Islamic State pinned down in tiny east Syria enclave with families, U.S.-backed force says

Abstract: QAMISHLI, SYRIA - Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria are pinned down in a final tiny pocket with their wives and children, forcing a U.S.-backed militia to slow its advance to protect civilians, the militia said on Tuesday. An aid agency said separately that 10,000 civilians had fled the enclave since last week and were arriving hungry and desperate at a camp. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have been backed by 2,000 U.S. troops and air support, are preparing for a final showdown with Islamic State in eastern Syria after helping to drive the fighters from the towns and cities that once formed the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said Islamic State fighters were now confined to a pocket of just 5-6 sq. km (around 2 sq. miles) by the Euphrates River. The presence of the fighters’ wives and children meant the U.S.-backed militia could not launch an all-out storm of the enclave, and was using slower, more precise tactics instead. “There are thousands of Daesh families there. They are civilians at the end of the day,” Bali told Reuters, using an acronym for Islamic State. “We cannot storm the area or put any child’s life in danger.” The SDF had refused an offer from the jihadis via mediators to surrender the territory in return for safe passage out, Bali said. Clashes had slowed because of the presence of the civilians, and “precise operations” were taking more time. “Calm prevails on the front lines but there’s a state of caution and waiting.” The International Rescue Committee (IRC) charity said it was helping tend to a sudden influx of more than 10,000 people, almost all women, children and elderly, who had arrived at a camp in northeast Syria since last week. Most were exhausted, extremely hungry, and thirsty as they fled Islamic State territory, the global aid agency said. Many arrived barefoot. The United Nations confirmed that 12 young children had died after reaching the al-Hol camp or on the dangerous journey there, the IRC added on Tuesday. The SDF, spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has seized much of north and east Syria with U.S. help. It has been battling Islamic State remnants near the Iraqi border for months. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that Islamic State had been defeated and announced the abrupt withdrawal of the U.S. troops, over objections of top advisers, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who quit in protest. The SDF vowed to escalate its operations against Islamic State this month after a bomb attack killed several people including two U.S. soldiers in northern Syria. SDF officials have warned of an Islamic State revival if Washington withdraws. On Tuesday a suicide bomber struck in the same city, targeting a military vehicle used by the U.S.-backed civil authorities there, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said. Kurdish leaders also fear a U.S. pullout would give Turkey, which sees the YPG as a threat on its border, the chance to mount a new assault. Washington has since said it will make sure its allies are protected when it leaves.

conflict
terrorism
syria
kurds
islamic state
euphrates river


Riyadh vows to release seven Houthi prisoners after freed Saudi arrives home

Abstract: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that seven Houthi prisoners will be released, after a Saudi prisoner freed by the group arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi state television reported. Saudi prisoner Mousa Awaji was returned on a Red Cross plane from Sanaa on Tuesday due to illness, the Houthi TV channel al-Masirah said, citing Abdulqadir Murtada, a Houthi official. The United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, welcomed the Saudi prisoner release, tweeting that he hoped to see “more similar humanitarian gestures from the parties,” and looked forward to implementation of a prisoner exchange agreement. Yemen’s warring parties have yet to agree full terms of a prisoner swap, one of the least contentious confidence-building measures agreed at U.N.-sponsored peace talks held in December amid Western pressure to end the conflict. The United Nations is pushing for the exchange, and the implementation of a cease-fire in the main port city of Hodeida, to pave the way for a second round of discussions to end a war in which tens of thousands of people have been killed in almost four years.

conflict
yemen
saudi arabia
houthis
hodeida


China's coal industry is failing to curb methane emissions, Japanese satellite data shows

Abstract: Methane emissions from coal mining in China have continued to rise despite tough legislation and ambitious government targets, a new study based on satellite data said Wednesday. The news is likely to fuel concerns that major emitters like China are failing to meet targets intended to prevent nightmare climate change scenarios. “China’s methane regulations have not had a detectable impact on the country’s methane emissions,” the study’s first author Scot Miller said. “China has been able to ‘talk the talk’ so to speak in terms of setting emissions reduction policies, but we found that the country has not yet been able to ‘walk the walk,’ ” added Miller, assistant professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The research used data gathered by a Japanese satellite that monitors greenhouse gases, and looked at measurements from 2010-2015, the most recent information available when the study began two years ago. It found that emissions continued to grow in line with pre-2010 trends even after a raft of new regulations came into place. “We estimate that emissions in 2015 are 50 percent higher than in 2000,” Miller said. The increase in China’s emissions over the 15-year period was comparable “to the total annual emissions from a country like Russia or Brazil,” he added. Methane is considered the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Like CO2, it traps the sun’s heat, warming the atmosphere, but methane does so 28 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide. While methane can be naturally released, and absorbed, by the Earth, emissions of the gas have skyrocketed along with industrialization and a growing human population. It occurs naturally in seams of coal, and is released when the resource is mined. By some estimates, China is the world’s largest emitter of methane, with the coal sector accounting for about one-third of its output. The country is the world’s biggest polluter, but also its biggest investor in renewable energy and has repeatedly vowed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. From 2006, operators in China were required to use or burn off all methane from coal mines, and legislation provided financial incentives to encourage use of the gas to generate electricity. But the study published Wednesday in the Nature Communications journal said methane emissions “continue to increase following a business-as-usual scenario.” There are other industries that produce methane, including rice farming and beef production. But the researchers found the largest increases in methane emissions were from regions with lots of coal production. And neither rice nor beef production increased significantly in China over the period studied, while coal production expanded. The researchers pointed to existing studies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the International Energy Agency that could explain why the regulatory effort in China appears to have failed. Part of the problem could be poor infrastructure, which makes it hard to transport natural gas, as well as an underdeveloped market for the product. Coal mines in China also tend to be deeper than in other countries, and the technology available to remove methane from them often results in a poor quality product. Local electricity providers also appear to have been reluctant to accept power generated by coal mine methane, in part because its production fluctuates unpredictably. And there is also some evidence that mine operators may be diluting drained gas because the law only requires them to dispose of it when it has a methane content over 30 percent. One of Miller’s students is now working on a follow-up study that will look at ways China can better implement its methane regulations, including using the gas to generate electricity or home heating. “China could both reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollution by using this methane in place of their current, much dirtier power plants,” Miller said.


Grenade attack kills two at mosque in southern Philippines, days after cathedral bombing and self-rule vote

Abstract: MANILA - A grenade attack on a mosque in the troubled southern Philippines killed two people early Wednesday, authorities said, just days after a deadly Catholic cathedral bombing and a vote backing Muslim self-rule. The blast tore through the building as the victims were sleeping in the pre-dawn darkness on the insurgency-plagued island of Mindanao, which is home to the Philippines’ Muslim minority. Blood-streaked prayer mats and shattered glass could be seen on the floor inside the mosque where heavily armed security forces were working at the scene. The blast came as the Catholic-majority nation was on high alert after a cathedral bombing that killed 21 people during Sunday Mass in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Gerry Besana said two people were killed and four others were wounded in the mosque attack in Zamboanga City. “It is very hard to speculate whether this was retaliation (for the cathedral attack),” Besana said. “There are a lot of possible explanations.” Authorities are also hunting for the attackers involved in the cathedral attack on the island of Jolo, which security forces initially said was not a suicide attack. However, on Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte contradicted them saying one of the bombers had blown himself up outside the cathedral on the overwhelmingly Muslim island. The probe was pointing toward a group tied to the notorious Islamist kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The attacks have interrupted the joy spurred by voters’ decisive approval of giving Muslims in the south more control over their own affairs, which sparked hopes of quelling longtime separatist violence. Rebels and the government in Manila have expressed hope the new so-called Bangsamoro area will finally draw the investment needed to pull the region from the brutal poverty that makes it a hot spot for radical recruitment. However, hard-line factions aligned with IS were not part of the decades-long peace process with the nation’s largest separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, that culminated January 21 with the resounding approval of a new Muslim led-region in the south. Jolo, which is home to hard-line Islamist factions, is the only area in the southern Philippines that voted against the Bangsamoro. Its leader came out publicly against the region and even asked the nation’s top court to halt the vote. The grenade attack on Wednesday drew immediate condemnation from authorities. “There is no redeeming such blasphemous murder. It is the highest form of cowardice and obscenity to attack people who (are) at prayer,” said regional leader Mujiv Hataman. “We call on people of all faiths … to come together to pray for peace.”

terrorism
philippines
muslims
islamic state
insurgencies


Amid trade and military tensions, U.S. sends B-52s over East China Sea on 'routine training' exercise

