some 20 kilometers above ground, they said. HAPSMobile plans to introduce the system in 2023. The companies have described their partnership as a “long-term” tie-up between one of Japan’s top three wireless carriers and one of the world’s biggest tech companies. “The system can offer internet access even in times of natural disasters, including earthquake and tsunami, and enhance connectivity in remote islands, mountains and in developing countries,” HAPSMobile CEO and President Junichi Miyakawa told a news conference in Tokyo. HAPSMobile aims to transmit a signal, via its unmanned aircraft, that can cover 200 kilometers in diameter. Solar-powered and with a wingspan of 75 meters, the airplane can remain for six months at a time in the stratosphere, where weather is mild throughout the year and there is little change in wind speed. Initially, HAPSMobile plans to offer the system to mobile phone carriers in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, where internet connectivity is still limited. It eventually seeks to expand the service to Japan, where demand to connect various devices and sensors for use in the manufacturing and farming sectors is growing. In the deal, Loon will also have the rights to invest the same amount of $125 million in HAPSMobile. The two companies will also collaborate in sales related to each other’s aerial telecommunications networks, in addition to developing products jointly. “We are very excited about the airplane’s capability and what it can do for global connectivity,” Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth said. “We are poised for an exciting new era for global connectivity.” Loon has conducted trial launches of balloons carrying base stations in Africa. Facebook Inc. and Airbus S.A.S. are also trying to offer similar stratospheric telecommunications system. HAPSMobile emerged from technology developed by drone-maker AeroVironment Inc, which owns 10 percent of the SoftBank subsidiary. Fifth-generation services started in South Korea and the United States this month, while a trial 5G service will begin in Japan this fall. The superfast services enable smartphone users to download a two-hour film in just seconds.
|
internet;smartphones;google;drones;tech;softbank;phones;balloons;5g;alphabet
|
jp0003719
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Japan's info protection panel considers beefing up protections for internet users' data
|
Japan is moving closer to requiring companies to stop using personal information for such purposes as advertising if requested by consumers, a government plan showed Thursday. The proposal was part of an interim report issued by the government’s Personal Information Protection Commission, which is discussing revising the private information protection law in 2020. It would be the first amendment to the law, which entered took into force in May 2017, since a clause saying it must reviewed every three years was added later that year. The commission plans to solicit public opinion on the plan because Japan is considering strengthening regulations against corporate IT giants like Amazon.com and Google LLC, given consumers are becoming increasingly anxious their personal data is being collected without consent. “It is necessary to consider ways to expand the scope of personal rights” regarding when to suspend the use of personal information by companies, the interim report states. The panel is expected to continue talks on whether to include “the right to be forgotten” in the next amendment. That feature allows individuals to have internet firms remove past images or search results related to them. The right has already been introduced in parts of Europe. Personal data including names, birthdates and addresses are collected by a range of companies through legitimate means and have widely been used for marketing purposes in Japan. At present, companies respond to consumer requests to remove personal data on a voluntary basis. But if the commission’s proposal is approved, such actions will be mandatory. Those targeted by the envisioned regulation include not only Japanese firms, but also the global IT giants known as the big four — Google, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon. The panel is also considering ways to apply the law to companies based overseas. Firms such as Amazon and Google have thrived by using such data to tailor their services to individuals while fanning concerns about loss of privacy. Japanese officials have been looking into whether an existing law can be used to penalize the operators of such platforms for mishandling personal data they collect from users. In October, the commission ordered Facebook to improve its protection of such information. The European Union has already introduced tough regulations on how to handle personal information to protect people against online technology giants.
|
internet;google;privacy;apple;amazon;facebook;big data;advertising;personal information
|
jp0003720
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Boeing abandons outlook and sees $1 billion in extra costs due to 737 Max debacle
|
BANGALORE, INDIA/SEATTLE/PARIS - Boeing Co. on Wednesday abandoned its 2019 financial outlook, halted share buybacks and said lowered production due to the grounding of its fastest-selling 737 Max jet after two fatal plane crashes in five months had cost it at least $1 billion so far. The world’s largest planemaker is facing one of the biggest crises in its 103-year history following the disasters on Lion Air in Indonesia on Oct. 29 and another on Ethiopian Airlines on March 10, which together killed all 346 on board. Chicago-based Boeing is now reckoning with a blow to its reputation and the financial cost of getting the planes back in the air. It met sharply lowered Wall Street profit estimates, largely due to stopping deliveries of the 737 Max jets and a slowdown in production. The production slowdown alone has cost it $1 billion so far, the company said, because the lower rate means the plane-maker has to pay more for parts, which are priced according to the volume Boeing buys. Boeing also booked unspecified charges related to developing a Max software fix and pilot training. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told analysts on a conference call that Boeing has confidence in its software fix and expects a certification flight with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in the “near term” after completing more than 135 test and production flights. “The timing of return to service for that Max will continue to be paced by ongoing work with global regulators and our customers,” Muilenburg said. “If there’s something that we can do to make airplane development programs or the certification process better and safer, we will pursue it.” A fuller picture of how Boeing plans to repair its image with the flying public and stem further financial damage will not emerge until the end of the second-quarter as 737 production cuts did not begin until mid-April. Investors are also looking for details on how the Max crisis will hit development of Boeing’s all-new 777X twin-aisle jetliner and a potential new midmarket airplane, known in the industry as NMA, which is central to its fight with arch-rival Airbus SE in the lucrative longer-haul market and also is expected to lay the industrial foundation for an eventual 737 replacement. Muilenburg said the company did not see any changes to the underlying certification process for 777X in light of the Max reviews, and continues to work “in parallel” on plans for NMA, although he stressed the 737’s return was a higher priority. Boeing said on Wednesday it sped up production of its 787 Dreamliner to 14 aircraft per month from 12 in the first quarter, while the 777X remained on track for flight testing this year with delivery in 2020. Boeing shares rose 1.5 percent. The crashes caused regulators worldwide to ground the 737 Max and triggered investigations into the aircraft’s development by federal transportation authorities and the U.S. Department of Justice. Although safety experts have raised some questions over crew performance in both crashes, attention has focused on anti-stall software known as MCAS, which Boeing has acknowledged was a common link in the separate chains of events leading to both crashes. Muilenburg insisted on Wednesday that “there was no surprise or gap or unknown here or something that somehow slipped through the certification process.” “We know exactly how the airplane was designed. We know exactly how it was certified,” he said. “We’ve taken the time to understand that. That has led to the software update that we’ve been implementing and testing and we’re very confident that when the fleet comes back up, the Max will be one of the safest airplanes ever to fly.” Boeing cut production of the jets following the Max grounding to 42 aircraft per month, down from 52, and its operating cash flow in the first quarter was around $350 million lower than a year earlier. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Boeing told some 737 Max owners it was targeting U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval of its software fix as early as the third week of May and the ending of the grounding of the aircraft around mid-July as it resumes building 52 aircraft per month. Boeing also took an impairment charge at its Boeing Capital financing unit and removed 210 aircraft from its order backlog to reflect concerns about customer credit quality. It did not disclose the name of the airline involved but the move came days after India’s Jet Airways halted operations after lenders rejected a plea for emergency funds. Boeing said it would issue a new financial forecast when it has more clarity around the issues surrounding the 737 Max. In January, it said it expected full-year revenue of $109.5 billion to $111.5 billion and core earnings per share between $19.90 and $20.10. The company repurchased $2.3 billion of its shares in the latest quarter, all of which occurred prior to mid-March. Boeing bought back $9 billion of its stock last year. First-quarter operating cash flow declined to $2.79 billion, from $3.14 billion, missing the Wall Street’s average estimate of $2.82 billion. Revenue fell 2 percent to $22.92 billion, below analysts’ average estimate of $22.98 billion. Excluding certain items, Boeing said its core earnings fell to $3.16 per share, in the quarter from $3.64 per share, a year earlier. That matched analysts’ average estimate.
|
airlines;boeing;stocks;ethiopian airlines;737 max;lion air;air accidents;dennis muilenburg
|
jp0003721
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Deutsche Bank handing over Trump loan documents in New York probe, source says
|
NEW YORK - Deutsche Bank has begun to provide documents on financing for some of President Donald Trump’s projects to New York State authorities, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Wednesday. In mid-March, New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed the German bank, demanding records related to loans and lines of credit granted to the Trump Organization. The money was intended to finance projects such as Trump hotels in Washington, Miami and Chicago, another source told AFP last month on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear whether Deutsche Bank had provided all the documents requested. “We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations,” a bank spokesman told AFP, while declining to comment on a CNN report that the company was handing over the documents. James’ office also declined comment on the status of the documents regarding financing for the Trump Organization, the holding company that has been run by Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. since he entered the White House. New York authorities also wanted records related to the Trump Organization’s failed attempt in 2014 to buy the Buffalo Bills football team, the source said on condition of anonymity. James demanded the information from Deutsche Bank after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress, saying among other things that Trump wildly inflated his net worth in order to secure loans from Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank was one of the few major banks to continue to lend to Trump following the bankruptcies of his casinos and other businesses in the 1990s. The German bank in recent years has loaned Trump more than $300 million. That put the bank at the center of investigations and congressional scrutiny. When opposition Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in January, they sought information on interest rates granted to the Trump Organization, as well as details on a huge Russian money laundering case that earned Deutsche Bank a $630 million fine in January 2017.
