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jp0004608
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Nippon Steel's reinvention of its namesake metal could make car bodies 30% lighter
|
Imagine the weight of 24 elephants bearing down on a tiny spot the size of a postage stamp. That’s how much pressure Nippon Steel Corp.’s strongest metal can withstand. The firm is pushing the envelope in order to stay relevant as the auto industry, its most important customer, goes through major changes. Steel has been the main material in cars since Henry Ford started mass producing them a century ago. But the heavy metal is falling out of favor because automakers can’t meet new fuel efficiency standards or build long-range battery-powered cars without shedding precious pounds. Several years ago, Ford Motor Co. decided to build its best-selling F-150 pickup truck mostly out of aluminum — and steel-makers have been panicking ever since. That’s why Nippon Steel opened a research department last April to come up with tricks for making car parts lighter, using advanced grades of the material it’s been smelting for 118 years. In January, the firm unveiled the results of the new approach; an all-steel car body, built in-house, which it says cuts weight by 30 percent, putting it on par with aluminum. “There’s this idea out there that steel is an old-fashioned material, but it’s not true,” Nippon Steel’s laboratory research head, Nobuhiro Fujita, said last week at a briefing in Yokohama. For years, cars have actually been gaining weight, not losing it, adding about 880 pounds (400 kg) in the last two decades alone, according to automotive consultancy A2Mac1. Beefier beams and pillars for added crash protection and more amenities like power seats have been the main culprits, along with popularity of behemoth pickup trucks and SUVs. But now tighter emissions rules are forcing manufacturers to consider dieting. Even in North America, where fuel efficiency targets are less ambitious than in Europe and China, the curb weight of new vehicles will drop about 7 percent, or 270 pounds (122 kg), between 2015 and 2025, according to market researcher Ducker Worldwide. The pressure will only increase as automakers produce more electric cars because batteries aren’t powerful enough to carry extra weight and still propel cars for long distances. Over time, this will mean more aluminum, more exotic materials like carbon fiber and magnesium — and less steel. By 2025, steel will account for only 62 percent of the weight of the average new vehicle, down from 70 percent in 2015, according to Akihito Fujita, a New York-based consultant at Nomura Research Institute America Inc. “The move away from steel is inevitable,” he says. No one will feel the pain of those changes harder than Nippon Steel. Competition with lower-cost rivals in China has made it more difficult to make money selling construction materials and the firm now relies on the auto industry to buy about 30 percent of its output, according to Takeshi Irisawa at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo. Nippon Steel doesn’t disclose the numbers in its financial reports. “They don’t have any replacement for cars,” the analyst said. Still, aluminum has made fewer inroads than expected since the release of Ford’s F-150 pickup in 2015. General Motors Inc. mocked the material’s durability in TV ads that showed the F-150’s aluminum truck bed cracking when heavy objects were dropped into it. Another blow came in 2017, when Tesla Inc. switched to steel for the body of its first mass-market car, after using aluminum on earlier luxury vehicles. Nissan Motor Co. also chose a mostly-steel body for its Leaf, which is the world’s best-selling electric car. Toyota Motor Corp., a key Nippon Steel customer, has done the same for its plug-in hybrids. “We have to keep costs down,” Toyota’s head of advanced R&D, Shigeki Terashi, said last month. To persuade auto customers to stick with them, though, Nippon Steel is trying to show that steel can also be a weight-saver, if it’s superstrong and used cleverly. The car body it exhibited at a Tokyo trade fair in January cuts weight by 30 percent using a half-dozen different grades of the metal. The strongest has a tensile strength of 2,000 megapascals, which means it can withstand 290,000 pounds (131,542 kg) of pressure per square inch — several times more than the advanced steel commonly used in cars today — without breaking. Nippon Steel’s engineers also found ways to redesign components so they could be made with less material. For example, they used a combination of thinner body panels and reinforcement bars to shave 20 percent off the weight of door modules, without sacrificing strength. The next goal is to prove that high-grade steel can be used to cut the weight of car bodies by half. That may require some compromise, though, since steel can only get so strong or light. To push the limits, Nippon Steel is experimenting by mixing small amounts of plastics with the metal it’s been producing for decades. “We want to do the most we can with steel,” said Fujita, the company’s laboratory head, “but we’re not taking the competition for granted.”
|
toyota;carmakers;gm;nippon steel;ford;steel;aluminum
|
jp0004609
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Congo forces kill 26 Islamist rebels in Ebola zone shootout
|
GOMA, CONGO - Congolese forces killed 26 rebels from a group thought to be linked to Islamic State on Thursday in a shootout in the country’s eastern Ebola zone, the army said. The clash took place in a village near the city of Beni, an area where more than a dozen different militia groups and associated armed gangs operate, and the epicenter of Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst-ever Ebola epidemic. The army’s spokesman for east Congo, Gen. Leon-Richard Kasonga, said the insurgents from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked an army position in Ngite village and that soldiers returned fire and pursued them. “Twenty six rebels were neutralized by the army, and their bodies recovered,” he told journalists in Goma. The ADF has never claimed allegiance to Islamic State, but witnesses said the Congolese group carried out an attack last month in nearby Bovata that IS claimed. Islamic State said on Thursday its “Central Africa Province” had inflicted “dozens of casualties” on Congolese forces, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity. Its fighters had attacked three army barracks near Mavivi, which lies next to Ngite, and “returned safely to their positions,” it said. There was no independent confirmation of the claims. The ADF, originally a Ugandan Salafist-inspired extremist group, has been operating along the Congo/Uganda border for more than two decades. Rival armed factions remain active in pockets of east Congo long after the official end of a 1998-2003 war in which millions of people died, mostly from hunger and disease. Insecurity around Beni is also undermining efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic, which has killed close to 1,300 people since August. Militiamen attacked a hospital in the nearby city of Butembo last month and killed a Cameroonian doctor working for the World Health Organization (WHO).
|
conflict;terrorism;congo;ebola;beni;goma;adf
|
jp0004610
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
149 African refugees airlifted from Libya to Italy but more help needed, U.N. says
|
GENEVA - A total of 149 Africans in Libya were evacuated to Italy on Thursday, but more states must help people escape deteriorating conditions in Tripoli after two months of fighting, the United Nations refugee agency said. Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Hifter’s Libyan National Army began an offensive in early April to take the capital from fighters loyal to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s Government of National Accord, which is internationally recognized. The 149 refugees and asylum-seekers flown to Rome, many of them malnourished and needing medical treatment after detention in Tripoli, are from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement. The group included 65 children, 13 of them babies under a year old, it said. They follow 62 Syrians and Africans evacuated earlier this week to Timisoara, Romania, where they are receiving treatment before going to Norway, it said. More than 1,000 refugees and migrants have been evacuated or resettled out of Libya so far this year. Around 1,200 others were returned to the North African country by the Libyan Coast Guard in May alone after being rescued or intercepted while attempting to flee by boat, it added. Hifter’s Libyan National Army has not been able to breach defenses in southern Tripoli suburbs. But UNHCR said that risks were rising for refugees and migrants, and that “new detainees are arriving at a faster pace than people are departing.” “More humanitarian evacuations are needed,” said Jean-Paul Cavalieri, UNHCR mission chief in Libya. “They are a vital lifeline for refugees whose only other escape route is to put their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers on the Mediterranean Sea.”
|
conflict;africa;italy;eu;libya;refugees;unhcr
|
jp0004611
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Three dead in Rhine boat sinking; rescuers search for child
|
PARIS - Three people were killed and a child is missing after a motorized rubber boat capsized Thursday in the Rhine River between Germany and France. One of those killed was a passer-by who tried to help with the rescue. French and German rescuers are searching for the missing child. The boat, which left the German bank of the river Thursday morning carrying two adults and two children, sank near the eastern French town of Gerstheim, police said. Onlookers on the banks tried to help save the sinking group, according to an official with the regional police authority. Three people were killed — a 6-year-old girl and an adult who had been on the boat, and another adult who tried to save them, the official said. Another adult passenger was hospitalized, and a girl passenger is missing, the official said. It’s unclear what caused the sinking. No information was immediately available about the victims’ nationalities. Helicopters, divers and police and firefighters are involved in the extensive search, according to the regional French rescue service for the Bas-Rhin region. The crash came after a sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists collided with a cruise ship in Hungary’s capital, leaving seven dead and 21 missing.
|
france;germany;marine accidents;rhine;gerstheim
|
jp0004612
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Syria regime airstrikes kill seven in latest Idlib bloodshed
|
MAARET AL-NUMAN, SYRIA - Regime airstrikes on a jihadi enclave in northwest Syria killed seven civilians on Thursday, a monitor said, the latest deaths in a bloody wave of government attacks. Damascus and its ally, Russia, have pummeled Idlib province and surroundings over the past month despite a truce deal aimed at staving off a humanitarian catastrophe. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organization says over 285 civilians have been killed since late April in the enclave, home to almost 3 million people. “The pace of airstrikes decreased relatively on Thursday compared to previous days,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. But bombings still killed seven civilians, including five in the town of Maaret al-Numan on the western edge of the jihadi-held territory, he said. An AFP photographer reported the strikes hit a residential area, collapsing a building and killing some of those inside. The body of a victim could be seen still in bed as rescue workers struggled to reach survivors trapped under the rubble. Idlib province and some surrounding areas are mostly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group dominated by former members of al-Qaida’s Syria affiliate. The United Nations says roughly 270,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since late April and that aid agencies have been forced to halt work in some areas. Some 30 health facilities and schools have been hit, the U.N. says. Despite the surge in attacks, the government has not announced an all-out offensive to retake the entire jihadi enclave. Russia and rebel supporter Turkey brokered a cease-fire deal in September to avert a government assault it was feared could spark the worst humanitarian disaster of the eight-year war. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday spoke by telephone to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, calling for the ceasefire to be respected, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan told Putin it was important to “apply the ceasefire without delay in order to focus once again on finding a political solution” to the Syrian conflict, a statement said. He also “stressed the need to prevent more lives being lost in regime attacks mainly targeting civilians” and to eliminate the “growing risk” of a wave of migrants heading for Turkey’s border. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people since it started in 2011.
|
conflict;russia;syria;turkey;al-qaida;idlib
|
jp0004613
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
U.S. measles count nears 1,000, surpassing 25-year-old record
|
NEW YORK - U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 971 measles cases so far this year, the highest tally in 27 years, and experts say it’s not clear when the wave of illnesses will stop. Measles, once common in the U.S., became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s. A decade ago, there were fewer than 100 cases a year. The new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pushed the U.S. tally higher than the 963 illnesses reported for all of 1994. The nation last saw this many cases in 1992, when more than 2,200 were reported. Overall vaccination rates have remained fairly high, but outbreaks have been happening in communities where parents have refused recommended shots, U.S. health officials say. “What’s causing these outbreaks is lack of vaccination,” said Dr. Mark Roberts, chair of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Illnesses have been reported in 26 states, but the vast majority are in New York City. The city’s outbreak, which began last October, is already the largest local measles outbreak in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. It started when some unvaccinated children visited Israel, where a measles outbreak is occurring, and came back to New York. More than 500 cases have been diagnosed in two Brooklyn neighborhoods — Williamsburg and Borough Park — and mainly among unvaccinated children in Orthodox Jewish communities. Forty-two have been hospitalized, including 12 treated in intensive care units. More than 25,000 doses of vaccine have been given to children and teenagers in those two neighborhoods since October. Some have been motivated by a city order issued in April that all children and adults who live in four Brooklyn ZIP codes be vaccinated or face fines up to $1,000. City officials say 123 people have received summonses for not complying with the order. The city health department has put 400 people to work on the outbreak, and forged new relationships with community organizations to make a better case for vaccinations. The officials believe it’s all paying off. New measles diagnoses dropped from 173 last month to 60 this month. “I’m confident that the work that we have put in place … put us on the right trajectory to bring this outbreak to an end soon,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City’s health commissioner. Some health experts see the current outbreak as a sign that other vaccine-preventable illnesses could worsen. “Measles is incredibly contagious,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement. “We need to act together now to stop this outbreak before there are even more serious consequences.” In most people, measles causes fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. However, a very small fraction of those infected can suffer complications such as pneumonia and a dangerous swelling of the brain. According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it. No deaths have been reported this year. The CDC recommends a combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine for everyone over a year old, except for people who had the disease as children. Those who have had measles are immune. The worst year for measles in modern U.S. history was 1958, with more than 763,000 reported cases and 552 deaths. The numbers fell dramatically after a vaccine became available in the 1960s and by the 1983 the annual case count dipped below 1,500. But the illness rebounded at the end of the 1980s, with many cases among young unvaccinated black and Hispanic children living in inner-city areas. In 1990, more than 27,000 cases were reported, including about 90 deaths. During the resurgence, public health officials began recommending children get two vaccine doses, instead of one. Cases began to drop, and they plummeted after the 1993 creation of a federal program providing vaccines to children whose parents or guardians can’t afford them. Will this year’s measles cases reach the levels seen in the early 1990s? There are several reasons the answer may be no. Overall vaccination levels are higher nationally today. Also, measles cases historically peak in the spring for some unknown reason, and summer is almost here. Maybe that pattern will hold this year, too, said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases expert at the Baylor College of Medicine. But experts have been surprised by the current epidemic, and say some recent developments make it hard to predict. Some point to a social media-driven anti-vaccine movement that has been a major factor in the Brooklyn outbreak. Also, the chance of measles coming in from other countries keeps rising. The World Health Organization has said 82,500 measles cases were reported last year, over three times more than the previous year. The CDC’s Dr. Tom Clark said that even if the New York City outbreak continues, this year’s case count should stop short of the 1992 mark. Hotez sounded uneasy. “How this all shakes out over the next few months, we don’t know,” he said.
|
u.s .;new york;who;vaccinations;measles;cdc
|
jp0004614
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
'Octo-champs' bring National Spelling Bee to its knees
|
OXON HILL, MARYLAND - The Scripps National Spelling Bee was broken Thursday night, brought to its knees by eight spellers who were prepared for any word thrown their way. Faced with a dwindling word list and a group of spellers who showed no weakness, Scripps gave up and declared them co-champions, the most extraordinary ending in the 94-year history of the competition. The eight co-champions spelled the final 47 words correctly in their historic walk-off victory, going through five consecutive perfect rounds. “Champion spellers, we are now in uncharted territory,” bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly told them in announcing the decision to allow up to eight winners. “We do have plenty of words remaining on our list. But we will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of superspellers in the history of this competition.” The winners, who dubbed themselves “octo-champs,” were Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja. From 2014 to 2016, the bee ended with co-champions. In 2017 and last year, the bee had a written tiebreaker test of spelling and vocabulary that would be used to identify a single champion if necessary. It didn’t turn out to be needed, and bee officials decided the test was too burdensome and got rid of it. Some of words used in the final rounds were: Varsovienne : A graceful dance similar to a mazurka. Marmennill : A fabled marine male creature usually represented as having the head, trunk and arms of a man and a lower part like the tail of a fish. The word sounds like it has a “t” but doesn’t. Macclesfield : A silk with small all-over patterns used especially for neckties. Kirillitsa : The alphabet based principally on the Greek uncials that was originally used for writing Old Church Slavonic. Kula : A Melanesian interisland system of exchange. Aufgabe : A task or exercise, especially when assigned experimentally. Rijsttafel : An Indonesian midday meal consisting chiefly of rice. Vibratiuncle : A slight vibration.
|
language;spelling bee;contests;japan times bee
|
jp0004615
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Trump says impeachment is 'dirty, filthy, disgusting word'
|
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday scornfully rejected “disgusting” talk among Democrats about launching an impeachment inquiry against him in the aftermath of the Russia probe, saying he did nothing to merit such an outcome. Talking to reporters on the White House South Lawn ahead of a trip to Colorado, Trump grew animated in reacting to a statement from U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday. Mueller said his report on Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached. Mueller’s statement fueled an increase in calls from Democratic lawmakers for impeachment proceedings, and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reacting to Mueller’s statement, said “nothing is off the table.” Asked if he expected to be impeached, Trump said: “I don’t see how … It’s a dirty, filthy, disgusting word … It’s a giant presidential harassment.” He cited the U.S. Constitution’s language that a president can be charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors.” “There was no crime. There was no misdemeanor,” he said. While House Democrats have yet to decide whether to pursue impeachment, they are pressing forward with a number of investigations spinning off from the Russia probe. The Trump administration is fighting those congressional efforts, including an attempt by the Democratic chairman of the House tax-writing panel to obtain the president’s tax returns. The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, said on Thursday the U.S. Treasury had been “unresponsive” to questions about Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s decision not to comply with the House demand for Trump’s returns, and he threatened to attempt to block any Treasury nominees if the department was not forthcoming. “Congress has a constitutional obligation to conduct oversight of the executive branch,” he said in a statement. In a morning tweet, Trump had left the impression that he was acknowledging that Russian interference helped him win the 2016 election over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Answering questions from reporters, he later said the exact opposite. “No, Russia did not help me get elected,” he said, adding that he needed no help in winning the election. Trump heaped scorn on Mueller, calling him “totally conflicted” in part because he had wanted to head the FBI. “I told him NO. The next day he was named Special Counsel — A total Conflict of Interest. NICE!,” Trump said on Twitter, without providing evidence that Mueller, a Republican, had sought the FBI job. Speaking to reporters, Trump also said that Mueller is a close friend of former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired weeks after taking office in early 2017. “I think Mueller is a true ‘never Trumper,’ ” Trump said.
|
u.s .;robert mueller;democrats;impeachment;donald trump;russia probe
|
jp0004616
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Trump would be 'in handcuffs' if he wasn't president, says Democrat Elizabeth Warren
|
WASHINGTON - Democratic White House hopeful Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that if Donald Trump were not protected by his presidential status, he would be “in handcuffs and indicted” for obstructing the investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference. The progressive U.S. senator from Massachusetts, one of the leading Democrats for the party’s 2020 nomination, was the first presidential candidate to speak out in favor of launching impeachment proceedings against Trump. “If he were anyone other than president of the United States, he would be in handcuffs and indicted,” Warren said on ABC talk show “The View.” Warren had called for an impeachment inquiry the day after the April 18 publication of special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report on Moscow’s election interference. Following a nearly two-year probe, Mueller concluded in his report that there was no evidence of outright collusion between Trump and Moscow. He also said that, having detailed at least 10 possible acts of obstruction by Trump, it was not possible to say the president committed no crime. This week, the special counsel said he was bound by the longstanding policy that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime. “Mueller … says, basically, by the time you get to the end of the report, there are all the facts, multiple examples, of obstruction of justice, I can’t indict, it’s up to Congress,” Warren said. Democrats hold a majority in the House of Representatives and are therefore able to launch an impeachment inquiry. But even if the House impeaches Trump, the effort to oust him is likely to fail in the Republican-led Senate. While several other Democratic presidential hopefuls are also calling for impeachment proceedings, House leaders remain reluctant to begin the process during the 2020 election campaign. They argue it could prove very unpopular with voters, and its ultimate failure would galvanize Trump’s core supporters and fuel his narrative that he is a victim of a system that wants him ousted. Instead, Democratic leaders are urging rank-and-file members to allow ongoing congressional investigations of Trump to run their course. Trump meanwhile repeated his claim that the report offered him total exoneration, and that he has been the victim of “giant presidential harassment.” After a rare public statement by Mueller the previous day, Trump on Thursday swatted away the Democrats’ threat of impeachment. “I don’t see how they can,” he said.
|
u.s .;congress;robert mueller;elizabeth warren;impeachment;donald trump;russia probe
|
jp0004617
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Trump briefly admits Russia boosted his election, then walks remarks back
|
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time Thursday that Moscow helped him win the White House in 2016 — before retracting himself to launch a fiery attack on Robert Mueller and the Russia probe. “Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax,” Trump tweeted, in an outburst against special counsel Mueller’s suggestion that Congress impeach him for obstructing the two-year investigation. “And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected,” Trump said. It appeared to be the first time that Trump accepted claims by U.S. intelligence chiefs that Russian government meddling aided his stunning upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Shortly afterward he sought to walk back the admission, telling reporters as he left on a trip to Colorado that Russia “if anything, helped the other side,” or Clinton. “Russia did not get me elected. You know who got me elected? I got me elected,” he said. “Russia didn’t help me at all.” Trump has stridently rejected any suggestion his victory was illegitimate ever since U.S. intelligence chiefs announced in January 2017 that Moscow interfered heavily in the election, hacking computers and manipulating social media largely to damage Clinton and boost Trump’s campaign. His outburst came a day after Mueller — in his first public comments on the investigation he was named to lead in May 2017 — said it had established there “were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.” “Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system,” he said, with their hacking “designed and timed… to damage a presidential candidate.” Mueller also reiterated that the investigation found evidence of attempts to obstruct his investigation by Trump. “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,” he said. But he said he was blocked from charging the president by Justice Department regulations and indicated that it is up to Congress to launch impeachment proceedings to determine if Trump committed a crime. “When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s effort to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable,” Mueller said. Trump in response slammed Mueller as conflicted and said the investigation had produced no evidence against him. “Robert Mueller should have never been chosen,” to lead the probe, he told reporters Thursday. “I think he is a total conflicted person. I think Mueller is a true never-Trumper.” “He is somebody that dislikes Donald Trump. He is somebody that didn’t get a job that he requested.” Asked about a growing clamor in Democratic ranks for the launch of impeachment proceedings against him, Trump called it “presidential harassment.” “To me it’s a dirty word , the word impeach, it’s a dirty, filthy, disgusting word, and it had nothing to do with me,” he said. “There was no high crime and there was no misdemeanor,” he said, referring to the grounds defined in the U.S. Constitution for removing a president. “So how do you impeach based on that?” Democratic leaders have remained cautious about taking the politically fraught step to remove the president, with elections less than 18 months away. On Wednesday Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in Congress, said in a statement that Congress would step up investigations, while studiously avoiding the word impeachment. “The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the President accountable for his abuse of power,” she said. “The American people must have the truth.”
|
u.s .;elections;robert mueller;nancy pelosi;donald trump;2016 u.s. presidential election;russia probe
|
jp0004618
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
French parcel bomb suspect pledged allegiance to Islamic State, source says
|
PARIS - An Algerian suspected of setting off a package bomb in southeast France last week has told investigators that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadi group, a judicial source said Thursday. The 24-year-old man, identified as Mohamed Hichem M., was arrested Monday after an extensive manhunt since Friday, when 13 people were wounded by the explosion on a busy pedestrian street in Lyon. Sources close to the case said that after initially refusing to talk, the suspect admitted Wednesday to planting the bomb, packed with screws and ball bearings and a relatively small amount of acetone peroxide, or APEX. It was the same volatile compound used in the deadly Paris terror attacks of November 13, 2015, which prompted a wave of jihadi attacks in France that have killed more than 250 people. The Islamic State group has been behind several of the attacks, though police had said no one had claimed the Lyon blast. The suspect’s brother was also arrested and is still being held for questioning by anti-terror investigators in Paris, although their parents were released from custody on Thursday. A search of the man’s home had already turned up “elements likely to be used for making APEX,” one source told AFP, and searches of his computers pointed to internet searches related to jihad and bomb-building. Thirteen people were wounded in the blast — eight women, four men and a 10-year-old girl. The package was placed in front of a bakery near the corner of two crowded pedestrian streets in the historic heart of Lyon at around 17:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) last Friday. Video surveillance cameras led police to identify the man after he fled the scene on a bicycle. He was arrested while getting off a bus in a suburb just south of the city. Lyon Mayor Gerard Collomb said this week that the suspect had not been known to the police.
|
france;algeria;terrorism;islamic state;lyon;mohamed hichem m .
|
jp0004619
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Ex-Trump adviser Roger Stone faces hurdles in quest to get indictment dismissed
|
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser, Roger Stone, faced an uphill battle in court on Thursday, as a federal judge poked holes in nearly every argument his lawyers made for why she should dismiss an indictment stemming from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson repeatedly expressed skepticism about everything from claims the case violates the U.S. constitution to allegations the indictment is defective because Congress never formally asked the Justice Department to investigate Stone for perjury or obstruction. In one striking exchange, Stone’s attorney, Bruce Rogow, pointed to a dissenting opinion by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to support his claim that the Constitution prohibits the executive branch’s Justice Department from investigating Trump or members of his campaign under its Vesting Clause. “Is there any reason why, as a district court judge, I am supposed to apply the law of a dissent, no matter how well written or thoughtful one might consider it to be, when there is authority otherwise?” she asked. “The Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon specifically said that the executive branch can investigate the executive branch. Um, I’m not bound by that?” she asked, referring to the landmark unanimous case ordering President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes and other subpoenaed materials. “You are,” Rogow then conceded. Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering as part of special counsel Mueller’s investigation. He is accused of lying to investigators for the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee who were looking into allegations that Russia hacked the emails of senior Democrats. The indictment against Stone also says he told members of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that he had advance knowledge of plans by the WikiLeaks website to release damaging emails about Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Mueller, who completed his investigation on March 22, on Wednesday made his first public statement on the probe since it started two years ago. While the probe uncovered multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, it did not establish a criminal conspiracy. Mueller also did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Stone is one of more than 30 individuals who have faced charges brought by or stemming from Mueller’s probe. His attorneys contended their client is being targeted for selective prosecution and are hoping for access to unredacted portions of the Mueller report for evidence. Jackson raised doubts about the idea that Stone was targeted, citing a host of others also charged with lying in connection with the Russia probe. She sounded more sympathetic to a request to obtain materials from the redacted report, however, especially since more than 400 pages was already public, she said. She said she had reviewed some of the redacted portions herself. A lot of it seemed “duplicative” to what the government already provided and “therefore largely harmless,” she said.
|
u.s .;congress;robert mueller;donald trump;roger stone;russia probe
|
jp0004620
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
New Hampshire repeals death penalty in vote overriding governor's veto
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CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE - New Hampshire, which hasn’t executed anyone in 80 years and has only one inmate on death row, on Thursday became the latest state to abolish the death penalty when the state Senate voted to override the governor’s veto. The Senate vote came a week after the 400-member House voted by the narrowest possible margin to override Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto of a bill to repeal capital punishment. “Now it’s up to us to stop this practice that is archaic, costly, discriminatory and final,” said Sen. Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline. With New Hampshire’s action, 29 states allow capital punishment, but in four of them, governors have issued moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty-one states have abolished or overturned it. New Hampshire’s death penalty applies in only seven scenarios: the killing of an on-duty law enforcement officer or judge, murder for hire, murder during a rape, certain drug offenses, or home invasion and murder by someone already serving a life sentence without parole. The state hasn’t executed anyone since 1939, and the repeal bill would not apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Officer Michael Briggs and is the state’s only inmate on death row. But death penalty supporters argued that courts will interpret it differently, giving Addison a chance at life in prison. “If you think you’re passing this today and Mr. Addison is still going to remain on death row, you are confused,” said Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry. “Mr. Addison’s sentence will be converted to life in prison.” Carson argued that New Hampshire has a narrowly drawn law and a careful, deliberative process to ensure innocent people are not executed. “This is not Louisiana of the 1920s where Old Sparky was put on a flatbed truck and driven from prison to prison and people were executed. We are not those people,” she said. “That doesn’t happen here in New Hampshire.” The Senate vote, 16-8, was exactly the two-thirds majority necessary to override the veto. Twelve Democrats and four Republicans supported ending the death penalty, while six Republicans and two Democrats voted to keep it. The latter included Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, who represents the district in which Officer Briggs was killed. He urged his colleagues to remember law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day. “I can’t abandon these people,” he said. “These people are there for us. They’re there for us, and I believe strongly we have to support them.” Sununu, who vetoed the repeal bill surrounded by officers at a community center named for Briggs, said Thursday he was incredibly disappointed in the vote. “I have consistently stood with law enforcement, families of crime victims, and advocates for justice in opposing a repeal of the death penalty because it is the right thing to do,” he said in a statement. But Sen. Bob Giuda, a Republican and former FBI agent, said while he greatly respects law enforcement, the death penalty is at odds with his pro-life principles. He called execution a “ghastly” process and urged his colleagues to “move our civilization” past it. “I think we’re better than that,” he said. “I choose to move our state forward to remove the death penalty.” New Hampshire lawmakers have been considering and rejecting repeal efforts for the last two decades. Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, vetoed a similar bill in 2000. Another Democrat, former Gov. John Lynch, signed a bill in 2011 expanding the death penalty to cover home invasions in response to a machete and knife attack that killed a woman and maimed her daughter in Mont Vernon.