Abstract: The U.S. Air Force has sent two B-52 bombers over the East China Sea for “routine training” near Okinawa Prefecture, the military has said, the latest mission in the waterway that is home to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands. The B-52 bomber mission was part of so-called continuous bomber presence operations by the U.S., which the military says “have been ongoing since March 2004” and “are consistent with international law and United States’ long-standing and well-known freedom of navigation policies.” The exercise also came just ahead of high-level U.S.-China talks scheduled for Wednesday in Washington aimed at finding a solution to a trade war that has cast a growing shadow over the world’s top two economies. The U.S. and Japanese militaries regularly exercise in the East China Sea and Beijing, which also claims the Senkakus and calls them the Diaoyu, often dispatches government ships and aircraft to the area surrounding the tiny islets. U.S. Pacific Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Victoria Hight said that the two B-52s had departed the U.S. territory of Guam for the mission Monday, and Aircraft Spots, a Twitter account tracking movements of military aircraft, showed that the exercise took the bombers over the East China Sea and Sea of Japan for the approximately 11-hour mission. In November 2013, China declared an air defense identification zone, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, in the East China Sea. The United States and Japan have refused to recognize the ADIZ, and many observers have viewed it as an attempt by China to bolster its claims over disputed territories, like the uninhabited Senkakus. Beijing said in 2017 that Washington should respect the ADIZ after Chinese officials warned a U.S. bomber that it was illegally flying inside the East China Sea zone. The Pentagon rejected the Chinese call and said it would continue its flight operations in the region. The United States is obligated to defend aggression against territories under Japanese administration under Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, and top U.S. officials have said this extends to the Senkakus. Training missions such as Monday’s have appeared to gain more publicity amid protracted military and trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. has also sent its B-52 bombers over the disputed South China Sea — including two separate flights within the space of one week last September near some of China’s man-made islands — moves that Beijing blasted as “provocations.” In June, after two U.S. B-52s flew near Chinese-held islands in the waterway, China’s Foreign Ministry said no military ship or aircraft could scare China away from its resolve to protect its territory. Beijing has built up a series of military outposts in the South China Sea, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year. Washington and Beijing have frequently jousted over the militarization of the South China Sea, where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have competing claims. The U.S. does not maintain any claims there, but says the operations are conducted globally with the aim of promoting freedom of navigation.

china
u.s .
military
trade
senkakus
disputed islands
china-japan relations


In a slum built in Cambodian cemetery, the living far outnumber the dead

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - When floodwaters swept a chunk of riverbank into the Mekong just south of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, Sun Ramaly managed to save her clothes and her kitchen utensils. Her one-room shack, however, crumbled into the river. Along with a handful of families whose meager possessions were also washed away in 2002, Ramaly collected any scraps of timber and tin she could find and walked up the riverbank to find a place to rebuild. “We are from the lowest economic class. We don’t have land, so we don’t have options,” Ramaly said. Since then, Ramaly has lived in Smor San — a slum built in a cemetery that is still visited by relatives of the deceased. But with about 500 people and an estimated 200 graves, the living far outnumber the dead. Her home is a single-room corrugated-iron shack standing on stilts over a mix of plastic waste. Just across the river is Diamond Island, the jewel in Phnom Penh’s fast-rising skyline. Four decades after the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime abolished private ownership and destroyed all land records, Cambodia is in the midst of a property boom. Over the years, the capital’s slums have been emptied — sometimes by force — scattering the urban poor in larger settlements on the city’s fringes, where sanitation, electricity, jobs, schools and health care are harder to come by. Today, more than 25,000 families live in 277 urban poor settlements around Phnom Penh — perched over swamps and sewage canals, squeezed alongside railway lines or, in the case of Smor San, sharing space with the dead. Superstition runs strong in Cambodia, where the national religion, Buddhism, is flecked with animism. According to these beliefs, the dead must be cremated in order for the spirit to be released and reincarnated — otherwise it remains stuck between one life and the next. The graves at Smor San are mostly Chinese and Vietnamese, and contain uncremated corpses. So, for Cambodian Buddhists, disgruntled spirits roam endlessly. “Despite being afraid, we moved to the cemetery to live with ghosts,” Ramaly said. Property boom In Cambodia about 6,400 new construction projects totaling more than $12 billion were approved in 2017 and 2018, according to CBRE Group, a global real estate and investment firm. At the center of the land rush is Phnom Penh, which is undergoing a complete makeover. Built as a low-rise city with breezy boulevards, public gardens and fringed by rich wetlands, the capital now resembles a giant building site with more than 100 construction projects underway in the city center alone, according to CBRE. The drive to development has seen lakes and wetlands filled in, ministry buildings in prime locations offloaded under controversial land-swap deals, and open areas — including the city’s Freedom Park — sold off for development. “The city is expanding and the price of land is increasing; urban poor communities will (continue to) be (ousted) from the city,” said Soeung Saran, executive director of Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), a non-profit that maps the city’s slums. “More and more people will be evicted.” Almost all of Phnom Penh’s slum-dwellers are landless, with no claim to where they live, according to STT, with at least 15 percent of families “under pressure” of eviction — the fate, on average, of almost 10,000 city residents a year since 1990. Signs of development Although the residents of Smor San have not been told they will be evicted, the tell-tale signs of impending development are all around: temporary accommodation for workers, heavy machinery, surveyors and men in business shirts. And there have been overtures. In April, municipal officials ushered a group of residents to Andong, a resettlement site for communities displaced by development, about 90 minutes’ drive across the city. Ramaly did not go — she left the inspection to others. None of them were impressed with what they saw: concrete blocks of dormitory-style, single-room dwellings with low tin roofs baking in the sun. All refused to move, residents said. “It’s like living in a cage,” said Um Sam At, a 25-year-old mother-of-two who visited Andong. In Smor San, purple flowers grow out of a garden that she dug into a grave in front of her tiny, tidy stilted home, which is built from scrap materials. Nearby is the home of Chhay Ly, who also has two children. With a tomb inside the courtyard of her home, Ly said she would “rather live with ghosts.” A city hall spokesman said that there are no plans to develop the cemetery site- which is on state land — or to force out the community. “Authorities just want to take good care of the community,” said spokesman Meth Measpheakdey. “We are still talking, offering them better living conditions in Andong, but most refuse to go.” Many of the residents currently living at Andong had no choice — they were subjected to violent evictions at the hands of state security forces, in some cases after huge fires swept through inner-city slum areas around the time Ramaly’s home was swept into the river. STT’s Saran said he is hopeful that the government has moved beyond such tactics, and that the Smor San residents will get cash to help them move out of the cemetery and rebuild their lives. But, having been shunted from one place to another for as long as she can remember, Ramaly is less optimistic. “When you are landless, you are powerless. All we can do is survive until the next problem arises, and then deal with it,” she said. After living with ghosts for 16 years, Ramaly no longer believes they exist. But she is counting on the superstitious nature of others to protect the slum community she helped to establish all those years ago. “I don’t believe that the government would dare to destroy the graves in order to develop. That would be a sin, and it would attract bad karma.”

religion
poverty
housing
cambodia
phnom penh
_focus


Contradicting colleague, minister says Malaysia still talking with China about $20 billion rail project

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is in talks with China over a $20-billion rail project, the finance minister said on Wednesday, just days after another cabinet minister said Kuala Lumpur had decided to cancel the contract. After winning power last May, Malaysia’s prime minister has vowed to renegotiate or cancel what he calls “unfair” Chinese projects authorized by his predecessor Najib Razak, voted out after nearly a decade in power amid a massive financial scandal. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Cabinet had decided to seek further negotiations on the East Coast Rail Link project, the centerpiece of China’s infrastructure push in the Southeast Asian nation. Malaysia’s Cabinet decided “in view of the sensitivity of the contract discussions, that we should allow the discussions,” Lim told reporters, adding that the governments would hold talks. He did not elaborate on the topic of the discussions. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asked for China’s understanding over Malaysia’s plan to cancel the project, saying Kuala Lumpur could not afford it. The contract may cost the country more than 100 billion ringgit ($24.33 billion), Mahathir said, adding that Malaysia would still have to pay a cancellation fee. Last week, Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said the Cabinet had decided to cancel the deal with China Communications Construction Co. Ltd., one of the biggest signed in China’s Belt and Road initiative. Azmin said at the time the government was still determining how much to pay CCCC as a cancellation fee. Government officials have previously said the project cost had been inflated.


Former Vietnam spy and property magnate handed third jail sentence

Abstract: HANOI - A property magnate turned fugitive spy was jailed for the third time in Vietnam on Wednesday after a court convicted him of corruption over murky land deals that cost the state millions of dollars. Phan Van Anh Vu was convicted as Vietnam’s communist government widens a corruption crackdown that has already seen dozens of former high-flying officials, executives and businessmen put behind bars. The 15-year prison sentence is Vu’s third since the property magnate who moonlighted as an intelligence agent was arrested in Singapore and returned to Vietnam last year to face several corruption-related charges. He was convicted over improper land sales in Danang and Ho Chi Minh City that generated losses for the state worth almost $50 million, according to state-controlled VNExpress. “The sentence is too harsh. The court did not consider several factors that could have reduced the sentence,” Vu’s lawyer Nguyen Huu The Trach said, adding he would appeal. Vu was sentenced alongside two former deputy ministers of public security, Bui Van Thanh and Tran Viet Tan, who were accused of aiding the deals or turning a blind eye to them. Thanh got 30 months, while Tan was sentenced to 36 months in prison. Two other lower ranking security officials got five years each, Trach confirmed. Vu told the court Thursday that he felt “humiliated” but did not admit guilt. “I don’t think the two ex-deputy ministers are guilty,” he said, according to footage broadcast on local websites. Vu, who was a spy in the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) before being dismissed in September 2017, was allegedly trying to flee to Europe when he was arrested in January 2018 with two passports on him — one real and one fake. His first conviction in July saw him jailed for nine years, later reduced to eight, for leaking state secrets. In December he was sentenced again to 17 years for pilfering more than $8 million from a bank in a share-buying scheme. Vu’s fate shocked many in Vietnam because of his links to the powerful MPS, long believed to be untouchable. But several other MPS-linked officials have been targeted as Hanoi makes good on a promise to clean up the graft-prone country with a campaign that observers say is politically driven. According to Transparency International’s corruption index, Vietnam ranks 117 out of 180 countries, behind Thailand and the Philippines.