|
u.s .;new york;deutsche bank;donald trump;trump organization;russia probe;michael cohen;new york state
|
jp0003722
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Dollar nearly unchanged around ¥111.80 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was almost unchanged around ¥111.80 in Tokyo trading late Thursday after its early gains were erased by selling on a rally. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.83-83, against ¥111.81-81 the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1154-1154, down from $1.1216-1216, and at ¥124.82-83, down from ¥125.41-43. The dollar briefly rose to around ¥112.20 on a rise in the benchmark Nikkei stock average. But the currency was later pressured by selling to square positions ahead of a meeting between Finance Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin later on Thursday, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said. “There was a sense of caution among market players against the possibility that Aso and Mnuchin will discuss a currency clause,” an official at a foreign exchange trading service firm said, referring to a proposed provision under a potential Japan-U.S. trade agreement designed to prevent competitive currency devaluations. Market players reacted little to the Bank of Japan’s decision to keep both short- and long-term interest rates extremely low until at least spring 2020 and a news conference by BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda. The BOJ’s decision “had only a limited impact” on currency trading, the foreign exchange trading service firm official said. Kuroda’s press conference “gave no incentives,” an official of an asset management firm said.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0003724
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Tokyo stocks rebound on rosy earnings and Bank of Japan decision
|
Stocks rebounded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday as investor sentiment was brightened by robust corporate earnings reports and the Bank of Japan’s decision to keep interest rates low. The 225-issue Nikkei average gained 107.58 points, or 0.48 percent, to 22,307.58, its highest finish since Dec. 3. Wednesday, the key market gauge dropped 59.74 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 8.23 points, or 0.51 percent, at 1,620.28, after falling 10.92 points the previous day. Buying of companies with strong earnings supported the market, brokers said. The central bank’s decision to keep both short- and long-term interest rates extremely low until at least around spring 2020 also served as a tailwind for Japanese shares, they said. The BOJ’s decision “prompted short covering,” said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. The decision pushed up domestic demand-oriented names, said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co. But he said that the BOJ’s move “wasn’t so surprising and its effect is unlikely to last long.” Brokers said that a wait-and-see mood remained strong ahead of Japan’s 10-day holiday from Saturday. “Foreign investors apparently had no interest” in trading in Tokyo, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said, indicating that individual players led Thursday’s advance. Rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,578 to 489 in the TSE’s first section, while 73 issues were unchanged. Volume inched up to 1.221 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.213 billion shares. Hitachi Chemical Co. shot up 9.77 percent on news reports that parent Hitachi is considering selling the core unit. Kao Corp. climbed 5.25 percent the day after the daily goods manufacturer announced plans to buy back up to 7 million of its shares. Also on the plus side were chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron and technology investor Softbank Group Corp. By contrast, Nissan Motor Co. sagged 1.77 percent the day after downgrading its operating profit forecast for the year ended last March. Food producer Kikkoman Corp., pharmaceutical firm Astellas Pharma Inc. and clothing store chain Fast Retailing Co. were among other major losers. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average went up 180 points to end at 22,350.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0003725
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Trump's Fed pick Stephen Moore draws fire from Democrats over sexist remarks; Republicans silent
|
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK - Stephen Moore, the economic commentator that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will nominate to the Federal Reserve Board, is drawing new fire from top Democrats for his comments denigrating, among other targets, women and the Midwest. But Republicans, whose 53 to 47 majority in the U.S. Senate gives them the final say on whether Moore’s pending nomination is confirmed, have not weighed in since news surfaced this week documenting Moore’s long history of sexist remarks, some of which he says were made jokingly. As a Fed governor, Moore would have a say on setting interest rates for the world’s biggest economy. Some economists and Democratic lawmakers have questioned his competence, citing his support for tying policy decisions to commodity prices and his fluctuating views on rates. This week though, it is his comments about gender and geography that are drawing criticism. “What are the implications of a society in which women earn more than men? We don’t really know, but it could be disruptive to family stability,” Moore wrote in one column in 2014. In 2000, he opined that “women tennis pros don’t really want equal pay for equal work. They want equal pay for inferior work.” The New York Times among others has documented many other instances where he expressed similar viewpoints. It’s just added evidence that Moore is unfit for the Fed job, vice chair of the joint economic committee, Carolyn Maloney, told Reuters. “Those include his reckless tendency to politicize the Fed as well as his bizarre and sexist comments about women in sports that came to light this week,” she said. Republicans, she said, “should also take note that Moore has said capitalism is more important than democracy. That’s a dangerous comment that further confirms my belief that Moore shouldn’t be allowed on the Fed Board.” Maloney earlier this month sent a letter urging Republican Sen. Mike Crapo and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown to oppose Moore’s nomination. Crapo and Brown are the chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Senate banking committee, which would be Moore’s first stop in any confirmation hearings. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Charles Schumer, both Democrats, have also publicly criticized Moore as well as businessman Herman Cain, who withdrew his name from consideration for the Fed this week amid mounting objections. Cain said he stopped the process because he realized the job would mean a pay cut and would prevent him from pursuing his current business and speaking gigs. The Senate banking panel’s 13 Republican members, contacted by Reuters about their views on Moore’s suitability for the Fed role after his derisive commentary about women came to light, all either did not respond or declined to comment. But Brown on Wednesday blasted Moore for comments he made in 2014 calling cities in the Midwest, including Cincinnati, the “armpits of America.” Brown demanded an apology. “It would be your job to carefully consider monetary and regulatory policies that support communities throughout the country — even those you apparently consider beneath you,” Brown wrote in a letter to Moore. “Based on your bias against communities across the heartland of our country, it’s clear that you lack the judgment to make important decisions in their best interest.” On Wednesday, Moore told Reuters his earlier remarks on women were not in accord with his current views. “I DO regret writing that column 17 years ago and it does not reflect my feelings today,” he said, referencing a column on his dim view of women’s participation in the game of basketball. His views on the Midwest also had improved, now that Trump is in office. “I’m writing a column about Ohio right now as a matter of fact. Trump is making Ohio great again. It’s a wonderful renaissance. Was just in Cleveland a few weeks ago and the vitality is back.”
|
u.s .;women;exchange rates;discrimination;federal reserve;democrats;donald trump;stephen moore
|
jp0003726
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
J-Power and other firms to scale down coal-fired power plant project in Yamaguchi Prefecture
|
Electric Power Development Co., also known as J-Power, said Wednesday that it will scale down a project to build a coal-fired thermal power plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture with two partners. J-Power, Osaka Gas Co. and Ube Industries Ltd. made the decision in light of international criticism of coal-fired power generation, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide. The three had planned to build a power plant with a total output of 1.2 million kilowatts in the city of Ube, with operations expected to start in 2026. Osaka Gas intends to withdraw from the project. J-Power and Osaka Gas each hold a 45 percent stake in Yamaguchi-Ube Power Generation Co., a joint company that was created to run the envisioned power plant. Osaka Gas decided to withdraw after assessing business risks associated with environmental regulations from 2030, President Takehiro Honjo told a news conference, citing concerns about the profitability of the plant. J-Power and Ube Industries are now considering halving the planned output to 600,000 kW, and switching to newer equipment with lower carbon dioxide emissions. The two companies will obtain a new environmental assessment for the project, with the hope of starting operations at the plant in the late 2020s. In January this year, Kyushu Electric Power Co., Tokyo Gas Co. and Idemitsu Kosan Co. said they had scrapped plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Chiba Prefecture.
|
energy;coal;emissions;osaka gas;j-power;ube industries
|
jp0003727
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Carlos Ghosn released from detention center, days after his fourth indictment
|
Despite facing the most serious charges yet in his ongoing legal saga, former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn was granted bail for the second time on Thursday by the Tokyo District Court and was released from the Tokyo Detention House. Thursday’s bail was set at ¥500 million, which was already paid by Ghosn. Earlier in the day prosecutors filed an objection but the court rejected it. The court made the decision partly because it determined there was no risk of evidence tampering, legal experts have said. “He had already established, after a great deal of time and effort on the part of his lawyers, that he was not a risk to escape or to tamper with evidence or witnesses,” said Stephen Givens, a Tokyo-based corporate lawyer. It is not immediately clear what his new bail conditions are, but Kyodo News reported that they will include Ghosn not being allowed to see his wife Carole Ghosn — a striking restriction. Media reports have suggested her involvement in the latest accusation against him, and allegations that she may have attempted to tamper with evidence. She is not subject to any charges and has denied any wrongdoing. Domestic media this week reported that prosecutors had sought, unsuccessfully, to block Carole Ghosn from seeing Carlos Ghosn during his detention. They also claimed she had contacted key witnesses in connection to the latest allegation while she was in France earlier this month, according to the media reports. It’s possible the defense team may have offered such conditions in order to play down court concerns that Carlos Ghosn may try to suppress evidence by conspiring with his wife. Ghosn was indicted Monday on a charge of misappropriating the company’s money for personal use, for which he had already been rearrested earlier this month while on bail. Specifically, he is accused of expropriating a Nissan subsidiary’s payments to a distributor in Oman. Prosecutors claim part of the money, about ¥560 million, had been sent to Good Faith Investments, a Lebanese firm he effectively controlled, for his own interest. Prosecutors also believe some of the money reported to have flowed to the Lebanese company was transferred to a firm in the Virgin Islands headed by Carole Ghosn, a Lebanese and American citizen, as well as a firm established by the couple’s son in the U.S., according to reports by Kyodo News. Ghosn’s defense team filed a request for bail on the same day as the latest indictment, which is his fourth. Legal experts, including Givens, said the latest allegation is the most serious Ghosn has faced so far.Ghosn was previously granted bail in March. On March 6, he left the Tokyo Detention House, where he had spent 108 days in confinement, after paying ¥1 billion in bail. The former Nissan chairman has been accused of underreporting his income and causing the firm damage by transferring obligations on his personal investment losses. Since his initial arrest on Nov. 9, he has maintained his innocence. Ahead of the March bail, Ghosn’s defense team had already offered to accept strict conditions in exchange for his release, such as an obligation to inform the court if he planned to travel domestically for more than three days. In addition, the conditions said he would only be able to use a computer at the office of one of his lawyers between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Ghosn was rearrested on April 4 in connection with the latest charge. The prosecutors justified the arrest with the argument that Ghosn may attempt to destroy evidence connected to the accusation. His defense team was outraged by the arrest, in particular the prosecutors’ early morning raid in which they confiscated documents that Ghosn was preparing for his upcoming trial and his wife’s personal items, including her cell phone and passport. Rearresting an individual who has been released on bail is a highly unusual move, according to legal experts interviewed by The Japan Times. “In theory, as long as there isn’t imminent risk of him fleeing or being rearrested, the court has to grant bail,” said Yoshikazu Tagami, a corporate lawyer in based in Tokyo and an executive officer of Bengo4.com , Inc., a legal portal site. “It wouldn’t make sense if he were not released on bail.”