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u.s .;death penalty;new hampshire
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jp0004621
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Claus von Bulow, once accused of murdering heiress wife, dies at 92
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FRANKFURT - Claus von Bulow, the Danish-born socialite who avoided a 30-year prison sentence in the 1980s after he was retried and acquitted of attempting to murder his wealthy wife with insulin injections, has died. He was 92. He died on Saturday at his home in London, The New York Times reported, citing Riccardo Pavoncelli, his son-in-law. Von Bulow was embroiled in one of America’s most notorious criminal cases after he was indicted for trying to kill his wife, Martha “Sunny” von Bulow, on successive Christmas vacations in 1979 and 1980 at their seaside mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. The heiress, who slipped into comas on both occasions, spent almost 28 years in a vegetative state after the second incident, which two of her children claimed had been deliberately caused by Claus von Bulow. She died in a nursing home in 2008 at age 76. He was found guilty in a televised 1982 trial and was handed a 30-year sentence before winning an appeal led by Alan Dershowitz, who was then a professor at Harvard Law School. Von Bulow won a 1985 retrial that captivated the nation with a classic whodunit tale involving money, sex and betrayal. “This is the story of how Claus von Bulow was convicted of a crime that probably never happened and then succeeded in vindicating himself — both in the eyes of the law and in the minds of many, though certainly not all, observers,” Dershowitz wrote in his 1986 book “Reversal of Fortune.” A 1990 film adaptation earned Jeremy Irons an Academy Award for his portrayal of von Bulow; actress Glenn Close played his doomed wife. The prosecution asserted that von Bulow had injected his wife with insulin to cause her death and claim a $14 million inheritance from her will. Her net worth at the time was about $75 million. He also had a mistress, television soap-opera actress Alexandra Isles, whom he had wanted to marry. The defense, led by Thomas Puccio in the retrial, painted Sunny von Bulow as a drug addict and alcoholic who had overdosed. Puccio died in 2012. “There was no animosity between Sunny and me,” von Bulow said in a 1985 interview with television personality Barbara Walters. “There was an irreconcilable difference about her wish to lead a retired life and my wish to still work.” Debonair and articulate, von Bulow continued with his high-society lifestyle and took up with Hungarian-born aristocrat Andrea Reynolds after Isles testified against him in the first trial. His two stepchildren, Annie-Laurie and Alexander von Auersperg, as well as Sunny von Bulow’s longtime maid, Maria Schrallhammer, also attempted to incriminate him at the trials. His daughter, Cosima — born to Sunny von Bulow — took her father’s side, prompting her maternal grandmother to disinherit Cosima. “Whatever one felt personally about the guilt or innocence of the man, one could not deny his charm, which was enormous, in a European, upper-class, courtly sort of way,” Dominick Dunne wrote in a 1985 Vanity Fair article. Claus von Bulow was born as Claus Cecil Borberg on Aug. 11, 1926, in Copenhagen. His father was a playwright and theater critic who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and his mother was the daughter of a former Danish justice minister. Von Bulow’s parents divorced when he was 4 and he was raised by his mother in London after being smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II. He attended Cambridge University and earned a law degree after the war. Von Bulow apprenticed as a barrister and then worked for oil baron J. Paul Getty as a chief assistant. In 1966, von Bulow married the former “Sunny” Crawford, who was the only child of George Crawford, the founder of Columbia Gas & Electric. They had met at a London dinner party a few years earlier while she was married to Prince Alfred von Auersperg, an heir to Austria’s Habsburg dynasty. Von Bulow added the aristocratic “von” to his name around the time of his marriage, Dershowitz wrote. The von Bulows lived in a Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan and their Newport summer mansion, Clarendon Court. In a 1987 out-of-court settlement with his stepchildren, who had filed a $56 million civil lawsuit against him after his acquittal, von Bulow agreed to divorce his comatose wife, give up claims to her estate and relinquish the right to make money by writing books or giving speeches about the case. In return, Cosima von Bulow was to receive a one-third share of her maternal grandmother’s estate. “This was a tragedy and it satisfied all of Aristotle’s definitions of tragedy,” von Bulow said in a forum at Harvard Law School several weeks after his acquittal. “Everyone is wounded, some fatally.”
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u.s .;murder;obituary;claus von bulow
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jp0004622
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Gunman kills self, two female hostages in Zurich apartment
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BERLIN - Swiss police say an armed man took two women hostage at an apartment in Zurich and all three died after shots were heard. Police in Switzerland’s biggest city said the 60-year-old Swiss man took the women hostage early Friday. The man told them he had two hostages and threatened to shoot them if police didn’t leave. After about three hours, the man said he would give up shortly and turn himself in. But several shots were then heard; police stormed the apartment and found a man and two women with serious injuries. All died at the scene. Police seized a handgun apparently used in the shooting. There was no immediate information on a possible motive. The women were aged 34 and 38. Their nationality wasn’t immediately clear.
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hostage;zurich;switzeralnd
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jp0004623
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Prosecutors push back on enforcing new state abortion laws
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ATLANTA - New state abortion laws likely to become bogged down in legal challenges face another potential obstacle: prosecutors who refuse to enforce them. The Associated Press reached out to nearly two dozen district attorneys across seven states, and several said they would not file criminal charges against doctors who violate the laws. Even a few who left open potentially charging doctors said they would not prosecute women for having an abortion, which some legal observers say could be a possibility under Georgia’s law. “I am never going to enforce a law that’s unconstitutional, and furthermore, especially not one that targets women and girls,” said David Cooke, chief prosecutor in Macon, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Atlanta. The four district attorneys who said they would not enforce the laws at all cited the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, saying their states’ abortion laws clearly conflict with that decision. The new laws, which are not yet in effect, take aim at Roe in hopes that a new conservative majority on the court will overturn it. For Cooke, the decision was also partly personal. Georgia’s law bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen in the sixth week of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant. It includes an exception for rape victims, but Cooke said his experience as a sex crimes prosecutor showed him that many victims are afraid to report the crime to police, often because the perpetrator has power over them. “I’ve spent my entire career protecting women and girls and doing everything I can to get justice for them, and I am not about to abandon them now,” he said in a phone interview. Sherry Boston, whose district includes parts of Atlanta, cited her gender and role as a mother, saying she believed it was a woman’s right to make decisions about her body and medical care. She also said her constituents don’t want her to pursue women and doctors. “My community has spoken very clearly that they want me to put my time and resources into human trafficking, domestic violence, gun and gang violence that ultimately are a detriment to our community,” she said in a phone interview. In Salt Lake City, Utah, District Attorney Sim Gill said he’s received angry calls from some residents since announcing that he would not prosecute doctors for any violations of Utah’s ban on abortion after 18 weeks. Gill’s county includes the state’s only two abortion clinics. “I called some of them back, and I said to them, ‘This isn’t about my politics, but let me ask you, ‘Do you want me to use the authority of my office to violate the constitutional rights of somebody?’ ” he said during a recent phone interview. The pushback highlights the vast authority of elected prosecutors and raises the potential for uneven enforcement of abortion laws within states. “DAs have a tremendous amount of discretion,” said Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which trains prosecutors and guides them on their professional responsibilities. “All DAs have a lot more on their plate than they can possibly do when they’re looking at cases on whether or not they prosecute.” Of the district attorneys AP contacted in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, Louisiana, Ohio and Missouri — states that have recently enacted or are about to enact abortion restrictions — most did not respond or declined to comment. Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner in St. Louis, Missouri, said in a statement that her office was examining the effect of the state’s abortion law on health care providers in the city. Missouri banned abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy without exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Doctors who violate the cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Other prosecutors were critical of decisions not to enforce the law. John Melvin, acting district attorney in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb, said in a statement that prosecutorial discretion is important. “It does not allow prosecutors to ignore whole cloth the laws that our legislature passes. To do so would violate their oath to enforce the laws as well as their ethical obligations to do the same,” he said. Ryan Leonard, district attorney in a county about 20 miles (33 km) west of Atlanta, told the Daily Report that women could be prosecuted for murder under the state’s law and should not have an abortion if they want to avoid criminal charges. He did not return a message from The Associated Press. The new laws will almost certainly be put on hold while legal challenges play out. Boston said she would still refuse to prosecute anyone under Georgia’s law if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the law went into effect. Gill said prosecutors could still try to find “a measure of justice” in cases presented to them. “Justice is defined by proportionality,” he said. “It’s defined by equity and equality.”
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u.s .;abortion;utah;georgia;roe v wade
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jp0004624
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[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Alleged ringleader admits in Morocco trial to slaying Scandinavian hikers on behalf of Islamic State
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SALé, MOROCCO - The alleged leader of a jihadi cell accused of killing two Scandinavian hikers in Morocco admitted the murders at trial Thursday, saying they were carried out in the name of the Islamic State group. Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland had their throats slit while camping in an isolated area of the High Atlas mountains in December. “I beheaded one of them … I regret it,” former street vendor Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, told the court, blaming co-defendant Younes Ouaziyad for killing the other hiker. “We loved IS and we prayed to God for it,” he said. Twenty-four defendants — facing charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder — appeared in the court in Sale, near Rabat, under heavy security. Three are suspected of direct involvement in the killings. Ejjoud had been jailed for trying to join IS in Syria. In theory, the killers could face the death penalty, but Morocco has had a de facto freeze on executions since 1993. The main suspects are all from the Marrakesh region, near the site of the killings, which shocked the North African country. Nature lovers Jespersen and Ueland shared an apartment and went to Norway’s Bo University, where they were studying to be guides. They had traveled together to Morocco for their Christmas holidays. Their lives were ended in the foothills of Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, some 80 km (50 miles) from the city of Marrakesh, a tourist magnet. According to the charge sheet, the assailants traveled to the High Atlas mountains on Dec. 12 on a mission to kill tourists. Several potential targets were passed over because the foreigners were accompanied by guides or local residents. It was four days before the killers selected their targets, according to the prosecution. It said two of them carried out the killings while the third filmed them on a phone. After the bodies were discovered, the Moroccan authorities were initially cautious, referring to a “criminal act” and wounds to the victims’ necks. But that changed when the video surfaced showing a victim being beheaded. In it, one of the killers refers to “enemies of Allah” and says the murders are to avenge the killings of jihadis in Syria. A separate video published in the initial aftermath of the murders showed the alleged killers pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The only foreigner among the defendants is Spanish-Swiss 25-year-old Kevin Zoller Guervos, who moved to Morocco after converting to Islam. The others come from modest backgrounds, scraping by on odd jobs and living in neglected areas of Marrakesh, the North African kingdom’s main tourist city. Investigators said the “cell” was inspired by IS ideology, but Morocco’s anti-terror chief insisted the accused had no contact with the jihadi group in conflict zones. IS has never claimed responsibility for the murders. At a previous hearing, the court accepted a request by the Jespersen family’s lawyer for the government to be held “morally responsible” for the killings so they could receive compensation. The trial opened on May 2 but was adjourned to May 16 and then paused again after a brief hearing.
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terrorism;morocco;islamic state;scandinavia;louisa vesterager jespersen;maren ueland;abdessamad ejjoud;younes ouaziyad
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jp0004625
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Brazil reduces top environment council and trims independents in move seen stifling NGOs
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RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is slashing the size of a council that oversees environmental policy, effectively reducing the role of nongovernmental organizations and increasing that of political appointees. Activists and scientists said they feared Bolsonaro’s action could lead to more deforestation and less environmental oversight in the nation that holds about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest. The decree issued Wednesday cuts the size of the National Council of the Environment from 100 to 21 members. It also eliminates 105 “alternate” members who traditionally have taken part in debates. Many of those are environmental activists or independent experts, and critics say the change will stifle their voices. The highly influential council debates and recommends policies to the federal officials, and the Environment Ministry said the change was meant to make it more agile. Critics disputed that. “The idea that this is to create more efficiency doesn’t hold,” said Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, which includes several nonprofit groups. Rittl said Bolsonaro’s administration wants “more power concentrated in the hands of the government and the privileged in private initiative, and to weaken civil society.” The new council will be composed of five representatives of state governments, two members of city councils, four environmentalists, two business leaders and eight members of the federal government. Environment Minister Ricardo Salles will remain as the chairman of the body. Bolsonaro has vowed to loosen environmental restrictions on development, but the Environment Ministry says the change is meant to make the council more agile. He said in a statement that with the change, the council’s actions “will be more objective and focused on the efficiency and quality of environmental public policies decisions.” In April, The Associated Press reported a transition plan for the incoming administration complained that the council was “confusing” and “acts emotionally, without due technique, being subjected to ideological interference.” Activists say the council has helped the South American country slow global warming and support world climate systems. “We were hoping that Bolsonaro’s campaign promises … were just rhetoric,” Rittl said. “But this change within the council corresponds to an agenda that is moving forward, which seeks the weakening of the environmental legislation.”
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agriculture;brazil;mining;forests;amazon;environment;jair bolsonaro
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jp0004626
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Saudi king calls for firm Arab stance against threats from Iran
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MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia’s king told an emergency Arab summit on Friday that decisive action is needed to stop Iranian “escalations” in the region following attacks on Persian Gulf oil assets, and American officials said a U.S. military deployment had deterred Tehran. A Persian Gulf Arab statement and a separate communique issued after the wider summit supported the right of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to defend their interests after the attacks on oil pumping stations in the kingdom and tankers off the UAE. “The absence of a firm deterrent stance against Iranian behavior is what led to the escalation we see today,” King Salman told the two consecutive meetings late on Thursday night. The ruler of the world’s top crude exporter said Shiite Iran’s development of nuclear and missile capabilities and its threatening of world oil supplies posed a risk to regional and global security. But in a sign of regional tensions, Iraq, which has good ties with Iran and Washington, said it objected to the Arab communique, which stated that any cooperation with Tehran should be based on “noninterference in other countries.” Iraqi President Barham Salih, asking the gathering to support Iraq’s stability, said rising tensions with Iran could spark a war if not managed well and voiced hope that Iran’s security would not be targeted. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the attacks on the four vessels near a major bunkering hub, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, were “efforts by Iranians to raise the price of crude oil around the world.” Pompeo has warned Iraqi leaders that if they failed to keep in check Iran-backed militias, which now form part of Baghdad’s security apparatus, the United States would respond with force. Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes, which were claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthi group that has been battling a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen for four years. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Thursday that evidence of Iran being behind the tanker attacks would be presented to the U.N. Security Council as early as next week. Tensions have risen between the United States and Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump a year ago withdrew Washington from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and boosted its military presence in the Persian Gulf. Bolton has said that Iranian mines were “almost certainly” used in the tanker attacks. An Iranian official dismissed that as “a ludicrous claim.” The Islamic Republic has said it would defend itself against any aggression. Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has said Tehran was not allowed to pursue development of nuclear weapons as it was banned by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The final communique said regional stability required the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along 1967 borders to include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said on Thursday that a repositioning of U.S. military assets in the region had deterred Iran, but that the United States would respond with military force if its interests are targeted. The United States has deployed 900 additional troops to the region and extended the stay of 600 other service members, after speeding up deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group and sending bombers and additional Patriot missiles. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told the summit it was time to renew discussions on joint Arab defense mechanisms. The United States and the UAE, which hosts a U.S. air base, on Wednesday activated a defense cooperation agreement signed earlier this year. Persian Gulf states have a joint defense force under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but the alliance has been fractured by a boycott imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and non-GCC Egypt since mid-2017. The communique said the six nations had discussed the GCC defense mechanism during their meeting. Qatari premier Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, whose country hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, attended the summits, the most senior Qatari official to visit the kingdom since the embargo.
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saudi arabia;military;iran;king salman;mike pompeo;john bolton
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jp0004627
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Republican redistricting expert linked to census citizenship question
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NEW YORK - A longtime Republican redistricting expert played a key role in adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to court papers filed Thursday by opponents of the move. The filing in Manhattan federal court said the discovery of new documents revealed that Thomas Hofeller contributed vital language to a letter used to justify adding the question for the first time since 1950. Lawyers for opponents of adding the question asked a judge to issue sanctions or consider contempt remedies, saying a Justice Department official and a transition official for President Donald Trump testified falsely by hiding Hofeller’s role in asking the question. The new documents may challenge the administration’s argument that the citizenship question in the 2020 census is needed to protect minority voting rights. Instead, opponents argue, they show the census change is part of a wider Republican effort to restrict the political power of Democrats and Latino communities. In their new filing, lawyers said new evidence revealed that Hofeller played a significant role in “orchestrating the addition of the citizenship question … to create a structural electoral advantage for, in his own words, ‘Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,’ and that defendants obscured his role through affirmative misrepresentations.” The change announced in spring 2018 seems poised for approval by the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard arguments in April and is likely to rule by July. The Justice Department is planning to file a response in the New York case, said a senior Justice Department official who was not authorized to speak for quotation because the matter is before the courts. “We were not aware of these documents. The Solicitor General’s arguments were based on the record. These were not in the record,” the official said. Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say the commerce secretary has wide discretion to design the census questionnaire. States, cities and rights groups had sued in New York and elsewhere, arguing that the question would suppress the count of immigrants. States with large numbers of immigrants tend to vote Democratic. Opponents say adding the question will discourage immigrants from participating and strengthen congressional representation and funding for areas where mostly Republicans reside. Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s voting rights project and a lawyer who argued against adding the citizenship question before the Supreme Court, said documents found after Hofeller’s death last year revealed the administration’s “goal was to dilute the voting power of minority communities. That’s literally the diametric opposite of what the administration has been saying all along.” It’s not yet clear if the Hofeller documents might affect the pending Supreme Court case. “We are considering all options right now,” Ho said. The Hofeller documents cited by lawyers were discovered when his estranged daughter found four external computer hard drives and 18 thumb drives in her father’s Raleigh, North Carolina, home after his death last summer. The New York Times reported that she contacted Common Cause, which had recently sued in state court to challenge North Carolina’s legislative districts which had been drawn by Hofeller. On Thursday, Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a release that documents revealed “that the plan to add the citizenship question was hatched by the Republicans’ chief redistricting mastermind to create an electoral advantage for Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.” She said the documents contradict testimony by administration officials that they sought to add the question to benefit Latino voters. In New York, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman set a hearing for June 5. Furman ruled in January that the question could not be included on the census, saying fewer people would respond to the census and that the process used to add it was faulty. Besides the citizenship question, the Supreme Court also is expected to rule within weeks whether North Carolina and Maryland can set limits for the first time on drawing districts for partisan advantage.
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u.s .;u.s. supreme court;donald trump;hispanics;thomas hofeller . republicans
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jp0004628
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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China warns Canada of 'consequences' of helping U.S.
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BEIJING - China warned Canada on Friday that it needs to be aware of the consequences of aiding the U.S. in an extradition case involving Chinese tech giant Huawei that is believed to have sparked the detentions of two Canadians in China. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang’s comments came after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Both were arrested on Dec. 10 after Canada detained a Huawei executive wanted by the United States on fraud charges. While China has denied they were taken in retaliation, it has repeatedly implied that there is a strong connection between the cases. Korvig, a former diplomat and Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, and Spavor, a businessman, have been accused of colluding to steal state secrets. Canada has repeatedly urged their immediate release, calling their detentions arbitrary. Neither has been permitted access to lawyers or family members. “We hope that the Canadian side can have a clear understanding of the consequences of endangering itself for the gains of the U.S. and take immediate actions to correct its mistakes so as to spare itself the suffering from growing damage,” Geng said at a daily news briefing. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, is accused of lying to banks about the company’s dealings with Iran in violation of U.S. trade sanctions. Her attorney has argued that comments by U.S. President Donald Trump suggest the case against her is politically motivated. Washington has pressured other countries to limit the use of Huawei’s technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information. China and the U.S. are currently embroiled in a trade dispute that is weighing heavily on global financial markets. Another Canadian held in China, Robert Schellenberg, was re-sentenced to death in a drug case following Meng’s detention. His case is currently under appeal.
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china;canada;huawei;donald trump;justin trudeau;meng wanzhou
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jp0004629
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
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Mideast peace plan hopes dim amid Israeli political crisis
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JERUSALEM - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to push the Trump administration’s long-awaited plan for Mideast peace, just as Israel was thrust into the political tumult of an unprecedented second election in the same year. Kushner and U.S. special envoy Jason Greenblatt stopped in Israel as part of a Middle East tour to rally support for the administration’s upcoming economic conference in Bahrain, which the White House bills as the first portion of its peace plan. The U.S. is hoping to draw Arab states with deep pockets to participate in the workshop, which envisions large-scale infrastructure work and investment in the Palestinian territories. In brief joint remarks, Kushner touted American-Israeli cooperation, saying, “The security of Israel is something that is critical to the relationship between America and Israel and also very important to the president, and we appreciate all of your efforts to strengthen the relationship. … It’s never been stronger.” But public attention was dominated by Israel’s political crisis. Netanyahu attempted to play down concerns that the Israeli parliament’s dramatic dissolution would further postpone the U.S. peace plan rollout. “You know, we had a little event last night,” he said. “That’s not going to stop us.” At the White House, President Trump, a close ally of Netanyahu, weighed in expressing dismay at the prime minister’s failure to form a governing coalition. Calling Netanyahu a “great guy,” Trump said he feels “very badly” that the country has to face another election because there is “enough turmoil” in the region. Israel’s reopened election season presents another stumbling block for Trump’s Mideast peace process, which the Palestinians, citing the administration’s pro-Israel bias, have rejected out of hand. The Trump administration had hinged the plan’s unveiling on Netanyahu’s victory in elections last month. Now, it seems the proposal will have to wait for the outcome of another tumultuous election cycle, after which Trump’s own race for re-election will be kicking into gear. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is facing indictment on a series of corruption charges, with his first hearing set for October. His legal troubles throw his long rule into question, along with the feasibility of a future peace plan. Traveling this week to Jordan and Morocco, Kushner and Greenblatt strove to drum up support for the economic conference in Bahrain, scheduled for June 25-26. Neither state has announced plans for participation. After more than two years of work, Kushner’s team still has not unveiled its political vision. But glimpses of the plan hint it will focus heavily on so-called economic peace while sidelining or ignoring the longstanding Palestinian goal of independence. The two-state solution continues to enjoy the broad support of the international community. Meeting with the U.S. presidential advisers, Jordan’s King Abdullah II stood by his country’s commitment to the two-state solution, exposing a rift with the administration and raising doubts about how Trump’s team will win over skeptical Arab states. Dennis Ross, the veteran Middle East negotiator, says the plan’s outlook has dimmed, considering the “many unknowns” that may indefinitely defer its rollout. Specifically, if Netanyahu pivots even farther to the right on the campaign trial, appealing to voters by promising to annex West Bank settlements again, “the political climate will only get more difficult … it will make it harder for Arab leaders to accept anything.” But, he said, Trump has attached particular importance to this peace agreement, and is eager for an accomplishment. If the administration manages to ditch the stigmatized tagline of “economic peace,” and sells the Bahrain workshop as a step toward “economic stabilization” with the help of wealthy Gulf states, the constant deferral of the plan’s thornier political portion, such as the status of contested Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, could work in its favor. “It might be difficult for the Palestinians to reject reconstruction and development projects given the financial crises destabilizing the West Bank and Gaza right now,” said Ross. At this early point, the cash-strapped Palestinian leadership “would be saying no only to the improvement of the terrible economic conditions in Gaza and the West Bank … that could be helped without their having to give anything up politically.” Still, the Palestinians say they will not attend the Bahrain meeting, rejecting the parameters of the conference and the role of the U.S. as mediator. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his autonomy government in the West Bank cut off ties with the White House after Trump recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it to its capital. Though Trump said his declaration did not determine the city’s final borders, the Palestinians saw the move as unfairly favoring Israel. U.S. cuts in aid, and the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington, further deepened their suspicions.
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israel;middle east;benjamin netanyahu;palestinians;jordan;bahrain;donald trump;jared kushner;jason greenblatt
|
jp0004631
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Trump claims he had nothing to do with keeping USS John S. McCain out of sight during Japan visit
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NEW YORK - President Donald Trump and his acting defense secretary distanced themselves Thursday from an order to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain, a Trump thorn, out of sight during the commander in chief’s recent visit to Japan. The Pentagon’s acting chief, Patrick Shanahan, said he never authorized attempts to make sure Trump would not see the USS John S. McCain at its homeport in Japan and would have his chief of staff investigate. Trump said he was not involved in the matter. Trump, who long feuded with McCain, told reporters at the White House that he “was not a big fan” of the Arizona Republican and onetime presidential nominee “in any way, shape or form.” But, Trump added, “I would never do a thing like that. “Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say,” he said, while insisting he was kept in the dark. The order that a Navy destroyer be kept out of sight reflected what appeared to be an extraordinary White House effort to avoid offending an unpredictable president known for holding a grudge, including a particularly bitter one against McCain. Three U.S. officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the White House told the Navy to keep the warship named for McCain out of Trump’s sight during Trump’s visit Tuesday to a base outside of Tokyo. The Wall Street Journal first reported that a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official wrote an email to Navy and Air Force officials about Trump’s Memorial Day weekend visit, including instructions for preparations for the USS Wasp, where he was to speak. “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight,” according to the email, obtained by the Journal and whose existence was confirmed to AP by the three U.S. officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private email correspondence. When a Navy commander expressed surprise at the instruction, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official answered, “First I heard of it as well,” the Journal reported. The official said he would talk to the White House Military Office to get more information about the directive, the newspaper reported. Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he “was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan.” Still, he added Thursday that he “was very, very angry with McCain because he killed health care. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form.” As a senator, McCain broke with the president in key areas. He incensed Trump with his thumbs-down vote foiling the effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. Trump also mocked McCain’s military service, which included years of imprisonment and torture during the Vietnam War. The warship, commissioned in 1994, was originally named for the senator’s father and grandfather, both Navy admirals named John Sidney McCain. Last year, the Navy rededicated the ship to honor the senator as well. Shanahan told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday that he had been unaware of the request about the USS John S. McCain. “I never authorized, I never approved any action around the movement or activities regarding that ship,” Shanahan said. He said the military “needs to do their job” and stay out of politics. The Journal, citing photos it reviewed, reported that a tarp was placed over the USS John S. McCain’s name before Trump’s arrival and that sailors were instructed to remove any coverings from the ship that included its name. Asked if the tarp was meant to block Trump’s view of the ship, the officials said the tarp had been placed on the ship for maintenance and removed for the visit. Navy Cmdr. Clay Doss, spokesman for U.S. 7th Fleet, told AP that the tarp was on the ship on Friday but was removed by Saturday morning, the day Trump arrived in Japan. “All ships remained in normal configuration during the President’s visit,” he said. Two U.S. officials told AP that all the ships in the harbor were lined up for Trump’s visit, and they were visible from the USS Wasp. The officials said most of their names probably could not be seen since they were side by side but that the name of the USS John S. McCain could be seen from the pier. Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, Navy public affairs officer, tweeted Wednesday night: “The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.” POTUS stands for president of the United States. A paint barge was in front of the USS John S. McCain on Saturday morning when 7th Fleet officials walked the pier to see how everything looked for the visit. The barge was then ordered to be moved and was gone by the time Trump arrived, the officials said. The Journal reported that sailors on the USS John S. McCain, who usually wear hats with the ship’s name on it, were given the day off when Trump visited. Two U.S. officials told AP that sailors on the USS John S. McCain were not told to stay away but that many were away for the long weekend. The officials also said that about 800 sailors from more than 20 ships and Navy commands were on the USS Wasp during the president’s visit, and all wore the same Navy hat that has no logo, rather than wearing individual ship or command hats. Trump was not welcome at McCain’s funeral and raised the White House’s U.S. flag back to full-staff shortly after McCain’s death last August, despite U.S. Flag Code stating that it should remain at half-staff for another day. The flag returned to half-staff later in the day. McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted Wednesday that Trump will “always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life.” She added, “There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won’t let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him. “It makes my grief unbearable.”
|
john mccain;u.s. navy;yokosuka;donald trump;uss john s. mccain;patrick shanahan
|
jp0004632
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Angela Merkel awarded with Harvard honorary degree
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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University. The Ivy League school gave Merkel an honorary Doctor of Laws degree Thursday in advance of her keynote speech at Harvard’s 368th commencement ceremony. Others receiving honorary degrees included former Harvard President Drew Faust and Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The 64-year-old Merkel was elected to lead Germany in 2005 and is serving her fourth term, which she has said will be her last. Harvard President Larry Bacow calls Merkel one of the most “influential statespeople of our time.” Merkel comes to Harvard after her party finished first in Germany’s European Parliament election Sunday, but had its worst showing in a nationwide vote since World War II.
|
u.s .;angela merkel;germany;harvard;massachusetts
|
jp0004633
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Russia calls U.S. nuclear-test accusation 'smear'
|
MOSCOW - Russia rebuffed as a baseless smear on Thursday a U.S. allegation that Moscow may be conducting low-level nuclear tests in violation of a moratorium. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russia was in full compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which Moscow ratified in 2000. It called for the United States itself to ratify the treaty. The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said on Wednesday that Russia was probably not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in line with the “zero-yield” limit set by the CTBT. “Such accusations are absolutely groundless and aimed at trying again to smear our country,” the ministry statement said. Negotiated in the 1990s, the CTBT enjoys wide global support but must be ratified by eight more nuclear technology states — among them Israel, Iran, Egypt and the United States — to come into force. “We again call on the United States to show a responsible approach and to ratify the CTBT, without which its entry into force is not possible,” Russia’s statement said.
|
u.s .;russia;weapons;nuclear weapons;ctbt
|
jp0004634
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
D-Day still takes an emotional toll on vets, 75 years on
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SOUTHWICK, ENGLAND - Leonard “Ted” Emmings has had a mission for 75 years. The night before the D-Day landings, Emmings and his shipmates on a Royal Navy landing craft learned their mission was to ferry 36 Canadian troops to Juno Beach, a stretch of Normandy coast fortified with artillery, mortars, mines and machine gun emplacements. The men made a pact: Whatever happened, they would look after those who didn’t make it back. The next morning, the teenage British coxswain pointed his landing craft at the French shoreline and gunned the engines through meter-high (3-foot) waves as gunfire and explosions filled the air. The boat struck a mine but made it to the beach, where the crew discovered the ramp was jammed. Emmings and another crewman climbed over the side to free it. “I got back on the craft but he didn’t,” Emmings told The Associated Press. “That’s the reason I go over there, because we made that promise and I’ve tried to keep it up every year. It still brings a tear to my eyes, even now, when I talk about it.” Emmings, now 94, will honor his pledge once again on June 6, when he joins the dwindling cohort of D-Day veterans and dignitaries from around the world to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the invasion that marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. But he doesn’t need the anniversary to remember D-Day — it’s a trauma that Emmings will never forget. Whether you call it post-traumatic stress disorder, survivor’s guilt or simple grief, the events of June 6, 1944, still mark the lives of the men who fought on the Normandy beaches. The emotions are even more pronounced this year, as the aging survivors prepare to take part in what may be the last major commemoration of the landings in which veterans take part. As difficult as it is for the veterans to talk about their experiences, they know they are running out of time to tell their stories. All hope that future generations will remember the sacrifice of those who died. They often weep, or stare off in the distance as they describe how ordinary people did extraordinary things. “Coming to the end of their lives, these guys are reflecting on, ‘What have I done that was worth anything? Was it a waste? Do I have anything that I can point to?’ ” said Frank Farley, a psychology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia and an expert on heroism. “Their resume has D-Day on it, and they can hang a lot on that. That is valued.” Emmings would tell you himself he’s an ordinary guy who became a husband, a father of two and a forester, dedicated to expanding and protecting the nation’s woodlands. Born and raised in the village of Shere, 30 miles (48 km) southwest of London, Emmings had never been out of the country when he was assigned to the first wave of the assault on Juno Beach, where 359 Canadian soldiers would die. His superiors didn’t seem to worry about what would happen once the landing craft were lowered into the water, as long as the coxswains kept heading for the beach 6 miles (10 km) away. Emmings scanned the horizon and picked out the landmark he had been told to aim at: a large house on the seafront at Bernieres-sur-Mer and the bunker to its left. “It looked a bit frightening on the way in, because they were still shelling then and they were dropping stuff on the beach and whatever and there was still quite a bit of firing going on,” he recalled. “It seemed murderous, if I may use that word, to let the guys run ashore when they’re going to go in under heavy (bombardment).” Things quickly went bad for Emmings and his passengers. Damage from the mine explosion slowed the boat and jammed the bow ramp, forcing Emmings and a crewman into the water where they struggled to free it. The commotion attracted the attention of Germans in the bunker, and the Canadians were cut down as they left the craft. As the boat left the beach and headed back out to sea it hit another mine, and another crewman was killed. Emmings and his crew struggled on, but the landing craft sank before it reached the mother ship. They were eventually picked up by a passing landing craft. “You didn’t have time to be scared, not really. I never even (gave) it a thought that I could get shot,” Emmings said. “When I think about it, I think I was bloody lucky, you know, especially when the craft got hit, and you see a guy that dies in front of you more or less. “But the main people that I do feel really sorry for are the Canadians, because they came over here, they trained in a strange country and they died in a strange country.” One Canadian in particular, an officer who was shot down as he tried to cross the beach, haunts the old sailor’s memories. Emmings wanted to tell the officer’s family what he saw, but he didn’t know the man’s name. But Emmings has kept his promise to his crew. His hair is now a thatch of silver, and he walks with a pair of canes. But he is adamant about the need to just keep talking about D-Day, no matter how painful it is to remember. And he goes to Normandy every year to honor his shipmates and put crosses on their graves. “I will do these interviews, hoping that somebody will read it and remember it every year,” he said. “This must never be left to die. D-Day, it must always be there. You’ve got to remember all those guys.”
