Global coal phase-out raises difficult questions for nuclear-averse post-Fukushima Japan

Abstract: Concern about climate change has led to a global shift away from using carbon-emitting coal for electricity, but in post-Fukushima Japan, where nuclear remains a dirty word, coal has become king. When it accepted the Paris Climate Accord in late 2016, Japan — the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases — pledged that no effort would be spared in fighting climate change. The government committed to a 26 percent reduction in emissions by fiscal 2030. But the reduction was viewed as insufficient by environmental activists, as it only represents an 18 percent cut when compared with levels under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol’s base year of 1990. In spite of Japan’s commitment to the Paris agreement, public sentiment against nuclear energy since the 2011 triple core meltdown in Fukushima has made it politically unpalatable to restart nuclear power plants. To make up for the lost output, the government has shifted to coal. Since 2012, plans have been launched to build 50 new coal-fired power stations across the country. Electricity generation accounts for about 40 percent of Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report by environmental NGO Climate Analytics, and in 2016 more than half of the emissions, or about 20 percent, came from coal, “making it a major contributor to climate change.” “To be in line with the Paris Agreement, developed countries need to phase out coal from their energy systems by 2030, yet Japan appears to be going in the opposite direction,” said Paola Yanguas Parra, the report’s lead author. Despite renewable energy sources such as solar and wind — combined with storage technology — emerging as viable alternatives, Japan has continued to pursue coal, which is believed to emit twice as much carbon dioxide than a natural gas-fired plant. Despite pushback from the Environment Ministry, the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry has doubled-down on coal. It is pushing to export next-generation, coal-fueled power technology considered cleaner than older systems. One such plant is run by Tokyo-based J-Power, formally known as Electric Power Development Co. It operates what it describes as a low-carbon, high-efficiency operation at its Isogo coal-fired thermal power station in Yokohama. The plant’s “ultra-supercritical pressure” technology generates steam to rotate turbines and releases a relatively low amount of carbon dioxide, the utility said. J-Power spokesman Yasuhiro Sugishita said the coal-fired plant is also equipped with activated carbon adsorption equipment, which collects sulfur oxides in the exhaust gas, “achieving environmental countermeasures and power generation efficiency” that he claims is among the best in the world. With the help of METI, the Isogo power station has drawn frequent visits from overseas observers. Among the 5,300 who visited in fiscal 2017 ended in March 2018, about 800 were from abroad. Many are government and power company officials from Asian countries, including China, Indonesia and Thailand. Yet even as such technology gathers attention abroad, the coal-fired plants in Japan have begun to face headwinds. Of the 50 domestic projects launched since 2012, nine have foundered, and more are running into challenges. A coal-fired plant sponsored by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co. in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is one such project facing local opposition. “There are concerns like air pollution by contaminants like sulfur oxides,” said Rikuro Suzuki, a 76-year-old leader of a group opposing the plan. “The environment and public health should be given overriding priority,” he said. The opposition extends even into the government and the business community. Last year, the Environment Ministry warned METI that its environmental assessments of coal-fired power plants planned in Ehime and Akita prefectures may need to be reassessed if there is no clear road map for carbon reduction. Kansai Electric Power Co. ditched a plan to convert an existing facility in Ako, Hyogo Prefecture, to coal in early 2017 after acknowledging the need to drive down carbon emissions. Reflecting worldwide trends, investment in coal-fired plants in Japan has begun to dry up. Institutional investors, including Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Nippon Life Insurance Co., have said they will stop making new investments in or providing financing for coal-burning plants. But according to Climate Analytics, the trend is not prevalent enough. “If Japan’s emissions trajectory from its current energy and investment plans for coal were to continue, it would overshoot its Paris Agreement emissions budget for coal in the electricity sector by 292 percent by 2050.” Hajime Yamamoto, a 32-year-old researcher at Kiko Network, a nonprofit environmental organization, said, “Construction of new coal-fired power generation plants will be a heavy drag on long-term efforts to fight global warming. “The government should quickly switch to a policy of promoting a coal phaseout,” he said.

energy
nuclear energy
meti
environment ministry
3.11


World's masterpieces cast in Shigaraki ceramic at museum in Shikoku

Abstract: The Otsuka Museum of Art in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, drew a lot of attention last year when popular singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu held his first live TV performance there on Dec. 31 for NHK’s year-end “Kohaku Uta Gassen” (“Red and White Song Battle”) music contest. Many people, especially young women, visit the museum to take “instagenic” pictures of its 1,082 ceramic reproductions of the world’s masterpieces. The ceramic board replicas were produced at a factory in Koka, Shiga Prefecture, famous for its Shigaraki ware. Yonezu, a Tokushima native, played in the museum’s Sistine Hall, which is filled with elaborate, life-sized replicas of the works Michaelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, including “The Last Judgement” and “The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Plants.” “They are so magnificent and beautiful,” said Hanna Soneda, 24, a graduate student in Tokushima who was examining the works. “I saw the real works in the Vatican, but I’m surprised by how well they are reproduced here,” said Mizuki Kashifuji, 24, a graduate student from Fukuoka who accompanied her. “Yonezu’s performance was magical,” she added. Visitors are allowed to touch and photograph the reproductions, which include Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa,” and Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.” The replicas cover works kept at over 190 museums in 26 countries. View this post on Instagram A post shared by carolyn (@carolyn0723) on Feb 12, 2019 at 3:32am PST The replicas were created by Osaka-based Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co.’s Shigaraki factory in Koka. Photographs of the originals go through digital color separation and are then transferred using a silkscreen process that fires them onto ceramic boards, which are made uneven on the surface to reproduce the rough, bumpy feel of oil paintings. The ceramic boards are fired three to five times, with craftsmen making adjustments to make them as close to the original as possible. The factory can produce boards measuring up to 90 cm by 3 meters. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bosco Law (@boscokachun) on Feb 16, 2019 at 6:37am PST Visitors can also make reservations to get a peek at the factory’s showroom and peruse reproductions of Pablo Picasso’s works, as well as murals from the historic Kitora Tomb in Asuka, Nara Prefecture, free of charge. Ceramic replicas of Edo Period painter Tawaraya Sotatsu’s “Wind God and Thunder God Screens” and Matazo Kayama’s “Oboro” — the original of which was displayed at the venue for the 2016 Ise-Shima G-7 summit — are scheduled to be displayed at the National Theatre in Tokyo from March 3, when the government launches the Japan Expo to promote Japanese culture in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. “The works, which have been displayed at the Otsuka Museum of Art for the past 20 years, have not deteriorated, which proves the quality of our company’s technology,” said Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics President Eitsugu Osugi, 63. “We hope to contribute further by reproducing cultural properties and giving people chances to touch them and become familiar with them.”