|
courts;scandals;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn
|
jp0003728
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
With Final Edition model, Mitsubishi Motors to end Pajero SUV sales in Japan
|
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will end sales of Pajero sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, in the domestic market after finishing production in August following a slump in sales. The same day the automaker said it had started selling 700 units of the Pajero Final Edition in Japan, priced at ¥4.53 million, while continuing overseas sales of the model in more than 70 countries. The all-wheel drive vehicle, first released in 1982, contributed to an SUV boom in Japan during the early 1990s, with its global popularity boosted by 12 Dakar Rally victories. As of March, Mitsubishi Motors had sold more than 640,000 units of the Pajero in Japan, it said. But recent domestic sales of the car fell short of 1,000 units per year due partly to stricter emissions regulations in the country, and it was superseded by the automaker’s other fuel-efficient SUVs such as the Outlander and Eclipse Cross. Mitsubishi Motors joined the alliance between Nissan Motor Co. and French automaker Renault SA after Nissan acquired a 34 percent stake in the Pajero producer in October 2016.
|
carmakers;mitsubishi motors;suv;pajero
|
jp0003729
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Toyota to end production of Mark X luxury sedan
|
NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will end production of its Mark X luxury sedan in December. Mark models have been the face of Toyota sedans since the 1968 debut of the Mark X’s predecessor, the Corona Mark II. Around 4.67 million Mark model cars have been sold so far. The Mark X was introduced in 2004 as the successor to the Mark II, but it has faced sluggish sales due to slowing demand for sedans in recent years. On Wednesday, Toyota released two special edition Mark X models. The two-wheel-drive version starts at ¥3,331,800, while the four-wheel-drive model starts at ¥3,489,480.
|
toyota;carmakers;mark x
|
jp0003730
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Canon expects net profit to drop 21% in 2019 amid China slowdown
|
Canon Inc. said Wednesday it now expects its group net profit in 2019 to dive 20.9 percent from a year earlier to ¥200 billion ($1.79 billion), lowering its outlook due to weak sales of camera products amid an economic slowdown in China. The company had earlier projected ¥240 billion in net profit for the year. It also cut its consolidated operating profit to ¥274 billion from ¥325 billion, on sales of ¥3.85 trillion against an earlier forecast of ¥3.9 trillion. Canon said the digital camera market continues to shrink, while touching on growing concern over the outlook for the global economy stemming from trade stagnation. The camera and office equipment maker said it revised down its global sales plan for interchangeable-lens digital cameras to 4.2 million units from a previously projected 4.7 million. “We feel personal consumption in China has declined,” said Executive Vice President Toshizo Tanaka in a news conference, adding that demand for high-end models in the Chinese market has been slowing. “There was an enormous negative impact in the first quarter through March,” Tanaka told reporters. Camera manufacturers are suffering a market contraction as improved photo functions on smartphones eat into demand for entry-level digital cameras, and even for some single-lens reflex cameras. Canon said it will launch new products in the digital camera market in a bid to recover sales. Tanaka said sales and profits are expected to pick up in the second half. In the January to March period, Canon said its group net profit plunged 45.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥31.3 billion, with group sales down 10.0 percent at ¥864.47 billion.
|
earnings;electronics;chinese market;canon inc .
|
jp0003731
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Hitachi considers selling Hitachi Chemical
|
Hitachi Ltd. is considering selling core subsidiary Hitachi Chemical Co., it was learned Thursday. According to sources with knowledge of the matter, Hitachi is in contact with several businesses and investment funds to select a buyer of the unit. The company is set to accelerate the negotiations, and will sell the unit by the end of March next year if an agreement is reached, the sources said. The electronics giant plans to enhance its profitability mainly by focusing on “internet of things” technologies, as well as electricity and other energy-related operations. As part of the moves, Hitachi said last December that it will acquire Swiss heavy machinery-maker ABB Ltd.’s power grid business. On Wednesday it announced a plan to buy JR Automation Technologies LLC, a U.S. robotic system integrator. Meanwhile, Hitachi is speeding up the consolidation of group companies that are unlikely to generate synergies. Based on that policy it has sold Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., which makes semiconductor-making equipment, and car navigation system maker Clarion. Hitachi Chemical, in which Hitachi holds around 51 percent ownership, has strengths in lithium-ion battery and semiconductor materials and is one of the world’s major players in those fields. But Hitachi apparently sees little benefit from continuing to hold the unit in light of its growth strategy, the sources said.
|
hitachi;hitachi chemical
|
jp0003732
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
U.N. evacuates 325 detained African migrants as war reaches Tripoli
|
TRIPOLI - The United Nations refugee agency evacuated 325 African refugees on Wednesday from Qasr Ben Gashir detention center in southern Tripoli because of deteriorating security and escalating violence. The refugees — mainly Eritrean, Sudanese and Nigerian — were taken to a detention center in Zawiya, a town west of the Libyan capital, where they were at “reduced risk,” the UNHCR said in a statement. The latest evacuation, which followed a protest and violence at the facility on Tuesday that left 12 injured inmates needing hospital care, brought to 825 the number of refugees and migrants transferred farther from clashes in the past two weeks. The agency called for the release of the remaining 3,000 in custody. “The dangers for refugees and migrants in Tripoli have never been greater than they are at present,” said Matthew Brook, UNHCR deputy chief of mission in Libya. “It is vital that refugees in danger can be released and evacuated to safety.” More than 3,600 jailed migrants have been trapped in the capital since forces from the east of the country started an advance to capture it, the United Nations says. Earlier, Libyan officials opened the doors of a detention center for illegal migrants in Tripoli, but frightened Somalis and other sub-Saharan Africans told Reuters they had decided to stay there for fear of getting caught up in fighting engulfing the capital. “We don’t want to leave. … We have no place to go,” said a 20-year-old migrant who gave his name as Daoud, sitting on a mattress in a packed warehouse where 550 migrants have been held. His pregnant wife sat with other women in a different room also lacking air conditioning, trying to endure the sweltering heat. In the quieter eastern Tajoura suburb, the manager opened the gate of his detention center housing migrants from sub-Saharan countries such as Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan and some Arab countries. Everyone stayed, surviving on one meal of pasta a day. On a good day, they get two. Large parts of Libya have been lawless since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, and the country has become the main transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East attempting the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Officials have been accused in the past of mistreating detainees who are held by the thousands as part of European-backed efforts to curb smuggling. At the Tajoura detention center, authorities have not supplied any food or water since before fighting started last week, said Nour Eldine Qarilti, the director. “We have not received any assistance from all international organizations,” he told Reuters. “Some local NGOs still support us with simple needs but it’s not enough.” Hundreds of migrants lay on mattresses, their few belongings packed in plastic bags or wrapped in towels. Laundry was hanging from the ceiling. Others were using a kitchen to cook lunch for others for a small fee. According to the United Nations, Libya is now hosting more than 700,000 people who have fled their homelands, often trekking through the desert in pursuit of their dream of crossing to a better life in Europe. They then try to find smugglers to put them on boats. But with Italy and France helping to beef up the Libyan Coast Guard, most now get caught before reaching Europe. According to one U.N. report last December, migrants and refugees in Libya suffer a “terrible litany of violations” by a combination of state officials, armed groups and traffickers. “These include unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, gang rape, slavery, forced labor and extortion,” it said.
|
conflict;libya;refugees;unhcr;tripoli
|
jp0003733
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
EU to curb trans fats from 2021 to boost heart health
|
BRUSSELS - The EU adopted a regulation on Wednesday to curb trans fat amounts in products like snack food as part of efforts to fight heart disease and strokes in Europe. Industrially-produced trans-fatty acids, like margarine and some hardened vegetable fats, are popular among food producers because they are cheap and typically have a long shelf life. But given their link to cardiovascular disease, trans fats have also been blamed for more than 500,000 deaths annually, according to World Health Organization figures. The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, set the limit from April 2, 2021, at two grams of industrially produced trans fats per 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of fat in food. It said the regulation also requires wholesalers to notify retailers of any food that contains more than the limit. “The measure aims at protecting consumers’ health and providing Europeans with healthier food options,” the Commission said in a statement. The European Food Safety Authority and other bodies have conducted studies pushing for the lowest possible consumption of trans fats. In May last year, the WHO unveiled a plan to eliminate the use of trans fats, extending progress in wealthier countries to those in poorer ones.
