Blundering minister's downfall reignites criticism of Japan's seniority-based Cabinet decisions

Abstract: Following the dramatic resignation of blunder-prone Olympics and cybersecurity minister Yoshitaka Sakurada, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reappointed Shunichi Suzuki, his immediate predecessor, to the portfolio Thursday, a quick-fix measure experts said was meant to minimize damage ahead of a series of key elections. On Wednesday, Sakurada submitted a letter of resignation to Abe, saying a remark he made earlier in the day deeply offended the people suffering from the 2011 quake and tsunami disasters in the Tohoku region. However, it is widely believed it was Abe who effectively fired Sakurada, who has repeatedly made headlines by making gaffes that have significantly damaged the reputation of Abe’s administration. Experts said Sakurada’s numerous blunders underlined anew the shortcomings of Japan’s old-fashioned political custom that has often seen the prime minister prioritize seniority and factionalism in recruiting Cabinet members — rather than their actual capabilities. At a party hosted by fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Hinako Takahashi, Sakurada, a Chiba representative, reportedly said the Diet member is “more important than reconstruction” in Tohoku. That was only a day after he repeatedly mispronounced the name of one of the tsunami-devastated districts in Tohoku as he spoke at the Diet. After submitting his letter of resignation, Sakurada told reporters he is “sorry for making remarks that hurt the feelings of (the people from) disaster-hit areas.” Abe, meanwhile, told reporters Thursday morning that “every member in my Cabinet has to sincerely accept criticism and work toward living up to public expectations by dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly” to recovery efforts. After meeting with the prime minister and accepting Sakurada’s former role, Suzuki reiterated the government’s commitment to making the 2020 Summer Games the “recovery Olympics” in hopes of shoring up Tohoku’s struggling tourism industry. Having been reinstated, “I would once again like to do my job so that people in the affected areas will feel close to the Olympics,” Suzuki said. Up until Wednesday, Abe had vouched for Sakurada, even though the minister repeatedly put his foot into his mouth and drew criticism from opposition lawmakers. Sakurada made global headlines in November when he surprised the nation by revealing to the Diet that he had never used a personal computer, even though he doubled as the nation’s cybersecurity minister. He also misspoke when giving figures and names in his Diet answers, and was clueless when asked basic questions about the Olympics. When competitive swimmer Rikako Ikee, an Olympics medalist hopeful, revealed in February she had been diagnosed with leukemia, Sakurada said, “She is a potential gold medalist, an athlete for whom we have great expectations. I’m really disappointed.” Sakurada was tapped for the Cabinet not because of his competence but the sheer length of his political career, said Kazuhisa Kawakami, a professor of political science at the International University of Health and Welfare. When Abe decided to reshuffle his Cabinet in October, Sakurada was among the LDP lawmakers who were on the “waiting list” for portfolios — typically those elected five times or more who are recommended by their faction leaders as being next in line. As such, “in Japan, as long as you’re elected a certain number of times and have the backing of your faction leader, you can be tapped for not-so-important Cabinet posts that pretty much everyone can handle — assuming, of course, you are supported by a group of capable bureaucrats,” Kawakami said. “So the sad reality is that those posts are sometimes overseen by politicians who are not necessarily talented.” But Sakurada’s latest gaffe regarding Tohoku was “on a whole different level” from his past slip-ups because it made it sound as if he was prioritizing politicians over the public, Kawakami said. “The LDP has a relatively weak support base in Tohoku so I think the Abe administration was afraid keeping the minister who publicly disregarded Tohoku could further erode the LDP’s chances of performing well in Tohoku constituencies at the summer Upper House election,” he said. That view was echoed by Katsuyuki Yakushiji, a political science professor at Toyo University. Although Abe initially gravitated toward experience and expertise in naming his Cabinet members after his return to power in 2012, he brought many first-timers onto his team in the October reshuffle. “His administration was enjoying stability at the time so I think Abe felt he can afford to take some risk by recruiting lawmakers with little expertise. In a way, that was a reflection of his arrogance, I think,” Yakushiji said. Unfortunately for Abe, Yakushiji added, the recent turn of events has grown eerily reminiscent of what is remembered as “resignation dominoes” from 2007, when a series of ministerial scandals and lapses sent approval ratings for Abe’s first Cabinet plummeting to a critical level, leading to his crushing defeat in the summer Upper House election that year. “I wouldn’t be surprised if memories of 2007 are flashing through the mind of Abe,” Yakushiji said. But the professor said he is skeptical that Sakurada’s departure will have severe political consequences going forward as the LDP braces for a series of elections, including the latter half of unified local elections and the summer Upper House poll. “It’s not like Sakurada is accused of committing serious misconduct that affects national politics. In the minds of many among the Japanese public, he’s been seen as something of a joke and everybody knew that he’d be out sooner or later,” he said. Just last week, Ichiro Tsukada, deputy land minister, stepped down amid outcries over his recent suggestion that he had influenced a major highway project to suit the interests of Abe and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. Tsukada’s comment ignited public criticism because exercising such influence would be tantamount to the old pork-barrel politics of the LDP. Tsukada’s comment drew particular attention because he said he employed sontaku , or the act of surmising what your boss really wants and taking actions to achieve it without receiving any clear instructions or orders from that person. Sontaku was a buzzword in a cronyism scandal involving Osaka-based school operator Moritomo Gakuen and Akie Abe, the wife of the prime minister. Abe has denied he used any influence to favor the school operator.

shinzo abe
ldp
diet
scandals
cabinet
gaffes
yoshitaka sakurada
shunichi suzuki


Japan confirms MSDF leader and destroyer will participate in Chinese Navy's fleet review

Abstract: Japan will send the head of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and a destroyer to the Chinese Navy’s fleet review in late April to strengthen defense exchanges, the Japanese government confirmed Thursday. MSDF Chief of Staff Hiroshi Yamamura will make a four-day trip from April 22 to attend the naval review on April 23 in waters off the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, according to the Defense Ministry, becoming the first MSDF chief to visit the country in five years. Bilateral meetings between Yamamura and other participating countries’ naval chiefs are being arranged, the ministry and the MSDF said. Japan will send the MSDF destroyer Suzutsuki with some 250 personnel on board, the first such dispatch to China since December 2011, as part of mutual naval visits that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in October to resume. The fleet review will take place to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Navy. MSDF destroyers and Chinese warships made mutual visits from 2007 to 2011, but the exchanges came to a halt in 2012 when Tokyo brought the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, called Diaoyu in China, under state control, straining bilateral ties.


Stealthy, numerous and expensive: Examining the F-35 following ASDF crash off north Japan

Abstract: The F-35A that crashed into the sea off Aomori Prefecture on Tuesday was one of a growing global fleet of advanced stealth aircraft sold to U.S. allies, and among the first to be assembled in Japan. There are already about twice as many copies of the F-35 flying as there are of its older brethren, the F-22, and many times more than non-Western competitors such as the Russian Su-57 and China’s J-31 and J-20. The plane is designed to be fast, but not the fastest; nimble, but not the most nimble. Its main advantages, according to its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, are being nearly impossible to track with radar, and being packed with advanced sensors and other gear. Plagued by a lengthy development and a lifetime cost of more than $1 trillion, it has only recently begun flying operationally. Despite other problems — including ejector seats that were dangerous for small pilots, and finicky software — it has a strong safety record, with only two crashes: the Air Self-Defense Force’s plane on Tuesday and a U.S. F-35B that crashed in September. It comes in three variants: the A model, meant for use on conventional airfields; the B model, which has vertical takeoff and landing capability; and the C model, for use on aircraft carriers. The aircraft lost on Tuesday was an A model. Capabilities The F-35 is powered by the Pratt and Whitney F135, an engine developed specifically for the program; all three variants use it. With more than 40,000 pounds of thrust, according to the manufacturer, it can propel the F-35 to speeds of about Mach 1.6 (2,000 kph). Other, older aircraft are faster; both the F-16 and F-15, which Japan also flies, can both exceed Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Unlike the F-22, the F-35 does not have in-flight thrust vectoring, in which the jet nozzles can swivel and help the aircraft turn faster. But the F-35 has control surfaces — its tail’s vertical and horizontal stabilizers — that are larger than some smaller aircraft’s wings. That, and advanced flight computers, allow the plane to maneuver at speeds in which other planes would simply fall out of the air, according to Lockheed Martin. The jet’s biggest selling point is its ability to evade enemy radar. How stealthy it is, is not public; its radar cross-section — the size it “appears” on a radar scope — is a heavily guarded secret. Alongside that is a sensor system designed to vacuum up information about the airspace around the F-35 without giving up its position. Tiny cameras mounted around the plane can project a real-time 360-degree picture of the world for night operations, the manufacturer says. Operators The U.S. military, with more than 200 F-35s and thousands more on the way, is the biggest user. Other nations that have bought, or plan to buy, the F-35 include Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Turkey, Italy, the U.K. and Israel. Britain and Japan are two of the biggest foreign buyers, with plans to acquire hundreds of the fighters. Only the United States and Israel have used them in combat. Criticisms The F-35 was selected for production in 2001 after a competition against Boeing. But its first flight did not occur until 2006, and it did not enter service until 2015, when the U.S. Marine Corps declared it ready for combat. Its development was marred with issues, some of them bizarre: Because it uses fuel to cool hot parts of the aircraft, fuel in some climates must be kept cool before it is pumped onboard, a Pentagon report found in 2016. But the biggest shortfall, critics say, is that it is simply too expensive. In 2012, the Pentagon estimated the lifetime cost for the F-35 program at more than $1.5 trillion over 50 years — by far the most expensive aircraft program in U.S. history. Germany in January dropped the F-35 from the running to replace its aging fleet of Tornado jets, telling lawmakers in a classified document this week that the decision was in part the result of the high cost of operating the jet over its lifetime. Safety Crashes or unsafe operating characteristics, however, have not been among the aircraft’s problems. In the crash last year in South Carolina, the pilot ejected safely. Investigators said that crash was likely linked to faulty fuel tubes in the engine, and the global fleet was grounded until the issue was fixed.