ceramics
shiga
tokushima
naruto
shigaraki
koka
kenshi yonezu
otsuka museum of art
replicas


Doorway width mandated by Tokyo accessibility ordinance will leave many wheelchair users out in cold

Abstract: A group representing disabled people in Japan has said the doorway width stipulated in an amendment proposed for Tokyo’s barrier-free ordinance for hotels is unlikely to be wide enough for many wheelchairs. The amendment, which the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to put into effect in September — less than a year before the 2020 Olympics — will require new hotels with more than 1,000 square meters of total floor space as well as facilities expanding by 1,000 sq. meters from the beginning of September to ensure guest room doorways are more than 80 centimeters wide and bathroom doorways are over 70 cm wide. The metropolitan government set the requirement based on the Japanese Industrial Standards for wheelchairs. The envisioned ordinance also calls for new or renovated hotels of the required size to eliminate steps around roads, parking lots and hotel rooms. But the nonprofit Japan National Assembly Of Disabled Peoples’ International said its tests have found that most motorized wheelchairs cannot pass through a bathroom doorway of the stipulated width. “We welcome Tokyo’s move as few wheelchair-user-friendly hotels are now available, but we want them to revise their amendment based on our tests rather than theoretical discussions,” said Masayoshi Imanishi, a member of the assembly. In the group’s tests, which looked into whether wheelchair users could enter bathrooms without making contact with walls, most motorized wheelchairs failed while all manual wheelchairs passed. All five types of wheelchair used in the tests were less than 70 cm in width, but motorized wheelchairs were larger lengthwise, with most over a meter. Therefore, the motorized wheelchairs need a wider hallway and doorway to get into bathrooms, the group said. Based on their tests, the assembly has asked the Tokyo government to revise the required width for bathroom doorways to at least 75 cm, and for hallways to be over 1 meter. The existing barrier-free ordinance only requests that accommodation facilities have rooms for wheelchair users. The revised ordinance will be the first in Japan to regulate the wheelchair accessibility of hotel rooms, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The metropolitan government estimates up to 850 barrier-free rooms will be needed in the capital alone on each day of the games. Currently, there is a shortfall of about 300 rooms, and the metropolitan government aims to make up the deficit by ensuring that more regular rooms are made accessible. During the Olympics next year, huge crowds are anticipated in the capital and its vicinities. The event is expected to help the government reach its stated target of attracting 40 million foreign travelers to the country in 2020. A government official said Tokyo wants to see various types of hotel rooms available, and the central government has asked that accommodation facilities make over 1 percent of their total guest rooms accessible for wheelchair users from September.

tokyo
disability
tokyo metropolitan government
2020 tokyo olympics
wheelchairs


Driver arrested after man fell from truck, having clung on for 6 km, in Miyagi road rage incident

Abstract: SENDAI - Police on Monday arrested a truck driver for allegedly driving off with a man clinging to the side of his vehicle following a road rage incident in Miyagi Prefecture last June. Teruaki Ito, 46, from Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Despite knowing he had the victim, a 51-year-old from Tochigi Prefecture, holding onto the side of his truck, Ito weaved as he drove for about 6 kilometers along Route 4, a major national highway in the prefecture. After holding on for about 10 minutes, the victim eventually fell to the ground, sustaining injuries to his chest and left leg. “I had no intention to kill him,” Ito was quoted as telling the police. According to the police, the incident happened around midnight on June 26, when Ito allegedly began to drive aggressively after being overtaken. Both men stopped, and the victim stepped down from his truck and tried to speak directly to Ito. But Ito drove away and the man was forced to cling to one of the vehicle’s mirrors. Ito is believed to have driven his truck at an average of 60 kph as the man held on, police said.


Facebook bans U.K. far-right figure Tommy Robinson for promoting 'organized hate'

Abstract: LONDON - Facebook on Tuesday removed the accounts of leading British far-right activist Tommy Robinson for violating its “community standards” by promoting “organized hate” and other prohibited behavior. The U.S. social media giant said Robinson, a controversial figure who founded the anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL), had used its platform to share “dehumanizing language” and “calls for violence targeted at Muslims. The company added it was closing his Facebook page and Instagram profile because its community standards forbid “hate speech that may create an environment of intimidation and exclusion for certain groups. “Tommy Robinson’s Facebook page has repeatedly broken these standards, posting material that uses dehumanizing language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims,” the company said in a statement. “He has also behaved in ways that violate our policies around organized hate. “This is not a decision we take lightly, but individuals and organizations that attack others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook or Instagram.” The social media firm is under pressure to rein in disinformation and the use of its platform to share hate speech and other malign material. It follows a wave of scandals, mainly over the sharing of its users’ data without their consent but also over the rampant use of its platform for Russian “fake news” influence campaigns during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. A scathing British parliamentary report released last week branded Facebook “digital gangsters” who failed to fight the spread of fake news and violated data privacy. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — the name of a well-known soccer hooligan from his hometown of Luton in central England that he has adopted — is highly divisive in Britain. He has prior convictions for drugs and assault and was also imprisoned last year for live-streaming outside a court in breach of reporting restrictions on a trial of a gang accused of sexual assault. Robinson has a large following in the United States. He defended himself in an interview with Britain’s Press Association saying: “Where is free speech? I’ve breached no laws of Facebook. … What I’ve done is shown people the truth, and that is what they are removing, the truth.” On Saturday he led a 4,000-strong protest against the BBC, which is preparing a documentary about him, outside its Manchester headquarters.

u.k .
facebook
hate speech
instagram
muslims
tommy robinson


Boeing board to add Nikki Haley, who helped fight South Carolina plant's union drive