|
france;wwii;europe;u.s .;history;u.k .;germany;ptsd;anniversaries;d-day
|
jp0004635
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
At least four killed as Iraqi city of Kirkuk is rocked by six blasts
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi security officials say a series of explosions in the northern city of Kirkuk has killed at least four people and wounded 23. The officials said the six blasts went off in quick succession Thursday night after iftar, the meal that breaks daylong fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. They struck center of the city when streets are typically crowded. The nature of the blasts was not immediately clear, but the officials said they appeared to be improvised explosive devices. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Iraq declared victory against the Islamic State group in 2017, but the group continues to carry out attacks through sleeper cells, particularly in the country’s north.
|
terrorism;iraq;islamic state;kirkuk
|
jp0004636
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Hope fades for finding 21 missing in Budapest boat disaster, with seven South Koreans confirmed dead
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BUDAPEST - Hungarian rescue officials said there was little chance of finding survivors after a boat with South Korean tourists on board sank on the Danube River in Budapest, with seven people confirmed dead and 21 missing. The boat was cruising when it collided with a larger luxury passenger boat during a rainstorm on Wednesday evening, causing it to capsize and sink with 33 South Korean tourists and tour guides and two Hungarian crew aboard. “I wouldn’t say there is no hope, rather that there is a minimal chance (of finding survivors),” Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the Hungarian national ambulance service, told the M1 state broadcaster. “This is not just because of the water temperature, but (also) the strong currents in the river, the vapor above the water surface, as well as the clothes worn by the people who fell in,” he added. Police said the smaller boat turned on its side and sank within seconds of the collision under a bridge near Hungary’s parliament building. They said a criminal investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident. Police declined to say if the bigger vessel, the 135-meter (443 ft) Viking Sigyn, put out any signals for help. Police said its investigation yielded evidence that raised personal responsibility, so it questioned the Viking Sigyn captain, a 64-year-old Ukrainian, as a suspect, and later moved to take him into custody for reckless misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties. Police said it initiated the formal arrest of the captain, identified as C. Yuriy from Odessa. Officials said the hull of the Mermaid, a 27-meter (89-ft) double-decker river cruise boat, had been found on the riverbed a few hundred meters from its usual mooring point. A crane ship docked near the wreck on Thursday in preparation for recovery operations and divers prepared equipment. Police said the rescue efforts were hampered by high water levels, strong currents and bad visibility. “Those who were trapped in the hull or were stuck underneath can be lifted only once the wreckage is pulled out,” a police statement said. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered his condolences to Seoul. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the authorities would work with the Hungarian government to investigate the cause of the accident. “What’s most important is speed,” Moon said in Seoul. Some South Korean relatives of those on board started to depart for Hungary. Several family members were seen at Incheon International Airport in Seoul on Thursday night. South Korean rescue teams and officials including South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also left for Budapest on Thursday. She will hold a news conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at 0730 GMT on Friday. The foreign ministry said 30 South Korean tourists, including at least one child, three South Korean tour guides and two Hungarian crew were on board when the accident occurred at around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Seven South Koreans were rescued, seven died, and 19 South Koreans were among the 21 missing, said Kang Hyung-shik, a foreign ministry official. The crew members were also missing. The seven people rescued were suffering from hypothermia but stable, a Hungarian ambulance spokesman said. Police said the seven people who died had no life vests on. Video footage from a security camera screened by police showed the bigger boat catching up from behind at a higher speed, clipping the Mermaid’s por t side. “The (Mermaid) for some reason, turns into the way of the Viking. And the Viking as it bumps into it, pushes it… and within seven seconds … (th e Mermaid) sinks,” Pal said, describing the video. Rescue officials deployed boats, divers, floodlights and radar, scouring the river for several kilometers downstream from the site of the accident. Police said efforts were hampered by the fast currents of the flooding Danube, whose deep water was full of debris, at 12 degrees Celsius (53.6°F), and flowing at a speedy 10 kph (6.2 mph). Well-wishers laid flowers outside the South Korean Embassy in Budapest, and candles burned on the Danube bank. The Mermaid’s owner said the boat — a Soviet model manufactured in 1949 and refurbished in the 1980s — had been in its fleet since 2003, with regular maintenance. “We are mobilizing every resource we have to protect human lives,” the owner Panorama Deck Ltd. told state media through a spokesman. The larger Viking Sigyn is a 95-room floating hotel of the kind that has multiplied as Danube river cruises gained popularity in recent years. “There were no injuries to Viking crew or Viking guests. We are cooperating with the authorities as required,” said a spokesperson for operator Swiss-based Viking Cruises Ltd .
|
hungary;south korea;budapest;viktor orban;danube;marine accidents;moon jae-in;viking sigyn
|
jp0004637
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Florida air-conditioning pioneer first dismissed as a crank now celebrated by state
|
MIAMI - Residents of hot, mosquito-infested Florida know that life there sans air conditioning would be unbearable. Yet the state’s 19th-century pioneer in the field was dismissed during his lifetime as a crank. John Gorrie, a medical doctor who moved to steamy north Florida in 1833 determined to alleviate outbreaks of yellow fever, was once described by a New York Globe writer as a crank “who thinks he can make ice by his machine as good as God Almighty.” Gorrie’s unrecognized feat lives on in a museum in the Florida panhandle town of Apalachicola, nestled between heavily forested swamps, debris from the last hurricane and spires of the town’s many churches. Gorrie was a respected member of the community when he first moved to Apalachicola. He founded its first Episcopal church, “the oldest church today still very valuable to us,” said Jeremy Roundtree, a Florida Park Services ranger at the tiny John Gorrie Museum, the pride of Apalachicola. “He ran the very first bank out of Pensacola, Florida, he was a postmaster, which was a very lucrative job, he was a mayor here.” But after he made an ice machine and got it patented in 1851, the verdict was: “He’s crazy,” Roundtree said. The Spaniards, the first Europeans to settle in Florida in the mid-1500s, could never attract enough people to live on the peninsula and eventually ceded the land to the United States in 1819. Born in 1803, Gorrie spent his sweat-drenched life in Florida searching for ways to create winter with the goal of defeating yellow fever. Outbreaks of the often-deadly disease were more terrifying than hurricanes. The New York-trained doctor quickly linked the yellow fever to heat, but was convinced that it was transmitted by “swamp gas.” His solution: cool the patient’s room with machine-made ice. It took another 50 years for experts to realize that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, which thrive in swamps and die in the cold. “Which is why today the nation calls him the ‘Father of Refrigeration,’ and not an amazing doctor,” said Roundtree. “But he was an amazing doctor — he just finds himself fighting the wrong thing at the right place.” Gorrie’s machine is a steam engine with a series of cranks and handles held in a wooden frame on a brick platform that condenses and expands air until, thanks to the thermodynamic cycle discovered just years earlier, it produces ice. By 1848 the machine was producing 12 blocks of ice a day. Gorrie would put ice inside a bucket that was hung from the ceiling over the patient’s bed or high point near a window. Hot air, which tends to rise, was thus cooled, and eventually the room temperature — and the patient’s fever — would drop. Gorrie was far ahead of his time when he patented his machine. Religious Americans, however, were unprepared for a device, clearly inspired by the devil, that could reproduce God’s creation. “It had nothing to do with God but, instead, science,” Roundtree said — “which, you know, today probably doesn’t still walk hand in hand with religion.” He may have improved the lives of his patients, but Gorrie was unable to sell his ice-making machine. He died in 1855, mocked and bankrupt. The first proper air-conditioning machine came out about half a century after his death. “Dr. G. came up with a brilliant, far-sighted innovation that helped people, so of course he was labeled a crackpot and died penniless — only to be honored by the state after his death,” said Craig Pittman, a local writer specializing in the offbeat stories that Florida is well known for. Florida was the least populated U.S. state up to the 1940s. Hotels closed during the summer because of the heat and the clouds of mosquitoes the descended on visitors. It wasn’t until air conditioning became popular and pesticides such as DDT came into use in the 1950s that Florida became truly habitable. “Everyone said he was a crazy man,” said Roundtree. But today in Apalachicola “as you can see we love and honor Dr. Gorrie because of his sacrifices.”
|
history;disease;inventions
|
jp0004638
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Central U.S. river flood risk mounts as rain lets up after deadly twisters
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LOS ANGELES/ATLANTA/NEW YORK - Rain-swollen rivers threatened more flooding on Thursday in Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois and Oklahoma, as Tulsa’s mayor warned that the decades-old levee system in his city would be at risk even as waters receded through the weekend. Since early last week, a spate of deadly tornadoes has caused widespread damage across the central United States while torrential downpours unleashed record floods, turning highways into lakes and submerging all but the roofs of some homes. The violent weather has been blamed for least 16 deaths across several states in the nation’s midsection. In Tulsa, Oklahoma’s second-largest city, the state’s National Guard conducted round-the-clock patrols of the 20-mile (32-km) levee system that protects some 10,000 people. “To have a 70-year-old levee system that has been poorly maintained and protects thousands of people and their homes and property and to have it go through a historic level of stress at that age and in the condition it’s in, it’s been an area of high risk,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a phone interview. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was gradually reducing the level of water behind the berms, aiming to return it to a safe level by Sunday night, Bynum said. “You have all this material that has high pressure on it and is saturated with water, as that pressure is relieved, you see material start to fall away. That can endanger the integrity of the levee,” Bynum said. “That risk won’t be relieved until late this weekend.” There were no reports of major levee breaks on Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Waterways posing the greatest threats included the Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri rivers. Oklahoma has borne much of the brunt so far, with six fatalities attributed to flooding and severe weather confirmed by the state’s chief medical examiner, and hospitals reporting more than 100 injuries. Missouri’s Highway Patrol has confirmed seven weather-related deaths since May 21 — three victims of tornadoes and four from rain and flooding. Floodwaters also swept a motorist to his death on Tuesday in Arkansas, while twisters that pulverized buildings in western Ohio on Monday killed one person and injured scores of others, authorities said. A tornado last week in Adair, Iowa, claimed one life there. On the brighter side, the region appears to be headed for a few days without rain heading into the weekend, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Flooding in Arkansas has already closed 12 state highways, and 400 households have agreed to voluntary evacuations, said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Rivers were expected to crest by early June to the highest levels on record as far south as Little Rock, Arkansas, forecasters said. Little Rock mayor Frank Scott Jr. said municipal workers have distributed thousands of sandbags to residents around the city, parts of which were hit with flash flooding on Wednesday night. “We are in unprecedented times here in Arkansas, and the Arkansas River will reach historic level,” Scott said at a news conference on Thursday. “We just received information that it’s now going to be 29 feet with the crest next week.” In Louisiana, the Mississippi River was also at record flood levels due to record-breaking rains this spring, forecasters said. More than 300 tornadoes have touched down in the Midwest in the past two weeks.
|
u.s .;weather;disasters;floods;tornadoes;arkansas
|
jp0004639
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Modi to face foreign pressures in second term
|
NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a second term in office after responding to a suicide attack on Indian paramilitary forces in troubled Kashmir with an airstrike inside Pakistan, allowing him to turn voters’ attention away from the country’s highest unemployment rate in decades. Now, after his swearing-in on Thursday, he will need to deftly navigate a trade war between the United States and China as well as rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, an important source of cheap oil for India’s fast-growing economy. Modi will also face pressure to protect India’s traditional sphere of influence in South Asia. Many Modi supporters credit the 68-year-old leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party with India’s growing status abroad, and messages from U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulating him on his party’s victory even before all results were in seemed to bolster that belief. Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to Washington, said foreign policy has been one of Modi’s most pronounced achievements, as he pursued it with vigor “that we have not seen in any other prime minister so far.” As Modi returns to power for another five years, global leaders are looking to India to take on a larger burden of responsibility in the world, acting as a security buffer in the Indo-Pacific, opening its markets and responding to climate change, even though Modi struggled to manage many of India’s domestic issues in his first term. “Maneuvering in the current international situation will be quite a challenge for Modi,” said Dilip Sinha, a retired Indian diplomat. The U.S. wants India to act as a counterweight to Beijing to prevent the rise of Chinese hegemony in Asia but it also wants the Modi administration to lower barriers to trade. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross complained to leaders in New Delhi in May that American companies struggle to access India’s markets because of tariffs and myriad regulations. To help reduce the trade imbalance, India has signed more than $15 billion in U.S. defense contracts. According to the World Economic Forum, India is poised to become the world’s third-largest consumer market, growing from $1.5 trillion this year to $6 trillion by 2030. At the same time, with the Trump administration scaling up sanctions on Iran and ending waivers for countries that import Iranian goods, including India, India must replace its third-largest source of imported oil. The fear of a further conflagration in the Persian Gulf region could make oil more expensive and threatens the security of 7 million Indians working as migrant laborers. “It’s an extremely difficult and challenging position for India,” Sinha said. During the Cold War, India didn’t have open relations with Israel, leaning heavily in favor of the Palestinians. But over the last 25 years, ties between the two countries have warmed. Trade between them has skyrocketed from $200 million in 1992, when India and Israel established diplomatic ties, to $4.16 billion in 2016. The growing ties risk upsetting India’s long-standing relationship with other Middle Eastern countries. The U.S. weapons purchase agreements, coupled with Russia’s improving ties with Pakistan and China, also pose a challenge to Russia-India relations, which date back to the Cold War. “India’s Russian ties are also beginning to fray. The recent fighter aircraft deals with France and other military hardware purchases from the USA have resulted in sidelining India’s usual defense partner,” the opposition Indian National Congress party said in a statement. India faces perhaps its biggest challenge with China at its northeastern border as Beijing invests billions in infrastructure development in South Asia. India takes years to execute projects, whereas China delivers quickly on what it promises. India needs to maintain close ties with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives, its traditional sphere of influence. But delays by Indian companies have led to cost overruns, prompting India’s neighbors to look toward China for speedy development. Modi has carefully cultivated ties with Xi since a 2017 border standoff over Chinese construction of a road in Doklam near a tri-border area with Bhutan. India and China fought a bloody war in 1962 over a border dispute that continues to simmer. But their relations have thawed recently, with Beijing deciding against blocking the U.N. designation of Masood Azhar, the leader of the Pakistan-based militant group that claimed responsibility for the February suicide bombing in Kashmir, as a global terrorist. Though Modi invited then-Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other South Asian leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, the neighbors were at the brink of nuclear war in February. Modi has refused an official dialogue with Islamabad until it ends support for what India calls terrorism emanating from its territory. They have fought two of three wars over control of divided Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. In Kashmir, the majority Muslims see Modi’s re-election as causing more hardship. In the past five years, Modi’s government gave the military a free hand to crush resistance to Indian rule, targeting not just armed militants but also civilians supporting their cause, to keep Kashmir a part of India at any cost. Some in Kashmir see Modi’s win as “a blessing in disguise,” saying his tough approach could energize the movement for self-determination in the region. “The fog around India’s policies on Kashmir is increasingly getting removed thanks to Modi and Co.,” said Sajjad Ahmed, a schoolteacher.
|
india;kashmir;pakistan;trade;iran;narendra modi;_asia
|
jp0004640
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
|
In South Korea, disturbing parallels drawn between sinking on Danube and Sewol ferry disaster
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SEOUL - The sinking of a boat carrying South Korean tourists in Hungary is touching a nerve in South Korea, where many are still traumatized over a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people, mostly students. The grief is compounded by claims by some South Korean tour agents and travelers that there were past safety issues on the Danube River where the accident happened. A total of 33 South Koreans were on the small boat enjoying the night view of Budapest on Wednesday evening despite a downpour. A preliminary investigation showed none was wearing a life jacket when the boat collided with a larger cruise ship on the river, according to the South Korean government and their tour agency in Seoul. Nearly a day after the sinking, seven people had been confirmed dead on Thursday, seven had been rescued, and 19 South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members were listed as missing. Rescuers were scouring the Danube far downriver, but prospects for more rescues were dimming because the river was flowing rapidly and rising as heavy rain continued. The water temperature was about 10 to 12 degrees Celsius (50 to 53 Fahrenheit). While the exact cause of the collision still wasn’t known, some said there could have been a lack of safety awareness, as in the sinking of the ferry Sewol in South Korea five years ago that was blamed on a culture that has long sacrificed public safety standards for profit and convenience. The Sewol, which was overloaded with poorly secured cargo, sank while sailing to the southern South Korean resort island of Jeju, killing 305 people, including 250 high school students. Lim KyoungJae, head of a Seoul-based travel agency who has taken South Korean tourists to Budapest about five times in recent years, said he would have seriously considered whether to go ahead with the boat tour in the strong rain. “Heavy rain must have made the current of the river faster and caused low visibility,” Lim said. “If you don’t have a good night view, then you really don’t need to take a boat ride.” Many sightseeing boats on the Danube turn their lights low to have a better night view of the city. If that was the case for the boat that capsized Wednesday, Lim said those navigating the larger cruise ship may have found it difficult to see the small boat sailing nearby. The South Koreans’ tour agency, Very Good Tour, said the boat trip was part of a package tour to Europe. It said the agency went ahead with the excursion after the tourists agreed on it. “Other boats were making tours too and we decided to go on after passengers agreed,” senior tour agency official Lee Sang-moo said. “Our company humbly accepts all the responsibility that is ours.” According to the tour agency and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, none of the South Koreans — 30 tourists, two guides and a photographer — was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident. Lee admitted that there was a possibility that there were no life vests on the boat. Senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official Kang Hyung-shik said it is “customary” for tourists on Danube boat trips not to wear life jackets. The boat, the Hableany (Mermaid), is described on the sightseeing company’s website as “one of the smallest members of the fleet.” Built in 1949, it has two decks and a capacity of 60 people, or 45 for sightseeing cruises. Mihaly Toth, a spokesman for the Panorama Deck boating company, said the Hableany was on a “routine city sightseeing trip” when the accident happened. Lee Deok-sun, a South Korean who took the Hableany on a package tour in April, said he and about 28 other South Korean tourists didn’t wear life jackets. He said his group wasn’t given instructions on the use of life vests and he didn’t even know where they might be. He said he saw only one or two small rubber boats tied with ropes at the boat’s bow. “It was a very old boat and I felt some anxiety,” Lee said in a phone interview with the YTN television network. “The railings looked unstable … and the river was deep so I worried that we would get into big trouble if some accident happened.” After the capsizing, South Korean President Moo Jae-in canceled all of his scheduled events and ordered officials to mobilize all available resources to support rescue efforts in cooperation with the Hungarian government. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and divers who took part in the rescue work when the Sewol sank were to fly to Hungary later Thursday. The swift government reaction was in sharp contrast to that after the Sewol sinking, which triggered an explosion of anger over the previous government’s botched rescue efforts and regulatory failures. South Korean investigators found that the Sewol’s crew had overloaded the vessel with 185 cars when it had room for only 97. Crew members failed to properly fasten the vehicles and containers so they could squeeze in more cargo. Although the captain reported 657 tons of cargo, investigators said the real amount exceeded 2,140 tons, which likely prevented the vessel from regaining balance after making a sharp turn. Rescue officials then missed a series of opportunities to save most of the passengers before the ship completely sank about three hours after crew members lost control. Rescuers saved 172 people, including the ferry’s captain. He is now serving a life prison sentence after a court found him guilty of homicide through willful negligence because he fled without issuing an evacuation order. The public uproar over the Sewol’s sinking was so large that it contributed to the ouster of Moon’s conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who is currently serving a lengthy prison term over a separate corruption scandal. The Danube River flows south, meaning that the missing people were likely to be swept through the well-populated, historic part of Budapest. The South Korean tourists included families and a 6-year-old girl. Her status wasn’t immediately clear but she was not on a list of survivors provided by the tour agency.
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accidents;hungary;south korea;tourism;sewol;budapest;maritime accidents;danube
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jp0004642
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
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With cameras and crackdowns, another Tiananmen-style movement now 'impossible' in China
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BEIJING - Thirty years after the crackdown on Tiananmen protesters, the tanks that lined Beijing’s central avenue have been replaced by countless surveillance cameras perched like hawks on lampposts to keep the population in check. The Chinese Communist Party has gone to great lengths to prevent another pro-democracy movement, clamping down on student activists, labor movements and lawyers with the help of high-tech surveillance. But the party has also pushed economic reforms that have made millions of people wealthier — and less interested in rebelling like the students whose protest ended with hundreds killed on June 4, 1989. Over the past decade, small police booths have been set up block by block across the country to monitor neighborhood disputes, prevent crime and keep tabs on anyone suspected of disturbing social order. Now China’s obsession with artificial intelligence and facial recognition is adding another layer of sophistication to this intricate surveillance web, allowing police to pound on the door of any perceived troublemaker, several activists have said. Others said the party’s infiltration of universities and a crackdown on “liberal spaces,” including independent bookstores, has made it difficult for people to even discuss reform. “Enhanced surveillance technology makes it much more difficult to see any mass demonstrations like the Tiananmen protests in 1989 to happen nowadays,” said Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International. Instead there have been smaller “spontaneous protests” led by labor activists, students or families affected by vaccine or food scandals in recent years, he said. But even that has become difficult as Beijing tries to nip them in the bud and quickly erases any mention of them on social media, Poon said. “Even now, every time I go out of town I have to report to the community police,” said Yi Wenlong, a businessman from northern China’s Shanxi province, whose daughter developed epilepsy after a faulty vaccination. “If we can’t talk about a concrete issue like poor-quality vaccines, do you think it’s possible to put out banners calling for bigger changes?” added Yi, who has protested about shoddy vaccines outside the local and provincial government offices. Censors and cameras The government has severely reduced the space for civil liberties since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, rounding up rights lawyers in a sweep in 2015 and Marxist students in the past year. Censors have stepped up their policing of social media, monitoring the activities of millions of people and blocking any politically sensitive material, such as what really happened at Tiananmen in 1989. All language versions of Wikipedia — whose pages include details about the Tiananmen crackdown — were blocked from the Chinese internet weeks before the anniversary. “Freedom of speech is the starting point of all freedoms,” said Hu Jia, a prominent Chinese dissident. “Without it, another Tiananmen is unthinkable.” The new arsenal of the Chinese police state also includes voice-recognition software that can identify speakers in phone calls and a sweeping program of DNA collection, said Xiao Qiang, a theoretical physicist who became a human rights activist after the Tiananmen protests. Several Chinese activists said they rely on encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram or WhatsApp to communicate, but it is becoming harder to meet in person due to mass video surveillance. “The space for civic activities is narrowing,” said a political dissident who was imprisoned from 2013 to 2016, adding that even data such as hotel bookings and transport can be used to track individuals. In 2015, the government launched the Sharp Eyes project, which it described as an “omnipresent, fully networked, always working and fully controllable” mass-video surveillance system incorporating facial-recognition technology. China had about 176 million video surveillance cameras monitoring its streets, buildings and public spaces in 2016, compared to 50 million in the United States, according to data provider IHS Markit. By 2022, the number is expected to reach 2.76 billion, in a country with a population of 1.4 billion. Rights activists warn that facial recognition has the potential for errors and mismatches, and it relies on vast databases that may have little or no oversight. Wealthier China Adding to those concerns has been the deployment of surveillance cameras inside mosques, restaurants and other public areas to track the movements of the Uighur ethnic minority in the restive border region of Xinjiang, where an estimated 1 million mostly Muslim people are held in internment camps. Marxist students are another group now targeted by communist authorities. Dozens have been detained or disappeared after their support for a labor movement last year. The tight policing of what is taught or discussed in universities and other liberal spaces makes it “impossible” for a recurrence of another “ideological movement” as seen in 1989, said Li Datong, a former editor at Beijing Youth Daily. Li has been under surveillance since he wrote an open letter critical of the 2018 constitutional amendment to remove Xi’s presidential term limits. He sees a second reason why another Tiananmen-like upheaval in China is unlikely. “The current generation is also selfish because they have been lulled into a coma by China’s growing wealth,” he said. “They can’t be compared to the students in the 1980s who were idealists.”
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china;censorship;history;rights;protests;tiananmen square;anniversaries
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jp0004643
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
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On truth of North Korean purge, there are reasons for caution based on South's past record
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SEOUL - A South Korean newspaper reported Friday that North Korea executed a senior envoy involved in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. as well as four other high-level officials. But as ever with North Korea, a country that closely guards its secrets, there are reasons to be cautious about the purported purge. While North Korea hasn’t used its propaganda services to comment, the report in the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily could be true. North Korea has previously executed scapegoats to atone for high-profile political flops, and the most recent summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump ended in failure, leaving Kim embarrassed on the world stage. But it’s important to note that both South Korean media and the government in Seoul have a history of reporting scoops about the inner workings of North Korea that turn out to be wrong. Supposedly executed officials have later appeared trotting alongside Kim on state TV after their reported demise. Friday’s report is based on a single, unidentified “source who knows about North Korea” — with no details about where that source got their information. The report so far hasn’t been matched by any major media in Seoul or confirmed by government officials, even anonymously. The newspaper’s source said that senior envoy Kim Hyok Chol was executed at the Mirim airfield with four other officials from the North’s Foreign Ministry for betraying Kim Jong Un after being won over by the U.S. Kim Hyok Chol led working-level negotiations as North Korea’s special representative for U.S. affairs ahead of February’s summit between the U.S. and North Korean leaders in Hanoi. The source also said that Kim Yong Chol, who had worked as North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and met with Trump at the White House while setting up the summits, was sentenced to hard labor and ideological re-education. That the report has been snapped up by global media reflects the hunger for any details about what’s going on in North Korea as diplomatic efforts falter between Washington and Pyongyang, which tightly controls its media and both local and foreign access to information. Negotiations have hit a stalemate because the North wants an end to crippling sanctions, but Washington says Pyongyang is not providing enough disarmament to allow that to happen. There is now growing concern that the diplomacy that has blossomed since early 2018 could be replaced by a return to the animosity that in 2017 caused some of the most realistic fears of war in years as the North staged a string of increasingly powerful weapons and Kim and Trump traded intensely personal threats and insults. Since the Hanoi nuclear summit ended in failure, North Korea has again tested weapons and boosted its belligerent rhetoric toward American and South Korean officials. Analysts believe this indicates Pyongyang is trying to show displeasure for the current impasse without destroying the diplomacy. Seoul’s spy service said it could not confirm Friday’s report, while the presidential Blue House said that “it’s inappropriate to make hasty judgments or comments.” Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Thursday called out unspecified “betrayers, turncoats who demonstrate their loyalty to (the supreme leadership) only in words, and, even worse, change their colors by the flow of trends” and said they would come under the “stern judgment of the revolution.” “To pretend to serve the suryong while dreaming different dreams when turning around is to commit anti-party and anti-revolutionary actions that abandon the moral loyalty for the suryong,” the newspaper said, referring to a revered title served for North Korean leaders. If Friday’s report is wrong, it would not be the first time for South Korean media and officials. South Korean intelligence officials in 2016 said that Kim Jong Un had Ri Yong Gil, a former North Korean military chief, executed for corruption and other charges. North Korea’s state media months later showed that Ri was alive and in possession of several new senior posts. In 2013, the Chosun Ilbo reported that Hyon Song Wol, a famous North Korean artist the newspaper described as Kim’s “ex-girlfriend,” was executed in public along with several other performers over accusations that they filmed themselves having sex and selling the videos. Hyon, the leader of Kim’s hand-picked Moranbong all-female band, was very much alive and later emerged as a key member of Kim’s government, accompanying him in his meetings with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. South Korea does sometimes get it right. While many questioned the competence of the South Korean spy service after it failed to learn of the 2011 death of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, before Pyongyang’s state TV announced it, the intelligence agency saved face in 2013 by releasing its finding that Kim’s powerful uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was purged, days before North Korea announced his execution.