aviation
f-35
lockheed martin
air accidents
stealth aircraft


Hokkaido Museum surveying disputed Russian-held isles in bid to save Japanese artifacts

Abstract: KUSHIRO, HOKKAIDO - The Hokkaido Museum in Sapporo has been surveying historical artifacts on the four Russian-held isles claimed by Japan through a bilateral arrangement that lets Japanese former residents make visa-free visits. Hiroshi Ushiro, the chief curator, used the program to make visits from 2005 through 2018 with Russian specialists and other experts. The group discovered 82 historical objects on Kunashiri, 15 on Etorofu and 22 on Shikotan that ranged from stone implements made in the Paleolithic Age to dwelling sites from the Jomon Period and remains of Ainu, Japan’s indigenous people, the museum said. The fourth area is the Habomai islet group. The surveys concluded that the islands’ residents conducted exchanges with eastern Hokkaido and formed virtually one cultural area with it. “Hokkaido developed unique cultures in each age and the remains of them can be seen on the four islands,” Ushiro, 59, said. The government maintains the four islands off Hokkaido were illegally seized by the former Soviet Union after Japan surrendered in World War II. Also among the artifacts are ruins of buildings used by the former residents. Some of them were demolished by Russian authorities for development or because they were too old. For example, the Shana Post Office building on Etorofu, erected in 1930, was dismantled in 2015. Older ruins were discovered at the site after demolishing the building, yielding five earthenware pieces recovered by Japanese experts. But the architectural site was nearly wiped out by a construction project there. On Etorofu, school buildings and a meteorological station are also in a state of disrepair. Since preservation efforts must be conducted according to Russian laws and regulations, this might give rise to the perception that Japan recognizes Russian sovereignty over the disputed islands, said Norio Taniuchi, a former official with the Hokkaido Prefectural Government who is involved in the surveys. “We discussed with Russian officials whether we can promote preservation by shelving the sovereignty issue, but we could not find specific solutions,” Taniuchi, 61, said. The government has requested that Japanese not visit the isles without using the visa-free framework until the territorial issue is resolved. Japan also cannot allow any economic activities, including those by a third party, that could be regarded as submitting to Russian “jurisdiction.” Nevertheless, at the grass-roots level, former Japanese islanders have cooperated with the Russian residents to repair the gravestones of deceased Japanese. This involved repeated exchanges between Japanese and Russian experts and reports from Russian residents on the discovery of the gravestones. “Japan and Russia are being called on to make efforts to hand down this heritage to future generations from a historical perspective of human activities without worrying about the question of sovereignty,” Ushiro said.

history
archaeology
russia
disputed islands
northern territories
hokkaido
kunashiri
etorofu
russia-japan relations
shikotan


Seibu Railway's train etiquette posters in ukiyo-e style are a hit in Japan and overseas

Abstract: Posters that use traditional kimono-wearing characters portrayed in the style of Edo Period ukiyo-e to educate train passengers on proper etiquette have gained attention abroad, with the works featured in a British exhibition and printed in Taiwanese textbooks. First introduced in September 2016, the light-hearted yet educational posters can be found in train stations operated by Seibu Railway Co. in and around Tokyo. The ukiyo-e art form traditionally depicts scenes of the Edo Period (1603-1868). One image shows a courtesan sitting on a train as she uses a smartphone, while a man with a topknot lounges next to her with a book on his lap. The surrounding passengers are looking at them in annoyance and the poster has text reading, “Please let others sit comfortably.” The cultural reference points are used in a range of posters, including one asking commuters to be thoughtful of fellow travelers by depicting an anthropomorphic frog and monkey talking loudly as passengers cover their ears in protest. The posters were an immediate hit when they were first put up at Seibu train stations, with some passengers asking for the images to be printed on merchandise. London’s Victoria and Albert Museum began exhibiting the posters in March, noting the interesting amalgamation of tradition and modernity. “The posters illustrate the bustle and thrill of city life in modern Japan. Humor tempers the message about how to be a well-behaved commuter,” it says on its website introducing the pieces. A company running cram schools in Taiwan also included the images in their Japanese textbooks. “We wanted to attract interest from the growing number of overseas visitors,” said Seibu Railway customer service official Konomi Yamamoto, who originally proposed the idea. “We were able to depart from stereotypical posters by making (the ukiyo-e) appealing. I’m surprised by the overwhelming international response,” she said.


F-35 stealth fighter that crashed off Japan didn't send distress signal before Pacific plunge

Abstract: An F-35A stealth fighter that crashed in the Pacific during an exercise this week did not send an emergency alert, the Air Self-Defense Force said Thursday. The single-seat jet had a system that would have emitted distress signals if the pilot ejected from the cockpit with a parachute, the ASDF said. Search operations for the pilot — a major in his 40s — by the Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Coast Guard and U.S. forces have been continuing since the airplane disappeared from radar off the coast of northeastern Japan on Tuesday night. The Defense Ministry has concluded the cutting-edge fighter crashed — citing wreckage from its tail being found in the sea — making it the first crash involving an F-35A worldwide. The jet disappeared when flying with three other aircraft at distance for an air-to-air combat exercise, about 25 minutes after taking off from Misawa Air Base in Aomori around 7 p.m. Tuesday, according to the ASDF. Shortly before it dropped off the radar, its pilot radioed the other three to say he was about to pull out of the drill, but none witnessed the plane crash, the ministry said. Co-developed by nine countries including the United States and the U.K., F-35s are produced by U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. Before the incident, Japan decided to purchase 105 F-35As from the United States, including those that have already been deployed.

accidents
military
self defense forces
f-35
f35
defense ministry
asdf
air accidents


Japanese medical school adopts facial recognition-based attendance system

Abstract: KOBE - The Hyogo College of Medicine has introduced a facial recognition technology-based system to check student attendance. It is the first university in Japan to use such a system, according to the institution in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. The university expects the system to allow teachers to check students’ attendance swiftly and accurately and improve the work efficiency of its staff who had been using standard attendance sheets. Sixteen tablet devices with facial recognition functions were introduced on Friday last week, with four units — one for teachers and three for students — spread across four lecture rooms. The faces of a total of some 470 students had been registered on the devices beforehand. At the start of classes, students register their attendance using the tablets in turn. The devices are held up to their faces, and the images shown on the displays are checked against the preregistered images. If the facial recognition functions do not work, students enter their identification numbers on the tablets for attendance registration. Teachers can check the attendance on their tablets, which show images of students conducting the facial recognition process in real time. The college also hopes to utilize the new system to identify long-term absentees at an early stage so that appropriate physical and mental care will be provided to them. The facial recognition system frees teachers from the chore of handing out attendance cards to students and collecting them, as well as entering attendance information into the college’s educational affairs system. With the new system, the college expects to cut some 425 hours of such burdensome work in the 1,700 lectures held in a year. In the future, the school plans to use the system for security-related matters. “Previously, it had been difficult for us to watch over our students in a comprehensive manner as no homeroom activities or similar sessions are available at universities,” said Keiichiro Suzuki, deputy chief of the college. The system will help “increase trust from students and parents” in the college and “prevent the nuisance related to checking attendance” in case classes are formed according to the levels of students’ proficiency, he added.

tech
universities
surveillance
personal information
hyogo
facial recognition
nishinomiya
hyogo college of medicine


Japanese police to launch probe into phone scam operated out of Thailand

Abstract: BANGKOK - Japanese police will launch an investigation into a major phone scam based out of Thailand in which hundreds of people across Japan are believed to have been swindled out of more than ¥200 million ($1.8 million) this year, investigative sources said Wednesday. Following the arrest late last month of 15 suspected Japanese scammers by Thai police, Japan has decided to dispatch investigators to Thailand next week to better grasp the whole picture, the sources said. The men, their ages ranging from their 20s to their 50s, are suspected of targeting people in Japan, particularly those retired and living alone, from a rented luxury house in the seaside resort town of Pattaya. On Wednesday, Thai investigative authorities revealed one of the likely victims was a woman in her 50s who lives in Fukui Prefecture. She purchased electronic money on March 29 in line with the scamming group’s instructions and seems to have been swindled out of several hundred thousand yen, according to the police. Japanese police plan to arrest the 15 suspects after they are expelled from Thailand. They may also build a case against the group over a separate case of alleged fraud. Other than the 15, Thai police suspect three to four more Japanese and Thais may have been involved in the scam.