Abstract: CHICAGO - Boeing Co. is poised to add an old ally to its board: Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley, 47, who as South Carolina governor fiercely opposed unionization drives at a Boeing factory, has been nominated as a director ahead of the aerospace giant’s annual meeting April 29. Securing the post, which pays upwards of $315,000 annually in cash and shares, would be one of Haley’s first moves since leaving the Trump administration for the private sector. “Boeing will benefit greatly from her broad perspectives and combined diplomatic, government and business experience to help achieve our aspiration to be the best in aerospace and a global industrial champion,” Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement. If elected, Haley would join another high-profile former ambassador: Caroline Kennedy, the former U.S. envoy to Japan under former President Barack Obama. Kennedy became a Boeing director in 2017. Directors of the Chicago-based company are well-compensated for attending about seven meetings a year, as well as sessions of the committees they serve on. In 2017, they each received an annual cash retainer of $135,000 and $180,000 in restricted stock, plus additional fees if they led any committees, according to the company’s proxy statement. By comparison, directors of companies in the S&P 100 earn about $293,000 annually in total compensation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As U.N. ambassador for President Donald Trump, Haley pushed for tougher sanctions against North Korea and Russia, a stance that sometimes put her at odds with the White House. Since leaving the post at the end of last year, Haley has formed Stand For America, an advocacy group promoting a more muscular stance against the two nations, along with fiscally conservative domestic policy. She is viewed as a potential Republican presidential contender for 2024.

boeing
unions
caroline kennedy
donald trump
nikki haley


Japan's beef imports from TPP members soar more than 50% in January from 2018

Abstract: Japan’s beef imports from members of a trans-Pacific free trade pact that took effect late last year soared more than 50 percent in January from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday. Beef imports from Australia, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand — all of whom have ratified the 11-member trade agreement — totaled 33,000 tons in January, up 57 percent from the 21,000 tons in the same month last year, according to data from the Finance Ministry. The deal, officially known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, entered into force Dec. 30 and covers 13 percent of the global economy and 500 million people. Singapore and Vietnam have also ratified the deal but neither country exports beef to Japan. Japan’s tariffs on imported beef were reduced to 27.5 percent from 38.5 percent and will be eventually cut to 9 percent by 2033 under the accord, which will put pressure on domestic farmers as a result of the intensifying competition. The value of the total imports to Japan from the six countries increased 7.6 percent in January from a year earlier, while exports from Japan to those countries fell 14.2 percent. The remaining signatories are Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, and Peru.


Dollar falls below ¥110.40 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar fell below ¥110.40 in late Tokyo trading Wednesday, as risk appetite decreased in the market partly because of tensions between India and Pakistan. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.37-38, down from ¥110.83-83 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1378-1378, up from $1.1349-1350, and at ¥125.59-59, down from ¥125.78-85. The dollar moved narrowly around ¥110.50 for much of the day in Tokyo until a late bout of selling knocked the greenback down below ¥110.40. In late trading, the yen attracted safe-haven buying against the dollar on media reports that the Pakistani military shot down Indian warplanes, traders said. Yen buying mounted also due to growing uncertainty over U.S. politics following media reports that a former attorney of President Donald Trump will testify about criminal acts by Trump with evidence in congressional testimony, said an official of a major securities firm. Before the developments, market participants were waiting for new trading incentives to emerge after digesting reported progress in the U.S.-China trade talks, according to an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service company. The dollar may fall steeply versus the yen if market optimism about a possible U.S.-China trade deal is dashed by remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in congressional testimony later on Wednesday, a currency broker said.


Tokyo stocks rise, helped by buying on dips

Abstract: Stocks turned up on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, helped by buying on dips. The 225-issue Nikkei average gained 107.12 points, or 0.50 percent, to end at 21,556.51. On Tuesday, the key market gauge fell 78.84 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues added 3.22 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 1,620.42, after losing 3.67 points the previous day. Both indexes moved on the positive side throughout the session, aided by buying that apparently came from individual investors, brokers said. The Nikkei average’s rise was supported by the strength of Fast Retailing, a heavyweight component of the closely watched index. The clothing retailer alone pushed up the Nikkei average by some 50 points. But a stronger yen hit export-oriented issues, capping the market’s upside, the brokers said. The market received support from progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations, Tuesday’s congressional testimony by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, seen as dovish, and rises in Shanghai and other Asian stocks, according to the brokers. Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan Inc., said that short covering in futures trading propelled the cash stock market’s upturn. “The market needs fresh incentives to chase higher ground” after it priced in positive factors such as the reported progress in the U.S.-China trade issue, Otani said. The U.S.-North Korea summit starting Wednesday is unlikely to have a major impact on stock prices unless a big surprise is announced, a market source said. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,153 to 893 in the TSE’s first section, while 83 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.235 billion shares from 1.078 billion shares on Tuesday. Pharmaceutical companies were higher. Takeda gained 2.08 percent, Eisai 2.32 percent and Astellas 1.58 percent. Rental apartment operator Leopalace21 jumped 7.66 percent thanks to apparent buying by individual investors, brokers said. Among other winners were game-maker Nintendo and mobile phone carrier KDDI. On the other hand, makers of transport equipment, machinery producers and electrical equipment-makers posted losses. Of them, Yaskawa Electric fell 2.39 percent and Nidec 1.39 percent. Construction machinery-maker Komatsu lost 1.28 percent and peer Hitachi Construction 1.49 percent after JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. revised down investment ratings for the companies. Also lower were tech conglomerate SoftBank Group and daily goods maker Kao. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March contract on the Nikkei average rose 80 points to end at 21,560.

stocks
nikkei
tokyo stock exchange
topix


Subaru's domestic production halves in January due to part defect

Abstract: Subaru Corp. said Wednesday its domestic production in January halved from a year earlier, reflecting the impact of a temporary factory shutdown that came after the discovery of a power-steering defect in certain models. Subaru said its output in Japan plunged 50.9 percent to 21,953 vehicles, while exports dived 40.0 percent to 21,334 units. The automaker suspended operations at its only domestic assembly plant in Gunma Prefecture on Jan. 16 after discovering the problem with a defective power-steering component. Subaru restarted production on Jan. 28, but the supply of parts has remained unstable. The company hopes production will return to normal by the end of March. Subaru has been reeling from quality-control issues since 2017, when it admitted unauthorized staff had conducted vehicle inspections at two domestic plants for more than 30 years. Earlier this month, Subaru said it has revised downward its full-year group earnings forecast for the current business year through March amid declining production and sales. In 2018, Subaru’s domestic production fell 7.0 percent from the previous year to 659,965 vehicles after it found its inspectors fabricated fuel and emissions data and failed to take proper steps in checking brakes and speedometers. The automaker plans to reduce domestic production in 2019 by about 2 percent to 650,000 units from the previous year to give priority to ensuring quality standards are met.