vietnam
corruption
crime
spy
businessman
police
property magnate
phan van anh vu


Bangladesh to sue Philippine bank over $81 million cyber heist

Abstract: DHAKA - Bangladesh was to file a lawsuit Wednesday in New York against a Philippine bank over its involvement in one of the biggest-ever cyber heists, the country’s central bank governor said. Unidentified hackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s account with the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York in February 2016. The money was then transferred to a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), swiftly withdrawn and laundered through local casinos. A case will be filed against RCBC and “all others” involved in the heist to try and retrieve the stolen funds, Bangladesh central bank governor Fazle Kabir said. An agreement between the bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York had been signed to assist Dhaka in the case, he added. Bangladesh has sent a legal team to New York and is prepared to fight for the money to be returned, Kabir told reporters in the capital Dhaka. The Philippines in 2016 imposed a record $21 million fine on RCBC after investigating its role in the audacious cyber heist. The bank has rejected the allegations and in 2017 accused Bangladesh’s central bank of a “massive cover-up.” This month ex-RCBC manager Maia Deguito was handed a lengthy jail term and $109 million in fines in the first conviction over the massive theft. Deguito, who was a branch manager where the money landed, was accused of coordinating the illegal transfer. She plans to appeal and can remain free on bail until the conviction is finalised. Deguito is the only person who has been convicted in the case, drawing international concern. The theft exposed the Philippines as a haven for dirty money, where some of the world’s strictest bank secrecy laws protect account holders from scrutiny The hackers bombarded the U.S. Federal Reserve with dozens of transfer requests, attempting to steal a further $850 million. But the bank’s security systems and typing errors in some requests prevented the full theft. The hack took place on a Friday, when Bangladesh’s central bank is closed. The Federal Reserve is closed on Saturday and Sunday, slowing the response. The U.S. Federal Reserve, which manages the Bangladesh central bank account, has denied its own systems were breached.

philippines
banks
bangladesh
dhaka
u.s. federal reserve
rizal commercial banking corp .
rcbc


Alarm triggered at onetime nuclear fuel facility in Ibaraki after leak of radioactive substances

Abstract: An alarm was triggered at a onetime nuclear fuel manufacturing facility Wednesday after radioactive substances leaked from materials that were being transferred at the facility operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, company officials said. All nine of the workers who were in the room when the radiation leak occurred were cleared with no ill effects to their health, JAEA official Shinichi Nishikawa told a news conference. JAEA said the workers, each wearing a mask, escaped radiation exposure after running into another room. No leak was detected outside the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories. The facility ended nuclear fuel production in 2001 and is being decommissioned. The cause of the leak is under investigation. The agency suggested possible damage to the plastic covers during the routine change. Officials told the news conference that they would begin assessing the site as soon as possible to determine how much radioactive material had been leaked and if it was still leaking. The agency will file a report of its findings to the Nuclear Regulation Authority and come up with preventive measures. The warning alarm that detects radioactive materials went off at around 2:30 p.m. as workers were removing radioactive materials — which were contained in a plastic bag — from sealed-up equipment that had been used for experiments. The mixed oxide fuel (MOX) and plutonium was being kept in a sealed glove box container for future research. The alarm is set up in an area of the facility once used for the production of MOX nuclear fuel made by mixing uranium with plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel. In June 2017, a JAEA research facility in the town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, was the scene of another leak of radioactive substances, including powdered plutonium, when a plastic bag containing nuclear fuel remnants exploded. Five workers who were handling the materials were exposed to the substances. JAEA possesses about half of the 10.5 tons of separated plutonium that Japan stores domestically, while an additional 37 tons have been reprocessed and are stored overseas. To reduce the stockpile, Japan burns plutonium as MOX fuel in conventional reactors. Restarts of halted nuclear plants have proceeded slowly amid persistent anti-nuclear sentiment since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

nuclear energy
ibaraki
nuclear accidents


77% of Russians oppose handover of disputed islands off Hokkaido to Japan

Abstract: MOSCOW - Seventy-seven percent of Russians oppose handing over a group of disputed islands to Japan while just 14 percent support such a move, a survey has shown. The survey released Monday by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, a government-affiliated body, asked respondents whether Russia should hand over four islands off Hokkaido, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kuril Islands in Russia. Of the total respondents, 31 percent said they generally disagree with the idea of handing over the islands, while 46 percent said they are vehemently against such an action. On reasons for disapproving a handover, 29 percent said the islands are part of Russia because the territorial issue has been resolved, while 10 percent said Russia acquired the islands as a result of World War II. Only 4 percent of all respondents said Russia should definitely hand over the islands to Japan, and 10 percent partially agreed with the idea. Seventy-nine percent said they know Japan has been asking for the return of the islands. Regarding bilateral negotiations on the territorial dispute, 51 percent said the two countries should continue talks to reach a result acceptable to both even if the discussions take time, up from 34 percent in a similar survey in 2009. The result indicates an increase in Russians who see bilateral talks as being meaningful. The Japan-claimed territory includes the Habomai group of islets and the islands of Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashiri, which were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II. The dispute has prevented the two sides from concluding a postwar peace treaty. The survey, conducted in November last year, covered 1,600 people.

wwii
history
russia
disputed islands
northern territories
hokkaido
surveys
russia-japan relations


Ahead of 2020 Olympics, government to strengthen steps to help foreign visitors in event of massive quake

Abstract: Ahead of the 2020 Summer Games, the transport ministry said Tuesday it plans to strengthen measures to help foreign visitors in the event of a massive earthquake in the Tokyo area. The ministry will beef up airports and railways’ quake resiliency to ensure vital transportation infrastructure can remain operational in the event of a major temblor, while introducing more signs with symbols to help foreign visitors locate evacuation routes and areas. The ministry will also warn visitors about the possibility of an earthquake through its English-language website. The government expects around 10 million domestic and foreign visitors to arrive during the Olympics and Paralympics, which will run for around two weeks each from July 24 and from Aug. 25, respectively, next year. The government estimates a 70 percent chance of a magnitude 7 quake occurring directly beneath Tokyo within the next 30 years, and that in the worst case, the quake could kill up to 23,000 people and destroy 610,000 buildings. Out of concern that masses of people will congregate at shelters near Olympic venues in the event of a quake, the government will increase stockpiles of supplies and prepare measures to ensure the transportation of goods and people on waterways. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry also revised its disaster planning for a magnitude 8 to 9 quake along the Nankai Trough, which extends off the coast of central Japan to the southwest. It is believed that such a quake has a 70 to 80 percent probability of occurring within the next 30 years. The government plans to create a system to ensure the smooth transportation of goods critical for disaster relief and recovery and seek close cooperation from logistics companies and port operators. It will also strengthen Technical Emergency Control Force (TEC-FORCE) operations to provide immediate logistics and infrastructure support such as road repair. TEC-FORCE is a group of workers belonging to the infrastructure ministry’s regional development bureaus nationwide. As of April 2018, the number of workers registered as TEC-FORCE members totaled 9,663. The government will ask construction companies to provide special training to their employees so they can help with disaster relief and recovery.

tourism
disasters
foreigners
2020 tokyo olympics


Japan and U.S. agree on new flight routes near Tokyo's Haneda airport

Abstract: The central government said Wednesday it has reached a basic agreement with the United States on the use of new routes for commercial flights in the U.S. military-controlled airspace over part of Tokyo and its surrounding areas. With the agreement, annual arrival and departure slots for international flights at Haneda airport are expected to expand from the current 60,000 to 99,000 before the capital hosts the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. “To achieve a government target of attracting 40 million foreign travelers to Japan in 2020, it is indispensable to enhance the function of Haneda airport,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami told a news conference. The airspace, just west of the airport, has been managed by U.S. forces since the beginning of the postwar period. The flight restrictions have forced numerous commercial flights in and out of the airport to detour or fly at certain altitudes to avoid it, causing air traffic congestion. The tiered airspace, currently controlled by the U.S. military headquartered at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, has different levels at altitudes between about 2,400 and 7,000 meters and stretches over Tokyo and eight other prefectures. Under the deal, Japan will control the new routes that will go through part of the airspace. But since the routes will be set over central Tokyo areas, some residents are concerned about excessive noise and potential safety risks.

airlines
aviation
tourism
haneda airport
airports
2020 tokyo olympics
u.s.-japan relations


Hawkish LDP lawmakers urge Abe administration to take action amid Japan's disputes with South Korea