Amid U.S. tensions, Iran warns it could shut Hormuz Strait to all oil if it faces more 'hostility'

Abstract: TEHRAN - Iran’s top general warned Sunday Tehran could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping route if it faces more “hostility,” news agency ISNA said, as the U.S. tightens up sanctions. “We are not after closing the Strait of Hormuz but if the hostility of enemies increase, we will be able to do so,” armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri told semi-official ISNA. “Also if our oil does not go through the strait, other countries’ oil will certainly not cross the strait, too,” he added. The statement came after Washington said on Monday it would start imposing sanctions on countries such as India, China and Turkey that buy Iranian oil. Eight countries were initially given six-month reprieves after the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in November, following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear accord. Iranian officials have repeatedly warned the Islamic republic could shut down the strait, a vital shipping lane for international oil supplies, should it find its national interests or security threatened. “We believe Iran will continue to sell its oil … (and) use the Strait of Hormuz. But if the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences,” foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday. “It is in our vital national security interest to keep the Persian Gulf open, to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. We have done that in the past and we will continue to do that in the future,” he added.

u.s .
oil
iran
sanctions
strait of hormuz
donald trump


Snap!: 'Avengers: Endgame' shatters records with $1.2 billion opening weekend

Abstract: The Avengers broke all kinds of box office records as a young, male audience lined up for days to get tickets for its opening weekend even in the era of streaming content. “Avengers: Endgame” took in $1.2 billion in its opening weekend — earning $350 million alone in the U.S. and Canada and blowing through the $258 million mark held by the superhero team’s own gloved hands with last year’s “Infinity War.” Walt Disney Co. now boasts the top four spots for domestic opening weekends, rounded out by “The Last Jedi” and “The Force Awakens” from the Star Wars franchise, according to researcher Comscore Inc. The crowds were 57 percent male, with the biggest cohort of 28 percent between the ages of 25 to 34 — essentially the people who were there for the birth of the franchise in their teenage and early adult years. Families comprised just 18 percent of the audience, a figure that may rise after the initial crush of the testosterone crowd. Teenagers made up 11 percent. “Anybody who could get tickets” is what determined the demographic breakdown over the opening weekend, Cathleen Taff, the president of distribution for Walt Disney Pictures, said in an interview. She expects more families and younger viewers to turn up to future screenings as the film plays on, adding that “it’s going to play for quite a while.” Repeat viewings The run for “Endgame” could drag on with repeat viewings, with almost three out of every 10 patrons planning to watch the movie again in a theater, according to a PostTrak survey. “This may be the most significant moment in the modern history of the theater business,” said John Fithian, chief executive officer of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “What we’re excited about is that this historic weekend is the kickoff of what’s going to be a nine-month stellar run in the movie theater business.” The success of “Endgame” was a sorely needed balm for Hollywood in a year where the box office was lagging almost 17 percent behind the same period in 2018. Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst at Comscore, estimates the film’s stellar opening accounted for 3.5 percentage points of a swing after some adjustments to square up with the timing of last year’s “Infinity War.” The box office is now just a bit more than 13 percent behind last year, Comscore estimates. The film took in $330.5 million in China, just one of the opening records set in 44 countries, Disney said Sunday. There was no shortage of superhero superlatives for “Avengers: Endgame”: First film to exceed $1 billion in its opening, a level reached in five days. A domestic record of $156.7 million on its first day, including Thursday night previews, beating the previous mark of $119 million held by “The Force Awakens” in 2015. Highest all-time box office for any Saturday or Sunday as well. Shown on 4,662 screens in the U.S. and Canada, the most ever. Highest-grossing 3D opening of all-time worldwide, with approximately 45 percent of the opening coming from the 3D format, according to RealD Inc. 22-movie storyline The picture, the latest installment from Disney’s Marvel studio, caps a 22-movie storyline that began with “Iron Man” in 2008. The Avengers superheroes, including Captain America, Hulk and Black Widow, are now battling the intergalactic villain Thanos, who was last seen wiping out half the living creatures in the universe. Disney, which also owns the Star Wars franchise and is usually cautious with forecasts, had originally suggested an opening weekend in the $300 million range. With this kind of juice, there’s every reason to believe “Endgame” will challenge the $2.07 billion worldwide gross of “The Force Awakens,” set in 2015. Only two other films in Hollywood history have taken in more: “Avatar” in 2009 and “Titanic,” released in 1997. The Marvel machine has been a huge moneymaker for Disney. Last year’s “Infinity War,” for example, earned an estimated $985 million in profit, including TV, toys and theater ticket sales, according to S&P Global. Looking forward, Disney’s Taff would not say whether it was possible to top this record. “While this is an end in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is certainly not THE end,” she said. “It’s going to open up a whole new world of possibilities.”

movies
marvel studios
walt disney co .
avengers : endgame
mcu


Abe and Canada's Justin Trudeau extol TPP trade pact without U.S.

Abstract: OTTAWA - Canadian and Japanese leaders on Sunday jointly trumpeted a rebooted Pacific trade pact that came into effect at the start of the year, without the United States. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (or CPTPP) removed trade barriers among 11 nations representing nearly 500 million consumers in the Asia-Pacific region in a bid to counter China’s growing economic influence. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2017 before it was ratified. At a joint press conference in Ottawa, visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his host, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the pact has “benefitted tremendously” citizens and businesses of member nations, including Canada and Japan. “Continuing to move forward on freer and more open trade according to the rules that we can all agree on is something that we need more in the world,” Trudeau said. The CPTPP “stands in stark contrast” to rising protectionism sparked by the United States, he said, noting that Canadian beef exports to Japan have tripled in recent months “while the Americans do not have that kind of access.” “I think that — concretely and tangibly — is a contrast that highlights the benefits of countries working together and not falling back on protectionism as a way of growing our economy,” he said. His comments were echoed by Abe, who said it “should be a model going forward.” Canada and Japan would seek to grow membership in the CPTPP, he added. In the meantime, Abe said his countrymen were enjoying more “high quality Canadian products” under the pact. “And vice-versa I have high hopes for further expansion of the export of Japanese high quality products to the Canadian market.” Canada reached a deal last year with the United States and Mexico on a new continental trade pact, while talks between Japan and the United States to carve out a trade deal continue. Abe’s visit to Canada came after he traveled to Washington to play golf with Trump, and to Europe where he urged British and EU lawmakers to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

shinzo abe
u.s .
tpp
trade
canada
beef
japan
donald trump
justin trudeau
cptpp


With China in mind, Japan eyes new infrastructure investment rules for G20

Abstract: The Abe government is considering proposing a set of rules for infrastructure investment in developing countries when Japan hosts the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June, after China has been criticized for engaging in “debt-trap” diplomacy with its aggressive project financing, according to sources. Some of Beijing’s infrastructure financing projects have been criticized for burdening recipient countries with debts they can’t repay, forcing them into concessions in exchange for debt relief. China has not openly opposed Japan’s proposal in working-level preparatory meetings, but government sources said it is too early to say whether Beijing is willing to accept the proposed rules to increase transparency of contracts and give due consideration to the debt repayment capacity of countries receiving investments. In addition to the rules for ensuring transparency and responsible financing, Japan hopes to adopt the principle of ensuring “openness” of facilities without imposing restrictions on usage and “economic efficiency” by making infrastructure durable enough for long-term use, the sources said. With Japan-China relations continuing to improve, Tokyo also expects the new rules to lay the groundwork for deeper cooperation between the two in foreign infrastructure projects. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is shifting toward conditional cooperation with Chinese President Xi Jingping’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative under which Beijing wants to expand infrastructure networks in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa to achieve its goal of connecting nations along the ancient Silk Road trade routes. China has been bolstering its economic clout with foreign investments, signing a memorandum of understanding with Italy last month to jointly advance the “Belt and Road” projects, the first time Beijing has struck a deal under the cross-border initiative with a Group of Seven industrial power. Leaders of some major countries attended the second summit of the “Belt and Road” forum held through Saturday in Beijing. Apart from trade and investment issues, the upcoming G20 summit is likely to focus on gender issues and aging, as well as climate change and reaffirming the importance of multilateralism for global problems. Among them is how to reduce plastic waste in the world’s oceans and waterways. Tokyo has said it will raise the issue with G20 leaders. Since then, local governments around Japan have begun reviewing their own policies on plastic use. Locally, the G20 gathering is seen as a chance to boost to Osaka’s tourism industry and raise its international profile. The Kansai business community is especially keen on that point.

china
osaka
g20
investment
infrastructure
belt and road


Pilot strike grounds 110,000 travelers with carrier SAS

Abstract: COPENHAGEN - A further 110,000 air passengers faced being left grounded after Scandinavian carrier SAS on Sunday canceled 1,213 flights as pilot strike action spiraled. Pilots demanding better pay and conditions walked off the job in Sweden, Denmark and Norway on Friday and the disruption is now expected to hit some 280,000 travelers overall. SAS had initially predicted that 170,000 passengers would be affected by the end of Sunday, but now says a further 667 Monday flights and 546 more due Tuesday will be annulled. The stoppage by 1,409 pilots is affecting domestic, European and long-haul flights. The Swedish Air Line Pilots Association, which initiated the strike, has said that months of talks have failed to find a solution to pilots’ “deteriorating work conditions, unpredictable work schedules and job insecurity. “No discussion is currently underway between the two parties,” Rawaz Nermany, president of the association, said on Sunday. “To overcome our differences, SAS must show a real willingness to discuss and meet around the negotiating table,” he told the Swedish TT agency. But the Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises insists it cannot accept a demand for a 13-percent wage increase, given their “already high average wage of 93,000 kronor (€8,766, $9,769) a month. The pilots’ association say work schedules, not wages, are their main gripe as most SAS pilots have to work at variable times and days and sometimes have to work several weekends in a row. SAS has implemented repeated savings programs in recent years to improve its profitability, after almost going bankrupt in 2012. “If SAS gives in to the demands of the pilots, we can be pretty sure that in a few quarters, SAS will be in deficit and will have to fight to survive,” Jacob Pedersen, chief analyst of the Danish bank Sydbank, told the Ritzau agency. In the first quarter of 2019, the airline widened its losses, impacted by negative exchange effects and high fuel prices. It posted a net loss of 469 million kronor, compared to 249 million a year earlier. Although the carrier forecast a full-year profit Sydbank on Friday predicted the strike would cost SAS 60 to 80 million kronor ($6 million to $8 million) per day.