Starbucks to open high-end roastery cafe in Tokyo

Abstract: Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday it is opening a four-story, high-end roastery in central Tokyo featuring a bar and lounge, its fifth such outlet worldwide. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo is set to open Thursday in the capital’s trendy Nakameguro district. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, well-known for his role in designing the new National Stadium, was involved in the project. The coffee chain giant has already opened roastery cafes in New York, Seattle, Milan and Shanghai. Among the over 100 drinks on the menu will be a cold brew made from coffee beans aged in a whiskey barrel, costing ¥1,200, and a vodka martini with cacao liqueur priced at ¥2,000. Starbucks said the new outlet in Tokyo is expected to become the company’s first training location in Japan for coffee professionals certified by the Specialty Coffee Association.

tokyo
coffee
kengo kuma
starbucks
meguro ward


Japan's 24-hour convenience stores struggle to keep doors open all night due to labor crunch

Abstract: A recent dispute between Seven-Eleven Japan Co. and one of its franchise stores has brought the convenience store industry’s around-the-clock service into the spotlight amid a severe nationwide labor crunch. A franchise store in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, now closes between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. after ending its 24-hour service on Feb. 1 due to a shortage of labor. But Seven-Eleven, a unit of Seven & I Holdings Co., has been pressing the store to resume 24-hour per day operations. Seven-Eleven’s 24-hour service started in Japan in 1975 at a store in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. Rival chains, including Lawson Inc. and FamilyMart Co., a unit of FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co., followed suit. The convenience store industry has become a key player in the Japanese retail sector and more than 90 percent of the over 55,000 stores in the country are open around the clock. The 24-hour service is primarily aimed at meeting demand from customers at night, but convenience store chains also stress their stores’ role as part of social infrastructure, including helping prevent nighttime crime and supplying goods in the event of disasters. The merits of the around-the-clock service, the chains say, also include the use of the quieter late-night hours to check products and clean up. In recent years, however, many franchise stores have faced difficulty operating late at night because it is becoming harder to secure part-time workers amid a nationwide labor crunch. “Over the last three or four years, more and more stores have been forced to shut because of a lack of workers, rather than a lack of sales,” said a senior official at a labor union of franchise store owners. The union has been asking for flexibility in setting service hours. In some cases, convenience store chains allow for exceptions to the 24-hour service standard. Lawson has allowed some of its franchise stores to close late at night, while FamilyMart is testing shorter operating hours in Kyoto. Convenience store chains are apparently concerned that if permission to close late at night is given too readily, they will face a rush of such requests from stores. But if the plight of shops goes unaddressed, convenience store chains will face the risk of losing more part-time workers and even store owners, hurting their ability to maintain store networks and the bottom line.

convenience stores
7-eleven
seven-eleven japan


Asia's travel boom is in trouble as pilot shortage worsens

Abstract: An unprecedented travel boom in Asia has spawned new budget carriers and millions of first-time fliers, but a shortage of pilots is threatening to choke demand. Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways Co., which launched this year, was the region’s latest low-cost carrier to start services and more are expected to join the race. In Southeast Asia alone, LCCs have about 1,400 aircraft on order, compared with fewer than 400 for full-service carriers, according to CAPA Centre for Aviation. With the supply of pilots lagging behind, the airlines will struggle to find skilled cockpit crew. “There’s a real crunch coming,” Peter Harbison, executive chairman of Sydney-based CAPA said in Singapore. “For new airlines, it’s much, much harder and it’s going to be a real struggle.” Global traffic is set to double in the next two decades with the biggest increase expected in the Asia-Pacific region, where almost 4 billion passenger journeys are expected, according to the International Air Transport Association. Boeing Co. forecasts the region needs 16,930 new planes and about 261,000 pilots through 2037. That means the current fleets and the number of pilots will need to double during that period, according to the plane-maker. The strain is already showing. India’s IndiGo last month decided to scrap dozens of flights every day through March after many of its pilots exhausted their annual limit on flying hours. Taiwan’s China Airlines Ltd. averted a crisis this month by agreeing to improve working conditions at an annual cost of almost $4 million after the pilots union, citing fatigue among other complaints, went on a seven-day strike. Even some in the Middle East are running into problems: Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, said in April that a shortage of pilots forced it to cut flights. To avoid a squeeze, some airlines have set up their own academies to build a pool of pilots they can tap into. Jeju Air Co., South Korea’s biggest budget carrier, AirAsia Group Bhd., Southeast Asia’s largest by fleet, IndiGo and Indonesia’s Lion Air are among the airlines that have set up training schools. “If I think back to five to 10 years, we weren’t seeing any training academies set by airlines,” said Wendy Sowers, director of commercial marketing at Boeing. “The supply-demand dynamics are coming into play. You are seeing the system respond.” Some airlines are also “quietly” cutting the minimum hours required for pilots to be qualified as captains as they struggle to fill positions quickly, said Steven Greenway, president of Swoop, an ultralow-cost carrier owned by Canada’s WestJet Airlines Ltd. The pilot shortage problem has been around for a while, but has become more serious in recent years, a Jeju Air spokesman said. CAPA’s Harbison says Southeast Asia and India are likely to face the brunt of the shortfall, with the most impact felt by four carriers — AirAsia, IndiGo, Lion Air and VietJet, a Vietnamese airline that has embarked on one of the biggest international expansions by a budget carrier in the region. Benyamin Bin Ismail, chief executive officer of AirAsia X Bhd., said the issue at the group isn’t as bad as the other airlines, and having its own academy “helps keep the flow of talent we need.” Representatives for VietJet, Lion Air and IndiGo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments. In the meantime, their fleets have been expanding rapidly. For instance, IndiGo, operated by India’s InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., is likely to add at least 40 more aircraft in the year ending March 31, 2020, after adding about 62 in the current year, according to CAPA. The airline, which also operates smaller ATR aircraft on regional routes, has 430 Airbus A320-family jets on order, on top of a previous deal to buy 100 narrow-body jets. AirAsia has 375 on order for single-aisle planes, while VietJet has 216, according to the websites of Airbus SE and Boeing. One possible solution to ease the crunch is to have one pilot on short-haul flights instead of two, although pilot unions may oppose any such move, said Harbison. “If you can have driverless cars, you can have airplanes that have only one pilot,” he said. “It’s a matter of shutting down an industry or seriously constraining growth.”