Abstract: Lawmakers from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party on Wednesday intensified calls on the government to act against South Korea, as the two countries have been locked in fierce historical and military related disputes in recent months. At a meeting of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers well versed in diplomacy, Japan’s ambassador to South Korea, Yasumasa Nagamine, explained the current status of bilateral ties, while noting that it is important for Tokyo to keep communicating with Seoul and to manage differences. Still, a chorus of hawkish requests came from lawmakers of the ruling party, with one attendee saying that the public wants “swift countermeasures” and that the government should show its resolve by recalling the ambassador. South Korea’s top court ruled in favor of South Korean plaintiffs seeking compensation from Japanese firms for forced labor during Japan’s rule of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Tokyo promptly criticized the rulings, handed down in October and November, as breaching “international law,” based on the view that the two nations settled the issue of compensation in 1965. Nagamine told the lawmakers that Tokyo has been calling on Seoul to engage in bilateral talks based on the 1965 accord to resolve their dispute. “We plan to manage issues of (bilateral) concern in a future-oriented way and keep communication with the South Korean side,” the envoy said. On the South Korean Navy’s alleged targeting of its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane, Nagamine said Seoul’s responses have “lacked composure.” But he said the incident should not harm relations between Japanese and South Korean defense authorities. Japan and South Korea have traded barbs over the Dec. 20 radar lock-on incident, with both sides presenting visual evidence to support their claims. South Korea has denied Japan’s claim that a fire-control radar — intended to measure the direction and distance of an object before launching an attack — was used. The South Korean military has also accused Japan’s Self-Defense Forces of making multiple low-altitude flights near South Korean Navy ships, a claim denied by Japan. The worsening of ties between the Asian neighbors was evident when Abe made no mention of the bilateral relationship in his policy speech in the Diet on Monday. Instead, Foreign Minister Taro Kono urged South Korea to fulfill promises made in bilateral agreements, including the 1965 accord. Japanese government officials say Tokyo is waiting to see how Seoul will respond to a recent run of events. A senior Foreign Ministry official who attended the LDP meeting said there is no plan to recall Nagamine as the ambassador needs to stay in South Korea to protect Japanese business interests. The Japanese firms ordered by South Korea’s top court to compensate wartime laborers are Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

wwii
history
ldp
south korea
wartime labor
south korea-japan relations
yasumasa nagamine


Local Japanese governments call for more help to cope with expected influx of foreign workers

Abstract: OTA, GUNMA PREF. - Japanese cities with large populations of foreign nationals on Tuesday urged the central government to offer more assistance as the country prepares to start accepting workers from overseas under a new visa system. Leaders and representatives of 15 municipalities with an especially high concentration of citizens from South America and elsewhere gathered for their annual meeting to discuss with central government and immigration officials how best to live together with foreign nationals. The Council of Municipalities with Large Migrant Populations compiled a statement stating Japan as a society must work on a variety of issues that may accompany the expected influx of foreigners. “Accepting foreigners and realizing social coexistence, which have been considered challenges for certain local communities, will need to be discussed, shared and dealt with as issues for Japanese society as a whole from now on,” the statement said. The statement also referred to their concerns that more foreigners will be accepted into the country “without sufficient consideration of various issues that emerge in local societies.” The new visa system will start in April as part of an effort to attract more foreign workers for Japan’s labor-hungry businesses. It will cover 14 sectors, including construction, farming and nursing care, all of which are identified as suffering from labor shortages amid the country’s aging population and falling birthrate. “We’d like to ask the state for financial assistance,” said Toshiaki Murayama, mayor of the town of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture. Foreign nationals make up about 18 percent of the town’s population, and the mayor said it is important to provide sufficient Japanese-language education to help prevent foreign people and their children from falling into poverty. At the gathering in the city of Ota, which was held about two months before Japan’s revised immigration law kicks in, other leaders of local governments also said there are limits to what they can do by themselves. “We’d like the central government to legally require firms (receiving foreign workers) … to organize Japanese-language education and give them guidance for living in Japan,” said Tomohiro Mori, mayor of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. Yasutomo Suzuki, mayor of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, said it is necessary to set up a special agency tasked with dealing with all issues involving foreign nationals, and also called for moves to pave the way for them to eventually settle in Japan even after first entering the country with a visa that only permits staying for a limited number of years. The introduction of the new system represents a major change for Japan, which had effectively granted working visas only to people with professional knowledge and high skills, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. While opening the front door to foreign blue-collar workers is largely welcomed by municipalities, the change has also raised concerns among some that think the government’s plan lacks specific measures to ensure proper working and living conditions for them. The central government plans to set up about 100 special consultation service centers across the country for providing information, but the project has faced a backlash from many municipalities as it has left most of the decision-making to them. The number of foreign workers in Japan tripled over a decade to a record-high 1.46 million as of October, marking the 11th straight year of increase since comparable data became available in 2008, when it stood around 486,000, according to the labor ministry. Under the new visa system, Japan will accept up to around 345,000 over the next five years. Without taking into consideration the expected influx of workers, a labor ministry panel forecast that the country’s workforce could drop 20 percent by 2040 from 2017. Other cities that took part in the annual meeting included Ueda, Iida, Toyohashi, Toyoda, Komaki, Tsu and Suzuka.

immigrants
foreign workers
immigration law
immgiration


Abe snubs opposition calls to dismiss labor minister over huge Japan jobs data scandal

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday refused an opposition party’s request to dismiss labor minister Takumi Nemoto after his ministry’s faulty jobs data handling led to the large-scale underpayment of work-related benefits. “I want minister Nemoto to continue to take a leading role in swiftly repaying the missing benefits, thoroughly investigating the case and preventing a recurrence,” Abe told a plenary session of the Lower House He made the comment in response to questions from Yukio Edano, who heads the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which along with other opposition parties is stepping up pressure on the Abe administration in the run-up to the summer’s Upper House elections. The government came under criticism after it was revealed late last year faulty labor data had been used for more than a decade. “I take seriously the responsibility for not having detected the erroneous procedures that have lasted for years,” Abe said. The monthly labor survey is used as the basis to decide benefits, including unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. As a result, it emerged the government failed to pay a total of more than ¥56 billion ($512 million) to more than 20 million people. The prime minister said that the government is currently checking whether the incident has had an impact on other economic indicators, though it confirmed there has been no impact on gross domestic product data. Having initially approved its draft budget for next fiscal year from April on Dec. 21, the government was forced to rework its figures because of the erroneous data. Labor minister Nemoto explained during the plenary session he first learned of the matter on Dec. 20 but said it was difficult to know at that stage whether it would have an impact on the draft budget. Abe said he was briefed on the matter by the ministry on Dec. 28 and instructed officials to look into it. A third-party investigative committee of lawyers and statistics experts appointed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare concluded last week said that there was no definitive evidence that the incident was caused by a systematic cover-up by the ministry. But the ministry has decided to launch a new review after it was found that officials in the ministry were involved in the probe even though it was supposed to be an independent, third-party investigation. Around 25 of the 37 officials had been interviewed by ministry staff during the investigation. Top ministry bureaucrats, including assistant vice minister Akira Miyakawa and deputy vice minister Yumiko Jozuka, were present at some of the interviews. “This incident is extremely regrettable and I deeply apologize to the public for causing trouble,” Nemoto said in the session. In the case of the monthly labor survey, the labor ministry is required by law to gather results from all businesses in the country with 500 or more employees, but in Tokyo it had only surveyed a third of the roughly 1,400 such businesses since 2004. The lack of data from major firms, which usually pay higher wages than smaller companies, meant nationwide wage figures appeared lower than they actually should have. After correcting the survey data, the monthly average for cash earnings per person was raised by up to 1.2 percentage points. The labor ministry has disciplined dozens of officials after the probe concluded that the publication of the false work data violated the statistics law.

shinzo abe
ldp
diet
scandals
takumi nemoto
mhlw


U.S. OKs planned $2.15 billion sale of two Aegis Ashore missile-defense systems to Japan

Abstract: OSAKA - The U.S. agreed Tuesday to sell two Aegis Ashore missile defense systems and other military equipment to Japan at an estimated cost of $2.15 billion, or about ¥235 billion. But in Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures, where the Aegis Ashore systems will likely be deployed, concerns over environmental damage and their proximity to populated areas could make their planned deployment in fiscal 2023 challenging. It was announced that the U.S. State Department had approved the sale in a statement posted by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The agency the same day notified the U.S. Congress, which is expected to formally approve the sale. The agency said the list of requests from Japan included not only the two Aegis Ashore systems but also radio navigation equipment, naval ordnance, and two Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems. The $2.15 billion price tag includes U.S. government and contractor representatives’ technical, engineering and logistics support services, installation support material, training and construction services for six vertical launch system launcher module enclosures . Communications equipment and associated spares, classified and unclassified publications and software, and other related elements of logistical and program support are also part of the total estimated cost. “This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region. It is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability,” the agency said in its statement. The prime contractor for the Aegis Ashore system is Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems in Washington. There was no immediate comment on the sale from Yamaguchi Gov. Tsugumasa Muraoka or Akita Gov. Norihisa Satake, officials from both prefectures told The Japan Times. Opposition in and around the planned Aegis Ashore site in the Abu district of Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is due to a number of factors, including fears of environmental pollution to the water table that irrigates the surrounding farmland and of the health effects on local residents of the Aegis radar system. In the city of Akita, where the planned Aegis site is only a few kilometers from the city center and only a few hundred meters from residential neighborhoods, the worries are more about the proximity of a missile base to a crowded urban center. Even local ruling party politicians who support the idea of Aegis Ashore question the wisdom of placing it so close to the city.

defense
north korea
united states
missiles
aegis ashore


Some parts of Okinawa still may not vote in referendum on U.S. base transfer to Henoko