airlines sweden sas norway denmark strikes


Reiwa Era to open in wake of decades of tumultuous economic change in Japan

Abstract: The Heisei Era began three decades ago with Emperor Akihito ascending the throne near the zenith of one of the biggest stock market bubbles in history. It’s been punctuated by the triple hit of an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, the fall of tech icons and the rise of automotive giants, and by creeping social change that’s seeing women and foreign people playing a bigger role in economic life. It takes a comparison with the U.S. stock market collapse that ushered in the Great Depression to put the magnitude of Japan’s asset-price implosion in true perspective. What’s most shocking is the failure of Japanese shares to regain their highs, even after 30 years, while the Dow surged back in the 1950s. The weakness in Japanese stocks has mirrored wider problems, which set the stage for the country’s slip to third place in the global economic pecking order. Some of Japan’s greatest corporate names have also suffered, like Sony Corp. The Tokyo-based consumer electronics champion swept all before it with products like the Walkman portable cassette player until analog gave way to digital, and the rise of Apple Inc. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Others including Sharp Corp., now controlled by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and Panasonic Corp. have seen their value slide from great heights. Yet through it all, investors around the world have turned to the yen for safety in times of crisis. Ultra-low interest rates encourage investors to borrow in Japan and put the money to work in other economies that are growing more. When risks rise, these same investors run for the exits, where they are forced to buy up yen to unwind their so-called carry trades. The country also remains a huge exporter and despite high government debt — which rose to a whopping 230 percent of GDP during the Heisei Era — corporate Japan continues to drive current account surpluses, which support the currency. Japan has also maintained its dominant position as the world’s top creditor nation, offsetting worries about government debt and boosting confidence in the yen. It owns more than $1 trillion of U.S. Treasuries, slightly less than China’s hoard of American debt, and its big commercial banks are among the leading lenders in Asia. The nation’s car industry has extended its reach, dueling for pole position with European giants while U.S. competitors suffered setbacks. Toyota stands head-and-shoulders above most brands in the world and has led the way with hybrid vehicles as auto manufacturers chart a course to an electric future. Its dozens of factories around the world are also testament to the international expansion of corporate Japan, which repatriates profits from abroad, even as growth ebbs in the domestic market. The struggle for gender equality was slow to arrive but has received strong impetus from the labor shortage that’s taken hold in recent years. Women have poured into work — though mostly part-time and contract positions — to the point that Japan’s female labor force participation rate is now higher than that of the U.S. With more working role models for girls, there are hopes that the Reiwa Era beginning on Wednesday will see women take the next step up the ladder. Women’s share of leadership roles in government and the private sector remains low, despite talk of the womenomics polices under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose government quietly gave up on a goal of getting women into 30 percent of management positions by 2020. The population has fallen for the last nine years and one person in three is now 60 or older. The challenge this presents to the economy is enormous as businesses lose both customers and workers, undermining the incentive to invest at home, and the government faces rising welfare costs and a declining pool of taxpayers to support the system. The problem is playing out dramatically for monetary policymakers, who have been buying up bonds and stocks and slashing borrowing costs in an effort to steer inflation higher and reinvigorate the economy. In a move that turned conventional policy on its head, the Bank of Japan cut interest rates to zero in 1999 and 20 years later the BOJ is holding its key short-term rate at minus 0.1 percent. All this monetary firepower hasn’t fixed the low-inflation, low-growth problem. Yet as the Heisei Era comes to an end, Japan’s detractors are growing quiet. It turns out that much of the developed world is also losing the battle to spur price gains. In a bout of introspection, the Federal Reserve has declared 2019 a year of strategy review, while some pundits are even taking about “Japanification” in Europe’s stuttering economy. Meanwhile, as the demographics push Japan to slowly let more overseas workers in, the U.S. is taking steps to limit the use of H-1B visas — keeping more high-skilled foreign people out.

trade
economy
women
abenomics
emperor akihito
investments
imperial family
cars
abdication
reiwa


HNA's $25 billion fire sale not enough to emerge from crisis

Abstract: HONG KONG - Even for a company that’s been through as many crises as HNA Group Co., it’s been a rough few months. In April, creditors of the embattled Chinese conglomerate took the extraordinary step of seizing golf courses and other assets after a unit missed a loan payment. The group’s also been embroiled in an increasingly bizarre power struggle over control of Hong Kong Airlines, while people familiar with the matter say HNA shelved the sale of a container-leasing business after failing to find anyone willing to pay the $1 billion-plus price it was seeking. For HNA, the setbacks underscore how the group is still struggling to deal with the fallout of a global acquisition spree that pushed it deep into debt. Despite agreeing to sell more than $25 billion in assets since the beginning of 2018, HNA’s travails more broadly show how China’s two-year deleveraging campaign continues to rock some of its biggest targets, many of which emerged during a period when the government was encouraging private enterprises to seek out overseas assets. ‘The situation is dire,” said Brock Silvers, managing director of Kaiyuan Capital, a multi asset advisory and investment firm focused on China. The missed loan payment by CWT International Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed investment holding company HNA controls, “reveals the depth of HNA’s current predicament. At this point there are no safe harbors for HNA investors.” Like many of China’s once high-flying conglomerates, including Waldorf Astoria-owner Anbang Insurance Group Co. and the ever-shrinking Hollywood giant Dalian Wanda Group Co., HNA has been selling off assets after the government scrutinized their debt-fueled expansions and the financial risks tied to them. None have faced harsher punishment from Beijing than Anbang: Its founder was jailed and the government has temporarily seized the business. For its part, HNA — which started out as an airline — said it’s made substantial progress bringing its focus back to its roots, cutting debt and strengthening its balance sheet in the past year. “As the company looks ahead, it will continue to take a thoughtful and disciplined approach to realigning its portfolio and rebalancing its strategy to optimize performance over the long-term,” HNA said in a statement. There’s no doubt the asset sales have helped reduce HNA’s debt. But it may not be enough. Based on the group’s latest available financials — the six months that ended on June 31 — HNA still held about $80 billion of debt, among the highest levels in China. Of that amount, $25 billion was due within a year, or more than what the company held in cash, equivalents and short-term investments combined. The company’s profits couldn’t even cover its interest payments. “While the company seeks further liquidity, it may become increasingly selective in honoring obligations,” said Silvers, who is based in Shanghai. “It’s possible that HNA might not survive 2019’s planned debt obligations in its current form.” As it faces increasing pressure on debt repayments, the company’s been forced to sell core aviation assets. Last month, HNA announced it’s selling budget carrier Hong Kong Express Airways to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. for 2.25 billion Hong Kong dollars ($287 million) in cash. The company has sold or agreed to dispose of more than 40 assets since 2018, according to a Bloomberg tally. And, there’s likely more to come. Bloomberg reported in November that HNA was marketing more than $40 billion of domestic and international holdings, including more than 90 assets in China, the U.S. and U.K. Among the priciest assets on the list were the 245 Park Ave. skyscraper it bought for a near-record $2.21 billion, the yin-yang-shaped Pearl Island in Hainan and Shanghai’s HNA Plaza. Though Bloomberg has only been able to tally just over $25 billion in asset sales, HNA Chairman Chen Feng told Caijing in November that it had sold about $45 billion in assets in 2018. The rapid pace of sales hasn’t eased HNA’s debt repayment pressures. And investors and analysts expect it to do more. “HNA needs to continue selling assets, inviting strategic investors, and repaying debt,” said Warut Promboon, managing partner at credit research firm Bondcritic Ltd. Compounding HNA’s problems is that the company likely overpaid for many acquisitions, said Ronald Wan, chief executive at Partners Capital International Ltd. “Even if they sell all assets, they could still be in deficit,” he said. “It’s unrealistic and impossible to sell them at a profit.” HNA is also facing unusual disputes. Zhong Guosong, a former director of HNA-backed Hong Kong Airlines, has said he has taken control of the carrier, proclaimed himself chairman and accused HNA of various acts of malfeasance — accusations that HNA has denied. Hong Kong Airlines has said it doesn’t recognize Zhong’s chairmanship but acknowledged that the dispute has seriously disrupted order at their offices. Flights were operating normally, it said. Complicating matters, Zhong is chairman at Hong Kong Express, the carrier that HNA has agreed to sell to Cathay Pacific. Trouble has also brewed in HNA’s flagship unit. On March 15, Hainan Airlines Holding Co. said a Chinese court froze shareholdings in the company as a result of a contract dispute with a local aircraft leasing firm. Additionally, HNA has been behind on its aircraft lease payment. The carrier last month revised its 2018 net loss forecast to as much as 4 billion yuan ($594 million) from an earlier forecast of as much as 500 million yuan, due to asset impairment and fewer subsidies. Andrew Collier, a Hong Kong-based managing director at Orient Capital Research, sees its repayment pressures and legal challenges coming to a head. “HNA has clearly lost the battle to maintain its existence as a separate company,” he said. It’s “being taken apart piecemeal.”