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media;north korea;kim jong un;journalism;nuclear weapons;south korea;north korea nuclear crisis;kim yong chol;kim-trump summit;kim hyok chol
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jp0004644
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
|
North Korea's Kim Jong Un carrying out bloody purge after collapse of Trump summit, report says
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SEOUL - North Korea executed its nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of officials who steered negotiations for the failed Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper said on Friday. Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four Foreign Ministry executives after they were charged with spying for the United States, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation. “He was accused of spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping U.S. intentions,” the source said. The February summit, the second between Kim and Trump, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over U.S. calls for complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. Previously, some North Korean officials have reportedly been executed or purged, only to reappear with a new title. U.S. State Department officials said they had no information to confirm the report. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report. A spokeswoman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to comment. An official at the presidential Blue House in Seoul said it was inappropriate to comment on an issue that should first be verified. A diplomatic source said there were signs Kim Hyok Chol and other officials had been punished for the breakdown of the summit, such as by being sent to a labor camp for re-education, but there was no evidence they have been executed. Kim Yong Chol, Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man and the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the Hanoi summit, had also been sent to a labor and re-education camp in Jagang Province near the Chinese border, the Chosun Ilbo reported. Key officials who worked with Kim Yong Chol have been out of the public eye since the summit. Seasoned diplomats who previously appeared to have been sidelined, including Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, were seen returning to the spotlight. A South Korean lawmaker said in April that Kim Yong Chol, a hawkish former spy master, had been removed from a key party post. Kim Hyok Chol was seen as a rising star when he was appointed to spearhead working-level talks with U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun before the Hanoi summit. However, little was known about his expertise or the role he undertook during those talks. The other four executed alongside him included diplomats working on Vietnam relations, the Chosun report said. “This is a man who might provide some tactical advice to the leader but is otherwise a message bearer with little negotiating or policymaking latitude,” said Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center. “Instead, they put in someone like Kim Hyok Chol to insulate Choe Son Hui and more substantive diplomatic personnel — to a certain degree he is expendable, and his superiors are not.” Among the penalized officials were Kim Song Hye, who led preparations as part of Kim Yong Chol’s team, and Sin Hye Yong, a newly elevated interpreter for the Hanoi summit. They were said to have been detained in a camp for political prisoners, the newspaper said. The diplomatic source said Kim Song Hye’s punishment seemed inevitable because she was a “prime author” of the North’s plan to secure sanctions relief in return for dismantling the Nyongbyon main nuclear complex. The idea was rejected by the United States demanding a comprehensive road map for denuclearization. Kim Song Hye had also worked closely with Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister and a senior party official whom Kim Song Hye accompanied to South Korea for the Winter Olympics last year. Kim Yo Jong was also lying low, the paper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official. Madden said Kim Yo Jong’s status remained unchanged as Kim Jong Un’s top aide, citing her attendance at key party meetings in April and appearance in state media reports. Sin was charged with making critical interpretation mistakes that included missing an unspecified “last-minute offer” the North Korean leader supposedly made as Trump was about to walk out, Chosun reported. North Korea’s official party mouthpiece, Rodong Sinmun, warned on Thursday that “two-faced” officials would face the “stern judgment of the revolution.” “It is an anti-Party, anti-revolutionary act to pretend to be revering the leader in front of him when you actually dream of something else,” it said in a commentary. “There are traitors and turncoats who only memorize words of loyalty toward the Leader and even change according to the trend of the time,” it said. The newspaper accused Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un’s uncle, of committing “anti-party, anti-revolutionary acts” after he was executed in December 2013. Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said it was possible Kim Hyok Chol and other officials faced some penalty, but further verification was needed. “Executing or completely removing people like him would send a very bad signal to the United States because he was the public face of the talks and it could indicate they are negating all they have discussed,” Hong said.
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north korea;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;north korea nuclear crisis;kim yong chol;kim-trump summit
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jp0004645
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
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Tiananmen timeline: From reform hopes to brutal crackdown
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BEIJING - Tuesday will mark 30 years since China bloodily suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when Chinese troops opened fire on their own people. The event remains a taboo topic of discussion in China and will not be officially commemorated by the ruling Communist Party or government. Here are some landmark dates leading up to the demonstrations and the crackdown that followed: 1988 : China slides into economic chaos, with panic buying triggered by rising inflation that neared 30 percent. April 15, 1989 : A leading reformer and former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, dies. His death acts as a catalyst for unhappiness with the slow pace of reform, as well as corruption and income inequality. April 17 : Protests begin at Tiananmen Square, with students calling for democracy and reform. Crowds of up to 100,000 gather, despite official warnings. April 22 : Some 50,000 students gather outside the Great Hall of the People as Hu’s memorial service is held. Three students attempt to deliver a petition to the government, outlining their demands, but are ignored. Rioting and looting take place in Xian and Changsha. April 24 : Beijing students begin classroom strike. April 27 : Around 50,000 students defy authorities and march to Tiananmen. Supporting crowds number up to 1 million. May 2 : In Shanghai, 10,000 protesters march on city government headquarters. May 4 : Further mass protests coinciding with the anniversary of the May 4 Movement of 1919, which was another student and intellectual-led movement for reform. Protests coincide with meeting of Asian Development Bank in Great Hall of the People. Students march in Shanghai and nine other cities. May 13 : Hundreds of students begin a hunger strike on Tiananmen Square. May 15-18 : To China’s embarrassment, protests prevent traditional welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People for the state visit of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Students welcome Gorbachev as “The Ambassador of Democracy.” May 19 : Party chief Zhao Ziyang visits students on Tiananmen Square, accompanied by hard-line Premier Li Peng and future Premier Wen Jiabao. Zhao pleads with the students protesters to leave but is ignored. It is the last time Zhao is seen in public. He is later purged. May 20 : Li declares martial law in parts of Beijing. Reviled by many to this day as the “Butcher of Beijing,” Li remained premier until 1998. May 23 : Some 100,000 people march in Beijing demanding Li’s removal. May 30 : Students unveil the 10-meter-high “Goddess of Democracy,” modeled on the Statue of Liberty, in Tiananmen Square. May 31 : Government-sponsored counterdemonstration calls students “traitorous bandits.” June 3 : Citizens repel a charge toward Tiananmen by thousands of soldiers. Tear gas and bullets used in running clashes a few hundred meters from the square. Authorities warn protesters that troops and police have “right to use all methods.” June 4 : In the early hours of the morning tanks and armored personnel carriers begin their attack on the square itself, clearing it by dawn. About four hours later, troops fire on unarmed civilians regrouping at the edge of the square. June 5 : An unidentified Chinese man stands in front of a tank convoy leaving Tiananmen Square. The image spreads around the world as a symbol of defiance against the crackdown. June 6 : Chinese State Council spokesman Yuan Mu says on television that the known death toll was about 300, most of them soldiers with only 23 students confirmed killed. China has never provided a full death toll. Rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into the thousands. June 9 : Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping praises military officers, and blames the protests on counterrevolutionaries seeking to overthrow the party.
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china;censorship;history;rights;protests;tiananmen square;anniversaries
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jp0004646
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/31
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Bangladesh picks up 58 Malaysia-bound Rohingya at sea and collars two suspected traffickers
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TEKNAF, BANGLADESH - Bangladesh coast guard elements on Thursday stopped 58 Rohingya refugees from making a potentially dangerous journey to Malaysia by sea and arrested two suspected traffickers, an official said. Acting on a tip-off, a patrol ship challenged a fishing boat near Saint Martin’s, a small Bangladesh island in the Bay of Bengal, and found the Rohingya on board, coast guard Lt. Josel Rana said. “We’ve found 58 refugees and detained two human traffickers on the boat,” he told AFP. About 740,000 Muslim minority Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since a brutal military crackdown in the Buddhist-majority nation began in August 2017. Thousands of refugees attempt to flee the camps each year in pursuit of better opportunities in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. So far this year, law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh have rescued over 400 Rohingya refugees from coastal villages as they were waiting to board boats bound for Malaysia. But this is the first time in 2019 that Rohingya refugees were rescued at sea, raising concerns that the situation in Bangladesh’s overcrowded camps — home to nearly 1 million — is worsening. “Such incidents will continue as desperation among the refugees is on the rise,” said Emdadul Haq, a professor at the private North South University in Dhaka. Rana said most of the refugees picked up by the coast guard were from the Kutupalong camp — the largest refugee settlement in the world. Most attempt the journey before March, when the sea is calm before the monsoon season sets in, but experts say traffickers are now convincing the refugees to attempt the trip even in rough waters. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has said the vulnerability of Rohingya to trafficking has increased enormously as livelihoods, support networks, and other fundamental systems are disrupted.
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malaysia;myanmar;refugees;bangladesh;rohingya;human trafficking
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jp0004647
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[
"national"
] |
2019/05/31
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Three years after enactment of Japan's hate speech law, politicians call for increased efforts to eradicate discrimination
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Lawmakers on Friday called for more efforts to eradicate discrimination against residents who were born abroad, and their descendants, three years after the Diet enacted a law to counter hate speech. A cross-party group of four House of Councilors members who helped pass the legislation met with the press to talk about the law, which was enacted on May 24, 2016, and took effect on June 3 that year. “An increasing number of local governments have established ordinances and guidelines” in line with the law, but some candidates have made hate speeches during election campaigns, said Shoji Nishida of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. “The public needs to understand this kind of behavior is not socially acceptable,” he said. Katsuo Yakura, a member of the LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, said the law has had some effect in court rulings, with injunctions issued to ban hate speech. “We need to make constant efforts,” he added. While Nishida and Yakura said further efforts to eradicate hate speech should be made under the existing law, opposition party members called for the enactment of new legislation. “There is a limit with the current law to tackle human rights violations on the internet,” said Yoshifu Arita, a member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Sohei Nihi of the Japanese Communist Party said it is necessary to enact a new law with a provision banning hate speech in order to eradicate it. The four lawmakers all belonged to the Upper House committee on judicial affairs that deliberated the legislation in 2016. Hate speech targeting ethnic minorities in Japan often includes death threats against certain nationalities and extreme insults, such as comparing certain groups of people to cockroaches or other creatures, or remarks like “go back to your home country.”
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ldp;discrimination;hate speech;komeito
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jp0004648
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/31
|
91-year-old's death at care home in western Japan went unnoticed for nearly two weeks
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KOBE - An elderly care home in Hyogo Prefecture said Friday that the death of a 91-year-old male resident in his room went unnoticed for more than 10 days. Security camera footage showed the man at Palmary Inn Akashi in the city of Akashi last went outside to go shopping on May 9. He was found dead by a worker on May 22, according to the care home and the municipal government. A postmortem examination by a doctor was unable to determine the cause of his death but it was learned that he died around May 10. The man was not using paid services at the facility, such as meal provision, newspaper delivery and room cleaning, and doctors were not visiting him, so the facility workers did not routinely check on him. The man’s family told the facility on May 4 that the man was not in good health, but as he went outside on a bicycle a number of times in the following days, the workers at the facility thought he had no problems, they said. The welfare ministry asked the municipal government to provide information on the case. Following a similar solitary death at a care home in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2012, the ministry has asked municipalities to report such cases. Palmary Inn Akashi, operated by a Kobe-based firm, has about 90 rooms with 100 residents for whom multiple care workers give around-the-clock service. The man moved into the facility with his wife in 2000 but his spouse died in 2004. Koki Nitanda, the manager of the facility, apologized over the incident and said the operator will make thorough checks on people entering and leaving the rooms.
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akashi;elderly;hyogo prefecture;nursing care
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jp0004649
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2019/05/31
|
After Kawasaki attack, support groups worry recluses might all be painted with the same brush
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Ryuichi Iwasaki, the 51-year-old suspect in a stabbing spree in Kawasaki on Tuesday that left two dead and 17 injured, is believed to have lived like a recluse, resulting in very limited interactions with other people and the outside world. Many people have raised concerns about drawing a connection between a life of solitude and criminal behavior, with support groups for recluses and their families warning media and experts to refrain from giving such an impression out of fear that it could drive recluses to further shut themselves in. While instances of middle-aged people living in poverty with their elderly parents continue to increase, efforts are being made by welfare experts to identify opportunities where they can be provided with support, as such families tend to be reluctant to ask for help. Unlike cases concerning domestic abuse or problems between family members living under the same roof, experts said that with the case of Iwasaki, who took his own life following the attack, it would have been difficult for authorities to intervene beforehand. The suspect lived together with his uncle and aunt, both of whom are in their 80s. In November 2017, a relative consulted the city’s mental health and welfare center about the elderly couple receiving a nurse visitation service. The relative reportedly said: “(Iwasaki) has not been employed for a long time and was becoming a recluse . We’re concerned about outside people visiting the house.” The city officials spoke with the elderly couple 14 times, both by telephone and in person. Though Iwasaki took an allowance from the couple and ate food that was prepared for him and left in the refrigerator, he rarely spoke to them face to face or communicated with them. The officials suggested that the couple write him a letter, which his aunt delivered to his room in January. A few days later, Iwasaki told his aunt: “I make my own meals, do my own laundry and take care of myself. What do you mean you’re worried that I’m a recluse?” The aunt told city officials that he is “deliberately cutting off his connections with other people” and that she wanted to watch his condition for the time being. The officials told her to contact them if anything came up, but they never directly interacted with the suspect. According to a Cabinet Office survey released in March, the number of recluses — known as hikikomori in Japanese — in Japan aged between 40 and 64 is estimated to total about 613,000, exceeding the approximately 540,000 recluses aged between 15 and 39. Thirty-six percent of middle-aged recluses said they started cutting themselves off from others after quitting their jobs, apparently a result of the bleak job market in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The issue is referred to by welfare officials as the “8050 problem,” which refers to recluses in their 50s living with their parents in their 80s. The government has set up consultation counters in all prefectures and several major cities to provide assistance for such individuals. But it is difficult for authorities to intervene as long as there is no abuse or violence involved. Meanwhile, nonprofit support groups are working to build relationships between recluses and their families to make it easier for them to receive support. Recently, a parent in their 80s consulted Orange no Kai, a Nagoya-based nonprofit support group, about their unemployed 40-year-old son who had been a recluse for nearly 20 years. The family lived in an older house with a steep staircase. A group staff member suggested they install a handrail using municipal subsidies. Using that as an excuse, the staff member kept visiting the home for six months, and eventually managed to meet the son, who later began receiving support as he looked for work. “The parent-child relationship tends to become rigid when a person has been reclusive for a long time,” said Kosuke Yamada, the director of the group. “In such cases, a third party needs to give proactive support by finding small ways to help.” “It’s only natural for recluses and their families to refuse help,” said Rika Ueda, the head of the secretariat of Kazoku Hikikomori Japan, a Tokyo-based group supporting families of recluses. “Instead of one organization trying to solve the problem alone, the key is cooperation between multiple organizations.” Following the stabbing in Kawasaki and the close scrutiny of the suspect’s lifestyle, many hikikomori and their families have expressed worries that it could give the impression that being reclusive can lead to crime. “We can’t say the suspect’s reclusive behavior was the factor that led to the incident,” Kazoku Hikikomori Japan said in a statement Thursday. “Media reports and comments by experts indicating such a connection will only encourage prejudice and make such people and their families suffer.”
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murder;kawasaki;mental health;kanagawa;hikikomori;stabbings;ryuichi iwasaki;kawasaki attack
|
jp0004650
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Japan-led team discovers cheap, stable way of producing blood stem cells
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In a world first, an international research team led by a Japanese scientist has developed an effective, inexpensive method for the stable, long-term expansion of mouse hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs. Although some modifications will be necessary for use with human HSC cultures, “once the changes are successfully made, the method is expected to facilitate treatment of blood diseases such as leukemia, because it can make a large quantity of HSCs available for transplantation into patients,” said Satoshi Yamazaki, project associate professor at the University of Tokyo and head of the team. Conventional methods for culturing the self-renewing multipotent stem cells, which are found in bone marrow and can develop into blood-forming cells, use the expensive bovine serum albumin as a culture medium. The costly methods, however, cannot achieve a stable, long-term expansion of functional HSCs. According to the Yamazaki-led team — also including researchers from the Japanese government-affiliated research institute Riken and Stanford University — and its article published online in the British scientific journal Nature on Thursday, the novel method uses a type of synthetic resin called polyvinyl alcohol as the culture medium. A major raw material for liquid adhesives, polyvinyl alcohol is easy to obtain and is cheap. Yamazaki and colleagues had previously found that albumin works to induce HSC division but that it also prevents the stable proliferation of the stem cells. With polyvinyl alcohol, however, functional HSCs expanded up to 899 times over one month, according to the Nature article. In addition, they confirmed that if a single HSC is available, the method will enable HSC transplantation into multiple individuals.
|
stem cells;disease;cancer;university of tokyo;leukemia;satoshi yamazaki
|
jp0004651
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Another body found after collision between two cargo ships off Japan coast
|
CHIBA - Another body was discovered Thursday as divers continued to search for missing crew members following a collision between cargo ships Sunday in the Pacific Ocean off eastern Japan, raising the death toll from the crash to three. A diver who was swimming near the sunken 499-ton Sensho Maru spotted a figure through a window, according to the Japan Coast Guard, and the body was later retrieved from the ship. It was later identified as that of 69-year-old Hiroshi Seno. Another crewman who was aboard the sunken vessel remains missing. The Sensho Maru sank to the seafloor at a depth of about 30 meters after colliding with another 499-ton cargo ship, the Sumiho Maru, around 12 kilometers off Inubosaki, Chiba Prefecture, early Sunday. The four crew members on the Sumiho Maru, based in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, escaped safely. But two of the four crewmen — aside from the captain, who was rescued — of the Sensho Maru, based in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, were found inside the sunken ship and confirmed dead in the following days. Hopes had emerged that there might be survivors inside the Sensho Maru after a faint knocking sound was heard when a diver struck the vessel’s hull with a hammer while searching the crew quarters on Monday. But the coast guard stopped searching inside the ship on Wednesday. It has also sent divers to search the ocean floor and nearby areas.
|
accidents;marine accidents;sensho maru
|
jp0004652
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Russian and Japanese foreign ministers fail to make breakthrough on island issue in Tokyo talks
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A breakthrough in the long-standing territorial dispute over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido remained elusive Friday during a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers in Tokyo. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said only that the two have “made clear the outline of issues we should overcome” over the dispute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking through a Japanese-language translator, said there are many issues still to deal with over the territorial issue. Lavrov also revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet on June 29 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. The two leaders had already been expected to meet in Osaka but this is the first time a specific date has been announced. Kono and Lavrov met to lay the groundwork for the planned meeting. During Friday’s joint press announcement with Lavrov, Kono said the two had engaged in “very frank discussions” and that he had “clearly explained” Tokyo’s views about the territorial dispute. Moscow’s take on the situation is substantially different on certain points, Kono said. However, Kono did not elaborate further, saying he and Lavrov agreed not to disclose concrete details of their talks. The islands, which were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II, have been a major issue affecting ties between the two countries, and no peace treaty has ever been signed. They are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia. Abe has long tried to resolve the territorial issue and has had dozens of meetings with Putin where he has proposed joint economic projects on the four islands in a bid to boost relations between Tokyo and Moscow. But according to Japanese Foreign Ministry sources, territorial talks between the two countries have been deadlocked for months. On Thursday, Kono and Lavrov took part in a meeting along with the two countries’ defense ministers to discuss regional security issues. After the “two-plus-two” meeting, Kono told reporters the Japanese side raised concerns over a recent missile-firing exercise and the deployment of a jet fighter unit to the disputed islands. Such military buildup on the islands is “unacceptable” given Japan’s claim of sovereignty over the territory, Kono said during a joint press announcement on Thursday. In response, Lavrov said that the military activities were conducted on territory under “Russian sovereignty” and that they adhered to international law. During Thursday’s meeting, Lavrov expressed concern over Japan’s program to strengthen its “global missile defense” capability, referring to Tokyo’s plan to set up the U.S.-made Aegis Ashore missile defense system in the prefectures of Akita and Yamaguchi, which Japan says is a move to defend against North Korean ballistic missiles but Moscow has argued is a threat to its security. In response, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya argued that Aegis Ashore is a “purely defensive system” and will not pose any threat to Russia or other countries. Both Kono and Lavrov said the two countries agreed to push for the denuclearization of North Korea. “Russia’s position on the situation of the Korean Peninsula is very close to that of Japan,” Lavrov said. Two-plus-two meetings between the two nations were launched in November 2013 in a bid to build up ties between the two countries and possibly promote talks over the territorial dispute. Thursday’s meeting was the fourth following the one held in July last year in Moscow.
|
russia;disputed islands;northern territories;hokkaido;russia-japan relations;sergey lavrov;taro kono
|
jp0004653
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Japan and Malaysia eye close ties based on Mahathir's 'Look East' policy
|
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, agreed Friday to deepen bilateral relations through Kuala Lumpur’s “Look East” economic development policy, which is heavily modeled after Japan. During their meeting in Tokyo, Abe and Mahathir agreed to step up cooperation in achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. “The ‘Look East’ policy has been the beacon leading Japan and Malaysia to strengthen friendship and enhance bilateral ties,” Abe told Mahathir at the start of their talks. “I look forward to reaffirming our commitment with Prime Minister Mahathir to update our partnership to suit the new era and develop our relations at multiple levels and in various fields and sectors,” Abe said. Mahathir, who returned to power in 2018 after a 15-year hiatus, expressed his appreciation for Japan’s assistance, including the provision of yen loans, adding he hopes such “support will continue into the future.” When Mahathir served as prime minister between 1981 and 2003, he launched the “Look East” policy of learning from Japan’s work ethic and economic growth. Many Japanese companies now have production plants in Malaysia as bilateral ties have strengthened. The Southeast Asian country is a major exporter of natural gas to resource-poor Japan. During the talks, Abe said Japan gives its “utmost support” to Mahathir, who has been seeking to improve governance and reduce national debt. The leaders also discussed the situation in North Korea as well as in the South China Sea, where China’s military buildup is raising concerns, according to the ministry. Mahathir visited Japan to attend a two-day conference through Friday on the future of Asia. Other leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were also in attendance. Abe met separately with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Prime Minister’s Office with an eye to deepening bilateral ties through cooperation on infrastructure building and human resources development. Japan has been building closer ties with ASEAN countries as their cooperation is seen as necessary to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific amid China’s growing influence in the region. Hun Sen told Abe on Friday that Cambodia backs Japan’s initiative. Abe has also held meetings over the past three days with the leaders of Bangladesh, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
|
malaysia;shinzo abe;southeast asia;cambodia;mahathir mohamad;malaysia-japan relations
|
jp0004654
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Nuclear envoys from Japan, U.S., South Korea discuss North Korea during trilateral meeting in Singapore
|
SINGAPORE - Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for North Korea, held talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Singapore on Friday. Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang are currently at a standstill. The trilateral meeting was the first since North Korea fired projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and May 9 in an apparent attempt to coax Washington into making concessions in denuclearization negotiations. Biegun met with Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs. The outcome of the talks was not immediately available, but they probably exchanged views on how to pave the way for the resumption of denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang, which have been stalled following the collapse of the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi in late February. For the United States, the state of the trilateral partnership is another concern, given strains in Japan-South Korea ties. Relations between the two East Asian neighbors have deteriorated over a series of disputes based on differing interpretations of thorny issues related to wartime history. In Singapore, the Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is scheduled to take place for three days through Sunday. As for Pyongyang’s recent missile launches, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted earlier this month that North Korea fired off “some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” indicating Washington is taking a wait-and-see attitude. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, has expressed willingness to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “without conditions” to resolve the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
|
north korea;singapore;nuclear weapons
|
jp0004655
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Loan period for Ueno zoo's crowd-pulling giant panda cub Xiang Xiang extended until end of 2020
|
Xiang Xiang, a giant panda cub that has been drawing huge crowds at a Tokyo’s Ueno zoo, will return to China by the end of 2020, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Friday. The female panda was originally scheduled to be returned when she turns 2 next month but the loan period has been extended. China has ownership of Xiang Xiang as well as her parents, who came to Japan in 2011 under a 10-year lease agreement. “Thanks to the understanding of the Chinese side, people can continue seeing her,” Koike told a news conference. “I can imagine some people would miss her but (the return of Xiang Xiang) will be necessary in preserving and breeding of pandas.” Xiang Xiang was born on June 12, 2017, to mother Shin Shin and father Ri Ri through natural mating at the Ueno Zoological Gardens. Her name was chosen from more than 320,000 suggestions received from the public. She became the first panda cub to be exhibited at Ueno zoo in 29 years. Since a panda cub is very difficult to look after due to its inability to control its body temperature right after birth, zoo staff monitored and took care of her around the clock for about three months. Japan has agreed to pay $950,000 to China annually for the lease of Xiang Xiang.
|
ueno zoo;yuriko koike;giant pandas;xiang xiang
|
jp0004656
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Japan adopts policy package aimed at cutting plastic waste ahead of Osaka G20 summit
|
The government adopted Friday a policy package aimed at reducing plastic waste ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in late June, where the issue is expected to be a major agenda item. The policies are intended to cut the flow of plastic waste into the ocean, promote plastic-bottle recycling in Japan and combat marine pollution by microplastics. “Ocean plastic waste is one of the issues topping the G20 summit agenda. As the chair of the meeting, we will exercise leadership to solve the matter,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a ministerial conference, which finalized the policy package. In the package, an action plan for slashing plastic waste inflow to the ocean calls for providing technical support for developing countries in Southeast Asia and other areas and the development of materials easily decomposable in nature, in addition to promoting recycling. Under a strategy to significantly reduce plastic waste in Japan, Tokyo has set the goal of cutting disposable plastic waste by 25 percent by 2030 and completely recycling or reusing all such waste, including items used in scrapped household electric appliances and auto parts, by 2035. The strategy also obliges retailers to charge for plastic bags and calls for expanding the use of bioplastics derived from renewable sources such as plants. Another plan regarding ocean microplastics asks companies to curb the use of microbeads used in facewash and toothpaste, and in municipalities near rivers to prevent plastic waste from flowing into the sea. The government has been stepping up its efforts to reduce plastic waste after it came under international criticism for not signing the Ocean Plastics Charter at the Group of Seven summit in Canada last year, citing a “lack of preparedness.” The United States also did not sign the pact. Many countries are grappling with increasing amounts of plastic waste that degrades into small pieces when exposed to ultraviolet light and abrasion. Pieces measuring less than 5 millimeters in length are called microplastics. They are difficult to collect once they enter water, tend to adsorb harmful chemicals and accumulate inside fish, birds and other animals as they make their way up the food chain. Over 8 million tons of plastic waste is estimated to flow into the oceans every year.
|
osaka;oceans;g20;waste;plastic;microplastics;plastic waste
|
jp0004657
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Rules revised to ensure time in Japan under new Type 1 visa won't count toward permanent residency
|
The Immigration Services Agency on Friday revised its guidelines for granting permanent residency permits to foreign nationals to assuage concerns that newly introduced visa categories could lead to a surge in permanent foreign residents. The new guidelines exclude the time spent in Japan under the Type 1 resident status introduced in April and the technical trainee status from being counted in the minimum five-year work requirement for granting permanent residency. To gain permanent residence, foreign nationals are required to have lived in Japan for 10 or more years and stayed in the country for at least five years under a residential status that permits employment. The Type 1 status, which is granted to foreign workers with certain professional skills, allows up to five years of residency in Japan. Additionally, the agency changed the tax and other requirements in the guidelines to be more specific, in a move that seeks to grant permanent residency permits to those paying taxes and insurance premiums.
|
immigration;expats;foreign workers;permanent residency
|
jp0004658
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Suspect's motive for Kawasaki knife attack still unclear even after police search alleged killer's house
|
The motive of the assailant who carried out a knife attack on Tuesday in Kawasaki that left two dead and a dozen others injured remains unclear even after police searched his home, investigative sources said Friday. Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51, who took his own life at the scene, had left a notebook in the house where he lived with his aunt and uncle. But its contents gave no indication about why the attack occurred, the sources said. The suspect wrote the Chinese character sei or shou — meaning righteousness or real thing — again and again in the notebook. “We have the impression that he wrote something nonsensical,” one of the sources said. Iwasaki’s room, which he is said to have spent much of his time in while living like a recluse, has a TV and a game console but no internet connection, according to the sources. No computer or smartphone has been found yet. Two magazines published more than a decade ago about serial murders that occurred overseas were also found during the search. Based on testimony by a neighbor and analysis of security camera footage, police believe Iwasaki left his home at around 7 a.m. Tuesday. He took an Odakyu Line train to Noborito Station, near the scene of the crime, and then walked to the place where he began attacking a group of Caritas Elementary School students and some parents waiting for a school bus at around 7:40 a.m. Iwasaki was seen walking along the railway tracks toward the location, putting on work gloves and crouching at a nearby convenience store parking lot while carrying his bag. Police believe it was there that Iwasaki observed the students and took out the two 30-centimeter-long knives that he used to kill Hanako Kuribayashi, an 11-year-old student, and Foreign Ministry official Satoshi Oyama, the 39-year-old father of a pupil. Iwasaki also injured 17 others, mostly schoolchildren. He later died of a self-inflicted wound to the neck. The police are looking at past security camera footage to see if Iwasaki had been in the area previously to scout out the location where the attack took place. The elementary school, which closed in the wake of the attack, said Friday that it will reopen next Wednesday.
|
murder;kawasaki;mental health;kanagawa;hikikomori;stabbings;police;ryuichi iwasaki;kawasaki attack
|
jp0004659
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Plaintiffs appeal Sendai court's ruling denying damages for forced sterilization
|
SENDAI - Two women who underwent forced sterilization in Japan decades ago appealed Friday a district court ruling that denied their claim for damages despite determining that the country’s now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional. The Sendai District Court found Tuesday that the law enacted in 1948, which mandated the government to stop people with intellectual disabilities from having children, violated the Constitution’s guarantee of the right to pursue happiness. But the court rejected the ¥71.5 million ($654,000) damages suit filed by the women in their 60s and 70s in Miyagi Prefecture, saying the 20-year statute of limitations had expired. The ruling was the first in a number of suits filed with seven district courts. “We decided to appeal because we thought it is so foolish for the district court to dismiss our demands while recognizing the need to save (people with disabilities who were sterilized),” said Koji Niisato, head of the defense team. Between 1948 and 1996, the eugenics law authorized the sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness and hereditary disorders to prevent births of what was deemed “inferior” offspring. About 25,000 people with disabilities were sterilized under the law, including around 16,500 who were operated on without their consent, according to the health ministry and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. In April, the Diet enacted legislation to pay ¥3.2 million in state compensation to each person who underwent forced sterilization, irrespective of whether they were believed to have agreed to undergo surgery or not. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a statement expressing regret and an apology, but he did not mention the legal liability of the state.