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Some parts of Okinawa may not participate in a local referendum on a controversial relocation plan for a U.S. air base within the island prefecture after its assembly failed to unanimously pass a resolution Tuesday. After some municipalities in the prefecture opposed a plan to have voters cast ballots of only “yes” or “no” on the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma’s relocation in the Feb. 24 referendum, the assembly adopted a draft of the revised ordinance by a majority vote allowing the residents to vote “neither.” The mayors of five cities are against the referendum unless the revision to the ordinance is approved unanimously, arguing local people have various opinions on the issue. Some assembly members from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party opposed having three ballot options in the referendum. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who won the gubernatorial election last September based on his objection to the relocation of the base from a crowded residential area of Ginowan to the less populated coastal district of Henoko in Nago, is hoping the referendum will further demonstrate Okinawa’s opposition to the plan even though its result is not legally binding. Fearing a low turnout could undermine the validity of the referendum, Tamaki wants to conduct the referendum in all of the prefecture’s 41 cities, towns and villages, and has urged the five cities, including Ginowan, to take part in the referendum. The current Okinawa prefectural ordinance on referendums calls on governors to respect an outcome supported by at least a quarter of eligible voters. To prevent the central government from proceeding further with the construction of a replacement facility in Henoko, the Okinawa government revoked last August an approval for the reclamation work for the relocation given by Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima in 2013. Land minister Keiichi Ishii, however, temporarily suspended the revocation in October, leading to the resumption of the work. In a related development Tuesday, 16 Okinawan residents opposed to the transfer plan filed a lawsuit with the Okinawa District Court, seeking the revocation of Ishii’s decision, which they argue is illegal as long as the minister cannot be neutral in a dispute involving the central and Okinawa governments. They also called for the suspension of the minister’s decision until the court announces the ruling because the landfill work and its environmental impact cannot be reversed. Many residents of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, want the Futenma base to be moved outside the prefecture.

okinawa
u.s. bases
futenma
nago
henoko
referendums
u.s.-japan relations


Three Japan MSDF officers suspended for role in driving ensign to suicide with power harassment

Abstract: The Defense Ministry’s Maritime Staff Office said Tuesday it has punished three Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel over the suicide of a serviceman last year. Following a probe into the matter, officials reached the conclusion that power harassment was involved in the suicide of an MSDF ensign who was a crew member on the resupply vessel Tokiwa, based at the naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Cmdr. Yukinori Takagi, 54, who was the captain of the ship at the time, was slapped with a 30-day suspension from duty, while two other senior MSDF officials, who were the 32-year-old ensign’s superiors, will be suspended for 20 days. According to the office, Takagi admitted creating an environment where the ensign was harassed and verbally abused. Adm. Yutaka Murakawa, the MSDF’s chief of staff, said it is “truly regrettable” that the abuse of authority by MSDF members caused the serviceman to take his own life. The ensign was inexperienced and had only just recently assumed his new duties after being assigned to the Tokiwa in July last year. In September, he committed suicide inside the vessel just after telling his superiors that he intended to resign. The cause of his suicide was not immediately ruled power harassment as no suicide note was found. In interviews with crew members, including the three officers, following the suicide, investigators found nothing out of the ordinary. However, last November, it was discovered the man was a victim of harassment after a whistleblower came forward. The office’s investigation also found that Takagi bullied other crew members besides the ensign. The MSDF has seen similar cases in the past. In 2004 and 2014, two service members assigned to destroyers committed suicide due to bullying and violence. As a preventive measure, the MSDF said it will routinely check on the working conditions of its service members.

suicide
harassment
self defense forces
msdf
yokosuka
tokiwa


Outspoken South Korean 'comfort women' campaigner dies at age 92

Abstract: SEOUL - Hundreds of South Koreans held a rally in Seoul on Wednesday to mourn the death of Kim Bok-dong, a former World War II “comfort woman” who died at age 92 as she lived — at the heart of the controversy over females pressed to serve in Japanese military wartime brothels. Kim, who passed away from cancer on Monday at a hospital in the nation’s capital, was a fixture at weekly protests outside the Japanese Embassy calling for a sincere apology and compensation. She remained angry at Japan until the end, her supporters said. “She suddenly opened her eyes yesterday and told a long story … I couldn’t decipher everything but one thing I could hear clearly was that we had to fight until the end,” said Yoon Mee-hyang, who leads an advocate group for the women. “Then she expressed strong anger toward Japan as she continued talking, before she regained her tranquility,” Yoon said Tuesday. Kim was among the two dozen known surviving South Korean comfort women, a Japanese euphemism for women who worked in wartime military brothels. They say they were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. Activists say they plan to march alongside Kim’s casket past Japan’s embassy on Friday, a demonstration that could further strain ties between Seoul and Tokyo. The two Asian neighbors share a bitter history stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said during his visit to Kim’s funeral home on Tuesday it was “heartbreaking” that victims die without a resolution of the issue. In a separate post on Facebook, Moon said Kim revealed a “hidden history” by becoming one of the first victims to come forward in 1992. Kim was 14 when she was first sent to a military brothel, and forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers also in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, according to Yoon. Articulate and charismatic, Kim was a vocal critic of a 2015 deal in which Tokyo apologized to the victims and provided ¥1 billion ($9.1 million) to a fund in Seoul to help them. Kim said it was not sincere because some Japanese leaders continued to deny the women were forced to work in brothels. “We won’t accept it even if Japan gives ¥10 billion. It’s not about money. They’re still saying we went there because we wanted to,” Kim told a parliamentary session in September 2016. Moon’s government has said it will not seek to renegotiate the 2015 deal. Last year it vowed to shut down the Japan-sponsored fund and pursue a more “victim-oriented” approach. Japan says the claims have been settled by past agreements and apologies, and that the continued dispute may threaten relations between the two countries. Only 23 registered South Korean survivors are still alive, highlighting a sense of urgency behind efforts by the women to receive a formal apology and legal compensation from Japan while their voices can still be heard. Just hours before Kim passed away, a fellow victim only identifiable by her surname Lee had died, Yoon said. Kim’s defense of victims’ rights earned the respect of one South Korean diplomat involved in their case. “She was clever and unwavering under any circumstances,” said the diplomat who did not want to be named. “All she wanted was genuine atonement, and we fully respected it and felt sorry even when she wasn’t happy with our work.”

wwii
history
comfort women
south korea-japan relations
kim bok-dong
moon jae-in


New whaling body and rules should be created under Japan's leadership, Tokyo IWC envoy says

Abstract: Japan’s envoy to the International Whaling Commission has called for new whaling rules to be created under the country’s leadership following Tokyo’s decision late last year to leave the international body and resume commercial whaling. The exit from the IWC, slated for June, will be “a passing point,” Joji Morishita, a professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, said in a recent interview. “We need to create a forum for discussions to establish a consensus that whales are a (food) resource,” said Morishita, who has been engaged in negotiations at the IWC for about two decades as the Japanese government’s representative. He criticized whaling opponents in the West, including the United States, for “denying food diversity and forcing their own environmental standards on developing countries and others.” He said that such an approach is problematic in light of food security. “Japan, whose food self-sufficiency rate is low, should take the initiative to establish a theory that can compete with the Westerners’ arguments,” Morishita said. The time is “riper than before” to set up an alternative international body to the IWC, he said, adding that this could possibly happen during work to draw up new whaling rules. On the reason for Japan’s decision to leave the IWC, Morishita said: “We’ve continued to offer every possible compromise for the restart of commercial whaling. But anti-whaling countries haven’t accepted any form of whaling at all, preventing negotiations between us. If this situation continues, Japan’s domestic whaling industry would cease to exist.” He said Japan has carefully prepared to exit the IWC, including explaining its views to related countries. “It wasn’t an emotional decision,” he said. Japan is set to resume commercial whaling in July after the departure becomes official. Morishita said commercial whaling is expected to be profitable, thanks to greater operational efficiency and lower fuel costs than for the so-called research whaling that Japan has conducted since 1987, after the IWC adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. He downplayed suggestions that demand for whale meat in Japan is unlikely to pick up at a time when personal consumption is slumping. Whale meat “can be sold as a local specialty,” he said. “Stable supplies will lead to a rise in demand.”


Police raid yakuza office in Tokyo after deadly shooting in Kabukicho karaoke box

Abstract: Police on Wednesday raided the Tokyo office of a yakuza group associated with a man wanted in connection with a murder earlier this month in Shinjuku Ward. Masaru Abe, 56, a member of a group under the Sumiyoshikai crime syndicate, is wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in the Kabukicho entertainment district on Jan. 21. He is also suspected of having violated the firearm control law. The victim, Lee Hung Jong, 65, who was found collapsed inside a karaoke establishment with three gunshot wounds, was a member of a separate group under Sumiyoshikai more than 20 years ago, and is believed to have been acquainted with Abe, according to the police. Abe is alleged to have fled from the scene on a motorcycle before getting in a van and being driven to southern Saitama Prefecture. Abe is suspected of shooting Lee from close range inside a room on the fifth floor of the karaoke outlet in Kabukicho around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, police said. The area is known for hosting yakuza members and is also a popular commercial area among foreign visitors.

tokyo
murder
shinjuku
yakuza
organized crime
kabukichō
sumiyoshikai


Shiga ex-cop pleads guilty to fatally shooting senior officer but asks for leniency over mental stress