In blow to Trump, U.S. appeals court upholds $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A U.S. appeals court Tuesday green lit the mega-merger of wireless and broadband giant AT&T with media-entertainment powerhouse Time Warner, rejecting an effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to block the deal. The appellate panel said the government’s case failed to consider that the industry had become “dynamic in recent years” with the emergence of online services such as Netflix and Hulu. The $85 billion deal brings together AT&T’s wireless and broadband networks and its DirecTV subscription service with the media assets of Time Warner, which include CNN and other Turner cable channels, the Cartoon Network, premium channel HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio. The government brought the case, claiming the deal would give AT&T too much power in the market for pay television and home entertainment. But US District Judge Richard Leon ruled last year that the government had failed to show the deal would harm competition. The appellate court opinion by Judge Judith Rogers affirmed that decision, saying the industry is undergoing massive changes led by on-demand video services and rivals offering small packages of channels — known as “skinny bundles.” “The merger of these innovative companies has already yielded significant consumer benefits, and it will continue to do so for years to come,” David McAtee, AT&T’s general counsel, said in a statement.

telecoms
cnn
at & t
time warner
donald trump
hbo


U.S. weighs sanctions against mysterious Fintech billionaire's Venezuela deals seen helping Maduro

Abstract: NEW YORK - The U.S. is considering sanctions against Wall Street billionaire David Martinez as part of its effort to topple Nicolas Maduro’s regime by cutting off its access to financing, according to three people familiar with the matter. Treasury Department officials have also discussed naming Martinez, the founder of the Delaware-domiciled hedge fund Fintech Advisory Inc., as a specially designated national for his business dealings with sanctioned Venezuelan officials, including Finance Minister Simon Zerpa and Economy Vice President Tareck El Aissami, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Martinez visited Caracas as recently as December to pitch deals that would ease the government’s cash squeeze. An SDN label on Martinez, a Mexican national who also holds British citizenship and spends much of his time in New York, could restrict his travel and limit his access to U.S. bank accounts, among other repercussions. He’s the sole owner of Fintech, which has an office on Manhattan’s Park Avenue, regulatory filings last year showed. Martinez and his legal adviser in South America didn’t respond to calls and emails, nor did Venezuela’s Finance Ministry. A Fintech representative based in New York declined comment. The Treasury’s press office declined comment on Fintech or Martinez. In taking action against Martinez, the Trump administration would be looking to send an even sterner message to financiers that it won’t tolerate efforts to raise funds for Maduro’s autocratic government. The U.S. and more than 50 other governments recognize National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as the rightful leader of Venezuela and have stepped up measures over the past month to try to drive out Maduro. The Treasury intensified financial punishments on Venezuela in 2017, and last month set much tougher oil sanctions, effectively cutting off the government from the U.S. market. In April 2017, Fintech gave the Maduro government a $300 million loan backed by bonds with a face value of $1.3 billion. While that deal didn’t violate rules at the time, it irked U.S. officials who saw it as providing a lifeline to a despotic regime, the people said. It was one of the last known transactions between a U.S. or European firm and Caracas — the other being Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s purchase the following month of almost $3 billion of bonds — before the Trump administration further tightened sanctions. Since then, the distressed-debt veteran has traveled to the Venezuelan capital to pitch Zerpa, El Aissami and others on potential financial deals, including oil-related debt-for-equity swaps with the Russian and Chinese governments, three people familiar with the matter said. “Venezuela is under a microscope and the leading edge of Washington’s Venezuela policy is financial strangulation,” said Benjamin Gedan, a former South America director at the White House’s National Security Council who said he had no direct knowledge of Fintech’s practices or Treasury’s plans for the firm. “If you engage in these types of transactions, you’re undermining that.” Martinez had a net worth of $2.4 billion as of December 2016, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That would make him among the wealthiest Mexicans, though he spends most of his time in London and New York, visiting his native Monterrey only to see family. In 2003, he caught the attention of Manhattan socialites when he plunked down $42 million for a condominium in the Time Warner Center. The investment manager has tried to profit from just about every financial basket case that appeared over the past three decades, from Greece to Pakistan. He invested heavily in Argentina, where he became known as a “friendly vulture,” an affable take on the scavenger-bird invoked by former President Nestor Kirchner to describe hedge funds looking to profit off the nation’s woes. Martinez crossed swords with hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer in that epic default saga as well as a contentious debt-restructuring orchestrated by Mexican glassmaker Vitro SAB. Other hedge fund managers refer to him as a “ghost investor,” who’s incredibly active yet frustratingly opaque. “The U.S. is pulling out all the stops and the question is what’s the next most painful thing we could do to the Maduro regime?” said F. Amanda DeBusk, chair of the law firm Dechert’s international trade practice in Washington, who added she’s unaware of any potential Treasury actions related to Fintech. “They really want to stop transactions with the government and send a strong warning signal to others.”