|
courts;rights;discrimination;disability;sendai;sterilization;eugenics;eugenic protection law;eugenics law
|
jp0004660
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/05/31
|
Japan government panel reviewing parents' right to discipline children to meet June 20
|
The government will start next month reviewing a Civil Code provision that sets out parents’ right to discipline their children, based on the view that it has been used as an excuse in serious child abuse cases, Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita said Friday. Yamashita said he will ask the Legislative Council, an advisory panel at the Justice Ministry, to start examining the matter at a meeting on June 20. “The situation surrounding child abuse is very serious and the Justice Ministry has been considering a review, given that the (parental) right has continued to be used as an excuse,” Yamashita said. The minister expressed hope for a productive study and deliberation by the panel on the “urgent” issue. The move comes after a bill banning parents and other guardians from physically punishing children passed the Lower House on Tuesday by a unanimous vote. The legislation, which is expected to be enacted during the current Diet session through late June and take effect in April next year, calls for reviewing parental disciplinary rights within two years of its entry into force. While there have been calls in the past for scrapping the disciplinary right clause, it was left intact when Japan amended the Civil Code in 2011 as some said doing away with it would prevent parents from properly disciplining their children. Article 822 of the Civil Code stipulates that a person who exercises parental authority may discipline a child to the extent necessary for the child’s care and education, provided it’s in their best interest. But a slew of cases have since occurred in Japan where serious child abuses are alleged to have been carried out in the name of discipline. Among recent cases was the death of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara at her home in Chiba Prefecture in January after her father allegedly splashed her with cold water and deprived her of food and sleep. The father told investigators he was “disciplining” her. In March last year, 5-year-old Yua Funato died in Tokyo, after writing desperate pleas for her parents to “forgive” her and stop mistreating her. Her father also said he hit Yua to “discipline” her. Separately, Yamashita said he will also ask the advisory panel to review a Civil Code provision that assumes a child born within 300 days of a divorce was fathered by the previous husband. The clause has been blamed for causing hundreds of people not to be listed in a family registry, as most of their births were not reported to the authorities as their mothers sought to prevent them from being recognized as a child of the previous husband. Not being registered leaves someone without an official certificate to prove his or her identity, causing difficulties with school enrollment and employment among other issues. As of April this year 827 people were without a family registry, according to the Justice Ministry.
|
children;diet;justice ministry;child abuse;parenthood;takashi yamashita
|
jp0004662
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
New Hampshire sues 3M, DuPont and other chemical firms for toxic damage
|
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE - New Hampshire has sued eight companies including 3M and the DuPont Co. for damage it says has been caused statewide by a class of potentially toxic chemicals found in everything from pizza boxes to fast-food wrappers. The state becomes the second in the nation to go after the makers and distributors of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS and the first to target statewide contamination. The lawsuit also names Chemours Company, Chemguard Inc., Tyco Fire Products, Buckeye Fire Equipment, Kidde-Fenwal Inc. and National Fire Foam Inc. New York state has sued six companies that made firefighting foam containing PFOS and/or PFOA chemicals that it says have contaminated drinking water in two communities and groundwater in another. “The actions we are taking today is intended to ensure that those responsible for PFAS contamination to our state’s drinking water supplies and other natural resources are held accountable,” New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon McDonald said. “As alleged in the lawsuits, the defendants possessed unique knowledge of the dangers of PFAS chemicals but continued to make or sell them without warning the public of their health risks.” Messages seeking comment were sent to all the companies. A spokesman for Johnson Controls whose brands include Tyco and Chemguard defended the use of firefighting foams, which include PFAS. “Tyco and Chemguard acted appropriately and responsibly at all times in producing our firefighting foams,” Fraser Engerman, the director of global media relations for Johnson Controls, said in a statement. “We make our foams to exacting military standards, and the U.S. military and civilian firefighters have depended for decades on these foams to extinguish life-threatening fires,” he continued. “They continue to use them safely and reliably for that purpose today.” In an emailed statement, 3M said it “acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS” and would “vigorously defend its environmental stewardship.” The substances have been used in coatings meant to protect consumer goods and are commonplace in households across the United States. Firefighting foam containing PFAS has seeped into groundwater and waterways around military bases, airports and fire stations. Studies have found potential links between high levels of PFOA in the body and a range of illnesses including kidney cancer, increased cholesterol levels and problems in pregnancies. And because they persist for so long in the environment, PFAS has been dubbed a forever chemical. The moves by New Hampshire come as states around the country are growing impatient waiting for the federal government to address widespread contamination — especially setting standards on the amount of chemicals that considered safe in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has established a nonbinding health advisory threshold of 70 parts per trillion, earlier this year announced plans to consider limits on the toxic chemicals. New Jersey has set more stringent standards for some PFAS chemicals, and Vermont has passed legislation requiring standards be set for drinking water. New Hampshire has proposed drinking water standards ranging from 23 parts per trillion to 85 parts per trillion depending on the chemical. The challenge for regulators is tracking down and treating a chemical that seems to be everywhere, from materials in landfills to the drinking water of homeowners, to the rivers where people fish. EPA-mandated testing of about 5,000 of the roughly 150,000 public water systems in the U.S. completed in 2016 found dangerous levels of the same two PFAS compounds in 66 systems. Local and state testing since then has identified high levels in additional systems. In New Hampshire, the state has been forced to connect more than 700 homes to new water systems in four communities due to PFAS contamination. It estimates that the contamination could end up impacting 100,000 people, with damages reaching several hundred million dollars. In the lawsuits filed Wednesday in state court, New Hampshire does not seek a specific dollar amount for damages. The state wants the companies pay for the cost of investigating, cleaning up and remediating contamination related to groundwater, surface water and other natural resources. It accused DuPont and 3M of knowing the dangers of PFAS compounds going back as far as the 1950s but not making it public while continuing to market the compounds. “It is my hope that those responsible for the manufacturer and distribution of PFAS will recognize the severity of the issues they have caused and will become part of the solution,” McDonald said. Last month, Vermont announced a settlement with a plastics company that would help hundreds of people in the Bennington area whose drinking water wells had been contaminated by chemicals. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics agreed to extend municipal water lines to more homes.
|
pollution;u.s .;environment;chemicals;new hampshire;dupont;pfas;3m
|
jp0004664
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Crumbling roads and spotty internet trouble small U.S. businesses
|
NEW YORK - Every hour that one of The Advance Group’s trucks is stuck in highway or bridge traffic, it costs the moving company around $200. And with 40 trucks trying to get into Manhattan daily and contending with the New York metro area’s deteriorating infrastructure, the price of lost time runs up quickly. “Getting to and from a job site is not really billable to a client,” says Anthony Parziale, president of The Advance Group, based in the suburb of Farmingdale. Parziale’s company and other small and midsize businesses want the federal government to follow through on a promise to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure — not just roads and bridges, but also extending broadband coverage to rural areas where internet and cellphone service is poor or nonexistent. Improving and fixing the roads in New York would help traffic flow faster even with the area’s congestion, Parziale says. He wants to see officials deal with New York’s ongoing pothole problems; damage to his fleet from the area’s pitted roads costs the company $65,000 each winter. “It’s becoming more challenging to conduct business,” he says. The Trump administration and Democrats in Congress earlier this month publicly agreed that the nation needs $2 trillion for infrastructure upgrades. But quick action looks unlikely — President Donald Trump said last week he wouldn’t negotiate with Democrats while they are investigating his administration. And a bill would have to win support from both parties; the No. 2 Republican in the House, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, has already said the $2 trillion figure is too high. In a January survey of 1,001 small business owners and operators released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 56 percent said the quality of their high-speed internet was good, and 58 percent said cellphone network coverage was good. Those somewhat slim majorities reflect dissatisfaction among a considerable portion of owners. Roads and bridges got lower marks: 62 percent of the owners rated local roads and bridges as having between very poor and average quality, and 52 percent gave the same ratings to highways. Owners in the Northeast gave the lowest marks to infrastructure compared to ratings by owners in other regions, but across the country owners were most dissatisfied with highways. All businesses must deal with the added expense caused by poor infrastructure, but smaller companies don’t have the revenue cushions large businesses use to absorb the costs of lost time and repairs. At the 225 franchisees of AdvantaClean, a company that cleans building air systems, staffers spend about half their time traveling from one appointment to another, and highway and road problems cut into the amount of time spent doing the real work, President Matt Phillips says. “Significant changes to our infrastructure could reduce our expenses as much as 35 percent and help increase revenue by 25 percent,” Phillips says. It’s not just the time, but also fuel wasted by slow-moving traffic that drives up costs, he says. Phillips’ crews have the most problems in the Northeast, which has older, more dilapidated infrastructure, and the Southeast, where roads are crowded due to the region’s fast growth. In many areas, it’s not possible to build entirely new highways. But roadways can be widened in projects that can take years but that ultimately allow traffic to move faster. A 35-mile stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike was widened to six lanes in each direction from three; it took five years to complete. When bridges are replaced, lanes can be added; when the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City, the new double span was given eight traffic lanes, compared to seven on the old bridge. For many small businesses, including those in rural areas or whose customers are located far from metro areas, the infrastructure problem is about broadband coverage needed to move information across cell phones and the internet. Internet service is poor in the Catskill Mountains 130 miles north of Manhattan. Lita Wall, who owns Cold Spring Lodge, has Wi-Fi through her cable provider for her guests and also to run the business. But the internet service is spotty because of the mountains, often failing during poor weather, and cellphone service is equally unreliable. The area, which has many “dead zones” where there is no service, needs more cellphone towers. Wall has a landline phone for voice calls. Wall also owns a restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, but even in the heavily populated city, she struggles with poor internet connections. “Sometimes it is down and we don’t notice until later and so have issues with the customers who send orders during the time the system is down,” Wall says. At those times, she needs to connect to the internet using her cellphone as what’s known as a hotspot, an added expense each month. Even companies that have good service can be forced to contend with their customers’ poor connections. John Royster owns a design firm, Big Muddy Workshop, in Omaha, Nebraska, located near military installations whose presence guarantees excellent internet and cellphone service in the area. But Royster has clients in more rural areas, and their internet systems, when they’re working, can’t accommodate the large electronic documents and files that architects routinely email. One client, who lives on a ranch about 300 miles away, couldn’t receive large documents. So Royster sent them to a print shop 40 miles from the ranch where they were printed. The client had to drive two hours round trip to get it. “These delays in exchanging information can easily add a week or two to a project. This negatively impacts my bottom-line and delays progress for my clients,” Royster says.
|
u.s .;congress;internet;infrastructure;democrats;small businesses;donald trump
|
jp0004665
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Japan business lobby JCCI urges sales tax hike to proceed as planned
|
The head of a Japanese business lobby said a planned sales tax hike should proceed in October to sustain the social security system for a rapidly graying population, despite calls from elsewhere to postpone it given growing economic challenges. The intensifying Sino-U.S. trade war and slowing Chinese economy threaten to derail Japan’s export-reliant economy, keeping alive expectations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may forego a twice-delayed increase in the national sales tax. “Economic uncertainties persist even now but I don’t think they will morph into a crisis on the scale of a Lehman shock, so I want (the hike) to proceed,” said Akio Mimura, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents small and medium-sized businesses. “With just a few months left before October, it’s impossible to delay it again.” While a tax hike could hurt growth, it would also help Japan achieve fiscal reform in the long run, which will more than offset the near-term pain, Mimura said in an interview conducted on Wednesday. Japan needs revenue to pay for bulging welfare costs to support an aging population and curb the industrial world’s heaviest public debt burden, which is twice the size of its $5 trillion economy. The government plans to spend ¥2 trillion ($18.3 billion) in offsetting measures, which Mimura said should help ease the tax hike pain “to a considerable degree.” Further delays could cause confusion to many Japanese firms that have made significant preparations to overcome the shift to the 10 percent sales tax, Mimura added. His view is shared by other Japanese corporations. More than 60 percent of firms called for the sales tax to rise as planned, a Reuters Corporate Survey showed last month, although they felt that additional stimulus was needed to cushion the blow on the economy. Michitaka Sawada, chief executive of Kao Corp. said recently the company was prepared for a rush in demand before the hike, working with suppliers and preparing its warehousing and transportation accordingly. “We are so prepared for this. You need to be ready in advance. It would be too late if you weren’t ready by now.” Abe has repeatedly said he would proceed with an increase in the sales tax rate to 10 percent from 8 percent in October unless the economy was hit by a severe shock. But some lawmakers and close Abe allies have suggested a postponement on concerns it could tip Japan into recession. The last sales tax hike in 2014 hit consumers hard and triggered a deep downturn. On monetary policy, Mimura urged the Bank of Japan to make its policy more flexible over the long run, given the increasing side effects from prolonged easing, such as a hit to banks’ profits. With inflation stubbornly subdued, the BOJ last month ditched the time frame for hitting its 2 percent goal, conceding that prices will fall short of the target at least until early 2022. Mimura said while the central bank was not in a position to tighten monetary policy any time soon, it should stop clinging to its 2 percent price target in the long run. “It’s risky to loosen the grip on monetary easing at the moment as uncertainty around the global economy is high. It’s unthinkable to move right now,” he said. “Considering the future, however, flexible monetary policy that does not insist on the 2 percent target will be needed.”
|
shinzo abe;taxes;akio mimura;consumption tax;jcci
|
jp0004666
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
China steps up threat to deprive U.S. of rare earths amid Huawei row
|
BEIJING - Chinese state media dangled Wednesday the threat of cutting exports of rare earths to the United States as a counterstrike in the trade war, potentially depriving Washington of a key resource used to make everything from smartphones to military hardware. The warning is the latest salvo in a dispute that has intensified since President Donald Trump ramped up tariffs against China and moved to blacklist telecom giant Huawei earlier this month, while trade talks have apparently stalled. Huawei stepped up its legal battle on Wednesday, announcing it had filed a motion in U.S. court for summary judgment to speed up its bid to overturn U.S. legislation that bars federal agencies from using its equipment over security concerns. Beijing had already dropped a big hint that rare earths could be in the firing line by showing images last week of President Xi Jinping visiting a rare earths factory in Ganzhou, central China. State media made it clearer on Wednesday. “Will rare earths become China’s counter-weapon against the unprovoked suppression of the US? The answer is not mysterious,” warned The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece. “We advise the US to not underestimate China’s ability to safeguard its own development rights and interests, and not to say we didn’t warn you.” The state-owned Global Times warned in an editorial that the “US will rue forcing China’s hand on rare earths.” “It is believed that if the US increasingly suppresses the development of China, sooner or later, China will use rare earths as a weapon,” the nationalist tabloid said. Shares in rare earth companies surged in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets on Wednesday. An unnamed official from the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planner, had issued a cryptic warning late Tuesday. “What I can tell you is that if anyone wants to use products made from our rare-earth exports to curb and suppress China’s development, I’m sure the people of Ganzhou and across China will not be happy with that,” the official said in answers to questions published by state media. The official said rare-earth resources should “serve domestic needs first,” but China is also willing to meet the “legitimate needs of countries around the world.” China produces more than 95 percent of the world’s rare earths, and the United States relies on China for upward of 80 percent of its imports. Rare earths are 17 elements critical to manufacturing everything from televisions to cameras and light bulbs. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked about the rare earths threat during an interview, said that Americans have already “lost and suffered for decades under the current rules” and that Trump’s “singular focus is to push back” on China. He renewed his attack on Huawei, saying there was a “deep connectivity” between the company and the Chinese state that had no parallel in the U.S. system. “If it’s the case that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to get information from technology that was in the possession of Huawei, it is almost certainly the case that Huawei would provide that to them,” he told the Fox Business Network. Huawei has rejected the criticism and, filing a lawsuit in a federal court in Texas, said that the United States unfairly singled out the company. “The U.S. government has provided no evidence to show that Huawei is a security threat,” Huawei’s chief legal officer, Song Liuping, told reporters. China has been accused of using its rare earth leverage for political reasons before. Japanese industry sources said it temporarily cut off exports in 2010 as a territorial row flared between the Asian rivals, charges that Beijing denied. But experts say the Japan experience showed that China’s leverage has some limits. “Ultimately, concentrated rare earths supply in China had limited economic and political effects,” according to a 2014 report by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank written by University of Texas professor Eugene Gholz. The report said China’s rare earth advantages were already slipping away in 2010 due to normal market behavior, including increases in non-Chinese production and processing capacity, and innovations that have contributed to reducing demand for some rare earth elements. Analysts have said China appears apprehensive of targeting the minerals just yet, possibly fearful of hastening a global search for alternative supplies of the commodities. “I think China’s current objective is to put pressure on the US for more American concessions in the trade talks and compel the US to be less harsh on Huawei and other Chinese tech companies,” said Li Mingjiang, China program coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. But China is likely to use a rare earths ban as a policy tool if the US continues to be tough on trade and Huawei, he told AFP. The Global Times acknowledged that banning rare earth exports to the U.S. could “produce complex effects, including incurring certain losses on China itself.” However, it added, “China also clearly knows that the US would suffer greater losses in that situation.”
|
china;u.s .;smartphones;military;xi jinping;huawei;rare earths;donald trump;trade war
|
jp0004667
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Cuba legalizes private Wi-Fi and imports of routers
|
HAVANA - Cuba announced Wednesday that is legalizing private Wi-Fi networks and the importation of equipment like routers, eliminating one of the world’s tightest restrictions on internet use. The measure announced by state media provides a legal status to thousands of Cubans who created homemade digital networks with smuggled equipment that was illegal but generally tolerated by authorities in recent years. It also appears to allow private businesses to provide internet to customers, the potential start in Cuba of internet cafes, so far virtually unknown here. While the new regulation permits citizens to connect to the internet with their own equipment and share the signal with others, it does not loosen state control of the internet itself. Cuba’s telecoms monopoly, Etecsa, remains the only internet provider on the island. The new rules go into effect on July 29. The government says operators of private networks will not be allowed to charge for the service, although it is unclear how that will be enforced. Until 2015, the only legal internet on the island could be found in government computer centers and hotels frequented mostly by tourists. That changed with the activation of dozens of government routers mounted in parks and on street corners. Cubans could log on to the routers with scratch-off cards bought from the government for several dollars per hour of internet. That cost has declined to $1 an hour. In order to enjoy the internet at home, Cubans smuggled in powerful antennas that picked up the signal from nearby government routers and piped into their bedrooms and living rooms. They still needed government scratch-off cards to access the internet itself. Cubans also created their own networks of thousands of computers connected to each other with cables strung from home to home, mostly for competitive game-playing. They were not allowed to be connected to the internet, although many had at least some points of connection. Those networks were largely tolerated but subject to occasional searches and confiscation. All will now become legal. Cubans also will be able to bring in antennas and routers after requesting a permit online, a process supposed to take 30 days. What’s more, the homemade house-to-house networks will be able to legally connect to the government internet, spreading connectivity to thousands of homes that don’t have it. Cuba began offering home internet service over phone lines last year but the service has been slow to spread outside a still-limited number of neighborhoods. Cuba also began offering mobile internet service last year, a service that has spread much faster. While equipment owners will be free to share their Wi-Fi signal, their own access to the internet itself will still require access through a government scratch-off card.
|
internet;cuba;wi-fi;etecsa
|
jp0004668
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Ferrari accelerates its move into hybrid cars with launch of new SF90 Stradale
|
MARANELLO, ITALY - Ferrari presented a luxury car with a difference on Wednesday — a hybrid model that can cruise silently through city streets on electric power as well as hitting a top speed of 340 kph. Fitted with a 1,000 horsepower engine developed from those used in Formula One, the new four-wheel-drive SF90 Stradale hybrid sports car was proudly displayed at the company’s historic base in Maranello, near Modena, in northern Italy. Chief Executive Louis Camilleri described the new car as “astounding, fast and completely revolutionary.” As well as offering the traditional thrill of high speed and performance, the new car permits 25 kilometers of travel using only electric power, allowing drivers to leave home quietly and pass through city centers free of noise or dirty emissions. “It will be silent — we don’t want to hide that this car can run electric too,” Chief Technology Officer Michael Leiters said. Smartphones of the 130 journalists attending the launch were taken away to prevent unauthorized photos of the new model leaking out. Ferrari has already made one hybrid model — the limited series LaFerrari — but the SF90 Stradale will be its first to be more widely produced. The unveiling comes the same week that former Ferrari parent Fiat Chrysler pitched a merger deal with French peer Renault, in part to catch up in development of electric vehicles. Ferrari was spun off from Fiat Chrysler and listed separately. The two companies share the same top shareholder, the Agnelli family’s holding company Exor. Hybrid power units were introduced into Formula One racing in 2014, helping to facilitate the transfer of technology to Ferrari road cars. About 2,000 customers selected from all over the world have been invited to Ferrari between Wednesday evening and Friday to view and reserve the new car, which will be delivered within 12 months. Its price will be announced this week. Other buyers will have to wait more than a year. Ferrari sells over 65 percent of its cars to clients who already own one. There is also an emerging new breed of premium or high-performance electric sports cars. These so-called supercars include Tesla’s upcoming Roadster Founder Series, which will sell for over $200,000, and the Rimac Concept Two, priced in the region of $2 million. Ferrari said last year it planned 15 new models — including hybrids, a utility vehicle and special editions — in its drive to hit mid-term earnings targets.
|
carmakers;ferrari;hybrids;tesla;ev
|
jp0004669
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Pentagon seeks funds to boost U.S. rare-earth production as fears over China supply mount
|
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Defense Department is seeking new federal funds to bolster domestic production of rare earth minerals and reduce dependence on China, the Pentagon has said, amid mounting concern in Washington about Beijing’s role as a supplier. The Pentagon’s request was outlined in a report sent to the White House and briefed to Congress, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said Wednesday. Rare earths are a group of 17 chemical elements used in consumer products, from iPhones to electric car motors, and critical military applications, including jet engines, satellites and lasers. Rising tensions between the United States and China have sparked concerns that Beijing could use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the world’s top two economic powers. Between 2004 and 2017, China accounted for 80 percent of U.S. rare earth imports. Few alternative suppliers have been able to compete with China, which is home to 37 percent of global rare earth reserves. “The department continues to work closely with the president, Congress and U.S. industry to improve U.S. competitiveness in the mineral market,” Andrews said. He gave no details but said the report was tied to a federal program designed to bolster domestic production capabilities through targeted economic incentives. While China has so far not explicitly said it will restrict rare earths sales to the United States, Chinese media has strongly implied that will happen. In a commentary headlined “United States, don’t underestimate China’s ability to strike back,” the official People’s Daily noted the United States’ “uncomfortable” dependence on rare earths from China. “Will rare earths become a counterweapon for China to hit back against the pressure the United States has put on for no reason at all? The answer is no mystery,” it said. John Neuffer, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, said the chances of China restricting rare earth exports are growing. “I do expect the other shoe to drop,” he told an event hosted by the Washington International Trade Association. The Pentagon has repeatedly flagged its concerns about American reliance on China for rare earth minerals, including in a 2018 report on vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrial base. The Pentagon said the latest report was a Defense Production Act III rare earths mineral report. According to a related Pentagon website, the program gives the U.S. president “broad authority to ensure the timely availability of essential domestic industrial resources to support national defense and homeland security requirements through the use of highly tailored economic incentives.” John Luddy, vice president for national security policy at the Aerospace Industries Association, said U.S. government funding could be used to bolster production, processing capacity and stockpiling of critical supplies. Industry officials liken Washington’s potential role to the way government funding ensures the capability to launch sensitive military and intelligence satellites into space — another costly initiative. The Defense Department accounts for about 1 percent of U.S. demand, which in turn accounts for about 9 percent of global demand for rare earths, according to a 2016 report from the congressional U.S. Government Accountability Office. Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and BAE Systems PLC all make sophisticated missiles that use rare earths metals in their guidance systems and sensors. Rare earth minerals are also essential in other military equipment such as jet engines, lasers and night vision devices. California’s Mountain Pass mine is the only U.S. rare earths facility in operation. But MP Materials, owner of Mountain Pass, ships the roughly 50,000 tons of rare earth concentrate it extracts each year from California to China for processing. At least three U.S.-based companies have rare earth processing plants under construction or in the planning stages, including one that is set to open next year at Mountain Pass mine to produce about 5,000 tons of two popular types of rare earths annually, according to a source familiar with the matter. The other two aren’t expected to open until 2022 at the earliest.
|
china;u.s .;trade;pentagon;tariffs;rare earths;trade war
|
jp0004670
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Nikkei ends below 21,000 for first time in two months
|
The benchmark Nikkei average closed below 21,000 for the first time in more than two months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, with investor sentiment hurt by falls in overseas equities amid simmering U.S.-China trade tensions. The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 60.84 points, or 0.29 percent, to end at 20,942.53, its first finish below the psychologically important line since March 25. Wednesday, the key market gauge lost 256.77 points. The Topix index of all first section issues closed down 4.43 points, or 0.29 percent, at 1,531.98, after shedding 14.58 points the previous day. The market got off to a weak start, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average extended losses in New York on Wednesday amid growing fears of a global economic slowdown stemming from the prolonged U.S.-China trade dispute, brokers said. Also weighed down by a weak performance of Shanghai stocks, the Nikkei briefly lost over 190 points in the morning. Tokyo stocks recouped some of their losses in the afternoon, helped by a weaker yen against the dollar and buying from value investors, brokers said. “Economic uncertainty grew following the occurrence of a so-called yield curve inversion in the United States,” said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. “It’d be no surprise if more and more investors move to shift funds away from equity assets” amid persistent worries about a global economic slowdown, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,094 to 960 in the TSE’s first section, while 86 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.113 billion shares from 1.322 billion shares Wednesday. Paper manufacturers headed noticeably lower, with Daio Paper Corp. ending down 2.61 percent, Nippon Paper Industries Co. down 2.45 percent and Oji Holdings Corp. down 1.89 percent. Clothing chain store Fast Retailing Co. and technology investor Softbank Group Corp., both heavily weighted components of the Nikkei, met with selling, pushing down the index by a total of over 50 points. Among other major losers were daily goods producer Kao Corp. and cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. By contrast, Renesas Electronics Corp. jumped after Goldman Sachs Japan Co. revised up its investment rating for the semiconductor-maker. Chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron bounced back after recent sell-offs. Also on the positive side were industrial robot producer Fanuc Corp. and control-equipment-maker Omron Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average dropped 20 points to end at 20,930.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0004671
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Dollar rises above ¥109.70 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar rose above ¥109.70 in Tokyo trading late Thursday, supported by buybacks. At 5 p.m. the dollar stood at ¥109.74, up from ¥109.20 at the same time on Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1132, down from $1.1153, and at ¥122.17, up from ¥121.80. The dollar moved above ¥109.50 in early trading, carrying over its strength in overnight trading overseas brought on by a rise in U.S. long-term interest rates. After briefly falling below ¥109.50 in the morning, dampened by a weak start of the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average, the dollar rebounded gradually in the afternoon, helped by repurchases on the back of a modest recovery in Tokyo stock prices, traders said. The greenback rose above ¥109.70 in late trading. “A recovery in U.S. long-term interest rates to around 2.27 percent in off-hours trading supported the dollar against the yen,” a think tank official said. The currency market’s focus is shifting to China’s manufacturing industry purchasing managers index for May, due out on Friday, traders said. An official at a foreign exchange margin trading service attributed the dollar’s rise to a lack of negative factors, saying the U.S. currency has not got back on an upward trend.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0004672
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Amazon Japan and Life supermarket tie up to sell fresh foods online, starting in Tokyo
|
Amazon.com Inc.’s Japanese unit and Life Corp., one of the country’s major supermarket chains, said Thursday they will join forces to sell fresh foods online starting later this year, aiming to attract elderly and busy customers. In Amazon’s first tie-up with a Japanese supermarket operator, Life will supply a range of products, including those from its in-house brand, to members of Amazon Japan’s Prime Now service, which touts delivery times as fast as two hours for orders. The service will start in parts of Tokyo later this year, with Amazon Japan handling delivery and processing payments. It hopes to cater to growing demand from the elderly and people who have difficulty getting to physical stores while also targeting busy professionals, especially in dual-income households, who have little time for grocery shopping. Through the collaboration with Life, Amazon Japan expects to be able to expand its product offerings, while the Japanese supermarket operator hopes to reach a younger customer demographic and people who live in areas without its stores. Stores run by Osaka-based Life are concentrated in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in western Japan prefectures. Life already operates an online service giving customers access to approximately 6,000 products, but its delivery area only covers around 50 to 60 percent of the Tokyo metropolitan region and comprises less than 1 percent of total annual sales at around ¥3 billion. For Life, the tie-up with Amazon Japan will also be helpful in dealing with the nation’s widespread labor shortage. Other major Japanese supermarket market operators such as Aeon Co. and Ito-Yokado Co. have moved into online fresh food sales, but profitability remains a challenge due in part to high delivery costs. Major online retailer Rakuten Inc. and U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc.’s Japanese subsidiary, Seiyu GK, also began an online supermarket operation last year.
|
internet;supermarkets;shopping;amazon.com;life
|
jp0004673
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Mitsubishi Regional Jet to be renamed Space Jet as firm looks to shed poor image of long-delayed plane
|
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. will change the name of its Mitsubishi Regional Jet to Space Jet, it was learned Wednesday. By renaming the first Japanese-developed small passenger jet, the unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. hopes to shed the poor image of the MRJ created by its prolonged development period and repeated delays to the first delivery of the aircraft, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The sources also said Mitsubishi Aircraft will launch development of a 70-seat version of the 90-seat MRJ to meet strong demand for 70-seat models in North America, the world’s biggest market for small passenger jets. Mitsubishi Aircraft initially planned to deliver the first MRJ in 2013 but has so far delayed its delivery five times. The company says development of the MRJ is in a final phase and that deliveries could start in the middle of 2020. But due to the uncertainty over when the development will actually be finished, it has been struggling to attract new orders.
|
aviation;mitsubishi regional jet;aircraft;mitsubishi heavy;mitsubishi aircraft;space jet
|
jp0004674
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
In latest snub for Huawei, Japan's SoftBank chooses Nokia and Ericsson for 5G network
|
SoftBank Group Corp.’s Japanese telecom unit has selected Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB as vendors for its next-generation wireless network, excluding longtime supplier Huawei Technologies Co. SoftBank Corp. named Nokia as a strategic partner for its 5G rollout and Ericsson as a supplier of radio access network equipment, the companies said in separate releases. Huawei, which together with ZTE Corp. was a 4G vendor for the Japanese company, wasn’t selected despite participating in earlier 5G trials. SoftBank declined to make comment further. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted Huawei for months, first encouraging allies to ban the Chinese company’s equipment from their networks and then putting Huawei on an export blacklist that prohibits it from buying American software and components. Australia and New Zealand have prohibited Chinese-made gear in their networks, while Japan has said it will exclude equipment with security risks without making an official decision on Huawei. Local media have reported that the country’s top three carriers — NTT Docomo Inc., SoftBank and KDDI Corp. — will shun both Huawei and ZTE. “You can also expect Docomo and KDDI to follow suit,” said Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center. “So SoftBank isn’t going to be at a cost disadvantage.” The phone companies are also scrapping plans to sell Huawei handsets as the impact of the U.S. supply ban spreads. The Chinese company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.K.’s BT Group PLC announced plans to remove Huawei gear from the core of its mobile network soon after the head of the country’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6, warned about the risks of using Chinese equipment. Taiwan already bans Chinese telecom equipment. At an earnings briefing in February, SoftBank Group Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said it would cost about ¥5 billion ($46 million) to replace existing Huawei gear in its network. At the time, Son said the company was considering all options for 5G equipment.