china
acquisitions
hna
hna group
hong kong airlines


Pilots demand better training if Boeing wants to rebuild trust in 737 Max

Abstract: CHICAGO - American Airlines pilots have warned that Boeing Co.’s draft training proposals for the troubled 737 Max do not go far enough to address their concerns, according to written comments submitted to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and seen by Reuters. The comments were made by the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots at American Airlines Group Inc., the world’s largest airline and one of the biggest 737 Max operators in the United States. Their support is important because Boeing has said pilots’ confidence in the 737 Max will play a critical role in convincing the public that the aircraft is safe to fly again. Boeing’s fast-selling 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 on board just five months after a similar crash on a Lion Air flight that killed all 189 passengers and crew. Now it is readying for regulatory approval a final software update and training package to address an anti-stall system known as MCAS that played a role in both nose-down crashes. A draft report by an FAA-appointed board of pilots, engineers and other experts concluded that pilots only need additional computer-based training to understand MCAS, rather than simulator time. The public has until April 30 to make comments. Protesters are expected outside Boeing’s annual meeting in Chicago on Monday, where shareholders will also question the company over its safety record. APA is arguing that mere computer explanation “will not provide a level of confidence for pilots to feel not only comfortable flying the aircraft but also relaying that confidence to the traveling public.” It said the Max computer training, which originally involved a one-hour iPad course, should include videos of simulator sessions showing how MCAS works along with demonstrations of other cockpit emergencies such as runaway stabilizer, a loss of control that occurred on both doomed flights. APA also called for recurring training on simulators that includes scenarios like those experienced by the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines pilots, in addition to computer training. “When pilots visually experience the failure modes and then apply them, the lesson is cemented in their minds,” APA wrote. American Airlines has said it is looking at the potential for additional training opportunities in coordination with the FAA and its pilots union. Canada, Europe and South Korea are all weighing the need for simulator training, going above the recommendations in the draft FAA report, sources have said. Required simulator training could delay the Max’s return to service because it takes time to schedule hundreds or thousands of pilots on simulators. Hourly rates for simulators range between $500 and $1,000, excluding travel expenses. American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker said on Friday that even if other countries delay the ungrounding of the Max, once the FAA approves it, American will start flying its 24 aircraft. Union pilots for Southwest Airlines Co., the world’s largest operator of the Max with 34 jets and dozens more on order, have said they were satisfied with the FAA draft report but would decide on additional training once they see Boeing’s final proposals.

boeing
unions
ethiopian airlines
simulators
aircraft accidents
apa
737 max
lion air
mcas


FAA mulled grounding Boeing 737 Max jets last year after learning of anti-stall system woes: source

Abstract: NEW YORK - U.S. regulators considered grounding some Boeing 737 Max planes last year after learning belatedly of a problem with a system that is now the main suspect in two deadly crashes, a source close to the matter said. Investigators in the Lion Air crash in October off the coast of Indonesia and the Ethiopia Airlines disaster in March have zeroed in on the planes’ anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS. Last year, before the Lion crash, inspectors with the Federal Aviation Administration discovered that the manufacturer had de-activated a signal designed to advise the cockpit crew of a malfunctioning of the MCAS system, the source said. These inspectors were in charge of monitoring Southwest Airlines, the biggest user of 737 Max planes, with a fleet of 34 of them at the time, added the source. The inspectors came up with this hypothesis — the signal alert being switched off — as they tried to determine whether pilots flying these planes needed additional training, said the source. After some debate, they gave up on this hypothesis but it was never passed on to higher-ranking officials in the FAA, the source said, confirming a story in The Wall Street Journal. The inspectors learned that Boeing had opted to make the malfunction signal optional and an extra that would cost more money. This came after Southwest asked Boeing to reactivate the signal after the Lion Air crash, which killed all 189 people on board. Boeing had deactivated the signal on all 737 Max delivered to Southwest without telling the carrier. Neither the airline nor its pilots were aware of these changes when they started flying the planes in 2017, a spokeswoman for Southwest told AFP. Just like the inspectors, they only found out only after the Lion Air crash. “Prior to the Lion Air event, the (signals) were depicted as operable by Boeing on all Max aircraft” regardless of whether the cockpit crew thought they had them turned on or off, said the Southwest spokeswoman. “After the Lion Air event, Boeing notified Southwest” that the signals were turned off unless they were specifically designated as being turned on, she said. It was at this point that Southwest chose this option for all its aircraft, the spokeswoman said. Boeing has not yet answered an AFP’s request for comment. The FAA would not comment on the planes coming close to being grounded last year. But a spokesman for the agency said the signal “is an option for carriers.” The Ethiopia Airlines crash left all 157 people on the plane dead and led to all Boeing 737 Max planes all over the world being grounded. In this case too the MCAS is being looked at as a possible cause of the crash. In times of midair distress, this system is supposed to activate on its own and push the nose of the plane down to keep it from stalling. Boeing is working on changing the MCAS so it can get the planes back in the air. The grounding has already cost the carrier a billion dollars, Boeing said last week. But the bill will probably climb because Boeing is expected to pay money to airlines, which have been forced to cancel thousands of flights and hire more reservations and services staff. Boeing has suspended deliveries of Boeing 737 Max planes and cut production of them by 20 percent. Neither of the Boeing 737 Max planes in the Lion crash in Indonesia or the Ethiopian crash were equipped with the signal that is supposed to show a malfunctioning of the MCAS, an industry source told AFP in March. Called “disagree lights” in Boeing parlance, these lights turn on when faulty information is sent from so-called angle of attack sensors to the MCAS. Those sensors monitor whether the wings have enough lift to keep the plane flying. In the case of the Lion Air crash, investigators think one of the angle of attack sensors may have failed and sent incorrect data to the MCAS, causing its nose to go down as pilots fought to bring it back up. The MCAS overrides the pilots manual efforts to point the plane up or down. With the angle of attack sensor not working properly, the thing to do would have been to turn off the MCAS. But the Lion Air cockpit crew did not know this.

u.s .
accidents
airlines
boeing
faa
ethiopian airlines
737 max
lion air


Revamped Russian animation sector takes aim at global audience

Abstract: MOSCOW - In a slick Moscow loft, dozens of graphic designers peer at computers, compiling the latest scenes of “Fantasy Patrol,” a cartoon produced by Russia’s Parovoz animation studio. With its Netflix contracts, state-owned Parovoz — which means locomotive in Russian — is at the forefront of a resurgence of the country’s animation industry. But, for some observers, the revival comes at the expense of a tradition for innovation dating back to the Soviet-era heyday. Russian authorities have invested heavily in the animation sector in recent years, after it, like others, was left in ruins following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Parovoz is part of a state media holding and has grown from around 20 to 300 employees. Its animated series are shown in 55 countries. Chief executive Anton Smetankin, who co-launched the studio in 2014, said it had “a product for every market.” Last year, two Parovoz productions were bought by the U.S.-based streaming service Netflix — one of them, “Leo and Tig,” is about the adventures of a tiger and leopard in Siberia. “We have taken the best from the Russian school (of animation),” said artistic director Yevgeny Golovin. “All of our films are full of kindness and can be watched by children of all ages.” The studio also signed two contracts with China and had several of its projects dubbed and adapted for the Chinese market. Today they are shown on four of China’s top streaming channels whose total users are estimated to number 1.5 billion a month. Soviet animators won global repute for their creativity but the sector has seen mixed fortunes since then. Soyuzmultfilm, a studio launched in the 1930s which made many of the Soviet Union’s animated greats, faced funding problems in the 1990s and lost control of its back catalogue. In 2011, Vladimir Putin, then the prime minister, stepped in to try to restore the Russian animation industry to its former glory. By the early 2000s, Soyuzmultfilm had been reorganized and was again a state company. The government returned the distribution rights for its classics back to the studio and invested about $14 million over five years. But it is a cartoon series produced by a private Russian studio, Animaccord, that has proven a big international commercial hit. Since 2009, “Masha and the Bear” about a mischievous little girl and an amicable, retired circus bear has been viewed dozens of billions of times on YouTube alone, as well as been broadcast in 100 countries, and has inspired several spin-offs. “Our theme, which revolves around the relationship of a child and an adult, is universal,” said Animaccord CEO Vladimir Gorbulya. “There is a good amount of humor and things to reflect upon for viewers of both age categories.” Encouraged by the global success of the computer-animated duo, the Russian government has continued to boost support for the industry, announcing massive subsidies and, in 2017, tax reductions. “There is a desire to make sure our children look at animated films with our national cultural codes, our mentality, our language and culture,” said Irina Mastusova, who heads the Russian animation association. She noted that the Russian animation sector was still relatively up-and-coming, with around 3,000 employees. The government attention is in line with Moscow’s increasing efforts to inject conservative, patriotic values avowed by the Kremlin into the cultural sphere. Smetankin, of the Parovoz studio, conceded that animation was part of Russia’s drive for “soft power” abroad, a form of cultural diplomacy to explain Moscow’s view of the world, especially at a time of tensions with the West. In November, Britain’s The Times newspaper cited experts in a report who called “Masha and the Bear” a form of “propaganda,” saying that “feisty but plucky” Masha “punches above her weight” while the bear’s sanguine character painted Russia in a positive light. The studio rejected the depiction, pointing out that the cartoon was made without government funding. Larisa Malyukova, a culture reporter for the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said that government support prioritized commercial success, rather than innovative and poetic projects of the kind that made Soviet animators famous. “The culture ministry pays less and less attention to original animation,” she said. “This worries artists, since this is what, at least in Russia, is a laboratory that creates new talent.” Joel Chapron, a Russian film expert for the Cannes Festival for two decades, agreed that Russia’s animation was changing. “Before, the legacy of animation in Russia was associated with prodigies and big names. Today, nobody knows who the authors are.”