Abstract: OTSU, SHIGA PREF. - A 20-year-old former policeman pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting his commanding officer at a police box in Shiga Prefecture in April, but sought leniency, with his lawyers citing his diminished capacity due to mental stress. The defendant, whose name has been withheld because he was a minor at the time of the shooting, aged 19, admitted to killing police Sgt. Akira Imoto, 41, at the first hearing of his trial at the Otsu District Court. Imoto was posthumously promoted to police inspector. The accused’s lawyers argued he was struggling with adjustment disorder due to psychological stress and his “capacity to judge between right and wrong and to control his behavior had been reduced prior to firing the handgun.” The accused faces charges of murder and violating the swords and firearms control law as a result of shooting Imoto in the back and head in the city of Hikone on April 11 last year. Imoto was in charge of training the accused, who graduated from police school in January last year and was posted to the police box about two weeks before the incident. Prosecutors said the former policeman had become angry and frustrated with his work, which piled up as Imoto repeatedly directed him to correct documents the accused had written. “He was instructed (by Imoto) again on the day of the crime and his anger and frustration exploded,” a prosecutor said. Countering the defense lawyers’ argument of diminished capacity, prosecutors said the former policeman should be held criminally responsible as he has clear memories of the crime and no history of mental illness. The defense counsel said the former policeman came to regard himself as “useless” as he was repeatedly directed by Imoto to make corrections and thought he would feel better if his boss died. He was under stress and lacked sleep at the time of the crime, they added. After his arrest, the former policeman complained about Imoto during the investigation, but also said the boss “was rigid, but properly guided me,” investigative sources said. Shiga police said they found no indication of problems in the behavior of either officer prior to the shooting. The National Police Agency has said the incident is believed to be the nation’s first murder case involving a teenage police officer.

guns
murder
courts
shiga
mental health
hikone
police


No white flags seen as U.S. negotiators begin trade war talks in Beijing

Abstract: BEIJING - U.S. and Chinese negotiators on Monday held their first face-to-face talks since the world’s two largest economies agreed to a truce aimed at resolving their trade dispute. The visiting delegation, led by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, left its hotel in Beijing Monday morning without speaking to reporters for a first day of talks. The two sides plan to continue discussions on Tuesday. President Donald Trump raised hopes last week that an agreement could be found to end the months-long dispute, during which the world’s top two economies have imposed import duties on more than $300 billion of each other’s goods. “I think we will make a deal with China,” Trump said on Friday. “We have a massive trade negotiation going on with China. President Xi (Jinping) is very much involved, so am I. We’re dealing at the highest levels and we’re doing very well.” Trump on Sunday headed to the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where he said he would discuss a trade deal with China with senior aides, among other issues. The American delegation in Beijing includes officials from the Treasury, Commerce, Agriculture and Energy departments. The talks come a month after Trump and Xi agreed to suspend a planned tariff hike for three months to give negotiators space to reach an agreement and end a dispute that has roiled world markets. “Both China and the U.S. agreed to follow through on the consensus reached by both leaders to conduct positive and constructive talks in resolving our dispute,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, told reporters on Monday, declining to provide further details. “The trade friction between China and the U.S. is not beneficial to anyone, or the global economy,” Lu said. The ratcheting dispute has pummeled confidence in China, sending the stock markets tumbling while the yuan has fallen against the dollar. Chinese stocks closed higher Monday as the trade talks got underway and the central banks in both Beijing and Washington signaled looser monetary policy. China is grappling with a slowing domestic economy, with growth easing to 6.5 percent in the third quarter, as a battle against debt has ramped up. The government has set a growth target of around 6.5 percent for 2018, down from 6.9 percent in 2017. Since the truce announced last month, China has taken initial measures to support the negotiations. Beijing suspended extra tariffs on U.S.-made cars and auto parts for three months, while a major state grain stock-piler made purchases of American soybeans. American electric carmaker Tesla broke ground Monday on a Shanghai factory, becoming the first foreign automaker to take advantage of liberalized ownership restrictions in the sector, official news agency Xinhua reported. The manufacturing sectors in both countries have been hit by the trade dispute, with China’s contracting last month for the first time in over two years, according to official data. But in a sign of how interconnected the two economies are, Apple shares dropped last week after the tech giant reported steeper-than-expected “economic deceleration” in the last quarter in China — one of its largest overseas markets. The Beijing talks follow small signs of progress — and the absence of new threats from Trump — while the two sides work to ease trade tensions by March 1. Trump initiated the hostilities because of complaints over unfair Chinese trade practices — concerns shared by the European Union, Japan and others. The president has taken heart in China’s faltering economy, repeating that it makes Beijing more likely to strike a deal. China’s foreign ministry disputed Trump’s assertions on Monday. “We have adequate resilience and potential. We have full confidence in the long-term sound fundamentals of the Chinese economy,” said Lu. And an editorial in the nationalist state-owned tabloid the Global Times suggested China would not cave to US demands. “If Beijing had wanted to raise the white flag, it would have done so already,” it said.

china
u.s .
apple
carmakers
xi jinping
tariffs
tesla
donald trump
trade war


Tokyo to launch home appliance 'eco-point' program as part of plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions

Abstract: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will launch in October an “eco-point” program to grant points to people who replace their home appliances with energy-efficient ones, Gov. Yuriko Koike said Monday. The metropolitan government plans to secure ¥4.5 billion for the program in its fiscal 2019 budget. The program is designed to support private consumption from October, when the central government is set to increase consumption tax from 8 percent to 10 percent, and curb carbon dioxide emissions that lead to global warming. Refrigerators, air conditioners and water heaters will be covered by the program. Under the program, shoppers will gain one point for each 7 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions they are able to cut through replacing home appliances. One point will be worth ¥1 and exchangeable for gift tickets. For refrigerators, points worth up to ¥21,000 will be available. Aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the metropolitan government plans to keep the program alive until the end of March 2021. The program is forecast to lower emissions of the gas by 140,000 tons and to reduce utility expenses by ¥6.9 billion. The central government implemented a similar point program for home appliances between May 2009 and March 2011 to shore up the slumping economy after the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

emissions
eco-point
co2
2020 tokyo olympics


Nonexhibitor Apple makes privacy key selling point at Las Vegas tech show

Abstract: LAS VEGAS - Apple is not among the exhibitors at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, but that didn’t prevent the iPhone maker from sending a message to attendees on a large billboard. “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone,” Apple says in the message to be seen by tens of thousands attending the Las Vegas tech show. The message comes as gadget makers are concerned about data protection scandals and in many cases looking to make their own point about respect for privacy. Some companies are offering better ways of protecting internet routers or services without a need for an internet connection — reducing the potential for data leaks and breaches. Dutch startup Scalys is showing its Trustbox, a router that aims to protect the user’s connection as well as devices using it. Another router from Chicago-based Winston stops tracking and surveillance and can also block ads and geolocation. The data scandals “are like Christmas presents for us,” by prompting more consumers to look for better security, said Winston founder Richard Stokes. “As we see more things being connected I think that you’ll definitely hear people talk about security more and really looking at how would you secure the data,” said analyst Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies. “More companies are going to take kind of a cue from the marketing that Apple has been doing.” An estimated 74 million Americans have smart speakers, according to the research firm eMarketer, with Amazon and Google controlling the lion’s share of the market. One of the fears of customers is that these devices are always listening, potentially putting privacy at risk. One device being launched at CES is called Mute from a start-up called Smarte, creating a layer of protection to stop the devices from picking up conversations not intended for queries. French start-up Snips is offering its own digital assistant, which can be installed on a device without an internet connection. “Customers are turning to us because they don’t want to depend on Big Tech,” said Snips founder Rand Hindi. Hindi said the argument from tech firms that they need user data to make things work is false. “The only reason they need your data is to target you (with ads) to the maximum,” he said. Analyst Bob O’Donnell of Technalysis Researchers said more companies are starting to wake up to issues surrounding privacy and data protection in light of the revelations on Facebook and others over the past year. “We’ve all started to become painfully aware of how big (and far-reaching) the problem of data privacy is,” O’Donnell said.

privacy
apple
ces
las vegas
smart speakers


Dollar briefly tops ¥109 in seesaw Tokyo session

Abstract: The dollar briefly exceeded ¥109 in seesaw Tokyo trading Tuesday, backed in part by hopes for a successful end to ongoing U.S.-China trade talks. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥108.96-97, up from ¥108.17-17 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1443-1444, up from $1.1436-1437, and at ¥124.70-71, up from ¥123.72-72. The dollar mostly traded around ¥108.60 in the early morning, carrying over its strength from overseas trading overnight. But it dropped around ¥108.50 after nearing ¥108.70 on buying by Japanese importers in midmorning. The U.S. currency recovered close to ¥109 in the early afternoon but was pushed back below ¥108.80 on renewed selling. The greenback broke the ¥109 line later on position adjustment purchases before losing some of the gains. The dollar was backed by optimistic remarks by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about the outcome of the trade talks as well as the Nikkei 225’s two-day rally, traders said. But there was no sustained dollar buying amid growing prospects for a narrower interest rate gap between Japan and the United States, a think tank official said.