|
europe;health;eu;heart disease;diets;trans fats
|
jp0003734
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Speak your mind: Brain implant translates thought into speech
|
PARIS - People unable to communicate due to injury or brain damage may one day speak again, after scientists on Thursday unveiled a revolutionary implant that decodes words directly from a person’s thoughts. Several neurological conditions can ruin a patient’s ability to articulate, and many patients currently rely on communication devices that use head or eye movements to spell out words one letter at a time. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco said they had successfully reconstructed “synthetic” speech using an implant to scan the brain signals of volunteers as they read several hundred sentences aloud. While they stress that the technology is in its early stages, it nonetheless has the potential to transpose thoughts of mute patients in real time. Instead of trying to directly translate the electrical activity to speech, the team behind the study, published in the journal Nature, adopted a three-stage approach. First, they asked participants to read out sentences as an implant on the brain surface monitored neural activity while the acoustic sound of the words was recorded. They then transformed those signals to represent the physical movement required for speech — specific articulations of the jaw, mouth and tongue — before converting these into synthetic sentences. Finally, they crowd-sourced volunteers to identify words and sentences from the computerized speech. The recordings are uncanny: a little fuzzy, but the simulated sentences mimic those spoken by the volunteers so closely that most words can be clearly understood. Although the experiment was conducted only with people who could speak, the team found that speech could be synthesized from participants even when they only mimed the sentences. “Very few of us have any idea of what’s going in our mouths when we speak,” said Edward Chang, the lead study author. “The brain translates those thoughts into movements of the vocal tract, and that’s what we’re trying to decode.” This could potentially open the way for an implant that can translate into words the brain activity of patients who know how to speak but have lost the ability to do so. The sentences used in the study were simple declarative statements, including “Ship building is a most fascinating process” and “Those thieves stole thirty jewels.” Gopala Anumanchipalli, co-author of the study, said the words used would add to a database that could eventually allow users to discern more complicated statements. “We used sentences that are particularly geared towards covering all of the phonetic contexts of the English language,” he said. “But they are only learned so they can be generalized from.” The researchers identified a type of “shared” neural code among participants, suggesting that the parts of the brain triggered by trying to articulate a word or phrase are the same in everyone. Chang said this had potential to act as a starting point for patients re-learning to talk after injury, who could train to control their own simulated voice from the patterns learned from able speakers. Writing in a linked comment piece in the same journal, Chethan Pandarinath and Yahia Ali, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, called the study “compelling.” “With continued progress, we can hope that individuals with speech impairments will regain the ability to freely speak their minds and reconnect with the world around them,” they wrote.
|
language;disability;surgery;brain;implants
|
jp0003735
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
U.S. man held for extradition to Spain over North Korean Embassy attack
|
WASHINGTON - A former U.S. Marine who allegedly took part in an attack on North Korea’s embassy in Spain has been ordered by a judge to be held without bail pending extradition. Documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles late Tuesday said Christopher Ahn was wanted by Spain for breaking into Pyongyang’s embassy in Madrid, stealing items and causing injuries in the Feb. 22 raid by a group of anti-North Korea activists. Ahn, 37, from Chino, California, was arrested in California on April 18 on an extradition request from Spain. He allegedly belonged to a group calling itself “Cheollima Civil Defense,” which undertook the commando-style assault on the embassy compound. Wielding knives and fake guns, the attackers tied up embassy occupants and stole computers and other materials. The group, which seeks the ouster of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was led by Mexican national Adrian Hong Chang. Hong, who spent much of his life in the United States as a consultant and activist, fled to the U.S. after the raid where he met with FBI officials in New York and Los Angeles. Since then his whereabouts has been unknown. Lee Wolosky, a lawyer associated with the group, suggested to CNN that he had gone into hiding after authorities tried to arrest him.
|
north korea;kim jong un;spain;madrid;cheollima civil defense;christopher ahn
|
jp0003736
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
U.S. white supremacist convicted in horrific black man's 1998 lynching set for execution
|
WASHINGTON - An avowed white supremacist convicted of a notorious racist murder — chaining a black man to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to his death — is to be executed on Wednesday in Texas. John William King, 44, one of three men convicted of the brutal June 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr., filed a last-minute request to halt his execution with the Supreme Court. Unless the nation’s highest court grants his plea for a stay of execution, King is to be put to death by lethal injection at 6:00 p.m. Central Time (2300 GMT) at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. King was one of three white men convicted of carrying out one of the most gruesome racist murders in recent U.S. history. Lawrence Brewer was executed in 2011 while Shawn Berry — who cooperated with investigators — was given life in prison. Berry testified during his trial that he and the two others were out drinking beer and cruising in a 1982 Ford pickup truck when they picked up Byrd, who was hitchhiking, and drove him to a remote country road. The men severely beat the 49-year-old Byrd before chaining him by his ankles to the back of the truck. Byrd was alive for some 2 miles (3.2 km) while being dragged along the road, a pathologist testified during King’s trial. He was decapitated when his body hit a concrete drain pipe, the pathologist said. Byrd’s dismembered body was found outside a black church in the small town of Jasper, Texas, near the Texas-Louisiana border. The killing horrified the U.S. public and kindled memories of the era of racist lynchings of African-Americans in the South. Ten years after King’s conviction, then-President Barack Obama signed a law aimed at preventing hate crimes that was named after Byrd and Matthew Shepard, a young gay man murdered the same year. In his request for a stay of execution filed with the Supreme Court late Tuesday, King’s lawyer, A. Richard Ellis, claimed that King’s attorney during his 1999 trial ignored his request to plead not guilty. “From the time of indictment through his trial, Mr. King maintained his absolute innocence, claiming that he had left his co-defendants and Mr. Byrd some time prior to his death and was not present at the scene of the victim’s murder,” Ellis said. “Despite Mr. King’s explicit and repeated requests, his counsel conceded his guilt to murder at trial.” Repeated efforts to have King’s conviction overturned have failed with the Supreme Court refusing to examine the case in 2018. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously refused to grant him a reprieve. During the sentencing phase of King’s trial, his attorneys argued that prison violence had compelled him to hook up with a white prison gang. “He wasn’t a racist when he went in, he was when he came out,” said his attorney, H. “Sonny” Cripps. King’s body is covered with racist tattoos proclaiming “Aryan Pride” and his allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan and a racist group known as the Confederate Knights of America. One tattoo is of a black man hanging from a noose. The 1999 death sentence for King was the first in Texas since the 1970s handed to a white man for killing a black man. If King’s execution is carried out as scheduled, it will be the fourth so far this year in the United States. Three of Byrd’s sisters plan to attend King’s execution, including Louvon Harris, who told The New York Times King was “not going through any pain.” “He’s not chained and bound and dragged on a concrete road, swinging back and forth like a sack of potatoes, with an arm coming off and being decapitated or nothing like that,” she told the newspaper. “When you look at it at that angle,” she went on. “I don’t have sympathy.”
|
u.s .;murder;death penalty;racism;texas;kkk;white supremacists;john william king;james byrd
|
jp0003737
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Criticism grows over mass beheading of Shiites in Saudi, some of whom were minors when charged
|
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Saudi Arabia faced growing criticism Wednesday for its mass execution of a group comprised mostly of people from the kingdom’s Shiite Muslim minority, some of whom the U.N. said were minors when charged. U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned Riyadh’s execution Tuesday of 37 Saudi nationals, saying “it was particularly abhorrent that at least three of those killed were minors at the time of their sentencing.” The EU echoed her censure, calling the execution of people charged as minors a “serious violation.” Spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said the fact that the majority of those executed were Shiites had “the potential to fuel sectarian tensions” in the region. They were put to death after being convicted of terrorism, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, in the largest mass execution in the country for more than three years. At least 33 of those executed belonged to Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights group said the convictions were based on “unfair” mass trials and on confessions allegedly extracted through torture. The Sunni-dominated kingdom’s interior ministry said some of those executed were accused of “inciting sectarian strife,” a charge often used in Saudi Arabia against Shiite activists. One person was crucified after being put to death, SPA reported, a punishment reserved for particularly serious crimes in the ultra-conservative oil-rich kingdom where executions are usually carried out by beheading. “Saudi authorities will inevitably characterize those executed as terrorists… but the reality is that Saudi courts are largely devoid of any due process, and many of those executed were condemned based solely on confessions they credibly say were coerced,” said HRW’s deputy Middle East director Michael Page. “Executing prisoners en masse shows that the current Saudi leadership has little interest in improving the country’s dismal human rights record.” Rights group Amnesty International said most of those executed were “convicted after sham trials” based on “confessions extracted through torture.” The executions were “yet another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent” from within the Shiite minority, it added in a statement. The rights watchdog said 11 of those executed were convicted of spying for Iran, while at least 14 others were sentenced in connection with anti-government protests in the Eastern Province between 2011 and 2012. Among those executed was Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, who was only 16 at the time of his arrest, Amnesty said. The mass execution is the largest since January 2016, when Saudi Arabia executed a group of 47 people convicted of “terrorism,” including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The cleric’s execution prompted a furious reaction from Tehran. Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked in violent demonstrations, prompting Riyadh to sever relations. Iran’s top diplomat Wednesday slammed the silence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on the executions. “After a wink at the dismembering of a journalist, not a whisper from the Trump administration when Saudi Arabia beheads 37 men in one day — even crucifying one two days after Easter,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. He was referring to the murder of prominent Saudi journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi last year in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. At least 100 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia since the start of the year, according to data released by SPA. Last year, Saudi Arabia carried out 149 death sentences, making it one of the world’s top three executioners along with China and Iran, according to Amnesty. The Eastern Province — home to the bulk of the country’s Shiite minority — has seen bouts of unrest since 2011 when protesters emboldened by the Arab Spring took to the streets demanding an end to alleged discrimination by the government. Although no official figures exist, Shiites make up an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the ultra-conservative kingdom’s population of 32 million.