|
u.s .;softbank;ntt docomo;kddi;nokia;huawei;donald trump;5g;zte;ericsson
|
jp0004675
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Climate change debate in focus at Exxon's annual meeting
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DALLAS - Activist shareholders used Exxon Mobil’s annual meeting to renew their accusations that the company is failing to confront a future that may include stricter regulations to limit climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. A representative of the Church of England’s endowment fund said Wednesday that Exxon has moved more slowly than other major oil companies to disclose information about emissions. Chairman and CEO Darren Woods defended the company, saying it’s doing its part by providing energy that people need while also reducing emissions from its own operations. Exxon successfully petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to block a shareholder vote on setting targets for reducing carbon emissions from burning oil and gas. Exxon’s 2018 profit rose 6 percent to $20.8 billion as higher prices offset a 4 percent decline in production, but the shares fell 18 percent last year. They closed Wednesday up about 6 percent for 2019. Woods said Exxon’s businesses performed well last year, and production in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico is growing faster than expected. Exxon, which is based in Irving, Texas, continues to project that demand for oil will grow nearly 1 percent a year, propelled by its use in transportation and chemicals, and Woods repeated a goal of doubling 2017 earnings by 2025. Activists, however, find Exxon’s forecast of oil demand wildly optimistic in a lower-carbon energy world. “If we reach a point of secular decline in demand for oil, the competition to meet that dwindling level of demand would become much more intense, with a potential knock-on effect on prices and financial returns from the sale of oil,” said Robert Schuwerk, North America director for Carbon Tracker, a U.K.-based group that studies the effects of climate change on financial markets. Edward Mason, representing the Church of England’s fund, told shareholders that Exxon and investors “have been in open conflict about climate strategy and disclosure.” Mason contrasted that with rivals including BP PLC, which last week supported a successful shareholder resolution to increase disclosures about its emissions and how its business strategy fits with the Paris agreement to limit the increase in global temperatures. The Church of England and the New York state comptroller were lead sponsors of a resolution that would have asked Exxon to set targets on emissions from burning oil and gas. The SEC accepted the company’s objection that the resolution would have amounted to unnecessary meddling into the company’s decision-making authority. Woods said Exxon is working with universities and the government on technology to produce biofuels and capture carbon generated at power plants. He said the company is reducing the flaring or burning of natural gas, which releases methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas. Exxon, he said, is “very focused on growing shareholder value” while balancing it with “this risk of climate change and society’s aspirations for lower emissions” of carbon. Shareholders handily elected all 10 board-backed director candidates. They overwhelmingly rejected resolutions to create a board committee to deal with climate change and to report on the environmental risks of the company’s petrochemical investments along the Gulf Coast. About 41% of shares were cast in favor of a measure to split the jobs of chairman and CEO after Woods leaves. Even though the measure failed, it attracted the most support ever at Exxon, which shows shareholders are dissatisfied with Exxon’s governance and handling of climate risk, said New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
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u.s .;oil;emissions;climate change;texas;epa;exxon;darren woods
|
jp0004676
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Defects at Leopalace21 properties were caused by hasty expansion and closed culture, report says
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The pace of business expansion and a closed corporate culture at Leopalace21 Corp. resulted in defects in the apartment buildings constructed by the company, a third-party investigative panel has said in its final report. In the report, the panel said that Leopalace21 “was quick to successively develop and deploy new models to recover and expand its business performance and neglected to verify” its compliance with laws and regulations, such as the Building Standards Law, and the quality of the completed buildings. Law firm Nishimura & Asahi was appointed by the company’s board in February to form the investigative panel and probe the construction issues. The report, announced by Leopalace21 on Wednesday, noted that faulty construction had been conducted throughout the company, and that its closed corporate culture had led to the improper practices. Its employees had found it difficult to voice their opinions to their bosses under the strong leadership of the company’s founder, Yusuke Miyama, who led the company from 1973 to 2006, the report said. In management changes announced the same day, Leopalace21 said seven of its eight board members would quit while three outside directors would remain, subject to approval at a general shareholders’ meeting on June 27. The new board will have 10 members rather than the current 11, but will increase the number of external directors from the current three to five. Eisei Miyama stepped down as president and CEO on Thursday, as had already been planned before the management overhaul, though he will remain a board member until the new management team is approved. He was succeeded by Managing Executive Officer Bunya Miyao. The report issued Wednesday did not mention whether Miyama, who had announced his resignation decision on May 10, played a role in the misconduct. Eisei Miyama is the nephew of founder Yusuke Miyama. As a measure to prevent similar practices from occurring again, the panel suggested that Leopalace21 reform its corporate culture through in-house training programs. It specifically urged the firm to eliminate workplace harassment. The Tokyo-based property company has been working on repairs to faulty apartments it built across the county over a period of more than a decade using improper materials. More than 14,000 residents will need to temporarily move out.
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housing;scandals;leopalace21
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jp0004677
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Jobs and Nissan will be safe with any Fiat Chrysler deal, Renault's Jean-Dominique Senard says
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Tapped to lead a Franco-Italian carmaking giant formed by merging Renault SA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Jean-Dominique Senard is in Tokyo to make what may be the sales pitch of his career. In an interview Thursday, he painted a picture of a grand alliance making and selling cars across the globe, keeping people employed and churning out profits. Convincing the stakeholders of the two auto firms on the merits of a merger may have been the easy part. The hard task is selling the deal to Renault’s alliance partner Nissan Motor Co., as well as labor groups and politicians wary of job cuts. “It can only happen if people are open to it,” said Senard, 66, after attending a meeting for the board overseeing the alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. He came to explain the merits of the Fiat-Renault deal to the Japanese executives, who started Wednesday’s meeting with many questions. By the end, the mood lightened and they were positive, he said. “A closer partnership can only improve the alliance,” Senard said. Nissan, which has pushed back in the past at attempts for closer integration, “understood the message I brought here, although obviously they can’t digest it in one night,” he added. After spending three days in Japan, Senard will return to Europe to work on bringing Fiat Chrysler and Renault together. He does not anticipate any serious regulatory hurdles for the merger. Asked whether the joining of two European automakers will result in job cuts, Senard said the deal “doesn’t call for human sacrifice.” The merger will not involve any plant closures, according to Fiat, although it did not say anything about the risk of job cuts when the deal was announced. The combination also has the blessing of the Italian and French governments, which are constantly on guard against the risk of labor unrest. The transaction would be structured as a 50-50 ownership through a Dutch holding company, with Renault shareholders — including the French government — getting an implied premium of about 10 percent. Renault’s board is expected to give preliminary approval to the proposal as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter have said. Senard said Thursday that the deal will take about a year to complete. Behind the push to consolidate are the various headwinds the industry is facing. Sales are slowing in the world’s biggest car markets — China, the U.S. and Europe — bringing fresh urgency to consolidate. Automakers worldwide are facing intense pressure to spend heavily on electrification and autonomous vehicles, and adapting to trends such as car-sharing. Renault and Fiat Chrysler estimate cost savings of more than €5 billion (¥611 billion) from the merger. The automakers will focus on reducing platforms, simplifying product lines and focusing on quality and branding, Senard said. “All of the brands are very famous,” he said. “Some have to be re-enhanced.” In order to sell more cars, Senard indicated that profit-eroding price cuts in North America by Nissan and Chrysler will have to end. “It needs to be about quality boosting market share,” he said. Asked about recent comments by Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Peugeot owner Groupe PSA and former protege of deposed Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, calling the deal a “virtual takeover” of Renault and that it could weaken or unwind the alliance with Nissan, Senard said, “Everyone is free to say what they think.” Nissan could be a key part of forging a global group that could produce 15 million vehicles a year. The Yokohama-based company would complement the merged entity because of its strong presence in China, Japan and the rest of Asia, as well as its electric-car technology. There are signs that Senard’s charm offensive is yielding some results. Following the meeting, Nissan Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa said he saw potential opportunities for the existing alliance in Fiat Chrysler’s merger proposal, though he plans to study the matter further. As Saikawa put it, “we don’t consider this as a minus.” Senard has noted that Nissan is already benefiting from the proposed merger given the increase in the Japanese carmaker’s shares on news of the deal. Nissan, 43 percent owned by Renault, will also finally have more tangible influence by gaining greater say in the alliance, he said. Under the proposed merger of Fiat Chrysler and Renault, Nissan would get 7.5 percent of the combined entity. The Japanese carmaker would be able to vote with those shares — unlike with its current holdings, which carry no voting rights. A merger would also dilute the French state’s control over Renault, and indirectly over Nissan, easing a concern it has had for years. Nissan needs some good news. The company recently forecast weak operating profit and cut its dividend for the first time in a decade. Senard said Nissan currently needs to focus on its profitability, and that it’s in Renault’s interest for its Japanese partner to turn itself around. Fiat also said the combination would help cut costs by an additional €1 billion for Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. The alliance was destabilized late last year with the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, its architect and chairman, for alleged financial crimes during his time as leader of Nissan. Ghosn has denied all charges and is preparing for his trial next year. Although Nissan and Renault have been partners for two decades, the Japanese automaker isn’t in a position to block the deal because the merger wouldn’t breach the terms of their partnership. Senard, who replaced Ghosn as chairman of Renault and the alliance, has sought to restore stability following his predecessor’s arrest last November in Tokyo. The former Michelin CEO worked earlier this year with Nissan to craft a new governance structure to oversee the partnership, giving up concessions over board seats to assuage the Japanese firm’s concerns. “With Nissan, this is the first truly global car alliance,” Senard said.
|
nissan;carmakers;mitsubishi motors;renault;mergers;fiat chrysler;jean-dominique senard
|
jp0004678
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Japan sets target of 20% cut in industrial food waste by 2030
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Japan will aim for a cut of around 20 percent in industrial food waste by fiscal 2030 compared with fiscal 2016, a basic policy outlined by a government panel stated Wednesday. The policy seeks to slash the annual amount of food discarded by convenience stores, restaurants and other businesses to 2.73 million tons by fiscal 2030 — half the amount logged in fiscal 2000. In fiscal 2016, industrial food waste across the country totaled 3.52 million tons. The outline, compiled by the Environment Ministry’s Central Environment Council, is based on the country’s Food Recycling Law and follows the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, which call for halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030. Based on the policy, the government will soon set goals specific to each business — ranging from fast-food establishments to Japanese-style pubs and bento suppliers — and step up efforts to monitor the entire process from food production to retail sales. As for household food waste, in June last year the government set a goal of halving the amount by fiscal 2030 from 4.33 million tons in fiscal 2000. In fiscal 2015, food discarded by households totaled 2.89 million tons. “To achieve this goal, consumer cooperation in efforts such as reducing the amount of food left over when dining out is essential,” a member of the panel said, stressing the importance of campaigns to raise awareness. Last Friday the Diet enacted legislation to promote the reduction of food waste. The government will formulate measures backed by the law to cut back such waste and municipalities will be obliged to devise their own action plans toward that end. Major convenience store operators Seven-Eleven Japan Co. and Lawson Inc. have also said they will start discounting rice balls and lunch boxes that are nearing the end of their shelf life to trim food waste.
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food;restaurants;waste;environment ministry;convenience stores
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jp0004679
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/05/30
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El Al to start first direct flights between Japan and Israel in March
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JERUSALEM - El Al Israel Airlines said Wednesday it will launch direct flights connecting Tel Aviv with Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, according to Israeli media. The airline will operate three round-trip flights a week, starting in March. The launch of the first regular direct flights between Japan and Israel comes as the two countries deepen ties on the economy and tourism.
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airlines;israel;narita airport;tel aviv;el al
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jp0004680
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Mexican authorities push out camping migrants in south
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TAPACHULA, MEXICO - Mexican immigration authorities have cleared a park of camping Central American migrants and another makeshift encampment of Haitians and African migrants outside an immigration detention center near the Guatemala border. About 100 migrants were pushed out of the Tapachula park overnight Tuesday. Families grabbed bedding and guided sleepy children away, not knowing where they were going. Meanwhile, about 1,000 migrants were taken from outside the detention center where they had camped for weeks awaiting word on requests for asylum or permits that would allow them to continue north. Tapachula is about 23 miles (37 km) from the border crossing with Guatemala. Mexican authorities have become more active in trying to break up migrant caravans recently. On Tuesday afternoon, they also raided at least two hotels where Cuban migrants were staying.
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immigration;mexico;guatemala;refugees;cubans
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jp0004681
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Iraq hands over 188 kids of Islamic State suspects to Turkey and condemns militant pair to death
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BAGHDAD - Iraq on Wednesday handed over 188 Turkish children of suspected Islamic State militants to Turkey, while a court sentenced two former Islamic State members to death for joining the extremist group. They included one Frenchman and a Tunisian resident of France, bringing the number of French nationals condemned to death in the past week to seven. The two developments Wednesday point to the enormous legacy left behind by IS and its “caliphate” that once spanned a third of both Iraq and Syria. Besides the atrocities and devastation the group wreaked, thousands of foreigners — including hundreds of children born to parents who lived under or fought with the Islamic State group — have been caught in Iraq’s justice system. At Baghdad airport, the 188 Turkish children were handed over to Turkish government representatives in the presence of Iraqi government officials and the U.N. children’s agency, Judge Abdul Sattar Bayraqdar said. The French citizens are among 12 Frenchmen whom the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces handed over to Iraq in January. The Kurdish-led group spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria and has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected IS members in recent months. Trials for the 12 began Sunday and are considered a test for how the international community handles the thousands of foreign nationals who stayed, or were trapped, with the Islamic State group through its dying days. Iraqi prosecutors say the French nationals are accused of belonging to IS, were parties or accomplices to its crimes, and threatened the national security of Iraq. Simply belonging to the extremist group is punishable by life in prison or execution under Iraq’s counter-terrorism laws. On Wednesday, the Iraqi Criminal Court in Baghdad’s Karkh district sentenced a French man identified as Yassin Sakkam, 29, who left France in 2014 to fight with IS. The court also sentenced to death Mohammed Berriri, a 24-year-old who told the judge he worked as a sentry at an IS camp and did not take part in any battles in Syria, and never traveled to Iraq. He said he regretted joining IS but did not regret traveling to Syria, adding that his goal was to help the Syrian people after watching videos of Syrian government bombardment of civilians. The judge said Berriri, a Tunisian, was a resident of France. “I did not kill anyone, the Tanzeem kills. … I am innocent and I regret joining this group,” he said, using an Arabic word that means “organization” to refer to IS. The sentencings in Iraq come amid controversy about the legal treatment of Iraqis and foreigners suspected of joining IS at the height of its power in Syria and Iraq, when the militant group declared its self-styled caliphate. Human rights groups are concerned they are being rushed through Iraqi counterterrorism courts in trials that raise questions over whether justice is being done. Convictions are often based on confessions that defendants and rights groups say are extracted by intimidation, torture and abuse and without due process. Although European IS members have been sentenced to death, none has actually been executed in Iraq. France has said Iraq does have jurisdiction to put the French men on trial, but said it will fight the death penalty. In a statement, Judge Bayraqdar said there were also a few adults among the group of children handed over to Turkish authorities. They had been convicted of illegally crossing the border and have served out their sentences. In an interview with Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency earlier in May, Turkey’s ambassador in Baghdad said he aimed to repatriate all children of Turkish IS families from Iraq ahead of Eid. Ambassador Fatih Yildiz also said Turkey asked Iraq to return all Turkish citizens but the process was complicated by an agreement that barred suspects with terror links from repatriation. Iraqi President Barham Salih made a brief visit to Turkey on Tuesday and held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
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france;terrorism;iraq;tunisia;turkey;islamic state
|
jp0004682
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Louisiana lawmakers pass ban on abortions after fetal heartbeat detected
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WASHINGTON - Louisiana lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, joining a string of other U.S. states restricting the termination of pregnancies as early as six weeks. The bans are expected to be blocked in lower courts, but supporters plan to appeal such decisions until they reach the Supreme Court. They hope this will lead to the long-sought conservative goal of overturning the landmark 1973 ruling known as Roe v. Wade, which recognized women’s right to abortion. The measure — which includes exceptions for cases in which a woman’s life is at risk or the fetus has a fatal condition — passed the Louisiana House of Representatives with a vote of 79-23 after being approved in the Senate by 31-5, according to the legislature’s website. It now goes to the desk of the governor, who said he plans to endorse it. “As I prepare to sign this bill, I call on the overwhelming bipartisan majority of legislators who voted for it to join me in continuing to build a better Louisiana that cares for the least among us and provides more opportunity for everyone,” Governor John Edwards said in a statement posted on Twitter. Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion services, said Louisiana “is part of an alarming and widely-opposed national trend of bans criminalizing abortion before many women even know they’re pregnant, threatening women with investigation, and promising to throw doctors in prison for doing their jobs.” “Banning abortion will not stop abortion — but it will end access to safe, legal abortion care,” Leana Wen, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. “These politicians in 2019 are deliberately putting women’s lives at risk. This is not about medicine or science, but power over women’s bodies,” she said. Several other conservative southern U.S. states have passed similar measures in recent weeks, including Alabama, whose anti-abortion law is the strictest in the country. It amounts to a near-total ban on ending a pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest. Performing an abortion would be a crime that could land doctors in prison for 10 to 99 years. Like the Louisiana measure, the Alabama bill includes exceptions if the life of the mother is in danger or the fetus has a fatal condition. The new abortion restrictions sparked widespread protests by activists last week, with demonstrators turning out in cities including Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, Georgia. Conservatives are ultimately counting on support at the highest court in the land. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has appointed two conservative justices — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — leaving liberal members of the court outnumbered five to four. Conservative-leaning Chief Justice John Roberts is seen as the potential swing vote if the constitutionality of abortion eventually comes before the court. Around two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal, a Pew Center poll found last year.
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pregnancy;family planning;rights;abortion;women;louisiana
|
jp0004684
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Climate change blamed in mass deaths of Bering Sea puffins
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WASHINGTON - When an unusually large number of puffin carcasses began to wash ashore on Alaska’s remote St. Paul Island in the fall of 2016, the local tribal population grew alarmed. At first they suspected the seabirds might have avian flu — but labs on the mainland soon ruled out any disease, finding that the seabirds known for their brightly colored beaks and thick tufts had instead starved to death. In a new study published Wednesday researchers concluded the deaths, which occurred between October 2016 and February 2017, ran into the thousands — and were part of a growing number of mass die-offs recorded as climate change wreaks havoc on marine ecosystems. The paper, which appeared in the journal PLOS ONE, found that although locals recovered only 350 carcasses, between 3,150 and 8,500 birds may have succumbed to starvation. The majority were tufted puffins and the remainder were crested auklets. The research team, which included scientists from the University of Washington and the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Ecosystem Conservation Office, said that from 2014 increased atmospheric temperatures and decreased winter sea ice led to declines in energy-rich prey species in the Bering Sea. Tufted puffins breeding in the Bering Sea feed on small fish and marine invertebrates, which in turn eat ocean plankton. “There was no fat there, the musculature was literally disintegrating,” co-author Julia Parrish said of the birds, which washed up on the island, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) east of the mainland. According to scientists, Alaska as a whole has been warming twice as fast as the global average, with temperatures earlier this year shattering records. “The puffins are one among several signals recorded that connect the physics of the system — how cold or warm it is — to the biology of the system,” she told AFP. “They just happen to be a very visible, graphic signal because it’s really hard to avoid hundreds or thousands of birds dying and washing up at your feet.” The researchers also realized that most of the dead birds had begun molting, the process by which they lose their feathers and gain new plumage. During this time their ability to dive and hunt for food is diminished. By the time they began molting, the birds should already have migrated to resource-rich waters to the west and south. The energy-intense nature of the transformation appears to have contributed to their starving. “So all of those things indicated that they did not have enough to eat, they were late in migrating, they literally ran out of gas,” said Parrish. The paper noted “multiyear stanzas of warm conditions,” such as those seen from 2001 to 2005 and 2014 to the present, may be particularly detrimental to seabirds, whose future viability will depend on their resilience to these changes. “I’m tremendously worried,” said Parrish. “If I had only seen this puffin die-off I might be a bit more circumspect, but this is 1 of about 6 die-offs since about 2014-15” that collectively account for the deaths of millions of birds. “Not just the Bering Sea, the whole north Pacific is changing,” she added. “I think the ecosystem is screaming at us and we ignore it at our peril.”
|
u.s .;nature;animals;endangered;climate change;alaska;bering sea
|
jp0004685
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Women who suffer stress during pregnancy may produce boys with lower sperm counts and testosterone
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PARIS - Men whose mothers suffered stressful events such as divorce or job loss in early pregnancy are more likely to have fewer and less active sperm, researchers said Thursday. Among Australian 20-year-olds born of women who experienced at least three such events during the first 18 weeks of fetal growth, sperm count was a third lower and mobility down by 12 percent compared to other men their age, they reported in the journal Human Reproduction. Testosterone levels were also lower, by about 1 percent. “Maternal exposure to stressful life events during early pregnancy, a vulnerable period for the development organs, may have important life-long adverse effects on men’s fertility,” concluded senior author Roger Hart, a professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Western Australia. The link between stress and sperm count disappeared when the challenging events — the death of a close relative or friend, marital problems, severe money woes — occurred only during the final trimester of pregnancy. Mice experiments have suggested that early gestation — between eight to 14 weeks in humans — is a critical period for male reproductive development. The new findings, the authors note, establish a clear link between stress and sperm health, but not necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship. Other factors that can accompany stress such as drug use and smoking may turn out to play equally or more important roles. But the rodent experiments bolster the theory that stress leads to reduced testosterone production in fetal testes, said Richard Sharpe, an honorary professor at the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh not involved in the study. “That would support the view that too much stress in early pregnancy might be detrimental to optimal male reproductive development,” he wrote in a comment. Even the lowest sperm count reported among the men whose mothers had experience repeated stress would not on its own result in infertility, though it might be a contributing factor, the researchers said. Other factors that impact male fertility included obesity, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and possibly exposure to chemicals. To tease out the impact of maternal stress, Hart’s team combed through data from an ongoing, multigenerational study in Western Australia that recruited some 3,000 women in their 18th week of pregnancy between 1989 and 1991. The mothers completed questionnaires at Week 18 and Week 34, answering questions about stressful life events during the previous months. A total of 1,454 boys born from this cohort were monitored by researchers over the next two decades as they grew up. When then turned 20, 643 had testicular ultrasound exams, and provided both semen and blood samples for analysis. There is a growing evidence that sperms counts among men of European ancestry have, in general, declined over the last 40 years. A review study in 2017 covering 43,000 men found that sperm concentration had gone done by nearly 50 percent over that period, while still remaining within the “normal” range established by the World Health Organization. At the same time, there was no significant decline in South America, Asia and Africa.
|
pregnancy;sex;men;mental health
|
jp0004686
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Tracking trillions of microbes people carry may predict future health
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WASHINGTON - We share our bodies with trillions of microbes that are critical to staying healthy, but now scientists are getting a much-needed close look at how those bugs can get out of whack and spur disease. One lesson: A single test to see what gut bacteria you harbor won’t tell much. Research published Wednesday found repeat testing spotted the microbial zoo changing in ways that eventually may help doctors determine who’s at risk of preterm birth, inflammatory bowel disease, even diabetes. At issue is what’s called the microbiome, the community of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live on the skin or in the gut, nose or reproductive tract. “The instability of our microbiome might be an early indicator of something going awry,” said Dr. Lita Proctor, who oversees microbiome research at the National Institutes of Health. A HOT FIELD There’s lots of research identifying the thousands of species that inhabit our bodies and interact in ways important for health, such as good digestion. Microbiomes start forming at birth and are different depending on whether babies were born vaginally or via C-section. And they change with age and different exposures, such as a course of antibiotics that can wipe out friendly bacteria along with infection-causing ones. But cataloging differences in microbes in healthy and unhealthy people isn’t enough information. What jobs do the bugs perform? Do they temporarily rev up or shut down if you get an infection or become pregnant or put on 20 pounds? When is a shift in your microbiome not just temporary but bad for long-term health — and is it possible to fix? A trio of NIH-funded studies tracked three microbiome-related health conditions to learn how to start finding those answers. INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES For a year, a Harvard-led research team tracked 132 people with conditions such as painful Crohn’s disease and some healthy people for comparison. They took stool samples every two weeks, and checked how microbes affected the immune system or metabolism. As the diseases wax and wane, so does microbial activity, researchers reported in the journal Nature. Surprisingly, many times a patient’s gut microbiome changed radically in just a few weeks before a flare-up. Some of the microbes produce molecules that keep the intestinal lining healthy, likely one reason the disease worsened when those bugs disappeared, Proctor said. PREMATURE BIRTH About 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely, and researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University found a warning sign in the vaginal microbiome, which changes over the course of pregnancy. Researchers tracked nearly 600 pregnancies, and reported in Nature Medicine that women who delivered preterm — especially African-Americans — tended to have lower than normal levels of a type of Lactobacillus bacteria as early as the first trimester. They also harbored higher levels of certain other bacteria species, which are linked to inflammation. TYPE 2 DIABETES Also in Nature, a Stanford University-led research team tracked 106 people for four years, some healthy and some pre-diabetic. Up to 10 percent of pre-diabetics will develop diabetes each year, but there’s little way to predict who. The researchers did quarterly tests for microbial, genetic and molecular changes, plus testing when the volunteers caught a respiratory infection and even while some deliberately put on and lost weight. Not surprisingly, they found a list of microbial and inflammatory early warning signs of brewing diabetes. But most interestingly, people who are insulin-resistant showed delayed immune responses to respiratory infections, correlating with tamped-down microbial reactions. WHAT’S NEXT The studies provide “an amazing and overwhelming amount of data” but more work is needed to tell if the clues will pan out, said immunologist Ken Cadwell of NYU Langone Health, who wasn’t involved in the new research. But the take-home message, especially since at-home gut bacteria tests already are sold: “If you test your microbiome on Tuesday, it’s going to tell you about your microbiome on Tuesday,” cautioned Cadwell. To one day monitor important changes will require easier, cheaper tests, he added.
|
u.s .;diabetes;microbes;microbiome;digestion
|
jp0004687
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Russian pair venture into open space from Space Station
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MOSCOW - Two Russian crew members on the International Space Station ventured into open space Wednesday to conduct scientific research and help maintain the orbiting outpost. Oleg Kononenko and Alexey Ovchinin worked to retrieve scientific experiments intended to study the impact of space flight that were mounted on the space station’s exterior. They also cleaned one of the space station’s windows and performed other maintenance. The spacewalk is expected to last 6½ hours. It’s the fifth one for Kononenko and the first one for Ovchinin. Their crewmates — NASA’s Anne McClain, Nick Hague and Christina Koch and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency — are watching their progress from inside the orbiting outpost. Kononenko is set to return to Earth with McClain and Saint-Jacques next month following a 6 1/2-month stint in orbit. Ovchinin will replace him as the station’s commander. For the spacewalk, the two attached stickers to their spacesuits paying tribute to Alexei Leonov, a legendary Russia cosmonaut who became the first human to walk in space on March 18, 1965. Speaking from the open space, they congratulated Leonov on his 85th birthday, which is coming Thursday.
|
iss;nasa;space;russia
|
jp0004688
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
San Diego hospital reveals world's tiniest surviving baby
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SAN DIEGO - When she was born, the baby girl weighed about the same as an apple. A San Diego hospital on Wednesday revealed the birth of the girl and said she is believed to be the world’s tiniest surviving micro-preemie, who weighed just 8.6 ounces (245 grams) when she was born in December. The girl was born 23 weeks and three days into her mother’s 40-week pregnancy. Doctors told her father after the birth that he would have about an hour with his daughter before she died. “But that hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week,” the mother said in a video released by Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns. More than five months have passed, and she has gone home as a healthy infant, weighing 5 pounds (2 kilograms). The baby’s family gave permission to share the story but wanted to stay anonymous, the hospital said. They allowed the girl to go by the name that nurses called her: “Saybie.” Her ranking as the world’s smallest baby ever to survive is according to the Tiniest Baby Registry maintained by the University of Iowa. Dr. Edward Bell, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa, said Saybie had the lowest medically confirmed birth weight submitted to the registry. But “we cannot rule out even smaller infants who have not been reported to the Registry,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. The hospital said the girl officially weighed 7 grams less than the previous tiniest baby, who was born in Germany in 2015. In the video produced by the hospital, the mother described the birth as the scariest day of her life. She said she was taken to the hospital after not feeling well and was told she had pre-eclampsia, a serious condition that causes skyrocketing blood pressure, and that the baby needed to be delivered quickly. “I kept telling them she’s not going to survive, she’s only 23 weeks,” the mother said. But she did. The tiny girl slowly gained weight in the neonatal intensive care unit. A pink sign by her crib read “Tiny but Mighty.” Other signs kept track of her weight and cheered her on as the girl, whose birth weight compared to that of a hamster, gained pounds over the months. “You could barely see her in the bed she was so tiny,” nurse Emma Wiest said in the video. It shows photos of Saybie wearing a mint bow with white polka dots that covered her entire head, her tiny eyes peering out from under it. Nurses put a tiny graduation cap on her when she left the unit. The girl faces enormous challenges as a micro-preemie, who is an infant born before 28 weeks of gestation. Micro-preemies can experience vision and hearing problems, developmental issues and a host of other complications. Many do not survive the first year, said Michelle Kling of the March of Dimes, a nonprofit that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. So far Saybie has beaten the odds. “She’s a miracle, that’s for sure,” said Kim Norby, another nurse featured in the video.