Tokyo stocks extend rally on rosy prospects for U.S.-China trade

Abstract: Stocks gained further ground Tuesday as hopes grew for progress in the ongoing U.S.-China trade talks. The Nikkei 225 average advanced 165.07 points, or 0.82 percent, to end at 20,204.04 after jumping 477.01 points Monday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 5.90 points, or 0.39 percent, higher at 1,518.43. It added 41.37 points Monday. The market got off to a firmer start amid buying interest swelling in the wake of a continued rise on Wall Street. Investors also cheered remarks by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in an interview with CNBC that there is a “very good chance” of Washington and Beijing resolving immediate trade issues, brokers said. The market accelerated its upswing in the afternoon, backed by the yen’s weakening against the dollar and a rise in Dow Jones futures in off-hours trading, before losing some of the early gains toward the day’s closing. Media reports that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He made a surprise appearance at Monday’s session of the two-day trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials through Tuesday fueled market expectations for a breakthrough, brokers said. Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., said Tokyo stocks have rebounded because they were oversold. But he warned that optimism cannot be warranted for a further rally, pointing to lingering uncertainties over the course of the trade talks. “The wind has shifted” since Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made a market-friendly comment late last week, said Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc. But the market cannot go much higher unless U.S. stocks exhibit more strength, he noted. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,304 to 761 in the first section, while 63 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.552 billion shares from 1.424 billion Monday. Automakers attracted purchases thanks to the yen’s drop. Toyota rose 1.22 percent, Honda 3.18 percent and Mazda 2.22 percent. Higher crude oil prices sent oil names higher, among them JXTG, Idemitsu, Showa Shell and Cosmo Energy. Other major winners included Nintendo and Fanuc. Meanwhile, domestic demand-oriented issues suffered losses. They included Shiseido and JR East. Also on the negative side were Fast Retailing and ANA.

stocks
nikkei
tokyo stock exchange
topix


Nissan's Saudi partner details lobbying work, echoing Carlos Ghosn's testimony

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co.’s Saudi Arabian business partner said his company helped the automaker resolve a dealership dispute and pave the way for a joint venture in justifying $14.7 million in payments now under scrutiny by Tokyo prosecutors in the investigation of ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn. A company controlled by Khaled Juffali, the scion of a powerful business family and chairman of one of the kingdom’s biggest conglomerates, E.A. Juffali & Brothers, defended Ghosn in its first public statement since Tokyo prosecutors re-arrested the embattled auto executive Dec. 21 on suspicion of improperly shifting personal investment losses to the automaker. “The $14.7 million in payments over four years from Nissan Motor Co. were for legitimate business purposes in order to support and promote Nissan’s business strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and included reimbursement for business expenses,” said a statement issued on behalf of Khaled Juffali Co. by its New York-based public relations representative Terry Rooney, founder and CEO of RooneyPartners. In remarks Ghosn made Tuesday in the Tokyo District Court, the former Nissan executive described Juffali as a “long-time supporter and partner of Nissan” who helped resolve a complicated problem involving a local distributor and paved the way for development of a manufacturing plant. In a legal drama that has transfixed the global auto industry, Ghosn has been detained in Tokyo since his initial arrest Nov. 19. In mid-December, he and former representative director Greg Kelly were charged with underreporting income on Nissan’s financial statements. Kelly has been released on bail. On Dec. 21, prosecutors raised the stakes by re-arresting Ghosn on suspicion of “aggravated breach of trust” by allegedly transferring obligations on his personal investment losses to Nissan, thereby inflicting financial damage to the automaker. At issue is a derivatives transaction that a company linked to Ghosn made with Shinsei Bank. It unraveled when the yen soared during the 2008 financial crisis, saddling Ghosn with $16.7 million in unrealized losses, and prompted Shinsei to demand more collateral. Prosecutors allege that Ghosn first transferred his position to Nissan and later shifted the investment back onto the books of his affiliated company, with Juffali providing a letter of credit to satisfy the bank. In the latest arrest warrant, prosecutors accused Ghosn of violating the Companies Act by allegedly causing financial harm to Nissan. If convicted, the auto executive credited with reviving Nissan in the early 2000s could face a substantial prison sentence. One issue is whether Juffali delivered anything of value in return for four payments he received worth a total of $14.7 million. In its statement, Juffali’s company said it played a key role in settling a dealership dispute with a local partner that had depressed Nissan’s Middle East sales and winning government approval for a joint venture called Nissan Saudi Arabia. In addition, Juffali’s company “worked for years to secure the approval and funding for a new Nissan manufacturing plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the statement said. “Clearly, Khaled Juffali Co. has provided manifold, tangible services that continue to inure to the substantial benefit of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Middle East.” Founded in 1946, E. A. Juffali & Brothers has evolved into one the kingdom’s most prosperous businesses by teaming up with international partners including IBM, Massey Ferguson, Siemens, Bosch and Michelin, according to its website. Ghosn and Juffali have known each other for decades. The statement on behalf of Juffali’s company dovetails with the account of Ghosn’s attorney in Tokyo, who has said that the payments were “remuneration for the Saudi business partner to help Nissan’s business in Saudi Arabia” and requested by Nissan’s Middle East division, not Ghosn, though he approved it. Many of the Nissan officers in the Middle East division were aware that this business partner worked on behalf of Nissan, Ghosn’s lawyer said, adding that the local representative remains deeply involved in the business activities of Nissan in Saudi Arabia. Aside from his legal troubles over the derivatives contract and compensation reporting, Ghosn has been accused by Nissan of misusing company funds, including for homes from Brazil to Lebanon. A Nissan spokesman said the company’s separate investigation is ongoing and the scope continues to broaden. As for its business prospects in the Middle East, Nissan is “moderately strong,” said Koji Endo, a senior analyst with SBI Securities Co. “In Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, Toyota is the No. 1 player, but Nissan and Hyundai are competing for the No. 2 position.”

saudi arabia
scandals
nissan
carlos ghosn
khaled juffali


Takeda completes buyout of Shire to become top 10 global pharmaceutical firm

Abstract: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of Irish drugmaker Shire PLC and made it a wholly owned subsidiary, becoming a global top 10 pharmaceutical company in terms of sales. The ¥6.2 trillion ($57 billion) takeover of Shire made it the biggest-ever Japanese acquisition of a foreign firm. The deal is expected to nearly double Takeda’s annual consolidated sales to $31.3 billion. The Japanese drugmaker, known for its expertise in oncology, gastroenterology and neuroscience, aims to boost sales in medicines for rare diseases such as hemophilia — in which Shire has strength — and expand its business in the key U.S. market through the deal. After acquiring Shire, Takeda plans to expand research and development spending to more than ¥400 billion annually, although the expenditure would still be smaller than that of major overseas rivals. Takeda CEO Christophe Weber said in a statement that the move “marks a significant moment in Takeda’s history and is an exciting step forward as we accelerate our transformation journey to deliver highly-innovative medicines to patients around the world with expanded scale and geographical footprint.” The company operates in approximately 80 countries and regions. It will examine Shire’s financial situation and plans to release its earnings outlook for fiscal 2019, which starts in April, and a long-term strategy in May. Following the purchase, Takeda will book around 49 percent of its sales in the United States, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market, while the ratio in Japan and emerging markets will stand at 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Although the integration will help cut costs by at least $1.4 billion a year by fiscal 2021, it will also increase Takeda’s net interest-bearing debt to more than ¥5 trillion, about 10 times the amount before the acquisition. To finance the debt, Takeda has been accelerating selling of its noncore businesses. Shares of Takeda have yet to recover to the level before March last year, when the company announced it was considering buying Shire.


Eli Lilly makes $8 billion bet on drugs for rare cancers with Loxo Oncology buy

Abstract: BANGALORE, INDIA/SAN FRANCISCO - Eli Lilly said on Monday it will buy Loxo Oncology Inc. for $8 billion, an expensive bet on a pipeline of cancer drugs that target rare genetic mutations and the biggest acquisition in the drug-maker’s 143-year history. The price represents a 68 percent premium to Loxo’s Friday share price close, which some Wall Street analysts said was high for a company with only one drug on the market that it shares with a partner. Loxo shares surged 66 percent to $232.65, close to the offer price of $235 per share, and prompted stock price rises for a other small developers of targeted cancer therapies, including Array BioPharma, Blueprint Medicines Corp. and Clovis Oncology Inc. Lilly shares rose 0.5 percent to $115.28. The cash deal comes on the heels of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s agreement last week to buy Celgene Corp. for $74 billion in the largest pharmaceutical deal ever, spurring investors’ hopes of a new wave of large health care acquisitions. Loxo gained prominence in 2017 — just three years after going public — with impressive clinical trial results showing its drug to be highly effective on cancers driven by a single gene mutation known as TRK fusion, regardless of where in the body the tumors originated. These patients, with more than 17 different types of advanced cancer but all with the same genetic mutation, had run out of other treatment options. Yet some 80 percent who received Loxo’s first drug, a pill called larotrectinib, experienced dramatic, often long-term improvement. The Connecticut-based company won U.S. approval in November for the treatment under the brand name Vitrakvi, which is sold in partnership with Bayer AG. Lilly said it “very much” wants to continue the agreement with Bayer, which sells Vitrakvi outside the United States and shares U.S. commercial costs and profits with Loxo. Loxo is also developing LOXO-292 targeting a different rare gene mutation, and analysts have forecast eventual annual sales of over $1 billion. Lilly would gain full control of that drug as it is not part of Loxo’s Bayer collaboration. In an interview, Lilly Chief Executive David Ricks said that drug targeting a mutation known as RET, seen in thyroid, lung and other cancers, was a major driver of the deal. It received breakthrough therapy designation from U.S. regulators, which could speed its path to approval. Loxo was quick to take advantage of new technologies that can isolate genetic drivers of tumor growth, and the willingness of regulators to approve treatments across tumor types when a specific defect is present, Ricks said at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Monday. “Loxo sort of predicted that and then capitalized on that in a way that created value,” Ricks said, adding that the acquisition will help Lilly identify new targetable mutations. He said Lilly was also interested in expanding in immuno-oncology through its own research and possible deals. Targeted therapies offer the promise of potentially dramatic results if patients most likely to benefit are correctly identified, and are seen as a potential alternative to chemotherapy and its many adverse side effects. “The acquisition of Loxo, along with last week’s acquisition of Celgene, may represent the cream of the crop in biotech being harvested by big pharma,” IFS Securities analyst David Bouchey said. “The size of the deal may indicate Lilly’s willingness to pay up to out-bid the competition.” BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said the $8 billion valuation seemed high as Wall Street does not expect Loxo revenue to reach $1 billion until 2023. Loxo’s drugs present the particular challenge of finding advanced cancer patients with the rare genetic mutations, which will require significantly increased use of advanced sequencing of tumors. The TRK mutation targeted by Vitrakvi only occurs in about 1 percent of patients with solid tumor cancers. That effort got a boost last year, when the U.S. government said its Medicare program will cover so-called next generation sequencing, which looks for hundreds of mutations across all solid tumors, for advanced cancer patients. Lilly has typically eschewed large deals, preferring to develop its own drugs. But last year it paid $1.6 billion for Armo Biosciences, a developer of immunotherapy cancer drugs, and said in November it was open to more deals. Lilly’s oncology portfolio includes lung cancer chemotherapy Alimta, which had third-quarter sales of $520.5 million. Vitrakvi, priced at $32,800 per month, and experimental follow-up drug LOXO-195, on which Bayer is also a partner, together could generate annual sales of about $750 million, according to Piper Jaffray & Co. Bayer said it does not expect the Lilly deal to impact its contract with Loxo for the time being. Loxo’s shares have run up nearly 65 percent over the past 12 months, and ten-fold since its IPO in 2014, while Lilly’s stock has surged about 35 percent since last January.