|
religion;saudi arabia;rights;death penalty;discrimination;shiites
|
jp0003738
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Sri Lanka now holding 58 suspects amid frantic hunt for more Easter bombers
|
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan security forces detained 18 new suspects in the Easter bombings that killed more than 350 people, as the government admitted Wednesday that “major” intelligence lapses had led to a failure to prevent the attacks. The Islamic State group’s claim of responsibility for Sunday’s strikes on three hotels and three churches increased pressure over ignored warnings of the bombings, and the government was expected to announce sackings in the security forces and police leadership. The 18 new arrests were made in night-time raids using emergency powers, said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera. Fifty-eight people are now in custody and more arrests are expected in coming days, deputy defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene told a press conference. The government has said more attacks are possible and in a sign of the heightened tensions, authorities carried out at least two controlled explosions of a suspect package and vehicle on Wednesday. Wijewardene also gave new details on the bombers. One had studied in Britain and then did post-graduate studies in Australia before returning to Sri Lanka. Others were also believed to have traveled abroad, he told a press conference. “Most of them are well-educated and come from middle, upper-middle class families, so they are financially quite independent and their families are quite stable financially, that is a worrying factor in this,” the minister said. Amid the frantic hunt for suspects, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the strikes and released photos and video of the men it said were involved in the attacks. Seven of the eight men in the images had their faces covered. Islamic State group called the blasts “blessed attacks” on the “infidel holiday.” The authenticity of the images could not be independently verified but experts said the attacks bear many hallmarks of a coordinated Islamic State operation. The government has blamed a local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), and said they were investigating whether the bombers had foreign help. The deputy defense minister said it was believed the suicide bombers came from an NTJ “splinter group” whose leader had killed himself. In the Islamic State video, a man believed to be the leader of the NTJ, Zahran Hashim, directs a group in a pledge of allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Sri Lankan police sources have told AFP that two Muslim brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader, blew themselves up at the Shangri-La and the Cinnamon Grand hotels. Their father is now one of the 58 in custody. The Kingsbury hotel in the capital was the last one hit. A fourth planned attack on a hotel failed, authorities said. The would-be attacker was followed back to a Colombo lodge, where he blew himself up, killing two people. The funerals of dozens more victims were held Wednesday but the government became embroiled in recriminations over warnings about the attacks up to two weeks before they were carried out. President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also defense and law and order minister, has pledged “major changes” to the security forces and police leadership. Sri Lanka’s police chief issued a warning on April 11 that NTJ suicide bombings were possible and alerts had been given by a foreign intelligence agency. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has acknowledged the information was not passed to his office or other top ministers. “It was a major lapse in the sharing of information,” the deputy defense minister said. “The government has to take responsibility.” CNN reported that Indian intelligence services had passed on “unusually specific” information in the weeks before the attacks, some of it from an IS suspect in their custody. The U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka has denied that her government had prior knowledge of the planned attacks. An FBI team is now in Sri Lanka, Wijewardene said, and Britain, Australia and the United Arab Emirates have all offered intelligence help. Sri Lankan Muslim leaders said they had many several complaints to police about Hashim’s activities. His whereabouts after the bombings is unknown, however. Work was continuing to identify foreign victims in the blasts. A Danish billionaire lost three of his children in the attacks, a spokesman for his company said. Eight Britons, 10 Indians, four Americans and nationals from Turkey, Australia, Japan and Portugal were also reported killed. The United Nations said at least 45 children, Sri Lankans and foreigners, were among the dead.
|
india;sri lanka;fbi;islamic state;national thowheeth jama'ath;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003739
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
U.S. Coast Guard officer also targeted Supreme Court justices and social media execs, prosecutors says
|
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND - A Coast Guard lieutenant accused of stockpiling guns and compiling a hit list of prominent Democrats and network TV journalists looked at other targets: two Supreme Court justices and two executives of social media companies, according to federal prosecutors. Those new allegations are contained in a court filing Tuesday in which prosecutors urge a magistrate judge to keep Christopher Hasson, 49, detained in custody pending trial on firearms and weapons charges. The filing doesn’t name the two justices and two company executives but says Hasson searched online for their home addresses in March 2018, within minutes before and after searching firearm sales websites. “The defendant conducted an internet search for ‘are supreme court justices protected’ approximately two weeks prior to searching for the home addresses of the two Supreme Court justices,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom wrote in a footnote. Hasson, who is due back in court Thursday for a detention hearing, is renewing his request to be released from custody while awaiting trial. A lawyer who represented Hasson at a Feb. 21 detention hearing accused prosecutors of making inflammatory accusations against Hasson without providing evidence to back them up. Prosecutors haven’t charged him with any terrorism-related offenses since his Feb. 15 arrest and subsequent indictment in Maryland. Hasson’s attorney, Liz Oyer, wrote in a court filing last week that prosecutors recently disclosed that they don’t expect to seek any additional charges. Oyer didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a phone call and email seeking comment on prosecutors’ new allegations. In a February court filing, prosecutors called Hasson a “domestic terrorist” and said he “intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.” They also said he is a self-described white nationalist who espoused extremist views for years and drafted an email in which he said he was “dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth.” Hasson’s internet search history “lays bare his views on race, which in turn inform his criminal conduct,” Windom wrote. In November 2017, according to the prosecutor, Hasson searched for “please god let there be a race war.” And the defendant did an internet search for guns with a search term that used a racial slur for blacks in March 2018 before visiting firearm sales websites. Prosecutors have said Hasson appeared to be planning attacks inspired by the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage. Windom said “it cannot go unnoticed” that the terrorist who perpetrated the deadly New Zealand mosque attacks in March also was a “devotee” of Breivik. In 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and “identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for ‘focused violence’ in order to establish a white homeland,” prosecutors said. That letter also refers to “Missouri,” a person with whom Hasson has a “long history,” Windom wrote. In 1995, according to federal prosecutors, Hasson and “Missouri” went to a home in Hampton, Virginia, where the homeowner arrived by car and asked them why they were there. The victim identified Hasson and Missouri as “skinheads.” “Missouri,” wearing a black jacket with Swastika patches, aimed a handgun at the victim’s face and pulled the trigger, according to a police report cited by prosecutors. When the gun didn’t fire, “Missouri” beat the victim with it. “Chris Hasson was standing there with the suspect when this occurred,” Windom wrote. Investigators found 15 guns, including seven rifles, and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition at Hasson’s basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, prosecutors said. Hasson’s Feb. 27 indictment also accuses him of illegal possession of tramadol, an opioid painkiller. Prosecutors claim Hasson drew up what appeared to be a computer-spreadsheet hit list that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. Several network TV journalists — MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Van Jones — also were mentioned. During the February detention hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day agreed to keep Hasson held in custody but said he was willing to revisit his decision if prosecutors didn’t bring more serious charges within two weeks. Hasson pleaded not guilty last month to charges of illegal possession of firearm silencers, possession of firearms by a drug addict and unlawful user, and possession of a controlled substance. He faces a maximum of 31 years in prison if convicted of all four counts in his indictment. “The silencers serve one purpose: to murder quietly. The defendant intended to do so on a mass scale, and his detention has thwarted his unlawful desire,” Windom wrote. Hasson, a former Marine, worked at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington on a program to acquire advanced new cutters for the agency. A Coast Guard spokesman has said Hasson will remain on active duty until the case against him is resolved.
|
u.s .;terrorism;u.s. supreme court;fbi;cnn;democrats;mass murder;u.s. coast guard;christopher hasson
|
jp0003740
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Another cyclone poised to hit Mozambique on Thursday
|
MAPUTO - Another tropical cyclone is expected to make landfall on Mozambique’s coast on Thursday, just over a month after a more powerful storm struck the Mozambican port city of Beira farther south and killed hundreds of people. Weather forecasters say Cyclone Kenneth will bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and waves of several meters to the southern African nation, which is still reeling from the effects of devastating Cyclone Idai. International energy companies such as Exxon Mobil have been developing huge natural gas fields off the coast of northern Mozambique. “It’s going to make landfall tomorrow afternoon in Cabo Delgado (province), on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, and it is going to be a cyclone with wind speeds which could be 140 kph (87 mphr),” said Jan Vermeulen, from the South African Weather Service. A cyclone report issued by a regional cyclone-monitoring center on the French island of La Reunion said parts of southern Tanzania could also be affected by Cyclone Kenneth. Mozambique’s National Institute of Disaster Management said that about 682,500 people could be at risk from the storm in the northern Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces. About 112,000 people were in areas where winds could be in excess of 120 km per hour, it said. The rivers Rovuma, Messalo, Montepuez, Megaruma, Lurio and coastal waterways in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces could overflow, affecting more than 70,000 people, according to a separate presentation from the National Directorate for the Management of Water Resources. The directorate issued a recommendation that people living in areas at risk should move immediately to high ground, while disaster management official Augusta Maita said warnings were being broadcast in local media. More than 1,000 people were reported killed by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. That storm lashed Beira with wind speeds of up to 170 kph on March 14 and heavy rains prompted flooding which submerged entire villages. Mozambican health officials and international aid agencies have been battling cholera in the wake of the cyclone.