venezuela
sanctions
u.s. treasury
nicolas maduro
fintech advisory
david martinez


U.S.-backed Syria force screens and treats Islamic State 'caliphate' survivors

Abstract: NEAR BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - U.S.-backed forces in eastern Syria on Tuesday screened and treated truckloads of suspected jihadis and relatives who left a village where the Islamic State group’s “caliphate” is making its last stand. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) struggled to cope with the flow of people exiting the very last shred of a once-sprawling proto-state that claimed dominion over millions of people. Several thousand of them are believed to remain in a last redoubt, which has been shrunk to about half a square kilometer on the edge of Baghouz, a hamlet by the Euphrates River. Hundreds of them, mostly women and children, arrived on Tuesday from Baghouz to a desert screening center in a convoy of 11 huge double-trailer trucks. The women formed a line to be searched before heading to a distribution point where baby formula, diapers and bread were being handed out. Overwhelmed fighters from the Kurdish-led SDF were still treating some of the more than 2,000 people who were trucked in the previous day. An AFP reporter saw an 11-year-old girl who had lost her leg, a small child with a broken hand and his pregnant mother as well as others who had suffered wounds from landmine explosions and bombardment. Kurdish fighters there said 30 people, mostly women, had already been sent on to other facilities for treatment, and that a total of 300 had received emergency care. Their accounts of the makeshift camp in Baghouz where the SDF says around 5,000 people remain describe a death trap of disease and starvation. Many of the women told AFP they were not able to leave earlier for lack of funds to pay the smugglers who spirit groups out of the besieged area. “Inside, there is nothing but hunger,” said one of them. Next to her, two famished, dust-caked children were spooning out jam from a pot with their grimy fingers. Nearby in the chaotic SDF outpost, a woman from Kazakhstan was walking around asking people if they knew whether meals would be handed out soon. The number of people trapped in the last IS pocket near the Iraqi border has exceeded all estimates from a month ago, when SDF forces looked poised to complete their takeover. The SDF, which has spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria since 2015, has complained that the burden was too heavy and urged the world to scale up its humanitarian effort. Many of the civilians and fighters emerging from the ruins of the IS “caliphate” are foreigners whose countries of origin are reluctant to repatriate. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, around 50,000 people have quit the last IS pocket in the Euphrates Valley since December 2018. Among them are up to 5,000 suspected IS members, while most of the rest are their relatives. After being vetted, women, children and men not suspected of belonging to the extremist group are transported north to the Kurdish-run camp of Al-Hol, while suspected jihadis are sent to SDF-held detention centers. More evacuations are likely in the coming days but SDF forces, with backing from the U.S.-led coalition and its aerial might, are then expected to move in and flush out any die-hard IS fighters. Kurdish foreign affairs official Abdel Karim Omar said Monday that the SDF would announce the end of the IS proto-state “in the next few days. “But this does not mean that we have eliminated terrorism, which must be eradicated at the roots,” he said. Beyond Baghouz, IS still has thousands of fighters and sleeper cells across several countries. In Syria, it retains a presence in the vast Badia desert, and the jihadis have claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory. Some IS members are believed to have paid their way into Syria’s northwestern Idlib region, which is mostly controlled by a rival jihadi group dominated by former al-Qaida fighters. A fully fledged assault by Russian-backed regime forces there was staved off by a September truce deal under which Turkey was expected to ensure that jihadis stand down. The agreement has been rattled by several flare-ups, the latest of which killed dozens of people, mostly government and allied fighters over the past three days, the Observatory said. The monitor also said on Monday that 1,400 people, mainly IS relatives, were secretly transported from orchards on the outskirts of Baghouz to neighboring Iraq over the weekend. Kurdish officials did not confirm the transfer, but denied the SDF was responsible. Baghdad on Sunday said the SDF has transferred 280 Iraqi nationals accused of fighting alongside IS to Iraqi authorities.

conflict
u.s .
terrorism
syria
islamic state
syrian democratic forces
baghouz


New U.N. access to Hodeida mills could boost Yemen aid operation against famine

Abstract: GENEVA - The United Nations regained access to a grain facility near Yemen’s Hodeida port on Tuesday, potentially allowing an increase in food aid to millions at risk of starvation after years of devastating war, humanitarian officials said. The breakthrough was announced by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a humanitarian pledging conference in Geneva aimed at averting famine in Yemen. But talks aimed at securing a pullout from Hodeida by Iran-aligned Houthi forces holding the city and Saudi-led coalition forces appeared stalled again despite U.N. efforts to clear the way to wider negotiations on ending the conflict. Western diplomats said an inspection of the grain stores in the port had been carried out but the warring sides still needed to agree on which road could be used to transport to transport supplies from the site to needy recipients. Guterres said $2.6 billion has been pledged so far toward a U.N. appeal of $4.2 billion this year for Yemen, where 24 million people, or 80 percent of the population of the Arabian Peninsula nation, is in need of aid. The WFP grain stores at the Red Sea Mills have more than 51,000 tonnes of wheat but have been cut off in the conflict zone for six months, putting the grains at risk of rotting. A WFP team that went to the Red Mills premises took stock of how much grain remains and what has been damaged, WFP Yemen country director Stephen Anderson told Reuters. “There is sufficient grain there for 3.7 million people for a month. Given that Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian emergency right now, people desperately need this assistance,” Anderson told Reuters at the Geneva talks. The WFP is now reaching about 10 million Yemenis per month with food aid and hopes to scale up to 12 million this year, but it is a complicated operation in war zones, he said. “We are concentrated in particular on the 104 districts where there is a convergence of hunger, malnutrition and health and water problems,” said Anderson. Forty-five districts have “pockets of people facing catastrophic hunger,” he added. Around 2 million Yemeni children are malnourished, 360,000 of whom were suffering from “severe acute malnutrition,” the life-threatening form, said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF director for the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which have led a bombing campaign against Houthis fighting the forces of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi — each pledged $500 million in fresh funds at the Geneva conference.

conflict
yemen
u.n .
famine
wfp
houthis
antonio guterres
hodeida


Assad regime airstrikes up sharply in rebel-held northwest Syria despite truce: monitors