U.S. measles outbreak raises questions about immunity in adults vaccinated decades ago

Abstract: CHICAGO/NEW YORK - Adults in the United States who were vaccinated against measles decades ago may need a new dose depending on when they received the shot and their exposure risk, according to public health experts battling the nation’s largest outbreak since the virus was deemed eliminated in 2000. Up to 10 percent of the 695 confirmed measles cases in the current outbreak occurred in people who received one or two doses of the vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figure illustrates what can happen when a large number of individuals, even those who have been vaccinated, are exposed to the measles. CDC recommends that people who are living in or traveling to outbreak areas should check their vaccination status and consider getting a new dose. Dr. Allison Bartlett, an infectious disease expert at the University of Chicago Medicine, said the “continued vulnerability to infection” is why high-risk adults such as health care workers are routinely advised to get a second dose of the measles vaccine if they have not had one. But knowing your vaccination status can be tricky, experts said. “It’s complicated and often futile because it’s very difficult to resurrect those old records,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. People vaccinated in the United States since 1989 would most likely have received two doses of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot under federal guidelines, and that is still considered the standard for protection. Anyone vaccinated between 1963 and 1989 would likely have received only one dose, with many people immunized in the earlier years receiving an inactivated version of the virus. Americans born before 1957 are considered immune as they would have been exposed to the virus directly in an outbreak. Merck & Co. Inc. is the sole U.S. provider of the MMR vaccine. The company said in a statement that it has “taken steps to increase U.S. supply” of the vaccine due to the current outbreak. The measles virus is highly contagious and can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage or death. It is currently spreading in outbreaks in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, 95 percent of a population needs to be vaccinated to provide “herd immunity,” a form of indirect protection that prevents infection in people too young or sick to be vaccinated. U.S. public health officials have blamed the current outbreak in part on rising rates of vaccine skepticism that have reduced measles immunity in certain communities. For travelers to outbreak areas abroad, the CDC recommends adults consider getting another dose of MMR unless they have proof of receiving two prior doses, take a blood test showing immunity, or were born before 1957. In general, the CDC says two doses of the measles vaccine should provide 97 percent protection; one dose should offer 93 percent protection. However, immunity can wane over time. This has occurred even in adults with two documented doses of the vaccine, said Dr. Michael Phillips, chief epidemiologist at NYU Langone Health, which serves parts of New York City, a hot spot in the U.S. outbreak. He said in kids, “the vaccine is really effective,” but in some adults, memory T-cells, which recognize and attack germs, do not fight the virus as effectively as they once did. Rapid blood tests are available that can detect whether a person is immune based on the level of measles antibodies, but the tests are not 100 percent reliable. Adults who have any doubt about their immunity should get another dose, Schaffner said: “It’s safe. There’s no downside risk. Just roll up your sleeve.”

u.s .
vaccinations
measles
epidemic
cdc
mmr


'We are losing everything!': 160,000 at risk in Mozambique after second cyclone in six weeks hits

Abstract: PEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE - A second disaster unfolded on Sunday in northern Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth as raging flood waters killed one person and began to cut off the region’s main city from the outside world. Some 160,000 people were at risk, with more torrential rain forecast for the days ahead. “Help us, we are losing everything!” residents in the city of Pemba shouted at passing cars as the rushing waters poured into doorways. Women and girls with buckets and pots tried to scoop away the torrent, in vain. Some houses collapsed, the United Nations said. “It’s an awful sense of deja vu,” said Nicholas Finney, response team leader with the aid group Save the Children. Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai ripped into central Mozambique and killed more than 600 people with flooding. This was the first time in recorded history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season, again raising concerns about climate change. The new storm’s remnants could dump twice as much rain as Idai, the U.N. World Program has said. Up to 100 mm (nearly 4 inches) were forecast in the next 24 hours for some parts of the region, according to Mozambique’s meteorological institute. “I have never seen such rains in my life,” said one Pemba resident, 35-year-old Michael Fernando. Residents mourned one death in the Nitate neighborhood after a brick wall fell on a woman and the waters swept her against another building, said community leader Estenacio Pilale. Other residents tried to pile up tires and sand bags as barricades. Cars began to slip under the waters. “We will keep moving until we get somewhere safe,” one man said, as people fled carrying belongings in plastic bags. Others showed flashes of impatience. “Will this water ever give us a break?” Abdul Carimo asked. “The moment we try to do anything with our lives, it starts again.” Authorities earlier said at least five people died after Kenneth roared in Thursday evening with the force of a Category 4 hurricane, stunning residents of a region where such a storm had not been recorded in the modern era. The government said more than 160,000 people have been affected in the largely rural region, many now exposed and hungry. More than 35,000 homes in parts of Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado were partially or fully destroyed by the storm. More than 23,000 people were in shelters, the government said. Aid workers trying to reach hard-hit communities outside Pemba on Sunday were forced to turn back by rivers that burst their banks, with flood waters reaching the roofs of nearby houses. It was not clear when aid to scores of thousands of people outside the city could be delivered. “Helicopters cannot fly, a number of flights were canceled, so humanitarian workers cannot arrive and additional cargo cannot arrive by air,” Finney with Save the Children said. He was concerned that the main road to Nampula, an important trucking route, would soon be blocked. He described “total devastation” affecting a 60-km (37-mile) stretch of coastline and nearby islands. On Saturday, aerial photos showed several coastal communities flattened by the cyclone. “Not a single house is standing anymore,” Saviano Abreu, a spokesman with the U.N. humanitarian agency, told reporters. Livelihoods have been lost and people are wondering how they will cope in a country struggling with one of the world’s highest poverty rates. With notebook and pen in hand, elderly Luis Momade walked near the beach in Pemba on Saturday, taking advantage of a rare lull in the rains to record the damage from the cyclone. The president of the local Paquite Residents Association, his notebook was almost full with names and figures of boats damaged or destroyed. With unemployment rife and many in coastal areas surviving with fishing and related activities, not going to sea could mean going hungry for days. Men, women and children foraged in the waters off the littered shore, looking for seashells to sell.

disaster
floods
mozambique
cyclone idai
cyclone kenneth


If Trump was not president, he would be indicted for obstruction: ex-Justice Department No. 2

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Former top Justice Department official Sally Yates said on Sunday that if Donald Trump were not president, he would have been indicted on obstruction charges in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Yates, a career federal prosecutor who rose to acting attorney general before Trump fired her in 2017 less than two weeks into his presidency, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” the Republican president was shielded by department guidelines that a sitting president should not be indicted. “I’ve personally prosecuted obstruction cases on far, far less evidence than this,” Yates said. “And yes, I believe, if he were not the president of the United States, he would likely be indicted on obstruction.” Mueller’s report, redacted for classified and other sensitive information, detailed a series of actions by Trump to impede the investigation. It did not make a conclusion on whether those actions constituted the crime of obstruction said the findings did not exonerate him. The report cited attempts by Trump to thwart the Mueller investigation, as well as the president telling Russian officials he had faced “great pressure” from the probe but that it had been eased after he fired FBI Director James Comey. Mueller also said Congress has the power to address whether Trump violated the law and Congress is conducting its own investigations into whether he obstructed justice. Yates told NBC there was a larger question raised by the report, which she said painted a “devastating portrait” of a campaign that welcomed Russian intervention, lied about it and then tried to cover it up. “Is this the kind of conduct that we should expect from the president of the United States?” she said. “I mean, when the Russians came knocking at their door, you would expect that a man who likes to make a show of hugging the flag would’ve done the patriotic thing and would’ve notified law enforcement.” Yates was fired by Trump after she took the extraordinarily rare step of defying the White House and refused to defend new travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority nations.

u.s .
fbi
james comey
robert mueller
donald trump
sally yates
russia probe


Son of French hostage abducted in Mali in 2016 denounces Paris government inaction

Abstract: PARIS - The son of an elderly French woman abducted in Mali has accused Paris of refusing to talk to her abductors, in comments published Sunday that were disputed by French authorities. Armed jihadis abducted Sophie Petronin on Dec. 24, 2016, in Gao, northern Mali, where she ran a charity helping orphans. Her son, Sebastien Chadaud-Petronin, told the Sunday newspaper Journal Du Dimanche that French officials had rejected an offer from the abductors, which he had received when he visited Mali in December. He said the French foreign ministry had sidelined him and taken the decision in his place: “The decision to sacrifice my mother.” Responding to the criticism, a source close to the foreign ministry told AFP that France would continue to do everything to get Petronin freed — but her son’s comments were not helping. “The son of Madame Petronin has received unprecedented support from the French authorities” who had paid for his eight trips to the Sahel region, the source added. But having made contact with an intermediary of the abductors, Chadaud-Petronin had refused to reveal his identity to the French services — and that meant they had been unable to check his credibility. “We don’t doubt his sincerity, but he is being manipulated by the abductors and their numerous intermediaries,” said the source. In June last year, Petronin’s abductors sent a video of her in which she appeared weak and emaciated, appealing to French President Emmanuel Macron to help her. In another video in November, which only showed a photo of her, they said her health had deteriorated. Speaking to AFP on Sunday, Chadaud-Petronin said that he remained hopeful that his mother was still alive, even if he had no definite information. No group claimed responsibility for her abduction until July 2017, when al-Qaida’s Mali branch released a video showing her. Mali has been struggling to return to stability after Islamist extremists took control of the north in early 2012, prompting a military intervention by France.

france
mali
jihadis
emmanuel macron
sophie petronin
sebastien chadaud-petronin
kidnappng


Trump Senate ally urges more sanctions on Russia before polls, criticizes Jared Kushner's dismissive stance