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u.s .;pregnancy;children;records;san diego
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jp0004689
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Link to stress, health of whales might be found in giant mouths
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PORTLAND, MAINE - Whale researchers in New England believe they’ve found a new way to measure the amount of stress felt by whales when they experience traumas such as entanglements in fishing gear, and they say the technique could help protect the massive sea creatures from extinction. The scientists, with the New England Aquarium in Boston, said the method involves measuring stress hormones by studying baleen, the bristly filter-feeding system in the mouths of the biggest whales on the planet. The baleen serves as a record that shows a spike in stress hormones when whales encounter threats such as a changing climate, ship strikes and entanglements, lead author Rosalind Rolland said. Scientists can use the data to read the stress levels a whale experiences over the course of many years, somewhat similar to reading the rings on a tree. The data are important because whales experiencing more chronic stress are less likely to reproduce, and they can become more susceptible to disease — a bad combination for populations that are perilously low. “A whale responding to any type of stressor could be interacting with a ship. It could be fishing gear. It could be environmental changes that stress the whale out,” Rolland said in a telephone interview. “This shows the stress hormones are related to what was going on with the whale.” The group published its research online in the journal Marine Mammal Science in March. The scientists reported the appearance of a whale’s baleen reflects the adrenal glands pumping out stress hormones as they fight a life-threatening circumstance. By analyzing the baleen after whales die, scientists can learn about spikes in stress hormones. The scientists performed their work on a baleen plate from a bowhead whale that had been badly entangled in fishing gear. The whale was killed off Alaska in 2017 by Inuit hunters who found it dragging fishing gear and appearing lethargic. The baleen showed a spike of stress hormones 20 times greater than normal, according to the aquarium. The research builds on a body of work that shows stress hormones elevate when whales become entangled in fishing gear, which some scientists estimate kills up to 300,000 whales and dolphins annually. The aquarium has touted the work as a “significant” breakthrough in the way whales’ stress hormones can be studied. The scientists published an earlier pilot paper on the subject in 2014. The work on whale baleen is being revealed as fishermen, conservationists and the governments struggle with how to protect marine mammal species in decline due to accidental deaths and climate change, which has made key food sources less available to some whales. The endangered North Atlantic right whale is of particular concern, because its population is so small and is steadily falling — only 411 of the whales are left, down from 480 less than a decade ago. The U.S. lobster fishing industry is bracing for new restrictions this year designed to protect the species. The research at the New England Aquarium provides a chilling perspective on human influences on whale health as well as a new scientific tool to help save them, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, a biologist with Whale and Dolphin Conservation in Plymouth, Massachusetts who was not involved in the study. “This study demonstrates that chronic entanglements are not simply restricting a whale’s movements, damaging their tissues or impacting their ability to feed, but are triggering a physiological response that can alter their immune systems, their ability to reproduce, and even their ability to grow,” she said. “We clearly understand that stress is bad for humans, but we also need to understand that stress is not exclusive to humans.”
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u.s .;whales;endangered;mental health;baleen
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jp0004690
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Ex-Roger Stone aide agrees to testify before grand jury
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WASHINGTON - A former aide to Trump confidant Roger Stone has agreed to testify this week before a grand jury initially used in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, his attorney said Wednesday. Andrew Miller, who has fought the subpoena for nearly a year, is scheduled to appear Friday before a grand jury in Washington. The decision to testify comes after an appeals court rejected Miller’s challenge of Mueller’s authority and a federal judge on Wednesday denied his last effort to avoid going before the grand jury. Mueller initially sought Miller’s testimony as part of his investigation of Stone, who was arrested earlier this year and charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. That investigation has continued after Mueller issued his final report and handed off the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. Miller’s agreement to testify, first reported by CNN, came after a hearing Wednesday in which U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sided with prosecutors from Mueller’s office. Miller attorney Paul Kamenar had argued that prosecutors no longer needed Miller’s testimony and couldn’t use the grand jury to gather information about Stone’s already public case. But after a sidebar with Mueller team member Aaron Zelinsky, Howell upheld the subpoena. The judge did not provided further details other than noting that even after prosecutors bring an indictment, they can continue to use a grand jury to bring additional charges not already made public, Kamenar said. Prosecutors have not shared what they plan to ask Miller or whether it relates to Stone or any others, Kamenar said.
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u.s .;robert mueller;cnn;donald trump;andrew miller;roger stone;russia probe
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jp0004691
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Trump on Robert Mueller probe: 'The case is closed'
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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Robert Mueller’s first public statement on his high-stakes probe into Russian election meddling contained nothing new — declaring the case “closed.” “Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent,” Trump tweeted, moments after the special counsel’s appearance. “The case is closed! Thank you.” Mueller stressed that his report did not exonerate Trump of the crime of obstruction of justice, but explained that charging him was not an option because of Justice Department policy not to indict a sitting president.
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u.s .;robert mueller;donald trump;russia probe
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jp0004692
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Democratic 2020 candidates call for Trump's impeachment
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WASHINGTON - Several candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination seized upon remarks on Wednesday by special counsel Robert Mueller to call for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. “What Robert Mueller basically did was return an impeachment referral,” California Sen. Kamala Harris said in a tweet. “Now it is up to Congress to hold this president accountable. “We need to start impeachment proceedings,” Harris said. “It’s our constitutional obligation.” Mueller, in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, outlined at least 10 possible acts of obstruction of justice by Trump. But Mueller, in his first public remarks on Wednesday since issuing the report, said longstanding Justice Department policy prohibited him from charging a sitting president with a crime. Under the Constitution, any further action was up to Congress, the former FBI director said. “Mueller’s statement makes clear what those who have read his report know: It is an impeachment referral, and it’s up to Congress to act,” said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “They should.” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, another 2020 Democratic hopeful, said, “Mueller’s statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.” Former San Antonio, Texas, Mayor Julian Castro, another Democrat seeking the 2020 nomination, said Mueller “made clear this morning that his investigation now lays at the feet of Congress.” “No one is above the law — Congress should begin an impeachment inquiry,” Castro said. “There must be consequences, accountability, and justice,” said former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. “The only way to ensure that is to begin impeachment proceedings.” Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, where impeachment would take place, appeared to be in no hurry to launch such proceedings against the Republican president. “I thank Special Counsel Mueller for the work he and his team did to provide a record for future action both in the Congress and in the courts regarding the Trump Administration involvement in Russian interference and obstruction of the investigation,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the President accountable for his abuse of power,” she said. “The Congress will continue to investigate and legislate to protect our elections and secure our democracy,” Pelosi said. “The American people must have the truth.” Asked about impeachment, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, said “all options are on the table and nothing should be ruled out.”
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u.s .;robert mueller;democrats;impeachment;donald trump;russia probe;2020 u.s. presidential election
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jp0004693
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Special counsel probe did not exonerate Trump but charging him wasn't an option, says Robert Mueller
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WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday he was legally barred from charging President Donald Trump with a crime but pointedly emphasized that his Russia report did not exonerate the president. If he could have cleared Trump of obstruction of justice he “would have said so,” Mueller said. The special counsel’s remarks, his first in public since being tasked two years ago with investigating Russian interference to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election, stood as a strong rebuttal to Trump’s repeated claims that he was exonerated and that the inquiry was a “witch hunt” that found no crime. Mueller made clear he was barred from indicting a sitting president and that it was the job of Congress to hold the president accountable for any wrongdoing. “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said. “We did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.” Under pressure to testify before Congress, Mueller did not rule it out. But he seemed to warn lawmakers that they won’t be pulling more detail out of him. His report is “my testimony,” Mueller said, and he won’t go beyond what is written in the report. He strongly indicated that Congress is the proper venue, not the criminal justice system, for deciding whether action should be taken against the president in connection with allegations that Trump and aides obstructed the investigation. Trump, who has repeatedly and falsely claimed that Mueller’s report cleared him of obstruction of justice, modified that contention somewhat shortly after the special counsel’s remarks. He tweeted, “There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed!” Mueller’s comments, one month after his report on Russian efforts to help Trump win the presidency, appeared intended to both justify the legitimacy of his investigation against complaints by the president and to explain his decision to not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice. Indicting Trump, he said firmly, was “not an option” in light of a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be charged. But, he said, the absence of a conclusion should not be mistaken for an exoneration of the president. “The opinion says the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing,” Mueller said, referring to the Justice Department legal opinion. That would shift the next move, if any, to Congress, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which would investigate further or begin any impeachment effort, commented quickly. It falls to Congress to respond to the “crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump — and we will do so,” said New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler. Trump has blocked the committee’s subpoenas and other efforts to dig into the Trump-Russia issue, insisting Mueller’s report has settled everything. Mueller’s statement came amid demands for him to testify on Capitol Hill about his findings and tension with Attorney General William Barr over the handling of Mueller’s report. That report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to tip the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor over Democrat Hillary Clinton. But it also did not reach a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice. Barr has said he was surprised Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president had criminally obstructed justice, though Mueller in his report and again in his public statement Wednesday said that he had no choice. Barr decided on his own that the evidence was not sufficient to support an obstruction charge against Trump. “Under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office,” Mueller said. “That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view that, too, is prohibited.” Mueller, for his part, complained privately to Barr that he believed a four-page letter from the attorney general summarizing his main conclusions did not adequately represent his findings. Mueller also appeared to put Congress on notice that he would not break new ground in the event he testifies on Capitol Hill. “I do not believe it is appropriate for me to speak further about the investigation or to comment on the actions of the Justice Department before Congress.”
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u.s .;congress;robert mueller;donald trump;russia probe;jerrold nadler;william barr
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jp0004694
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Israel heads to election as Netanyahu fails to form coalition
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JERUSALEM - Israel’s parliament voted to dissolve itself early Thursday, sending the country to an unprecedented second snap election this year as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition before a midnight deadline. The dramatic vote, less than two months after parliamentary elections, marked a dramatic downturn for Netanyahu and sent the longtime leader’s future into turmoil. Netanyahu, who has led Israel for the past decade, had appeared to capture a fourth consecutive term in April’s election. But infighting among his allies, and disagreements over proposed bills that would protect Netanyahu from prosecution stymied his efforts to put together a majority coalition. Rather than concede that task to one of his rivals, Netanyahu’s Likud party advanced a bill to dissolve parliament and send the country to the polls for a second time this year. Had the deadline passed, Israel’s president would have given another lawmaker, most likely opposition leader Benny Gantz, an opportunity to put together a coalition. After the vote, Gantz angrily accused Netanyahu of choosing self-preservation over allowing the country’s political process to run its course. Gantz said that instead of following procedure, Netanyahu opted for “three crazy months” of a new campaign and millions of wasted dollars over new elections because he is “legally incapacitated” by looming indictments. “There is no other reason,” Gantz said. Netanyahu’s Likud party won 35 seats in the April 9 election, and his religious and nationalist allies won another 30, appearing to give him a solid majority in the 120-seat parliament. But discord between his ultra-Orthodox allies and former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party resulted in a deadlock. After the vote, Netanyahu angrily accused Lieberman of making unrealistic demands and forcing an unnecessary election. “He is dragging the entire country for another half a year of elections,” he said. Wednesday’s vote sends the country into uncharted political waters, no less because Netanyahu, the interim prime minister, still faces a likely indictment for a battery of corruption charges just around the time of the election.
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israel;benjamin netanyahu;elections;likud;benny gantz
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jp0004695
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
In UAE, Trump's adviser warns Iran of 'very strong response' to any attack
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ABU DHABI - President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned Iran on Wednesday that any attacks in the Persian Gulf will draw a “very strong response” from the U.S., taking a hard-line approach with Tehran after his boss only two days earlier said America wasn’t “looking to hurt Iran at all.” John Bolton’s comments are the latest amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran that have been playing out in the Middle East. Bolton spoke to journalists in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which only days earlier saw former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warn there that “unilateralism will not work” in confronting the Islamic Republic. The dueling approaches highlight the divide over Iran within American politics. The U.S. has accused Tehran of being behind a string of incidents this month, including the alleged sabotage of oil tankers off the Emirati coast, a rocket strike near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and a coordinated drone attack on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels. On Wednesday, Bolton told journalists that there had been a previously unknown attempt to attack the Saudi oil port of Yanbu as well, which he also blamed on Iran. He described Tehran’s decision to back away from its 2015 atomic deal with world powers as evidence it sought nuclear weapons, even though it came a year after America unilaterally withdrew from the unraveling agreement. Bolton stressed the U.S. had not seen any further Iranian attacks in the time since, something he attributed to the recent military deployments — America recently sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf. But he warned the U.S. would strike back if again attacked. “The point is to make it very clear to Iran and its surrogates that these kinds of action risk a very strong response from the United States,” Bolton threatened, without elaborating. Bolton spoke before talks with Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He declined to have his remarks recorded by journalists. A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton blamed Tehran for the recent incidents, at one point saying it was “almost certainly” Iran that planted explosives on the four oil tankers off the UAE coast. He declined to offer any evidence for his claims. “Who else would you think is doing it?” Bolton asked at one point when pressed. “Somebody from Nepal?” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has repeatedly criticized Bolton as a warmonger. Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said later Wednesday Bolton’s remarks were a “ridiculous accusation.” Separately in Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said that the “road is not closed” when it comes to talks with the U.S. — if America returns to the nuclear deal. However, the relatively moderate Rouhani faces increasing criticism from hard-liners and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the collapsing accord. Meanwhile, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said some 900 troops coming to the Mideast over the perceived Iran threat to reinforce the tens of thousands already in the region would be placed in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Another 600 attached to a Patriot missile battery have had their deployment in the region extended. “The Iranian threat to our forces in the region remains,” Shanahan said. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Bolton linked the rocket fire in Baghdad, the alleged sabotage of the ships and the drone attack by Yemen’s rebels, describing them as a response from Iran and its proxies. “I think it’s important that the leadership in Iran to know that we know,” Bolton said. He then brought up what he said could be a considered a fourth, previously unknown attack. “There also had been an attack, an unsuccessful attack, on the Saudi port of Yanbu a couple of days before the attack on the tankers,” he said, without elaborating. Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Bolton’s claim on Yanbu, which is the terminus, or end point, of the kingdom’s East-West Pipeline. The Houthis have already targeted two pumping stations on that pipeline during a coordinated drone assault. Bolton also said the U.S. would boost American military installations and those of its allies in the region. Earlier this month, on the first anniversary of Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Tehran announced it would begin to back away from the agreement. The accord saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump pulled out of the accord as he said it didn’t go far enough in limiting the Iranian nuclear program, nor did it address Iran’s ballistic missile program. Bolton said that without more nuclear power plants, it made no sense for Iran to stockpile more low-enriched uranium as it now plans to do. But the U.S. also earlier cut off Iran’s ability to sell its uranium to Russia in exchange for unprocessed yellow-cake uranium. Iran has set a July 7 deadline for Europe to offer better terms to the unraveling nuclear deal, otherwise it will resume enrichment closer to weapons level. Bolton declined to say what the U.S. would do in response to that. “There’s no reason for them to do any of that unless that’s part of an effort to reduce the breakout time to produce nuclear weapons,” Bolton said. “That’s a very serious issue if they continue to do that.” Bolton’s trip to the UAE comes just days after Trump in Tokyo appeared to welcome negotiations with Iran. “We’re not looking for regime change — I just want to make that clear,” Trump said. “We’re looking for no nuclear weapons.” But Bolton himself, for years before becoming national security adviser, called for overthrowing Iran’s government in interviews and in paid speaking engagement before an Iranian exile group. “I don’t back away from any of it. Those are positions I took as a private citizen,” Bolton said when asked about his prior remarks. “Right now I’m a government official. I advise the president. I’m the national security adviser, not the nation security decision-maker. It’s up to him to make those decisions.” He also dismissed reports that he faced criticism from Trump over his hard-line stance with what he described as an old proverb: “The dogs bark and the caravan moves on.”
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u.s .;yemen;saudi arabia;iran;iraq;uae;donald trump;john bolton
|
jp0004696
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
White House wanted USS John S. McCain out of Trump's view during visit to Yokosuka base
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NEW YORK - The White House wanted the U.S. Navy to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain out of President Donald Trump’s view during his recent trip to Japan, three U.S. officials said Wednesday. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan “was not aware of the directive to move the USS John S. McCain, nor was he aware of the concern precipitating the directive,” said his spokesman, Joe Buccino. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official wrote an email to navy and air force officials about Trump’s arrival in Japan over Memorial Day weekend. It included instructions for the proper landing areas for helicopters and preparations for the USS Wasp, the ship on which the president was to speak. The official then issued a third instruction: “USS John McCain needs to be out of sight,” according to the email, which was obtained by the Journal and whose existence was confirmed to AP. The three U.S. officials spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private email correspondence. When a navy commander expressed surprise at the instruction, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command official answered, “First I heard of it as well,” the Journal reported. The official said he would talk to the White House Military Office to get more information about the directive, the newspaper reported. In response to the story, Trump — who has feuded with McCain publicly for years, including by mocking his military service — tweeted that he “was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan.” The president notably does not say that he was not informed about the ship before his visit to Japan. A message seeking clarification was left late Wednesday for White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. The newspaper reported that a tarp was placed over the USS John S. McCain’s name before Trump’s arrival, according to photos it reviewed, and that sailors were instructed to remove any coverings from the ship that included its name. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Clay Doss, spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, told AP that the tarp was on the ship on Friday but was removed by Saturday morning, the day Trump arrived. He said, “All ships remained in normal configuration during the president’s visit.” Two U.S. officials told the AP that all the ships in the harbor were lined up for Trump’s visit, and they were visible from the USS Wasp. The officials said, however, that most of their names probably could not be seen since they were side by side but that the name of the USS John S. McCain could be seen from the pier. Asked if the tarp was meant to block Trump’s view of the ship, the officials said the tarp had been placed on the ship for maintenance and removed for the visit. Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, navy public affairs officer, tweeted Wednesday night: “The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.” Two U.S. officials said a paint barge was in front of the USS John S. McCain on Saturday morning when 7th Fleet officials walked the pier to see how everything looked for the visit. The barge was then ordered to be moved and was gone by the time Trump arrived, the officials said. The Journal reported, based on people familiar with the matter, that sailors on the USS John S. McCain, who usually wear hats with the ship’s name on it, were given the day off when Trump visited. Two U.S. officials told AP that sailors on the USS John S. McCain were not told to stay away but that many were away for the long weekend. The officials also said that about 800 sailors from more than 20 ships and navy commands were on the USS Wasp during the president’s visit, and all wore the same navy hat that has no logo, rather than wearing individual ship or command hats. Trump and McCain had a frosty relationship and that continued, on Trump’s part, even after McCain died in August 2018 of brain cancer. In 2015, McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, had gotten under then-candidate Trump’s skin by saying he had “fired up the crazies” at a rally in Phoenix. Trump, also a Republican, later told a crowd in Iowa that McCain was only a war hero “because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” After Trump took office, McCain established himself as a leading critic, opposing Trump’s immigration-limiting order, warning him against coziness with Moscow and lecturing him on the illegality of torture. The senator incensed the president with his thumbs-down vote that foiled the president’s efforts to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law. Trump was not welcome at McCain’s funeral and had the White House’s U.S. flag raised back to full-staff shortly after McCain’s death, despite the U.S. Flag Code stating that it should remain at half-staff for another day. The flag returned to half-staff later in the day. McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted Wednesday that Trump will “always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life.” Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads incredible life. There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won’t let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him. It makes my grief unbearable. https://t.co/gUbFAla1VE — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 30, 2019 She added, “There is a lot of criticism of how much I speak about my dad, but nine months since he passed, Trump won’t let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him. “It makes my grief unbearable.”
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u.s .;military;john mccain;yokosuka;donald trump
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jp0004697
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Venezuela's Guaido says Norway mediation talks will continue
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OSLO - Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido said that talks hosted by Norway between his delegation and that of President Nicolas Maduro would continue despite Wednesday’s discussions ending “without agreement.” “We thank the Norwegian government for its desire to contribute to a solution to the chaos our country is suffering. We’re prepared to continue alongside them,” Guaido said in a statement. Delegations representing the Venezuelan rivals met face-to-face in Oslo for the first time this week in a process begun two weeks ago under Norwegian auspices to find a solution to the South American country’s economic and political crises. Venezuela has been ravaged by five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicines. It was plunged deeper into political turmoil in January when National Assembly speaker Guaido declared himself acting president in a direct challenge to Maduro’s authority. He was quickly backed by more than 50 countries in his bid to oust the socialist leader that the National Assembly has branded illegitimate over his controversial re-election last year in polls the opposition claims were fraudulent. Despite agreeing to talks, Guaido insisted in his statement that the opposition’s aims have not changed. “We’ve ratified our plan: the end of the usurpation, a transitional government and free elections, as a route to solve the tragedy our Venezuela is suffering today,” said Guaido. He also insisted that the Oslo talks “don’t stop the opposition’s efforts in every constitutional area” to force Maduro from power. The idea of talks has proved unpopular with opposition supporters in Venezuela where months of street protests and even an uprising supported by around 30 members of the armed forces have failed to dislodge Maduro. “The parties have demonstrated their willingness to move forward in the search for an agreed-upon and constitutional solution for the country, which includes political, economic and electoral matters,” the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after the talks concluded Wednesday. “In order to preserve a process that can lead to results, the parties are requested to show their utmost caution in their comments and statements regarding the process,” it added. No details about the exact contents of the discussions were revealed. Oil-rich but cash-strapped Venezuela is suffering its worst economic crisis in recent history, with inflation expected to reach 10,000,000 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. A quarter of its 30 million population is in urgent need of aid, according to the United Nations, while its people face failing public services such as water, electricity and transport. The U.N. also says 3 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015. As the host country of the Nobel Peace Price and the place where Israeli-Palestinian Oslo agreements were negotiated, Norway has a tradition of being a “facilitator” in peace processes, including the accord struck between the Colombian government and FARC rebels in 2016.
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venezuela;nicolas maduro;norway;oslo;juan guaido
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jp0004698
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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GOP's Mitch McConnell: 'We'd fill' any Supreme Court vacancy in 2020
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WASHINGTON - Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell says that if a vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court during next year’s election cycle the chamber would likely confirm a GOP nominee selected by President Donald Trump. In an appearance Tuesday in Paducah, Kentucky, McConnell told a questioner that if a Supreme Court justice died next year, creating a vacancy, “Oh, we’d fill it.” Three years ago, during President Barack Obama’s final year in office, McConnell orchestrated a blockade of Obama’s choice of Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy created with the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. McConnell said then the choice should be left to voters in an election year. McConnell’s change of heart drew attacks from Democrats still smarting from his success in cementing the high court’s conservative majority. Scalia’s vacancy went to conservative Neil Gorsuch, while swing vote Anthony Kennedy was replaced by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in an acrimonious brawl last year. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the fifth-ranking House Democrat, called McConnell “a shameless individual” and accused him of “stealing a Supreme Court seat that Barack Obama had the right to present to the American people.” McConnell spokesman David Popp said the Kentucky Republican was being consistent, since he took care in 2016 to say that vacancies occurring when the White House and Senate are held by different parties should be held up. The current situation involves the Senate and the White House being held by Republicans. “You’d have to go back to 1888 when Grover Cleveland was in the White House to find the last time a vacancy created in a presidential year was confirmed by the party opposite the occupant of the White House,” McConnell said in March 2016, a month after Scalia died. There is no announced vacancy and no justice has made moves indicating they’re about to leave, but there’s internet chatter that GOP Justice Clarence Thomas, the current court’s longest serving justice, would consider retirement if his seat could be filled by a Trump-named younger conservative.
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u.s .;barack obama;u.s. supreme court;mitch mcconnell;clarence thomas
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jp0004699
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Boris Johnson to faces court over claim of Britain's '£350 million weekly payment' to EU
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LONDON - Boris Johnson, considered the front-runner to become Britain’s next prime minister, must appear in court over allegations that he knowingly lied during the Brexit referendum campaign, a judge ruled Wednesday. Johnson, the former foreign secretary, will be summoned to appear over allegations of misconduct in public office, Judge Margot Coleman said in a written decision, without specifying the date. The case concerns Johnson’s claim that Britain sends £350 million ($440 million) a week to the European Union. While this was Britain’s gross contribution, the net figure accounts for a budget rebate from the EU as well as payments to Britain’s public sector from the EU budget, and is substantially less. Businessman Marcus Ball has crowd-funded a private initiative to bring Johnson to court. “The allegations which have been made are unproven accusations, and I do not make any findings of fact,” the judge said. “Having considered all the relevant factors I am satisfied that this is a proper case to issue the summons as requested,” she wrote. Referring to Johnson as the “proposed defendant,” Coleman said he would be required to attend a preliminary hearing that could then result in a trial. Political observers consider Johnson the favorite among 11 candidates vying to replace Theresa May as leader of the governing Conservative Party, and therefore prime minister. May will quit as Conservative leader on June 7, with the new prime minister due to be in place before July 20. The application brought by Ball’s lawyers alleges that Johnson “repeatedly lied and misled the British public as to the cost of EU membership” and “knew that such comments were false or misleading.” “Lying on a national and international platform undermines public confidence in politics.” The maximum penalty for misconduct in public office is life imprisonment. Johnson was not present at last week’s hearing to determine whether he must be summoned, but the politician’s lawyer, Adrian Darbishire, said the pro-Brexit figurehead staunchly denied acting in an improper or dishonest manner. Coleman considered whether the case had been brought purely to annoy Johnson. The former London mayor contends the application is a politically motivated stunt as part of a campaign to undermine the referendum result or prevent its consequences. Britain is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31. “I accept the defense submission that when the applicant commenced his consideration of whether to bring a private prosecution against the proposed defendant, some three years ago, there may have been a political purpose to these proceedings,” Coleman said. “However, the information for the summons was laid on Feb. 28, 2019, and that argument in my view is no longer pertinent. I do not accept the application is vexatious.” In her 14-page decision, the judge added, “This is an unusual and exceptional application with a considerable public interest and it is right that full reasons are provided.” Conservative Member of Parliament Jacob Rees-Mogg, who backs Johnson for the leadership, said the accuracy of the £350 million claim was not a matter for the courts. “Politicizing justice is a really bad idea and it’s actually what happens in totalitarian regimes where people get prosecuted for free speech,” the hard-core Brexiteer said. During the 2016 EU membership referendum, the official Leave campaign’s battle bus had “We send the EU £350 million a week” printed on the side. The claim was hotly contested. According to Finance Ministry figures available at the time, Britain’s gross contribution to the EU budget was about £17.8 billion in 2015 (£342 million a week). It actually turned out at £19.5 billion (£376 million a week). In 2016, the gross contribution was £17 billion (£327 million a week). But Britain had a rebate of £3.9 billion — applied before the money is paid — which would mean payments of about £250 million. Meanwhile, EU payments back into the British public sector, for example into regional development and agriculture, totaled £3.5 billion. The 2016 net public sector contribution was therefore £9.6 billion, or some £185 million a week. The EU also makes payments via the private sector — for example, to research organizations — that are not included in the Treasury figures.
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courts;eu;u.k .;boris johnson;brexit
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jp0004700
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[
"world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Rare color footage brings D-Day memories to life, 75 years on
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WASHINGTON - Seventy-five years ago, Hollywood director George Stevens stood on the deck of the HMS Belfast to film the start of the D-Day invasion. The resulting black-and-white films — following Allied troops through Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge, the horror of the Dachau concentration camp — form the basis of Americans’ historical memory of World War II, and were even used as evidence in Nazi war crimes trials. But the director was also shooting 16-mm color film for himself of the same events, creating a kind of personal video journal of his experiences. As veterans and world leaders prepare to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day next week, Stevens’ surprising color images bring an immediacy to wartime memories, a powerful reminder of the war’s impact and its heros as those who witnessed the war are dying out . “You’ve seen it in black and white. And when you see it in color, all of a sudden it feels like today,” his son, George Stevens Jr., said in an interview. “It doesn’t seem like yesterday. And it has a much more modern and authentic feeling to it.” Next week’s D-Day commemorations are about honoring the thousands killed and wounded on June 6, 1944 — and people like Stevens Jr.’s father. Then 37, Stevens was already a famous American director who had made Hollywood classics like “Gunga Din” and “Swing Time.” “My father was beyond draft age. And he had a dependent child. So there was no chance of him being called up,” Stevens Jr., a filmmaker in his own right, told The Associated Press. But his father felt compelled to enlist in the U.S. military after seeing the power of Nazi propaganda films, including Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will.” “The next day he started calling up to find out how he could get into the service. He couldn’t sit on the sidelines in Hollywood, and wanted to make his contribution,” his son said. General Dwight Eisenhower assigned Stevens to head up the combat motion-picture coverage. From D-Day on, Stevens and his team stormed through France and across Europe following U.S. forces. George Stevens Jr., now 87, was a child when his dad left to cover the war. Only after his father’s death, decades later, did he discover reels of the color film in storage. They could have been anything — his father used the same camera during the war that he had used to film his son’s birthday parties. But what his son found that day in 1980 was no normal home video. “I was sitting alone, and on the screen came images of a gray day and rough seas and a large ship and barrage balloons up in the sky. And I realized it was D-Day. “And I realized that my eyes were probably the first other than those who were there to see this in color,” he recalled. “I’m watching this footage and seeing the men on the ship … and around the corner walks into the frame a man with a helmet and a flak jacket. It’s my 37-year-old father on the morning of D-Day.” Stevens Jr., a writer, director and founder of the American Film Institute, later made a documentary with the footage, “George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin.” “My father referred to his experience in World War II as having a seat on the 50-yard line. And seeing men at their best and at their worst,” his son said. Long before social networks and smart phones, the outside world had little visual evidence of the Nazis’ attempted genocide of the Jews. His father’s unit “went into Dachau, the concentration camp, and nobody had anticipated what they were going to find there,” Stevens Jr. said. “It was this harrowing sight of these emaciated prisoners and typhus and disease and dead bodies stacked like cordwood. … Rather than just being a recorder of events, he became a gatherer of evidence, and he himself took a camera and went into these boxcars, with snow on the ground, with frozen bodies.” Stevens documented the scenes both in black and white and in color, and images he shot at Dachau were among those shown at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, according to his son. He also filmed Allied war generals working together during the war to defeat fascism. Now, 75 years on, the trans-Atlantic alliance is fraying and Europe’s extreme right is resurging, making remembrance of the war especially important. “I think that common interests and purpose will keep us together,” Stevens Jr. said. He praised the U.S.-led postwar effort “to embrace the defeated and help them, help Germany become a great nation,” calling it a “very American idea … that will serve us far into the future.”