Last year was fourth-warmest, man-made greenhouse gases up: EU's Copernicus

Abstract: OSLO - Last year was the fourth warmest on record, extending a scorching streak driven by a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Monday. Average world surface air temperatures were 14.7 Celsius (58.5 Fahrenheit) in 2018, just 0.2 C off the highest, it said in the first global assessment based on full-year data. This year will also likely be hot, its scientists said. “Dramatic climatic events like the warm and dry summer in large parts of Europe or the increasing temperature around the Arctic regions are alarming signs to all of us,” said Jean-Noel Thepaut, head of Copernicus. Among other extremes in 2018, California and Greece suffered severe wildfires, Kerala in India had the worst flooding since the 1920s and heatwaves struck from Australia to North Africa. Around Antarctica, the extent of sea ice is at a record low at the start of 2019, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Copernicus chief scientist Freja Vamborg said 2019 would also likely be hot. “We now have a nascent El Nino — it depends partly on what happens … will it continue or die out?” she said. The last four years have seen the highest average temperatures since records began in the 19th century — 2016 was the hottest, boosted by an El Nino event that warmed the surface of the Pacific Ocean, ahead of 2017 and then 2015. The Copernicus report said that concentrations of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to a new record of 406.7 parts per million in 2018 from 404.1 in 2017, stoked largely by human burning of fossil fuels. And the average global temperature in the past five years was 1.1 C (2.0 F) above pre-industrial times, it said. According to a U.N. climate report last year, temperatures will rise 1.5 C above pre-industrial times by midcentury on current trends — bringing the prospect of even more extreme weather. That U.N. report said governments would have to make unprecedented cuts in greenhouse gases to keep temperatures below the 1.5 C rise, which is the toughest goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Almost 200 nations agreed a “rule book” to govern the Paris accord in talks in Poland last month, even though critics said it was insufficient to prevent dangerous climate change. The Paris accord seeks to end the fossil fuel era this century by shifting to cleaner energies such as wind and solar power. U.S. President Donald Trump plans to pull out and instead promote the U.S. fossil fuel industry. The Copernicus report confirms projections by the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization in November that 2018 would be fourth-warmest. The WMO will issue its own estimate for 2018 temperatures in coming weeks, also comprising data compiled by U.S., British and Japanese agencies.

eu
climate change
environment
greenhouse gases
japan
el nino
fossil fuels
donald trump
copernicus


Scientists protest conference speakers' 'Made in India' claims and trashing of Newton, Einstein and Hawking

Abstract: MUMBAI - Indian scientists have protested about claims made at a local science conference that rubbish the work of some of the world’s greatest physicists and suggest modern breakthroughs such as in-vitro fertilization were in fact invented in ancient India. In a lecture at the Indian Science Congress and posted on YouTube, one speaker, Kannan Jegathala Krishnan said Isaac Newton was wrong about gravity, Albert Einstein made a “big blunder” and questioned Stephen Hawking’s achievements. Another speaker, G. Nageswara Rao, a vice-chancellor at Andhra University in southern India, used stories from Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata as proof the people of ancient India had aircraft, test-tube babies and that stem-cell research “was done in this country thousands of years ago. While organizers of the congress have promised to make changes for next year’s event following the criticism, Soumitro Banerjee, a physics professor and general secretary of nonprofit Breakthrough Science Society, told Reuters the comments lent respectability to absurd theories. Scientists in Kolkata and five other cities carried placards and held silent demonstrations on Monday against the comments, he said. “This is very harmful for the growth of scientific temper because these ideas are being propagated through the Science Congress, which gives it a respectability,” said Dhruba Mukhopadhyay, a retired professor and the president of the BSS, said. The conference’s organizer, the Indian Science Congress Association, will soon issue a statement condemning this episode, said Premendu P. Mathur, a general secretary at the body and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. “From next year we have decided that all the people, even top scientists, who want to interact with anybody at the Science Congress, would be asked to submit their abstracts, not to deviate from their abstracts and we will place one of our members there as a moderator.” The annual Indian Science Congress, which this year ran over five days at a university in northern Punjab state, ended on Monday.

india
stem cells
in vitro fertilization
albert einstein
isaac newton
science congress


On trial, French cardinal denies covering up for pedophile priest

Abstract: LYON, FRANCE - The most senior French Catholic cleric to stand trial over one of the pedophilia scandals that have rocked the church denied in court Monday covering up for a priest who abused Boy Scouts in the 1980s and 90s. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, southeastern France, is accused along with five others from his diocese of failing to report a priest under his responsibility to the authorities. The 68-year-old bishop, a conservative who has made headlines with his blunt comments in the past, denied the allegations, which are the most damaging yet against the church in France. “I never sought to hide, much less cover up these horrible acts,” Barbarin told the court in Lyon. “I don’t see what I’m guilty of,” he added. The Catholic Church has been roiled in recent years by claims against priests that have come to light in the wake of a global move by victims to go public with evidence. Clerics have been denounced in countries as far afield as Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ireland, and the United States, leading Pope Francis to promise to rid the church of a scourge that has done enormous damage to its standing. On Monday, the pontiff promised that the children on whom priests preyed would receive justice for what he termed “the vilest and most heinous crimes imaginable. Barbarin said he confronted the accused priest, Bernard Preynat, about the abuse “rumors” in 2010 but let the matter drop after Preynat insisted he had changed. In 2014, after meeting with one of the priest’s victims, Barbarin contacted the Vatican about the affair but only removed the priest from his post a few months later after being told by the Holy See, he said, to delay awhile “to avoid a public scandal.” Barbarin has been accused of being deaf to the suffering of abuse victims before they went public. He caused shock in 2016 by expressing relief that most of the claims over which Preynat was accused fell under the statute of limitations, meaning the abuse occurred too long ago for it to be investigated. On Monday, he admitted that he had “not always used the best and most tactful words in the past. He faces up to three years in prison and a fine of €45,000 ($54,000) if convicted of failing to report abuse of minors and failing to assist persons in danger. The scandal in Lyon first blew up in 2015 when former scout Francois Devaux went public with allegations that Preynat abused him as a child 25 years earlier. Speaking shortly before the trial began Devaux said: “The goal is to stop the same mistakes being repeated.” Devaux filed an official complaint against Preynat in 2015 and against Barbarin the following year. After six months of investigation and 10 hours of interviews with the cardinal, investigators dropped the case in 2016, saying the allegations against Barbarin, who has retained the support of the pope, were either too old or impossible to prove. But nine victims succeeded in reopening the probe, which led to Barbarin and others, including the now-archbishop of Auch and the bishop of Nevers in France, having to stand trial. All of them worked in the Lyon diocese at the time of the abuse. The victims’ group, La Parole Liberee (Freed Speech), gathered testimony from a total of 85 people claiming to have been victims of Preynat in Lyon. After he was first denounced in 1991, Preynat was prevented from leading scout groups, but he was later allowed to teach children and held positions of authority in parishes until 2015. He has acknowledged abusing boys and is set to be tried later this year. Two other French religious figures have been convicted of failing to report child abuse in the past: the archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Pierre Rican, in 2001, and the former bishop of Orleans, Andre Fort, last year. The head of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Spanish Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, has also been accused of complicity in the alleged Lyon cover-up. In correspondence with Barbarin about the priest, the Vatican’s number three advised the cardinal to take “necessary disciplinary measures while avoiding public scandal. The Vatican has cited his immunity from prosecution and he will not go on trial.

france
vatican
catholic church
pope francis
pedophile
sex scandal
bernard preynat
philippe barbarin