|
disasters;mozambique;cyclones;cyclone idai;cyclone kenneth
|
jp0003741
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
'Creeping annexation': Putin confronts new Ukraine leader with rebel-zone passports
|
MOSCOW/KIEV - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree offering passports to people in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, triggering calls for more sanctions against Moscow from the incoming leadership in Kiev. “This is yet more proof of Russia’s real role as an aggressor state that’s waging a war against Ukraine,” President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said on Facebook after the order was posted on the Kremlin website Wednesday. Ukraine “is counting on increasing diplomatic and sanction pressure” by the international community against Russia. The Kremlin leader’s citizenship offer comes three days after Zelenskiy, a comic, won a landslide in Sunday’s Ukrainian presidential election. Putin has yet to respond publicly to his victory, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday downplayed the possibility of the two leaders working together. Russia also raised pressure on Ukraine by announcing new trade sanctions days before the vote. Putin, who annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, ordered a simplified procedure for giving passports to permanent residents in rebel-held areas of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia has made similar moves in other breakaway regions in the former Soviet Union and in at least one case used the presence of newly minted citizens as justification for military intervention. It is a “purely humanitarian” move because people living in those areas are “deprived of any civil rights,” Putin told a meeting of lawmakers in St. Petersburg. Russia’s “attempts at creeping annexation” of Ukrainian territory show that it has no interest in de-escalation of the conflict, the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said in a statement. Ukraine lodged an immediate complaint with the United Nations Security Council. The Kremlin order threatens to ratchet up confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, which has repeatedly accused Putin of sending troops and weapons to aid the separatists in a war that has killed 13,000 people in the past five years. He denies Russian forces are involved. The U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict, which erupted after the 2014 revolution that swept Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from power. The U.S. condemned what it termed an “absurd and destabilizing” Russian action and affirmed “strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” in a statement on Twitter by its embassy in Kiev. Russia’s goal is to put pressure on the new Ukrainian administration, said Alexei Chesnakov, a former Kremlin official who now consults the authorities on Ukraine policy. The Kremlin is seeking to force Zelenskiy to “lift the blockade” of the rebel regions and implement a peace agreement signed in the Belarusian capital Minsk in 2015, he said. While the political novice’s defeat on Sunday of outgoing President Petro Poroshenko came as a relief in Moscow, the Russian leadership has reserved judgment on what 41-year-old’s victory will mean for relations after five years of conflict. He pledged after his victory to bring home Ukrainian prisoners captured in the fighting and to revive the stalled Minsk peace process. Russia says Ukraine isn’t providing autonomy promised under the accord to the rebel areas. Ukraine says international control of the area is needed to prevent the flow of Russian soldiers and weapons. A proposal for U.N. peacekeepers remains blocked. Officials in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics say 3.6 million people live in the areas under their control.
|
conflict;vladimir putin;russia;ukraine;petro poroshenko;passports;volodymyr zelenskiy
|
jp0003742
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Scotland will prepare for a second independence vote regardless of U.K. nod: Nicola Sturgeon
|
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - Scotland will start preparing for an independence referendum before May 2021 without permission from London, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday. Scotland, part of the United Kingdom for more than 300 years, rejected independence by 10 percentage points in a 2014 referendum. But differences over Brexit have strained relations with England and the British government in London. “A choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this Parliament,” Sturgeon told Scotland’s devolved Parliament. She said that a devolved Parliament bill will be drawn up before the end of the year, and that Scotland does not need permission at this stage from London. London’s approval would, however, eventually be necessary “to put beyond doubt or challenge our ability to apply the bill to an independence referendum,” she said. The United Kingdom voted 52-48 to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, but while Wales and England vote to leave, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay. In the campaign for the 2014 independence referendum, unionists said that the only way for Scotland to stay in the European Union was to remain within the United Kingdom. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which controls the devolved Parliament in Edinburgh, says that a second referendum is justified because Scotland is now being dragged out of the bloc against its will. With most Scots unhappy at Brexit, Sturgeon is under pressure from supporters of independence to offer a clear way forward in the quest to break from the United Kingdom. Britain is mired in political chaos, and it is still unclear whether, when or even if it will leave the European Union. Since Scots rejected independence by 55 to 45 percent in 2014, opinion polls show that support has changed little. Before the SNP spring conference is held this weekend, supporters of an independent Scotland were to launch a new campaign on Thursday for a second referendum on secession from the United Kingdom, hoping to harness voters’ anger over Brexit. Under the crowd-funded initiative Voices for Scotland, which has some 100,000 supporters, clipboard-wielding activists will fan out across Scotland to try to boost support for the nation’s secession to the range of 50 to 60 percent. “I get the sense that we are in the death throes of the United Kingdom, that it is a very unstable construct,” said Maggie Chapman, one of the leaders of Voices for Scotland and also co-convenor of the Scottish Greens party. “One of the things that ‘no’ or undecided voters said to me in 2014, in the run-up to that referendum (on Scottish independence), was: ‘Why, what do you want to change? The U.K. is fine as it is,'” said Chapman. “Brexit tells us that the U.K. is not OK — not only in terms of economic legitimacy and power, but in terms of trust in politics,” she said. Scotland’s “yes” movement took support for independence to 45 percent in 2014 from around 23 percent in 2012. The new initiative will train campaigners to go out and “listen to what people need to help them become supportive of independence, as well as to persuade them of its merits,” Voices for Scotland said in a statement. It has so far raised about £100,000 ($130,000) to train and support campaigners to spread the word on “every street in Scotland,” Chapman said. Its aim is particularly to target those who are undecided about Scottish independence or “who support the union but have had their faith undermined by recent events.” John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University and Britain’s leading polling expert, said Sturgeon was keeping her own troops happy while leaving her options open. She probably has until October or November of 2020 to hold a new vote once Brexit happens, he said. “I think she was implicitly acknowledging that while it might be impossible (to get permission) out of the current (U.K.) Parliament, it might be a lot easier if we get a general election between now and the end of the year, and the SNP may well find itself in the kingmaker role,” Curtice told Reuters. Sturgeon’s address to Parliament took a noticeably conciliatory tone. “The question that confronts us now is this: if the status quo is not fit for purpose — and I know even some of the most committed believers in the union find it hard to argue that it is — how do we fix it?” Sturgeon said. Those who want to maintain the United Kingdom argue that Brexit has made no difference to how Scots feel, and the secession vote should not be repeated. “Nicola Sturgeon continues to press for divisive constitutional change when it is clear that most people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum,” said David Mundell, Britain’s Scotland minister. Sturgeon argued that leaving the world’s largest trading bloc endangers Britain and Scotland’s economic well-being. “We face being forced to the margins, sidelined within a U.K. that is itself increasingly sidelined on the international stage. Independence by contrast would allow us to protect our place in Europe.”
|
eu;u.k .;scotland;referendums;nicola sturgeon;brexit
|
jp0003743
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Odebrecht boss tells prosecutors of payoffs to Peruvian politicians
|
CURITIBA, BRAZIL - Prosecutors said a top former executive of Brazilian multinational Odebrecht gave details Wednesday of multimillion-dollar payoffs to Peruvian politicians, including a top aide of former President Alan Garcia, who committed suicide last week. Jorge Barata, Odebrecht’s former chief in Peru, provided details of “money routes” to Peruvian prosecutors who questioned him in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba. “Mr. Barata has given an explanation of the money routes,” said Rafael Vela, the lead prosecutor who questioned the former Odebrecht executive for a second day at Curitiba’s federal prosecutors’ office. “We are absolutely satisfied with what he has said,” Vela told reporters. “The investigative hypothesis of the Public Prosecutor’s office is being verified,” he said. He gave no details, but the influential Peruvian portal IDL-Reporters said Barata had confirmed Odebrecht paid more than $4 million to Garcia’s aide Luis Nava during the ex-president’s second term from 2006 to 2011. According to the website, Barata told prosecutors that Nava “was the person who opened the doors to the Government Palace during Alan Garcia’s term.” It said Barata had “agreed to pay Luis Nava $3 million” to ensure the Brazilian construction giant would hold the contract to build Peru’s interoceanic highway, which links Brazil’s industrial cities to ports on Peru’s south coast. Garcia, who was 69, shot himself dead at his home in Lima last Wednesday as police arrived to arrest him over allegations of money laundering during his time in office. Before his suicide, Garcia insisted he was innocent. Barata’s evidence follows a cooperation agreement signed between Odebrecht and Peru’s public prosecutor in December. As part of the deal, Odebrecht must pay $182 million to Peru in civil reparations, an amount based on the four projects the Brazilian firm gained through paying bribes. The company paid $788 million in bribes throughout a dozen Latin American countries to obtain major public works contracts over a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Odebrecht has admitted to paying $29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014. Barata’s illicit payments to Nava were made in two instalments beginning in 2006, the website reported. A second payment of 1.3 million was made through a bank in Andorra, it said. The former Odebrecht chief said an additional payment of half a million dollars was made to Nava’s son, according to the website. Nava is currently in preventive detention in Lima as part of the investigation. He denies any wrongdoing. Garcia was one of four Peruvian ex-presidents embroiled in various corruption scandals — alongside Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-18), Ollanta Humala (2011-16) and Alejandro Toledo (2001-06). On Friday, a Peruvian judge ordered Kuczynski held in pre-trial detention for up to three years as investigators look into allegations he received kickbacks from Odebrecht.
|
brazil;corruption;scandals;peru;odebrecht;alan garcia;jorge barata
|
jp0003744
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
'Water is life': Unexpected rainfall revives Iraq's historic marshlands
|
CHIBAYISH MARSHES, IRAQ - This time last year, most of Iraq’s historic marshlands were dry, desiccated by upstream damming and a chronic lack of rainfall. Now, local farmers are counting their blessings after unexpected heavy rainfall at the end of 2018 caused the dams to overflow by early January and water came gushing back to the wetlands in southeastern Iraq. For Yunus Khalil, a farmer raising water buffalo in the central marsh, the lack of water meant he had to sell most of his herd at a loss last year. “We were terrified the water wouldn’t come back,” Khalil said. “It would’ve been the end for us.” The marshes, thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden and named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2016, are experiencing their highest water levels since they were reclaimed in 2003, said Jassim al-Asadi, southern director of local NGO Nature Iraq and a native of the marshlands, which stretch to the Iran border. “God knows how much we suffered last year,” Khalil said. “He protected us.” Saddam Hussein accused the area’s inhabitants, the Marsh Arabs, of treachery during the 1980-1988 war with Iran and later drained the marshes — which before then had stretched across more than 3,700 square miles (9,583 sq km) — to flush out rebels. Many residents fled, but after Saddam’s overthrow in 2003, parts of the marshland were reflooded and around 250,000 Marsh Arabs have cautiously trickled back. Many had moved to farmland in nearby provinces, or went to live in exile in Iran. Their years away brought a change to the vibrant local culture, residents say, and more conservative norms, particularly regarding the role of women who have long worked alongside men in the marshes. “You used to hear women singing as they pushed their boats through the marshes at dawn,” said Taher Mehsin, a fishermen in his late 60s. “Now, some of the men won’t let their women out of the house.” The area has been home to the Marsh Arabs for millennia, and water is essential to maintaining their way of life. Though many were eager to return home after two decades away, life in the marshes is tough and revolves around fishing and raising water buffalo. The few schools and government-run health clinics are miles away from the open water, where many people live without electricity. Residents have to make daily trips on long wooden boats to buy bottled water for themselves and their families — as the surrounding waters are too salty to drink. Years of low water levels have caused other problems, including less tall grass for the buffalo to graze on, and a drop in the variety of fish. The local carp, previously local fishermen’s best seller, hasn’t been seen in the waters here all year. Instead, the fishermen and women now catch just one type of small fish which most don’t recall having seen until recently. After casting their nets the previous night, they haul their take at dawn to local buyers, who are currently paying around $2.50 (3,000 dinars) a kilo after haggling — a 50 percent drop in price compared to 2017. “What else can we do?” said Mehsin as he pushed his boat out from the shore, having netted $10 (12,000 Iraqi dinars) for his day’s take. “Water is life here. Fish and animals can’t live without it, and neither can we.”