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france;wwii;u.s .;history;nazis;d-day;george stevens
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jp0004701
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Hungarian river tour boat carrying South Koreans capsizes on Danube; seven dead, 21 missing
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BUDAPEST - At least seven people were killed and nearly 20 were missing after a pleasure boat carrying South Korean tourists capsized on the flooding Danube in the Hungarian capital on Wednesday, police and ambulance officials said. The boat reportedly collided with another tourist vessel near the Hungarian parliament building, before turning over on the river, which has been flooding, with very strong currents, while a rainstorm enveloped Budapest. In Seoul, the foreign ministry said the vessel sank with 33 South Korean tourists and a crew of two Hungarians aboard, adding that seven of the tourists were rescued but seven died, and 19 were missing. An emergency rescue team is among the 18 officials South Korea plans to send to Budapest, the ministry said in a statement, and it will offer counselling to victims’ families. A Hungarian ambulance spokesman told state television that 14 people were pulled from the water. Seven have died, with the rest suffering from hypothermia but stable. A massive rescue effort deployed boats, divers, spotlights, and radar scanning to scour the river for several kilometers downstream from the accident site. Journalists at the scene said they saw children’s ambulances on the riverbank, showing that children were also aboard. But the hours that have passed since the accident, soon after 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), make it less likely for new survivors to be found in the central Budapest area, as strong currents have carried people far downstream, emergency rescue chiefs told state media. The National Ambulance Service mounted searches along a stretch of the river downstream from Budapest and was on alert along a section further south in Hungary, where all boat traffic has been halted. Television images showed the bank of the Danube closed off by police on the Pest side, across from the World Heritage site of Buda Castle. The Danube’s flooding and currents made rescue efforts extremely difficult, a rescue diver told the state broadcaster, with water temperatures ranging between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius (50 and 54 degrees F). The boat, the Mermaid, was a 27-meter (89-foot) double-decker river cruise boat with a 150-horsepower engine and could hold up to 60 people, its owner, Panorama Deck Ltd., told state media. “We are mobilizing every resource we have to protect human lives,” it said, adding that the Mermaid had been in its fleet since 2003, with regular maintenance. Boat registry Hajoregiszter.hu showed the ship, originally built in the Soviet Union in 1949, received a Hungarian-made new engine in the 1980s. Neither the registry nor the operator could be immediately reached for comment on the boat’s age. A shipping expert told state television it was likely the pleasure boat had collided with a very large vessel that had sunk it very quickly. The hull was found on the riverbed just a few hundred meters from its usual mooring point.
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accidents;tourism;budapest;danube
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jp0004703
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[
"world"
] |
2019/05/30
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U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency believes Russia is secretly conducting low-yield nuclear tests
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WASHINGTON - The United States believes Russia may be conducting low-level nuclear tests, a U.S. intelligence official on Wednesday, while the head of a body monitoring a global nuclear treaty said there was no sign of such violations by Moscow. Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) enjoys wide global support but must be ratified by eight more nuclear technology states, among them Israel, Iran, Egypt and the United States to come into force. Russia ratified it in 2000. However, the head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said, “The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero-yield’ standard.” At an arms control forum at the Hudson Institute, DIA head Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley said, “We believe they have the capability in the way they are set up” to conduct low-level nuclear tests that exceed the zero yield limit set in the CTBT, There was no immediate response from the Russian government, but the head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, told the Interfax news agency that Ashley “could not have made a more irresponsible statement.” “Nuclear tests cannot be carried out secretly,” it quoted him as saying. “These kinds of statements reveal that the professionalism of the military is systemically falling in America,” Shamanov said. The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Lassina Zerbo, said media reports appeared to “probably overstate” Ashley’s comments. “It wasn’t about Russia conducting any low-yield tests but that Russia may have the capability for doing so,” he told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Seoul on Thursday. The organization’s global detection systems have not detected any tests, Zerbo said. “We’re pretty confident that any militarily significant explosive test would not go undetected. So far we haven’t had any signal to that effect and we’re looking for further evidence.” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus referred specific questions to the DIA, but said Russia “routinely” disregarded its international obligations and was in breach of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “They have been in breach for several years and they have tested, produced, fielded an INF weapon … We are certainly alarmed that they continue to disregard their international obligations as it relates to arms control.” Russia announced last month it was suspending the INF treaty after the United States said it would withdraw because of violations by Moscow. Russia denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of breaking the accord itself. Ashley’s comments underscore the need for countries like the United States to ratify the CTBT, Zerbo said. “You’re not ready to ratify the CTBT but you’re asking for someone to comply with it, so you’re referring to a treaty that seems to be important,” he said. “If the treaty is important, why don’t we lock it in?”
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u.s .;russia;weapons;nuclear weapons;arctic;ctbt;wall street journal;novaya zemlya
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jp0004704
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[
"world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Pentagon pick focuses on China despite Mideast tensions and deployment
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JAKARTA - Tensions may be high in the Middle East, but the man chosen by President Donald Trump to run the Pentagon is turning his focus to China. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived Wednesday in Asia on a high-profile weeklong trip that is intended to reinforce that China is the administration’s main foreign policy priority. It comes as the U.S. deploys thousands of more troops and military assets to counter Iran in the Middle East, and will test the Pentagon nominee ahead of his expected Senate confirmation hearing. In his five months as acting secretary, Shanahan has tried to focus on implementing a new national defense strategy that shifts away from fighting extremist groups to what he calls “great power” competition with China and Russia. But instead, much of his time has been spent juggling a host of other issues: Iranian threats, North Korean missile launches, the ongoing war in Afghanistan, the battle against Islamic State militants and a divisive struggle to cobble together billions of dollars for Trump’s wall on the southern border. Even as he prepared for the Asia trip, Shanahan shuttled back and forth to the White House for meetings on how much more military might he should send to the Middle East in coming weeks to protect American forces and interests from Iranian threats. Speaking to reporters traveling with him to Asia on Wednesday, Shanahan acknowledged the competing interests, but insisted he spends “quite a bit of time” on China issues. “Implementation of the national defense strategy is my top priority,” he said, adding that the department has “the capacity to spin a lot of plates.” Trump has not yet sent Shanahan’s formal nomination as defense chief to Capitol Hill, but he is expected to do so in the coming days. If that happens, the Senate could hold a hearing and vote on Shanahan’s confirmation some time later next month. The acting defense chief’s Asia trip will take him to Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, where he will attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, a national security conference. While there, he will also hold talks with Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, the South Korean Defense Ministry said Thursday. Jeong is expected to bring up denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and cooperation for permanent peace in the region, it added. Jeong will deliver a speech at the conference on Saturday in which he will call on other countries to cooperate in easing tensions on the peninsula, according to the ministry, and then hold talks with Shanahan in Seoul on Monday. Among the items on the agenda are joint military exercises between the two nations. U.S. officials say Shanahan will arrive in Japan later Monday for the last stop of his tour. He is expected to seek support for the United States’ Indo-Asia Pacific strategy in meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Iwaya, NHK has reported, and the two sides are expected to confirm security cooperation on North Korea. Shanahan has said his trip will give him a week “solely dedicated to the issues of the region.” One key meeting at the Singapore conference will be with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. For the first time since 2011, China is sending a top-level leader to Shangri-La, and it is unclear what triggered the change. Observers suggest the move underscores Beijing’s desire to re-engage with neighbors in the region, perhaps at a time it believes the U.S. is distracted by strains in the Middle East and hampered a bit by Shanahan’s status as acting secretary. Asked about his goals for the meeting, Shanahan said he wants to identify areas where the two nations can cooperate, and “talk about things that I think are important for us to be transparent and candid about.” Tensions between Washington and Beijing have spiked in recent months, as the Trump administration set off a trade war with China, raising tariffs on billions of dollars of imports. The U.S. also sanctioned Chinese tech giant Huawei and approved a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory. Two U.S. government reports this year criticized China over its militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea and its continued campaign to steal high-tech trade secrets from defense programs. And defense intelligence officials expressed worries that China’s growing military might could lead to an attack against Taiwan. Shanahan has repeatedly signaled that he believes America’s most pressing security problem is China’s rapidly growing military. It is not a new theme. Several of his predecessors pursued what the Obama administration called a “pivot” to the Pacific, all aimed at countering China’s growing prominence in the region. But Shanahan sees it as an increasingly urgent and long-ignored problem, and his proposed budget includes billions of dollars in new programs designed to keep pace with China’s strides in hypersonic weapons, nuclear technology and space launches. A senior U.S. official said there is a lot going on in the world now, and Shanahan’s weeklong trip demonstrates that Asia is a priority for the administration. The U.S. will also release a new report in conjunction with the visit, to lay out what the department has done so far to implement the defense strategy. A former U.S. official familiar with the region said the trip will give Shanahan a chance to show his foreign policy expertise and deliver a speech that continues pressure on China and assures allies of American’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss trip details before they are made public. Shanahan’s chance to deliver his message will come Saturday morning, when he takes center stage at the security conference. How well he does in front of the international audience — which traditionally includes senior members of Congress — could also have an impact on his job status.
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china;shinzo abe;u.s .;indonesia;military;south korea;u.s.-japan relations;donald trump;takeshi iwaya;patrick shanahan
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jp0004705
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[
"world"
] |
2019/05/30
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Mexico auctions seized vehicles outside presidential mansion in symbol of AMLO's anti-graft drive
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MEXICO CITY - Seventeen black, bulletproof Chevrolet Suburbans stretched in a neat, polished row outside the onetime official residence of Mexico’s presidents. Nearby stood a 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago and a 2016 Ford Shelby pickup truck with a video camera embedded in the front grill and a hand-held radio next to the driver’s seat. All were put up for auction Sunday by the Institute to Return the Stolen to the People, the new name for a branch of the Finance Ministry that is in charge of selling property seized from purported drug dealers and tax cheats, as well as government vehicles and other property that are no longer in use. Holding the auction outside Los Pinos, a mansion nestled on the edge of the capital’s Chapultepec Park, carried extra significance since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador turned the once heavily guarded compound into an open cultural center when he took office Dec. 1. Ricardo Rodriguez Vargas, head of the institute, said the goal Sunday was to raise 30 million pesos ($1.5 million) from the sale of 82 vehicles. The money is to be sent to two poor communities in the southern state of Oaxaca to improve roads, schools and other infrastructure. Those municipalities were chosen because almost all their residents live in poverty, he said. Some of the vehicles put up for sale had been collecting dust in government warehouses for 10 years. It was the most heavily attended auction in the history of the Finance Ministry, Rodriguez said, with 800 people registering to bid. For every person sitting in the auction area under the shade of a white tarp there were at least another five outside ogling the vehicles, taking selfies with their favorite cars or watching the bids rise from beyond the cordoned auction pit. Holding the auction on the grounds of the former presidential mansion was symbolic, said Ricardo Alvarado, a researcher with Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a watchdog group. “Using a space that’s characteristic of the luxury of past administrations is without a doubt a symbol of what this government intends to do with austerity,” he said. Lopez Obrador has slashed government salaries, including his own, and aggressively trimmed budgets. He plans to sell the presidential jet and travels on commercial airplanes, wears a Timex watch and claims to own fewer than a dozen suits. He is also targeting corruption and theft of state-produced gasoline. The armored Suburbans, many of which were at least a decade old, drew little interest from bidders Sunday, but the competition was fierce for three classic Volkswagen sedans — the original Beetles — as well as for pristine Audi and BMW hatchbacks with leather bucket seats. Muscle cars, such as an orange Corvette and canary yellow Chevrolet Camaro, also saw intense bidding. Men in fluorescent yellow vests floated between bidders, yelping like Mariarchi crooners as offers got loftier and loftier. Red auction paddles soared in the air, encouraged by a moderator in a little black dress who seduced buyers with warnings such as “Don’t let it go!” The top seller was the cherry red Shelby pickup with a license plate from the northern state of Sinaloa, home to one of Mexico’s most brutal drug cartels. The fully loaded monster truck, a virtual office on wheels with leather seats and oversized side-view mirrors, went for 1.9 million pesos. People who placed winning bids declined interviews with the media, citing security concerns. Several would-be buyers, though, said that the vehicles were going for above-market prices. Eduardo Aburto hoped to snag the 2004 special edition Volkswagen Beetle — one of the last ever produced — for the equivalent of $7,500, but the little beige Beetle went for $17,000. Alejandro Santana, a luxury vehicle mechanic, traveled from the northern state of Durango with hopes of winning a bargain price Mini Cooper or pickup. He left empty-handed, describing the winning bids as “very high.” Tania Arenas, a researcher at a public university, also watched with dismay as prices soared past her budget ceiling on several vehicles. “The price starts to shoot up in the first seconds — they rise too much,” she said with incredulity. Nonetheless, she credited the highly visible event with providing voters with proof that the government is raising money and putting it to good use. Bonifacio Rodriguez Correa, a farmer in a cowboy hat, traveled two hours by bus from what he described as a “forgotten” ranch in central Mexico just to feast his eyes on the vehicles. “I don’t have any money,” he confessed, adding that if he did, he would have bid for a hardy VW to help in his corn fields. He was overcome with emotion, though, when he talked about this display by Lopez Obrador. “I cry because I’m happy,” Rodriguez Correa said. “I have a lot of faith, a lot of confidence that he’ll get us out of this quagmire. He’s a man who does what he says.”
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mexico;corruption;cars;andres manuel lopez obrador
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jp0004706
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/30
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New Zealand's first 'well-being budget' targets mental health in wake of Christchurch attacks
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WELLINGTON - New Zealand’s government announced Thursday it will spend billions of dollars more on mental health services and combatting child poverty as part of a new approach to its finances. The Labour-led government unveiled the country’s first so-called well-being budget. It aims to measure social outcomes like health and the environment alongside traditional metrics such as economic growth. The new approach has been lauded by some internationally but criticized by the conservative opposition as meaningless window-dressing. The budget was the first since a gunman killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques in March, and it included money for a gun buyback program after the government introduced new laws banning the types of semi-automatic weapons often used in mass shootings. The budget also increased funding for the nation’s intelligence agencies, which didn’t identify the man accused of the slaughter as a potential threat. Overall, new spending was up significantly on previous forecasts. But while government borrowing was forecast to rise, the net debt was expected to stay at about 20 percent of GDP as the size of the economy also expanded. Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the increased spending was worth the extra debt and would help stimulate the economy as global economic growth slowed. “The old way of doing things has left too many people behind,” Robertson said. “New Zealanders want us to measure our success, and invest on their behalf, in line with their values. The values of fairness, the protection of the environment, the strength of our communities.” Under the budget, spending on mental health will increase by 1.9 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.2 billion) over the next four years. Part of that will include extra money for suicide prevention services as the country tries to tackle its high suicide rate. “One death from suicide is one death too many, and the effects of each suicide on friends and family is devastating,” Robertson said. Budget documents indicate an extra 81,000 people will be able to access free mental health and addiction services. Robertson said at least 180,000 children were living in poverty and the government had set an ambitious 10-year target to cut that number in half. The budget also included NZ$1 billion over four years to rebuild the country’s aging rail network and NZ$300 million over that time to help start-up companies grow larger. It also included extra money to help clean waterways and improve forestry. Opposition leader Simon Bridges said the budget had been “botched.” He said families wanted more money for food, gas and rent, but instead taxes were being spent on rail, defense and trees. “The economy is sharply declining and the government is doing nothing to encourage growth,” Bridges said. He said the budget included extra money for classrooms but not for teachers, who have been striking for better pay and conditions. “This budget is style over substance,” he said. “It might have a glossy cover with nice pictures, but it’s hollow inside.” Treasury forecasts indicate New Zealand’s economy will expand by about 3 percent next year before the rate slows to a 2.4 percent annual increase in 2022. The unemployment rate remains at just over 4 percent and is forecast to remain steady. The budget includes NZ$150 million for the gun buyback program and NZ$50 million extra over four years for the intelligence agencies. Robertson said it would increase the funding for the buyback program if needed.
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guns;children;poverty;new zealand;budgets;christchurch;mental health;mass shootings
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jp0004707
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/30
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Pyongyang hits 'evil ambition' of Washington, and says use of strength not a U.S. monopoly
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WASHINGTON - North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States of showing bad faith in negotiations by conducting nuclear and missile tests and military drills as part of an “evil ambition” to conquer North Korea by force, even while advocating dialogue. In the latest uptick in angry rhetoric from Pyongyang after a failed summit with the United States in February, a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement repeated complaints about an ongoing U.S. sanctions campaign, including the seizure of one of the country’s biggest cargo ships, and warned that “use of strength is not at all a monopoly of the United States.” The statement, attributed to the Policy Research Director of the ministry’s Institute for American Studies and carried by official media, noted that the United States had conducted a subcritical nuclear test on Feb. 13, just days before a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “The U.S. has thus showcased its ulterior intention that it seeks a strength-based solution of the issues, though outwardly it advocates for dialogue,” the statement said. It aimed fresh attacks at John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, accusing them and other high-ranking U.S. officials of having “insulted the dignity of our supreme leadership and spitted out abusive language” by calling North Korea a “rogue regime.” It also accused the U.S. officials of a “hostile scheme to stifle us by force” by warning that Washington would “change its path” if North Korea did not give up its nuclear weapons. The statement condemned recent joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises and U.S. missile defense drills and test launches of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The statement also complained of increasing reconnaissance flights over North Korea and accused Washington of “maneuvers” to deploy sophisticated landing craft in Japan and nuclear-capable submarine-launched ballistic missiles around the Korean Peninsula. “All the above clearly shows that the June 12 … Joint Statement is not within the consideration of the United States and there is no change at all in the American evil ambition to conquer (North Korea) by force,” it said, referring to a commitment by Trump and Kim at a first summit last year to establish a new era of relations. “The U.S. should better bear in mind that its hostile acts will only bring about the result of adding tension to the already unstable Korean Peninsula and inviting adverse current. Use of strength is not at all a monopoly of the United States,” the statement said. It comes days after Trump, who says he is keen to pursue talks with Kim even while maintaining a hard-line sanctions policy, sought to play down North Korea’s first missile tests since 2017 conducted earlier in May. Trump said they had involved only short-range weapons and North Korea had stuck to a freeze in nuclear and ICBM tests. He appeared to contradict Bolton, who had said there was “no doubt” the North Korean launches had violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
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u.s .;north korea;nuclear weapons;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump;mike pompeo;john bolton
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jp0004709
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[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/30
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Nepal marks first Everest ascent amid debate over permits after crowded, deadly season
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KATHMANDU - Nepal commemorated the anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest on Wednesday amid a climbing season marred by the highest death toll in four years and a debate on whether the government should limit permits to prevent dangerous overcrowding on the world’s highest peak. Government officials said at an event in Kathmandu celebrating the successful climb of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 that there were no plans to cap permits. Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, takes in $300 million each year from climbing. A record number of 381 permits were issued this year. Eleven people have died on Everest, including nine in Nepal, likely due to altitude sickness, which is caused by low amounts of oxygen at high elevation and can lead to headaches, vomiting, shortness of breath and mental confusion. Because of the altitude, climbers have just hours to reach the top before they are at risk of a pulmonary edema, when the lungs fill with liquid causing respiratory failure. Mountaineers described traffic jams caused by exhausted rookies in the “death zone,” the final phase of the ascent from Camp Four at 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak. The nine deaths this year on Nepal’s side of the mountain included Don Cash, a sales executive from Utah, and Christopher Kulish, an attorney from Colorado, who both died on their way down from the summit. Kulish, 62, had just reached the top with a small group, according to his brother, Mark Kulish. That earned him a place in the “Seven Summit Club” of mountaineers who have reached the highest peaks on every continent, his brother said. Cash, 55, who also joined the Seven Summit Club with his climb, collapsed at the top and was given CPR and massages by his two Sherpa guides. He got up only to fall again in the same way at Hillary Step, the first cliff face down from the summit. Two other climbers — from Ireland and Austria — died on the northern side of the mountain in Chinese territory, according to media reports. On Wednesday, Nepalese government minister Gokul Prasad Baskota said the congestion on Everest wasn’t due to the mismanagement of climbing permits but rather the inadequate training of some climbers. Renowned mountaineer Um Hong-gil of South Korea, who was honored by the Nepal government at the event commemorating the 66th Everest anniversary, said the number of climbers should be scaled back and only those with proper training and experience should be allowed. “There should definitely be less permits issued and more experienced climbers on Everest,” Um said. He said the endeavor — once only possible for well-heeled elite mountaineers — has changed greatly since he first climbed Everest in 1988, in part because of advanced weather forecasting technology that more accurately predicts clear conditions, leading to pileups at the peak. “Many people are now taking climbing Everest very lightly and as entertainment only, which they think they can do without much training,” Um said. The Nepal Mountaineering Association, an umbrella body of expedition operators, said it would push the government to require climbers to adequately prepare for what Um described as an extremely taxing physical and mental task. “The government needs to come up with strict policies to control the inexperienced climbers from attempting to scale Everest,” said the association’s president, Santa Bir Lama. Lama also faulted private trekking companies that are more focused on expanding their client base than safety. He also said that government permits, which are often issued to climbers just days before their expeditions, should be issued months in advance to give climbers time to fully prepare. A climber from Kashmir who returned to Kathmandu after a failed attempt on Everest agreed that there should be a standard that climbers must meet. “People just throw the cash and get a permit to climb Everest because there are no criteria,” said Rizza Alee. “Lots of people I saw were inexperienced.” Expedition operators said they do vet climbers’ experience and ability before signing up them up and that even seasoned mountaineers sometimes lose their lives on Everest. “In the mountains it is always unpredictable,” said Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks, one of the biggest expedition companies in Nepal. Sherpa said the government cannot limit the number of permits because of the lasting draw of the world’s highest peak. “People from all over the world would want to come visit Everest and that cannot be stopped,” he said.
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mount everest;kathmandu;mountaineering;edmund hillary;tenzing norgay;mountains
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jp0004710
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[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/05/30
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Kashmir civilian killed and scores wounded in anti-India clashes
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SRINAGAR, INDIA - Two gunbattles between Indian troops and Kashmiri rebels triggered a new round of anti-India protests and clashes in the disputed Himalayan region on Wednesday which left one civilian dead and at least 100 others injured, police and residents said. Protesters helped rebels escape at one of the clashes. The fighting erupted after Indian forces raided two villages in the southern areas of Shopian and Kulgam on a tip that rebels were hiding there, and came under fire from them, police said. Residents said troops blasted at least three civilian homes with explosives in both villages, a common anti-militancy tactic employed by Indian troops in Kashmir. As news of the counterinsurgency operations spread, protests and clashes against Indian rule broke out in both areas with hundreds of people trying to reach the sites of the fighting to save the trapped militants. Government forces fired bullets, shotguns and tear gas to stop stone-throwing protesters. A young civilian was killed and at least 100 others were injured during the fierce clashes. In the gunbattle in Kulgam, where most of the injuries occurred, hundreds of residents barraged troops with stones and abuse and forced them to retreat. At least two militants were rescued from the rubble of a blasted home by residents, who celebrated with pro-rebel slogans and cheers, witnesses said. The gunbattle and clashes involving civilians were continuing in Shopian. Hospital officials said many of the injured were hit by shotgun pellets in the eyes and were being treated in a hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir’s main city. International rights groups have repeatedly condemned the use of shotguns against protesters armed only with stones. However, troops have continued using the weapons. India and Pakistan each claim the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian control since 1989. Most Kashmiris support the rebels’ demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown.
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conflict;india;kashmir;terrorism;islam;shopian;kulgam
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jp0004711
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Japan to tighten checks on South Korean fishery products in apparent Fukushima ban tit-for-tat
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The health ministry said Thursday that it will strengthen inspections on flatfish and some other fishery products from South Korea starting Saturday. The ministry characterized the measure as an effort to safeguard the health of Japanese people ahead of summer, when food poisoning cases tend to increase. But the tighter inspections are likely a de facto countermeasure against South Korea, which has banned imports of fishery products from Fukushima and seven other prefectures since the March 2011 nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant, analysts say. According to the ministry, the tighter inspections will also cover refrigerated shucked arch shells, fan mussels, cockles and sea urchins. For some of the items, imports from countries other than South Korea will also be subject to the stricter checks. The ministry will raise the annual number of South Korean flatfish covered by inspections for parasites that may cause diarrhea and other problems to 600 from the current 300. The number of patients who suffered food poisoning in Japan due to parasites in South Korean flatfish stood at 62 in 2015, 113 in 2016, 47 in 2017 and 82 in 2018. The ministry will also double the number of inspections on other fishery products, such as arch shells, for pathogenic microorganisms. It is considering a further increase in the number of checks depending on the results. In April, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization overturned a lower body’s ruling that South Korea’s import ban on Japanese fishery products from the eight prefectures amounted to unfair discrimination.
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fukushima;fukushima no . 1;food;radiation;tohoku;south korea;fish;3.11;food poisoning;mhlw
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jp0004712
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/05/30
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Chimps chomp on crabs: In world first, Kyoto professor and team observe apes eating aquatic animals
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KYOTO - An international research team that included Kyoto University professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa has said it has observed wild chimpanzees preying on river crabs for the first time. The finding is contrary to the common belief that anthropoid apes, such as chimpanzees and gorillas, the closest species to humans, do not eat aquatic animals. A paper on the study was published Wednesday in an online version of the Journal of Human Evolution. In 2012, the team observed chimpanzees eating river crabs at a water hole in the forests of Guinea, in West Africa. The team set up camera traps at four water holes between 2012 and 2014 and managed to record chimpanzees eating the crabs 181 times. “Our study is the first evidence showing that non-human apes regularly catch and eat aquatic fauna,” Kathelijne Koops, researcher at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Zurich, said in the research paper. The research team discovered that chimpanzees living in the rain forest in the Nimba Mountains of Guinea consumed freshwater crabs year-round. The chimpanzees searched for crabs in shallow streams in the mountainous rain forest region by scratching and digging up the riverbed with their fingers. Although the chimpanzees ate the crabs throughout the year, they were seen eating crabs more often when they were not eating ants. According to the team, river crabs and ants have similar nutritional compositions. “Female chimpanzees and their offspring fished for crabs more often and for longer than adult males, which we had not expected,” Koops said. A possible explanation for this finding may be that crabs provide essential fatty acids, as well as micronutrients such as sodium and calcium, which are crucial for maternal and infant health. Studies have found that human ancestors ate fish, turtles and other aquatic animals as far back as 2 million years ago, when they left forests to live in the savanna. Matsuzawa said that humans may have been eating aquatic animals since the earliest humans lived in forests over 4 million years ago. “The study may give us a clue to find out when and how humans began to eat aquatic animals,” Matsuzawa said. The team also said there was no correlation between the crab-fishing activity and the amount of monthly rainfall. The rate of crab-fishing remained the same in both the dry and rainy seasons.
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animals;kyoto university;crabs;chimpanzees;monkeys;journal of human evolution
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jp0004713
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/05/30
|
App developed by Keio University and startup proves effective in helping smokers quit
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Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Friday, smokers who have been fighting a lonely battle against nicotine addiction were given another option in their quest to kick the habit. Keio University and CureApp Inc., a Tokyo-based medical technology startup, announced Thursday that a clinical trial has proven the effectiveness of their smartphone app designed to help smokers quit. The app analyzes information from patients undergoing smoking cessation treatment, such as their health condition and the level of carbon monoxide in their breath, in order to give them daily advice on what they should do to keep themselves from lighting up. “In normal smoking cessation treatment, doctors are unable to treat patients’ psychological addiction until their next regularly scheduled session. This has been an obstacle for patients who had to fight (the addiction) alone,” said Dr. Kota Satake, president of the organization and a respiratory physician, in a statement. Thus, the patients can check the app every day to ease their psychological addiction. The university and medical venture conducted trials of the app with the cooperation of 572 people who sought medical help at 31 medical institutions in the country from October 2017 to the end of 2018. A total of 285 people used the app during the trial, while 287 didn’t use it. They found 64 percent of the group who used the app remained smoke-free six months later, while only 50 percent of the group without the app had kept themselves from smoking. “To deliver this app, which will make up for the shortcomings of (smoking cessation) treatment, as soon as possible, I will put all my effort into getting government approval for the app as a medical tool, and having it covered under the public medical insurance system,” Satake said. In Japan, 17.7 percent of people in their 20s or older regularly smoked tobacco in 2017, with the percentage decreasing from 24.4 percent in 2007, according to the health ministry. The highest ratio of smokers were males in their 30s and 40s at around 40 percent. While treatment to help people quit smoking has been covered by public medical insurance since fiscal 2006, a study conducted by the health ministry in fiscal 2017 shows that only 27 percent of those who went through it succeeded in staying away from smoking a year after they started treatment. Momentum for a smoke-free environment has been pushed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government ahead of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. The metropolitan government will submit a bill in June to the metropolitan assembly to fully implement an ordinance that bans smoking in restaurants and bars, regardless of the number of employees and size.
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smoking;apps;addiction;keio university;cureapp
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jp0004714
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/05/30
|
Half of Tokyo firms are unprepared for Olympic traffic congestion, survey finds
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Nearly half of some 500 companies based in central Tokyo that were polled in a recent survey have yet to make plans to circumvent the traffic congestion expected during the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Altogether, 44.3 percent of the 475 respondents to the survey conducted in March by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry said they have not come up with a strategy for the busy period at the time of the games, although they recognize the need to do so. Some respondents to the survey, already facing labor shortages, said they are occupied with more pressing challenges such as the government’s planned consumption tax hike in October. But 80.3 percent said they are open to changing their operations to lessen congestion in the capital, according to the survey, which reached out to 10,000 firms in central Tokyo. The organizing committee of the Tokyo Games predicts congestion on expressways in the metropolitan area next summer will be twice as bad as a non-Olympic year if nothing is done to reduce it. To encourage companies to reduce the movement of staff, the organizing committee is requesting that businesses encourage employees to work from home or implement staggered office hours. To avoid congestion linked to the movement of goods, it is asking companies to shift delivery times and routes. In a multiple-choice question asking respondents about the progress of their preparations, 5.1 percent said they have started discussing the matter internally and 3.4 percent said they began discussing plans with clients, the survey showed. Only 0.6 percent of the responding companies said they were in the process of compiling an action plan, according to the survey. In regards to preparations for traffic jams, 49.9 percent said they expected difficulties in securing workers in off-peak hours, 41.5 percent said it is hard to get customers’ understanding and cooperation, and 29.7 percent said they expect to shoulder additional costs.
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transportation;olympics;firms;2020 tokyo olympics;tokyo chamber of commerce and industry
|
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