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, a close ally of Donald Trump, called for more sanctions on Russia and criticized presidential adviser Jared Kushner’s statements downplaying the significance of that country’s interference in the 2016 election. “I like Jared a lot, but he’s leaving out a big detail,” Graham said on the CBS show “Face the Nation,” noting that Russia hacked into the emails of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “Can you imagine what we would be saying if the Russians or the Iranians hacked into the presidential team of the Republican Party?” Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, characterized the Russians’ actions at an April 23 event as trying to “buy some Facebook ads to sow discontent.” He said that the investigations that followed had “had a much harsher impact” on U.S democracy. “No, this is a big deal. It’s not just a few Facebook ads,” Graham said on CBS. “An attack on one party should be an attack on all.” Trump previously has questioned the extent of Russia’s role in election interference, and Graham said he has told Trump that “everything we’ve done with the Russians is not working” because “the Russians are up to it again.” “We need more sanctions, not less,” Graham said. “Because clearly they don’t have the message.” Graham defended Trump’s actions in the Russia investigation. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, released in redacted form this month, described 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president but didn’t provide a conclusion. “What President Trump did here was completely cooperate in an investigation,” Graham said. “I believe the president did nothing wrong. Whether you like him or not, I’ll leave up to you.” Graham also disagreed with Trump’s suggestion in comments to reporters on April 26 that former Vice President Joe Biden, who announced his candidacy for president a day earlier, might be too old at 76 to win. “If you travel with Joe Biden, you won’t think he’s too old,” Graham said, adding that he doesn’t know whether Biden fits the preferences of the current Democratic Party. Still, Graham said of his former Senate colleague, “He’s a good man and he would be a strong candidate.”

congress
russia
hillary clinton
lindsey graham
donald trump
jared kushner
2020 elections


Venezuela's Juan Guaido cancels rally after 'dictatorship' blocks route

Abstract: CARACAS - The leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, Juan Guaido, canceled a rally scheduled to be held in the country’s fourth-largest city on Sunday and said the “dictatorship” had prevented him from entering. Guaido has traveled outside the capital, Caracas, more and more in recent weeks to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to step down. In January, he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. While he has previously reported delays in arriving to cities in the country’s interior due to roadblocks by the armed forces and Maduro supporters, Sunday’s cancellation of the event in the western city of Barquisimeto was unprecedented. Protests are planned for Wednesday, May 1, including what Guaido has said will be “the largest march in Venezuela’s history,” part of what he calls the “definitive phase” of his effort to take office in order to call fresh elections. “Today we had a meeting planned, were going to embrace the streets of Lara that filled from end to end,” Guaido said in a voice recording sent by his press team, referring to Lara state, home to Barquisimeto. He said he would reschedule the event for next weekend, and called on supporters to rally on Wednesday. “Today the dictatorship blocked the path, the dictatorship did not allow us to arrive in Barquisimeto, but it will not prevent us from seeing each other.” Guaido did not provide further details on who blocked him or where the incident occurred. Venezuela’s information ministry, which handles media inquiries for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maduro calls Guaido a U.S-backed puppet who seeks to oust him in a coup. The government has arrested his top aide, stripped Guaido of his parliamentary immunity and opened multiple probes. It has also barred him from leaving the country, a ban Guaido openly violated earlier this year. Last week, Guaido said his congressional ally — opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro — had been detained, and that 11 members of his team had been summoned to appear before the Sebin intelligence agency.

conflict
venezuela
nicolas maduro
juan guaido


Trump trots out economic boast, slams 'Radical Left Democratic Party' at Wisconsin rally

Abstract: President Donald Trump boasted of a strong economy and criticized his Democratic presidential opponents Saturday night as he rallied supporters with familiar themes. Trump pointed to the economy’s 3.2 percent growth in the first quarter before drawing even more applause by citing gains in employment and reductions in family poverty in Wisconsin. The state helped propel Trump’s 2016 victory, and Democrats are focused on reclaiming its electoral votes in 2020. Turning to presidential politics, the president had a suggestion for members of the Democratic Party. “They should change that to the Radical Left Democrat Party,” he told a crowd that nearly filled the 10,500-seat Risch Center in Green Bay. “It’s crazy what’s going on with them. Oh, do I look forward to running against them.” It was a signal that what the president and Republicans have been saying about Democrats for months could be a lasting part of his reelection campaign story. Trump, who loves branding opponents, pointed to the Green New Deal, abortion rights policy and the self-described socialism of prominent Democrats to paint the whole party as radical. In contrast, he said, “The Republican Party is the party of all Americans. And common sense,” he said, eliciting cheers and chants of “USA!” Trump also referenced his nicknames for two of the leading Democratic presidential contenders — “Sleepy Joe” Biden and “Crazy Bernie” Sanders — and predicted that Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy was already over. Turning to his nickname for Warren, a critic of Trump and a frequent target of the president, Trump said: “I think Pocahontas, she’s finished, she’s out.” Trump warned his supporters that Democrats would take away their guns, promised anew to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and pledged to come up with a plan for health care after the next election. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had shared their love of golf with a quick round on the president’s course in Northern Virginia earlier in the day. No announcement of concrete advances in U.S.-Japan trade relations followed the meeting, though Trump told his rally audience that Japan was investing $40 billion in the American auto industry. Trump scheduled the midevening rally at the same time members of the White House Correspondents’ Association gathered for their annual dinner. He refused the association’s invitation for the third straight time, a break from past practice by the president. “Is there any place that’s more fun than a Trump rally?” he asked, having assured them there was no one he’d rather be with. In Washington, Olivier Knox, the association’s president, voiced concerns about Trump’s attacks on the press. He said he’s received death threats, including one this week, and that he’s had to warn his family not to touch packages on the stoop. “It shouldn’t need to be said in a room full of people who understand the power of words that ‘fake news’ and ‘enemies of the people’ are not pet names, punchlines or presidential,” Knox said. Historian Ron Chernow, the dinner’s featured speaker, said the Founding Fathers had severe differences with the press and came under vicious criticism on occasion. He said President George Washington felt maligned and misunderstood by the press but never generalized that into a vendetta. “Relations between presidents and the press are inevitably tough, almost always adversarial, but they don’t need to be steeped in venom,” Chernow said. Also skipping the correspondents’ dinner to attend the rally was press secretary Sarah Sanders. In rare public praise for his chief spokeswoman, Trump called Sanders to the stage to say a few words. “I’m so proud to work for the president,” Sanders said, and noted that she received a very different reception during the event she attended last year — the correspondents’ dinner in which the evening’s comedian lampooned her. Trump joked that Sanders “is becoming too popular,” then riffed on his signature reality TV line. “I’m telling you, Sarah, you’re fired!” The crowd chuckled. The president opened the rally on a somber note, offering his condolences for the victims of a synagogue shooting near San Diego. He said America stands with the victims, denounced anti-Semitism and praised the law enforcement response. “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in (solidarity) with the Jewish community,” he said. Trump singled out an off-duty Border Patrol agent who fired back at the suspected shooter. The agent, who was not identified, was working as a security guard at the synagogue. He fired as the suspect fled but only hit his car. The agent “helped disrupt the attack and saved so many lives,” Trump said.

u.s. economy
democrats
elizabeth warren
donald trump
2020 u.s. presidential election


Sri Lanka raids headquarters of hard-line Islamist group suspected in Easter bombings

Abstract: COLOMBO/KATTANKUDY, SRI LANKA - Sri Lankan police raided the headquarters of a hard-line Islamist group founded by the suspected ringleader behind the Easter suicide bombings of churches and hotels, a Reuters witness said, as Sunday mass was canceled due to fears of further attacks. Armed police in the town of Kattankudy searched the headquarters of the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and detained one man at the premises, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. Police did not comment. On Saturday the government banned the NTJ under new emergency laws. The authorities believe Zahran Hashim, the founder of NTJ, masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks on Easter Sunday that killed 253 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. Police suspect the bombings were carried out by two local Islamist groups, including the one established by Zahran. Around 10,000 soldiers have been deployed around the island as the authorities hunt for more suspects. Police sources told Reuters on Sunday that Zahran’s father and two brothers had been killed two days earlier in a gun battle with security forces. A relative identified the three men in a video circulating on social media calling for war against non-Muslims. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith, who had asked churches to suspend Sunday Mass due to security fears, delivered a televised special sermon from a chapel at his home. The service was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The archbishop said last week that he had seen an internal security document warning of further attacks on churches. “We cannot kill someone in the name of God. … It is a great tragedy that happened,” the archbishop said in his sermon. “We extend our hand of friendship and fraternity to all our brothers and sisters of whatever class, society or religion that differentiates us.” The archbishop and political leaders then lit candles to commemorate the victims. Most of those killed in the Easter Sunday attacks were Sri Lankans. The dead also included 40 foreigners, including British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. Police believe that radical Muslim preacher Zahran led the NTJ — or a splinter faction — to mount the attacks in Colombo as well as on a church in Batticaloa in the east. The authorities have named the other group suspected of involvement as Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim. Neither group were well known before the attacks but the government has come under heavy criticism for not heeding intelligence warnings of the bombings, including one from India’s spy service hours before the attacks. On Friday, Sirisena said the government led by Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him. More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning for questioning over the Easter attacks. The Sri Lankan military said at least 15 people were killed during a fierce gun battle with Islamist militants on the east coast on Friday, including six children. In an apparent reference to the three men, Islamic State said on Sunday that three of its members had clashed with Sri Lankan police for several hours on Friday before detonating their explosive vests. It did not name them. The group’s news agency Aamaq said 17 policemen were killed or injured in that battle. It did not give any evidence. Sri Lanka’s 22 million population is majority Buddhist and includes minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. At the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo where one of the bombs went off last Sunday, Buddhist monks, some as young as 10 and senior clergy, performed rituals in a tribute to the victims.