|
water;iran;iraq;rain;unesco;marsh arabs
|
jp0003745
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Muslim refugees flee Sri Lankan homes over attack fears
|
COLOMBO - Hundreds of Muslim refugees in western Sri Lanka have taken refuge in mosques and a police station after facing intimidation following the deadly Easter bombings, activists said Thursday. At least 359 people died in Sunday’s coordinated suicide blasts, including more than 100 Christians attending mass at St. Sebastian’s church in Negombo on the island’s west coast. The attacks have been condemned by leaders of the country’s Muslim minority, but the community has been left in fear of a backlash. Scores of Ahmadi Muslims who settled in Negombo after fleeing persecution in their home countries have been thrown out of their accommodation by landlords, according to officials. “Today these refugees have become refugees again in Sri Lanka. They have been displaced for a second time,” Ruki Fernando of Inform, a Sri Lankan human rights group, told reporters. The refugees are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iran. Ahmadis have faced repeated attacks in these countries by hard-line Islamist groups who do not consider them to be Muslim. Fernando said homeowners had evicted the refugees because they feared their properties would be targeted by groups seeking revenge for the bomb blasts which were carried out by extremist Islamists. Many others have fled of their own accord, fearing for their safety. “Some unknown people broke into their houses in Negombo and beat them,” Fernando told reporters. He said numbers had yet to be verified but around 700 refugees were believed to have sought shelter in one Negombo mosque. Around 120 were at a police station while several hundred more were at another mosque in Gampaha, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Negombo. He said that dozens got on buses to leave Negombo on Wednesday but turned back after they were advised against heading to the capital Colombo over security fears. “People are scared. They are in a vulnerable position and don’t have basic facilities,” said Herman Kumar from Unity of Negombo Citizens, a group trying to foster communal harmony in the city. The comments came at a news conference in Colombo where community leaders from Sri Lanka’s different religions urged unity and calm as tensions simmer on the island. “We appeal to all communities to come together and protect each and every person,” Kumar said.
|
religion;terrorism;sri lanka;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003746
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin get down to talks in Russia on North Korean nuclear standoff
|
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA - Kim Jong Un sought Vladimir Putin’s help in resolving troubles on the divided Korean Peninsula, holding his first summit with the Russian leader on Thursday as he tried to find a way out of his nuclear stalemate with U.S. President Donald Trump. Putin and Kim revealed little about the content of their nearly two-hour meeting — more than an hour longer than scheduled — held at a university in Vladivostok. Kim has been seeking relief from the United Nations Security Council sanctions that are choking his state’s tiny economy, but Putin has little money to offer — and also is bound by the international economic restrictions. “I visited Russia to meet President Putin in person and exchange opinions about the Korean Peninsula, which is getting intense attention from all over the world,” Kim said at the meeting on Russky Island, sitting opposite Putin in a conference room. For Putin, hosting Kim gives him a chance to remain a player in a security dispute shaped mainly by the U.S. and China. Ahead of the meeting, Russia appeared likely to seek a return to six-party talks on the nuclear issue, an arrangement that included Russia and Japan, as well as China, the United States and the two Koreas. “We talked about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, exchanged opinions on how and what should be done so that the situation has good prospects to improve,” Putin said. Kim, who kept Putin waiting almost a year for the summit, was also more than 30 minutes behind the Russian president’s arrival at the venue. That was an unusual turnabout for Putin, who is notorious for keeping world leaders waiting for meetings. “We welcome your efforts to develop inter-Korean dialogue and to normalize North Korean and American relations,” Putin told Kim. Kim, who arrived aboard an armored train Wednesday, hasn’t met with the Russian leader since coming to power in Pyongyang in 2011. But ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have run deep for decades, with Soviet leader Josef Stalin helping Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung set up the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the aftermath of World War II. Still, top Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov has said the two leaders won’t sign any agreements. Although Russia extended the invitation to Kim almost a year ago, the North Korean leader only accepted after his second summit with Trump broke down in Februarywithout any agreements. Kim wanted the U.S. to ease the sanctions to reciprocate for partial disarmament steps he took last year. But the U.S. maintained that the sanctions will stay in place until North Korea makes more significant denuclearization moves. North Korea had increasingly expressed its frustration at the deadlocked negotiations. Last week, it tested a new weapon and demanded that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be removed from the nuclear talks. “This (the meeting in Vladivostok) is essentially a side-show in continuing saga between Pyongyang and Washington,” Dmitri Trenin, head of the Moscow Carnegie Center, wrote on Twitter. “Russia will seek to score diplomatic points by demonstrating its relevance; North Korea, by showing it has options.” In separate comments, Trenin said that Putin will likely encourage Kim to continue constructive talks with the U.S., reflecting Russia’s own worry about the North nuclear and missile programs. “Russia can’t be expected to side with North Korea and, let’s say, support the North Koreans all the way in the Security Council, where Russia is a veto-wielding member and where all sanctions imposed on North Korea require Russia’s approval,” he said. Trenin also emphasized that Moscow is skeptical that the North could be persuaded to fully abandon its nuclear weapons, considering it a “mission impossible.” “North Korea will not give up the only guarantee of the survival of the North Korean state and its regime,” he said. Kim’s delegation will be scrutinized to see how power dynamics in the secretive state shifted after a shuffle of top officials unveiled earlier this month. Neither Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong nor senior aide Kim Yong Chol — two figures who have accompanied him on recent foreign trips — were visible in early reports of the Russian visit, fueling speculation that they had fallen out of favor since Hanoi. The Russia trip also comes after Kim gave a speech at the country’s rubber-stamp parliament this month, where he said he is willing to meet Trump again as long as the U.S. offers acceptable terms for a deal by year end. Russia, like the U.S., is strongly opposed Pyongyang’s nuclear bid. It has long advocated a return to six-party talks, which produced a deal to shut down North Korea’s main nuclear plant in exchange for energy aid. The deal fell apart after the U.S. and others decided that a nuclear inventory produced by Pyongyang was incomplete, while the Kim regime complained that aid was arriving too slowly. Speaking before the talks, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that Russia will seek to “consolidate the positive trends” stemming from the Trump-Kim meetings. He noted that the Kremlin would try to help “create preconditions and a favorable atmosphere for reaching solid agreements on the problem of the Korean Peninsula.” Russia would also like to gain broader access to North Korea’s mineral resources, including rare metals. Pyongyang, for its part, covets Russia’s electricity supplies and investment to modernize its dilapidated Soviet-built industrial plants, railways and other infrastructure.
|
u.s .;north korea;vladimir putin;russia;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;sanctions;north korea nuclear crisis;vladivostok;donald trump
|
jp0003747
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Blood brothers: The family that played a key role in Sri Lanka's Easter attacks
|
Sri Lankan housewife Fathima Fazla thought of her neighbors in the grand three-story home across the street as the wealthy celebrities of her humble Colombo suburb. She had no idea how infamous they would become. Two brothers who lived at the white house on Mahawela Gardens have emerged as key players in suicide attacks on Easter Sunday that killed more than 350 people and stunned an island state that had enjoyed a decade of relative peace. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on three churches and four hotels. Inshaf Ibrahim, a 33-year-old copper factory owner, detonated his explosive device at the busy breakfast buffet of the luxury Shangri-La hotel, a source close to the family said. When police went later that day to raid the family home, his younger brother Ilham Ibrahim detonated a bomb that killed him, his wife and the couple’s three children, the source told Reuters, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals. “They seemed like good people,” Fazla told Reuters from her rundown home opposite the Ibrahim family residence, now cordoned off with crime-scene tape and marshalled by police. The brothers’ names were also reported in local media. Sri Lankan authorities have not released the identities of any of the bombers, and police did not respond to request for comment. The brothers’ father, Mohamed Ibrahim, was arrested as police investigate those behind the attacks, police said. Ibrahim, a wealthy spice trader and pillar of the business community, had six sons and three daughters. He was admired by many who knew him. “He was famous in the area for helping the poor with food and money. It’s unthinkable his children could have done that,” Fazla said, glancing affectionately at her two young daughters. “Because of what they have done, all Muslims are treated as suspects.” Ilham Ibrahim, 31, openly expressed extremist ideologies and had been involved in meetings of National Thowheed Jamath, a local Islamist group suspected of involvement in planning the attacks, according to the source close to the family. His entrepreneur brother, Inshaf, was outwardly more moderate in his views, and was known to be generous with donations to his staff and struggling local households, the source said. Inshaf was married to a daughter of a wealthy jewelry manufacturer and he faced no problems with money. “I was shocked. We never thought they were these kind of people,” said Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, a 38-year-old network cabling engineer who works next door to the Ibrahim family home. The early Sunday bombings shattered the relative calm that has existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu, ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago, and raised fears of a return to sectarian violence. Though the Ibrahim brothers will be reviled across much of the country for plunging Sri Lanka into disarray, they will be missed by some in the community who relied on them. “He was kind, unlike like many bosses. I was happy working for him,” said Sarowar, a Bangladeshi worker at Inshaf’s abandoned copper factory on the outskirts of Colombo. “He is gone. What do I do now?”