Abstract: BEIRUT - Airstrikes have been stepped up against rebel-held northwestern Syria, the last major bastion of opponents of President Bashar Assad, prompting thousands of civilians to flee the town of Khan Sheikhoun, war monitors said on Tuesday. The area near the Turkish frontier is under a cease-fire brokered last year by Assad’s main battlefield ally, Russia, and Turkey, one of the main supporters of rebels who have fought to topple him for eight years. Hundreds of thousands of people who fled other parts of Syria are sheltering in the enclave, protected by the truce, which was aimed at averting an all-out government assault. Any suggestion that the cease-fire is under new strain is closely watched by the warring parties and their allies. Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said government forces had intensified artillery shelling and airstrikes, which have been ramping up over the past 10 days. “The bombing is focused mainly on towns along the Damascus-Aleppo international road,” he said. “Khan Sheikhoun has turned into a ghost town.” The White Helmets rescue organization that operates in opposition areas of Syria said five people were killed by shelling and airstrikes on Tuesday, including three children. According to a senior data analyst at Hala Systems, which operates an early warning system for aerial bombardment called Sentry, 13 strikes had been observed in Idlib and northern Hama on Tuesday. “This is the third straight day in which a significant increase in airstrikes has been observed. The pace of attacks seems high — and certainly unusual compared to the last few months,” the analyst, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. Syrian state media said insurgents had fired rockets at several towns in the northern part of Hama province, killing one civilian and wounding seven others in what it said was a violation of the cease-fire. Under the agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey, the enclave in the northwest includes a demilitarized zone that must be kept free of all heavy weapons and jihadi fighters. Moscow has complained about escalating violence in Idlib and said that militants who used to belong to the Nusra Front, Syria’s former chapter of al-Qaida, are in control of large swaths of territory. Syria’s conflict began in 2011 after Assad’s security forces used force to crush mass demonstrations against his rule. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict, which has drawn in world powers.

russia
syria
airstrikes
turkey
al-qaida
bashar assad
idlib
khan sheikhoun


Nearly half of children with cancer untreated: study

Abstract: PARIS - Some 45 percent of children with cancer are left undiagnosed and untreated, according to an innovative study of the disease’s global footprint among under-15s, published Wednesday. Worldwide, there are some 400,000 new cases of childhood cancer each year, but barely half are logged in national health registries, researchers reported in The Lancet Oncology, a medical journal. “The patients will almost certainly die, although cancer will not be listed on a death certificate,” noted Eva Steliarova-Foucher, a scientist at the U.N.-backed International Agency for Research on Cancer, commenting on the study. Sixty percent of countries do not even have cancer registries, and of those that do many only cover a fraction of the population. The new method for calculating disease burden also incorporates data from the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory, along with health and household surveys developed by UNICEF. Researchers took into account general levels of access to primary care and referrals to specialized care. “Our model suggests that nearly one in two children with cancer are never diagnosed and may die untreated,” said lead author Zachary Ward from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “While underdiagnosis has been acknowledged as a problem, this model provides specific estimates that have been lacking.” As with many diseases, the disparity between rich and developing nations is stark. The survey of data from 200 countries shows that more than half of childhood cancer cases in Africa, south-central Asia and the Pacific Islands slip through the health care net. By contrast, only 3 percent of cases are undiagnosed in the United States, Europe and Canada. The number of new cases in 2015, the most recent year analyzed, was stable or declining in most regions, but remained highly concentrated — 92 percent — in low- and middle-income nations. The most common nonadult cancer that year in most parts of the world — with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa — was acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which affects white blood cells. “Health systems in low- and middle-income countries are clearly failing to meet the needs of children with cancer,” said senior author Rifat Atun, a professor at Harvard University. “Universal health coverage — a target of U.N. Sustainable Development Goals — must include cancer in children as a priority to prevent needless deaths,” he said in a statement. The authors estimate that there will be 6.7 million new cases of childhood cancer worldwide between 2015 and 2030. Of these, nearly 3 million will go undetected unless health systems improve rapidly. Barriers to access and referral in health care systems remains a major problem and accounts for a large portion of undiagnosed cancer cases in children, the researchers said.

children
poverty
disease
health care
cancer


Plastic particles found even in deepest ocean animals

Abstract: PARIS - Animals in the deepest ocean trenches have been found with plastic fragments in their gut, according to new research showing how pollution reaches even the bowels of the planet. More than 300 million tons of plastics are produced annually, and there are at least 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. Because deep-sea exploration is expensive and time-consuming, most studies on plastic pollution until now had been close to the surface, showing widespread plastic contamination in fish, turtles, whales and sea birds. Now British researchers have discovered cases of plastic ingestion among tiny shrimp in six of the deepest ocean trenches. In the Mariana Trench, east of the Philippines — the deepest depression on Earth — 100 percent of the animals studied had plastic fibers in their digestive tracts. “Half of me was expecting to find something, but that is huge,” said Alan Jamieson, from Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. Jamieson and his team normally spend their time looking for new species in the depths of the oceans. But they realized that over the course of expeditions dating back a decade they had accumulated dozens of specimens of a species of tiny shrimp that lives between 6,000 and 11,000 meters (19,500 to 36,000 feet) beneath the surface. They decided to look for plastic. “We are sitting on the deepest data set in the world, so if we find (plastics) in these, we are done,” Jamieson said. The team was astonished by just how widespread the plastic contamination at extreme depths proved to be. For instance, the Peru-Chile Trench in the southeast Pacific is around 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles) from the Japan Trench. Yet plastic was found in both. “It’s off Japan, off New Zealand, off Peru — and each trench is phenomenally deep,” Jamieson said. “The salient point is that they are consistently found in animals all around the Pacific at extraordinary depths, so let’s not waste time. It’s everywhere.” Of the 90 individual creatures the team dissected, 65 — over 72 percent — contained at least one plastic microparticle. The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said it was unclear if the particles had been ingested at higher depths by fish that then died and sank. But when the team analyzed the fibers — most of which appeared to be clothes fabrics such as nylon — they found that the plastics’ atomic bonds had shifted compared to new material, suggesting they were several years old. Microplastic particles are either dumped directly into the seas via sewers and rivers or are the product of the breakdown of larger chunks of plastic over time. Once they start gathering bacteria, they get heavier and eventually sink. “So even if not a single fiber were to enter the sea from this point forward, everything that’s in the sea now is going to eventually sink, and once it’s in the deep sea, where is the mechanism to get it back?” asked Jamieson. “We are piling all our crap into the place we know least about.” Because plastic contamination is now so widespread, even at extreme depths, the team cautioned that it is nearly impossible to know what effect plastic ingestion is having on bottom-dwelling species. “These particles could just pass straight through the animal, but in the animals we looked at they must be blocking them. The equivalent would be for you to swallow a 2-meter polypropylene rope and expect that not to have an adverse affect on your health,” said Jamieson. “There’s no good aspect to this.”