religion
terrorism
sri lanka
islamic state
sri lanka attacks


U.S. military spending up for first time in seven years: report

Abstract: STOCKHOLM - U.S. military spending has risen for the first time in seven years, reflecting Trump administration policy, according to a new report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Worldwide military spending also rose by 2.6 percent to $1.8 trillion overall last year, SIPRI calculated. It was the second year running the global figure has risen, bringing military spending to its highest level since 1988. “The increase in U.S. spending was driven by the implementation from 2017 of new arms procurement programmes under the Trump administration,” said Aude Fleurant, director of SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure (AMEX) program. The U.S. figure alone of $649 billion was as much as the next eight highest military budgets. But Chinese as well as U.S. spending helped push the overall spending figures for the year higher, said the report. China’s spending has risen 83 percent since 2009, bringing it up to second place, ahead of Saudi Arabia, India — which is modernizing its armed forces — and France. China has spent 1.9 percent of its gross domestic output (GDP) on military spending since 2013. Russia, meanwhile, dropped out of the top five spenders, with its military budget declining since 2016, said the report. Western countries’ economic sanctions against Russia, in place since 2014 because of its conflict with Ukraine, have hit the country’s military budget. In Ukraine itself, meanwhile, military spending rose 21 percent on the previous year to $4.8 billion, SIPRI calculated.

china
u.s .
russia
military
weapons
budgets
donald trump


Tripoli regime seen holding line in house-to-house battles with invading force from east

Abstract: TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, LIBYA - Forces backing Libya’s internationally recognized government fought house-to-house battles with troops loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar in southern parts of the capital Tripoli on Sunday and appeared to be gaining ground. Government soldiers, some in jeans and t-shirts, took cover by abandoned buildings as they fired on Haftar’s positions. Some carried anti-aircraft guns they had had to remove from their trucks to get through the narrow streets. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya, mounted an offensive on Tripoli three weeks ago but despite heavy fighting has failed to breach the city’s southern defenses. The battle for the capital has all but wrecked U.N.-backed efforts for a peace deal between the rival factions and threatened to further disrupt Libya’s oil industry. Two eastern operations of state oil firm NOC — which have in the past made broad statements backing Haftar — on Sunday for the first time specifically said they supported his offensive. The NOC as a whole has tried to stay out of the conflict. A Reuters team visiting the southern suburb of Ain Zara on Sunday estimated the Tripoli forces had gained up to 1,500 meters compared to a visit a few days earlier. Other parts of the front line appeared unchanged and the situation remains fluid. Both sides have gained and lost territory within days or even hours during the fighting. “We are progressing. We are now in the phase of expelling the enemy from the capital,” Salah Badi, a commander from the western city of Misrata allied to Tripoli, told Reuters. The North African country has been in a state of chaos since Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011 with Western intervention. The latest flare-up threatens to leave a power vacuum that Islamist militants could exploit. Forces loyal to Haftar, a former Gadhafi general, have said the internationally recognized government is controlled by terrorist militias and that they are fighting to expel the militants. Supporters of the Tripoli government have accused him of making a power grab with the backing of foreign countries. Two NOC units based in areas under Haftar’s control issued statements supporting the offensive on Sunday, a day after their Tripoli headquarters had condemned all military use of its facilities. Benghazi-based AGOCO congratulated Haftar’s forces “on the success and progress in its striving against extremist terrorist militias and militias which steal public funds.” A separate NOC unit in the east, Sirte Oil Co, also issued a statement backing the Tripoli advance. Haftar’s forces said on Saturday they had sent a warship to the eastern Ras Lanuf oil port for “training purposes.” A port engineer said the ship’s arrival had not affected oil exports, which were as normal.


India's rich and famous go to the polls as marathon election comes to Mumbai

Abstract: MUMBAI - Billionaires and Bollywood stars took their turn with Mumbai’s slum dwellers Monday to vote in India’s marathon election as Prime Minister Narendra Modi steps up his nationalist campaign to sway the 900 million electorate. India’s film and finance capital took center stage in the fourth of seven rounds of voting with 72 constituencies across the nation taking part. Final results are to be released on May 23. At least 40,000 police and security personnel were deployed across the city of 20 million people while workers were given a holiday so they could vote for Mumbai’s six lawmakers. Long queues were waiting when the 10,000 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. Media scrums were set up at the stations where India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, Bollywood superstars including Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, as well as Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar were due to vote. Former MP Priya Dutt, a member of one of India’s most famous acting families, is trying to make a comeback for the opposition Congress party in Mumbai after sitting in the Lok Sabha assembly — the country’s lower house of parliament — from 2005 to 2009. Award-winning actress Urmila Matondkar is running for Congress in the north of the city. The concerns of the rich and famous were far from the ordinary voters in line however. “The most pressing issue for Mumbaikars is unemployment and rising costs of living,” shop trader Jignesh Shah said as he lined up in the suburb of Chembur. “As a middle class family it gets really difficult when real estate costs are so high and transportation is a mess,” the 56-year-old added. About 60 percent of Mumbai’s population live in slums. At the other end of the wealth spectrum, Ambani has raised eyebrows by backing the opposition Congress candidate in his Mumbai constituency, which Modi’s conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left to an allied right wing party. He has regularly spoken in support of Modi’s BJP government and the Reliance Industries tycoon’s son, Anant Ambani, attended a recent Modi rally. Monday’s voting in nine states will be particularly crucial for Modi’s chances of securing a second term after his landslide win in 2014. More than three dozen seats are at stake in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states, all traditional BJP Hindu strongholds. Defeats suffered by the ruling party in three recent state elections has raised Congress hopes that it can eat into the government’s majority. Modi’s party won 282 of the 543 seats contested last time but analysts say this election will be closer. Congress has hit out at Modi’s handling of the economy, the failure to produce promised jobs and massive debts in rural India which has seen thousands of farmers commit suicide in the past four years. The 68-year-old prime minister, still seen as the frontrunner, has increasingly relied on his tough security stance and his nationalist credentials. At a rally in Mumbai on Friday, Modi said only his BJP government can guarantee safety for the city, still recovering major militant attacks 10 years ago. “Modi is confident those who strike with terror on this city will be hunted down. That is how a city and that is how a country is run,” said the prime minister who has given himself the nickname of “the watchman.” Heavy security has been deployed across the country for the election and police baton-charged rival BJP and followers of the regional Trinamool Congress party in West Bengal state, officials said. Fighting broke out in the Asansol constituency over security at polling booths, said Amit Jyoti Bhattacharya, a spokesman for the state election commission. Trinamool Congress activists surrounded the car of local BJP candidate Babul Supriya and smashed its windows. “Police used batons to control the situation,” the spokesman added.

india
bharatiya janata party
elections
bollywood
mumbai
narendra modi


Indonesia detains Vietnamese fishermen after high-seas clash

Abstract: JAKARTA - Indonesia’s navy said that the Vietnamese coast guard rammed one of its vessels off the coast of Borneo as it moved to intercept a boat suspected of fishing illegally in its waters. The navy subsequently arrested a dozen Vietnamese fishermen after the high-seas clash in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea on Saturday, it added in a statement late Sunday. Jakarta claims the area as its exclusive economic zone — waters where a state has the right to exploit resources. The navy said two Vietnamese coast guard ships tried to prevent the apprehension by ramming its vessel, causing damage to the hull. The fishing boat sank, possibly due to an accidental collision, Indonesian authorities said without elaborating. Two fishermen escaped detention by jumping into the water. They were picked by the Vietnamese coast guard, which then fled, the navy said. “The arrest happened in Indonesian waters,” Yudo Margono, commander of Indonesia’s Western Fleet, said in a statement. “The Indonesian vessel acted appropriately,” he added. Video circulating on social media purported to show a Vietnamese patrol boat ramming the left side of the Indonesian vessel as the armed navy crew shouted expletives. Two years ago, Indonesia changed the name of the southern part of the South China Sea to the North Natuna Sea in a bid to show its sovereignty in the waters. More recently, it inaugurated a new military base in the chain of several hundred small islands to beef up its border defenses. The moves have prompted criticism from Beijing, whose claims in the sea overlap Indonesia’s around the remote Natuna Islands. Indonesia, the world’s biggest archipelago nation, has been trying to stop foreign vessels fishing illegally in its territory, claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually.

china
vietnam
indonesia
military
south china sea


At least 17 dead, thousands displaced after severe Sumatra floods

Abstract: JAKARTA - At least 17 people are dead and nine missing after days of heavy rain-triggered floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, authorities said Sunday. Some 12,000 people have been evacuated while hundreds of buildings, bridges and roads have been damaged by the severe weather, which affected nine districts or towns across Bengkulu province, officials said. The waters have receded in some places but officials warned the full extent of the damage was not yet known and some areas were still cut off. “The impact of this disaster may increase,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, adding that several people were also injured in the flooding. “Landslides and floods could happen again if rainfall is high,” he said. A “secondary disaster” in the form of skin diseases and acute respiratory infection due to poor hygiene and a lack of clean water was possible, he added. Aerial images showed swollen rivers that had burst their banks and inundated settlements in some parts of the province. Public kitchens and evacuation shelters have been set up to cater to about 13,000 people affected by the flooding, while search and rescue teams try to reach hard-hit areas with rubber boats. “The distribution of aid has been hampered because road access has been cut off by the floods and landslides,” Nugroho said, adding excavators were being used to clear debris from roads. Landslides and floods are common in Indonesia, especially during the monsoon season between October and April, when rains lash the vast Southeast Asian archipelago. Flooding in parts of the Indonesian capital Jakarta during the week killed at least two people and forced more than 2,000 to evacuate their homes. Residents of Bogor, a satellite city of Jakarta, had to contend with about 14 pythons that were set loose from a private property due to the high waters. Six of the snakes — which were as long as 4 meters (13 feet) — have been found, but the remaining eight remain on the loose, officials said.