|
religion;murder;terrorism;islam;sri lanka;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003748
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Foreigners swept up as Sri Lanka searches for clues to Easter Sunday bombings
|
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan authorities swept up more people, including foreigners, for questioning on Thursday as they probed deeper into the Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 359 people in potentially the deadliest operation claimed by Islamic State. Police said an Egyptian and several Pakistanis were among those detained overnight, although there was no immediate suggestion they had direct links to the attacks on three churches and four hotels that also wounded about 500 people. An explosion occurred in a town east of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, on Thursday but there were no casualties, a police spokesman said, adding it was not a controlled explosion like other blasts in recent days and was being investigated. A picture has emerged slowly since Sunday of a group of nine well-educated, home-grown Islamist suicide bombers, including a woman, who carried out the attacks in the Indian Ocean island country. However, Sri Lankan and international authorities have also focused their investigations on international links to domestic Islamist groups — National Thawheed Jama’ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim — they believed carried out the attacks. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks but offered no firm information to back up its claim. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday another of the bombers had lived in Australia with his wife and child on a student visa but left the country in 2013. Morrison did not identify the man, although his family have said his name was Abdul Latheef Mohamed Jameel. Police said on Thursday 16 more people were detained for questioning overnight, taking the number detained since Sunday to at least 76. That number includes a Syrian national. A police statement said one of those detained overnight was linked to a “terrorist organization” but gave no other details. It said another was taken into custody after they investigated posts on the individual’s Facebook page and found what they described as “hate speech.” “It was related to the spreading and preaching of terrorism,” a police spokesman said. Others have also been caught up in the broader crackdown. Police said they detained an Egyptian who was found not to have a valid visa or passport. The man taught Arabic in a school about 70 km (45 miles) from the capital, Colombo, and had been living in Sri Lanka for more than seven years. A police spokesman also said that a group of Pakistanis had also been detained among an unspecified number of foreign nationals for overstaying their visas. The bombings shattered the relative calm that has existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu, ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago, and raised fears of a return to sectarian violence. President Maithripala Sirisena will meet representatives of different faiths later on Thursday to address concerns of a sectarian backlash. Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions. Hundreds of Muslims have fled the Negombo region on Sri Lanka’s west coast since scores of worshippers were killed in the bombing of the St. Sebastian church there on Sunday. Communal tensions have since flared. Hundreds of Pakistani Muslims fled the port city on Wednesday, crammed into buses organized by community leaders after threats of revenge. “Because of the bomb blasts and explosions that have taken place here, the local Sri Lankan people have attacked our houses,” Adnan Ali, a Pakistani Muslim, told Reuters as he prepared to board a bus. Sri Lankan officials have said they believed the bombings were carried out in retaliation for the March 15 attacks by a lone gunman on two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she has seen no evidence to support that claim. Most of the Easter Sunday victims were Sri Lankans, although authorities have confirmed at least 38 foreigners were also killed. These included British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals.
|
religion;murder;terrorism;islam;sri lanka;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003749
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Indian Supreme Court's record award to gang rape victim provides ray of hope to others
|
NEW DELHI - A move by India’s top court to order record compensation for a Muslim woman gang-raped during religious riots more than 15 years ago could help other victims win justice, her lawyer and activists said Wednesday. Bilkis Bano was three months pregnant when she was gang raped and her 3-year-old daughter was murdered during the violence that swept the western state of Gujarat state in 2002, killing more than 1,000 people. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat government to compensate Bano with 5 million rupees ($72,000), a job and a home after she rejected an offer of 500,000 rupees in March. “This is a case where the maximum compensation has been granted by any Indian court for rape or communal violence,” said Shobha Gupta, Bano’s lawyer, describing the judgment as “historic” at a news conference. The cash compensation is nearly five times more than the 1.3 million rupees granted to a victim in northeast India in a 2017 case — the next-highest amount, according to Gupta. “When such kind of orders are passed, yes, you have a ray of hope,” said Gupta. “There is a message that goes out that ‘yes, there are courts still existing and justice can still prevail.’ ” Last year, the Supreme Court approved a plan that guarantees survivors of sexual assault compensation of up to 1 million rupees, saying such aid is crucial for their care and rehabilitation. Conservative attitudes in India mean victims of sexual assault are often shunned by their families and communities, and blamed for the violence perpetrated against them, say activists and lawyers. Many are ostracized from their homes and cannot afford the legal fees to fight for justice in an under-resourced judicial system where verdicts can take years to reach. India strengthened its laws on sexual assault after the fatal gang rape of a student in New Delhi in 2012 sparked nationwide protests. Yet women brave enough to go to the authorities still face numerous challenges, from hostile police, faulty medical and forensic examinations to shoddy investigations and weak prosecutions. “It continues to be a huge struggle for women to get justice in our country,” said Malini Ghose, a women’s rights activist. “But we hope that this (judgment) makes the journey easier for all those other women . . . for thousands of other women who are knocking on the doors of justice.” Bano said her fight for justice had been long and nightmarish, and that she wanted to use some of the money to “help other sisters like me in their journeys to justice.” She said she will dedicate her efforts to her murdered daughter Saleha, who “was lost in the tide of hatred.” “That has haunted me in ways I can never express,” said Bano as she and her husband wiped away tears. “But … through helping others, she will live on in the lives of other children.”
|
india;courts;women;sex crimes
|
jp0003750
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/25
|
Body of Japanese victim of Sri Lanka Easter terror attack arrives at Narita
|
The body of a Japanese woman who was killed in a series of deadly bombings that hit Sri Lanka over the weekend arrived in Japan on Thursday accompanied by her injured husband and their two children. Kaori Takahashi, 39, was caught in one of eight blasts that struck Colombo and other parts of the country while eating breakfast at a hotel restaurant with her husband, Hikaru. The attacks killed 359 people, including at least 39 foreign nationals. A coffin covered in a blue sheet was unloaded from an airplane at Narita airport near Tokyo at around 7:30 a.m. A bouquet of white flowers was placed on the coffin and airport officials bowed deeply in prayer. The Metropolitan Police Department will conduct an autopsy on the body to determine the cause of death. Junzo Yamamoto, who heads the National Public Safety Commission, told reporters that officials of the National Police Agency have been dispatched to Sri Lanka to gather information. Noting that Japan will be the venue for a number of major events over the coming 18 months, Yamamoto said, “I will instruct police to take all possible counterterrorism measures.” When boarding the plane in Colombo, where he works at a Japanese restaurant, Hikaru Takahashi, 39, ran into a Sri Lankan acquaintance, Himani Wijemanne, and they tearfully embraced. The acquaintance, who works for a travel agency, came to know the Takahashis a few years ago. He told reporters that Kaori was a very good person and he feels very sad over her death. The attacks targeted luxury hotels and churches as Easter Sunday masses were in progress.
|
terrorism;sri lanka;kaori takahashi;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003751
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/25
|
After Italy's backing of China's 'Belt and Road,' Abe stresses caution on infrastructure with Conde
|
ROME/, BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has moved on to the second and third legs of his six-nation European and North American tour with stops in Italy and Slovakia, where he met with the leaders of those two countries and others on Wednesday. In Rome, Abe and his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, agreed early in the day on the need for high quality infrastructure that can achieve both economic growth and fiscal sustainability, as Italy plans to promote projects under China’s “Belt and Road” initiative. The two leaders, also agreed during their summit that the two countries will strengthen defense cooperation under an accord that took effect earlier this month, enabling the sharing of defense equipment and technology. Japan and Italy have been boosting bilateral ties, especially in the field of security, at a time when China is seeking to expand its influence both in Europe and Asia. The summit came after the signing of a China-Italy memorandum on infrastructure in March made Rome the first member of the Group of Seven industrialized nations to officially endorse the “Belt and Road” plan. The development raised concern among the group, and within the European Union, about Beijing’s future grip on key infrastructure for transportation such as ports. Critics say some developing countries are suffering from a heavy debt burden due to what they term as China’s excessive lending. During the talks, Abe explained Japan’s position that infrastructure projects should ensure fiscal sustainability and transparency among other criteria Tokyo sees as important, according to a Japanese official. As Japan seeks to create a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region based on the rules-based order, Conte expressed support for the initiative, the official added. The visit to Rome, the second leg of Abe’s tour, was intended to coordinate bilateral efforts before Japan hosts the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June. Abe and Conte agreed to jointly promote free trade and address global agendas such as climate change. On North Korea, the Japanese and Italian leaders shared the view that closer coordination is needed until Pyongyang abandons all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way. “We need to maintain pressure on Pyongyang,” Conte said at a joint press briefing with Abe. Abe also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Later in the day, Abe traveled to Bratislava, becoming the first Japanese prime minister to visit the country, where he was to meet the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. In a meeting in the Slovak capital, Abe and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki agreed to promote free trade after a market-opening deal between Japan and the European Union took effect recently. During the talks, Abe and Morawiecki shared the view that North Korea must respect U.N. Security Council resolutions on the country’s nuclear development, Japanese officials said. Abe also sought Poland’s cooperation in helping resolve the issue of Pyongyang’s abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, a request Morawiecki accepted.
|
shinzo abe;north korea;italy;trade;infrastructure;north korea nuclear crisis;slovakia;belt and road;giuseppe conte
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.