pollution
oceans
animals
environment
plastic
plastic waste


Radioactive substances found at U.S. crematorium raise questions over handling remains of cancer patients

Abstract: WASHINGTON - In late 2017, a 69-year-old American man who had just received a lutetium 177-based radiation treatment for his pancreatic cancer died. Five days later, his remains were cremated. Three weeks later, Kevin Nelson, a radiation safety officer at the Mayo Clinic Arizona, started to worry. Nelson learned of the man’s death with a bit of a delay, as he had died in another hospital. In Florida, where Nelson had worked before, cremating human remains contaminated with radioactive substances was illegal. But was it illegal in Arizona? No, it turns out. There is no law on the books on the issue, Nelson was told by the state’s bureau of radiation control. That office’s experts decided nevertheless to measure radiation levels at the crematorium, with Nelson in tow. “It was just happenchance” that Nelson had confronted a similar situation before, he told AFP. Another doctor might not have even thought about it. A Geiger-Mueller counter was put in contact with the cremation unit, a vacuum filter and a bone crusher: trace amounts of lutetium were detected. Investigators took urine samples from the facility’s operator. No similar traces of lutetium were found, but faint traces of another radioactive substance, technetium 99 — widely used by hospitals for diagnostic testing — appeared. The crematorium worker likely was contaminated by inhaling technetium when the remains of another patient were incinerated. At a high temperature, the molecules would have vaporized in the air. The case is described in a research letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Nelson and his colleague, Nathan Yu, a resident physician in the radiation oncology department at the Mayo Clinic Arizona. “This is the first time that contamination of facilities has been documented,” Yu told AFP. Nelson described the level of radiation found as “very, very small.” “We’re very confident in saying that it’s unlikely the crematory operator who picked up this radiation had anything close to the general public limit” set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), he added. Before incinerating human remains, crematoriums remove pacemakers, defibrillators and any other implanted apparatus that might explode. But most U.S. states seem not to have addressed the thorny issue of radioactive substances in corpses. On the federal level, an NRC spokesman told AFP that existing regulations covering patients treated with radioactive substances extend to cremation and autopsy. But the NRC does not technically regulate the business of cremation services. So for the regulations to work, hospitals must inform crematoriums of any potential risk of exposure. “It’s not something that is widely known or thought about,” Yu admitted. In the case examined, the employee was exposed to a nondangerous dose of radiation. But there are many other radiopharmaceuticals, which become volatile at varying temperatures, have varying half-lives and are administered in varying doses, and the results could be far different, Yu said. Forty million treatments and exams using radioactive medicine were carried out worldwide in 2006, doctors say, citing the most recent available data. They are calling for better ways to evaluate the risk. The National Funeral Directors Association told AFP they were unaware of the most recent case until recently but noted it supported “further study of this issue.” The association also said it welcomes recommendations on better protecting crematory staff and the public at large, including by “evaluating radioactivity in deceased patients prior to cremation.” In Virginia, the head of the office of radiological health told AFP that there are no health regulations on the books as cremation facilities are not licensed users of radioactive materials. In Maryland, the head of the state board of morticians, Lynn Newman, admitted his surprise at the idea that members of his profession could be at risk of contamination. “It’s never crossed my mind,” Newman told AFP.

radiation
cancer
crematorium
lutetium 177
mayo clinic arizona


Remains of hundreds of Jews unearthed in Nazi-era mass grave in Belarus

Abstract: BREST, BELARUS - Soldiers in Belarus have unearthed the bones of hundreds of people shot during World War II from a mass grave discovered at the site of a ghetto where Jews lived under the Nazis. The grave was uncovered by chance last month on a construction site in a residential area in the center of Brest near the Polish border. Soldiers wearing white masks on Tuesday sifted through the site with spades, trowels and their gloved hands to collect the bones. They also found items such as leather shoes that had not rotted. Dmitry Kaminsky, a soldier leading the unit, said they had exhumed 730 bodies so far, but could not be sure how many more would be found. “It’s possible they go further under the road. We have to cut open the tarmac road. Then we’ll know,” he said. Some of the skulls bore bullet holes, he said, suggesting the victims had been executed by a shot to the back of the head. Belarus, a former Soviet republic, was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II and tens of thousands of its Jews were killed by the Nazis. The site of the mass grave served from December 1941 to October 1942 as part of a ghetto, areas created by the Nazis to segregate Jews and sometimes other minorities from other city dwellers. Brest was part of Poland before the war. The remains were discovered when builders began to lay the foundations for an apartment block. Local authorities want to bury the bodies in a ceremony at a cemetery in the north of the city. “We want to be sure that there are no more mass graves here,” said Alla Kondak, a local culture official.

wwii
poland
belarus
jews
nazis
holocaust
mass grave


GOP lawmaker tweets warning to Michael Cohen before public testimony against Trump

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A top House Republican ally of President Donald Trump delivered a warning to former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen on the eve of Cohen’s scheduled public testimony before a congressional committee investigating the president. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz implied in a tweet Tuesday that Cohen’s wife is “about to learn a lot” about Cohen, suggesting without offering any evidence that he’s had extramarital affairs — raising immediate accusations that Gaetz was trying to intimidate Cohen. Congressional Republicans and Trump’s aides have been attacking Cohen’s credibility, calling him a convicted liar, prior to his testimony Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, in which he’s said to be planning to depict his former boss as having committee criminal acts. Cohen pleaded guilty to nine felonies, including lying to Congress. But few have gone as far as Gaetz did in his tweet. A former federal prosecutor, Renato Mariotti, said on Twitter that Gaetz’s tweet “appears to be an attempt to intimidate a witness before he testifies before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow.’ Gaetz dismissed such characterizations. “We are still allowed to test the veracity and character of witnesses before Congress, I think,” he said in a text message to Bloomberg News. He added: “Moreover, do you appreciate the irony in asking be about intimidating people in re: Michael Cohen? The dude has been a creepy intimidator for awhile.” Cohen testified behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee for hours on Tuesday and will do the same on Thursday before the House Intelligence panel. Questions in those sessions will focus in part on his role in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, while his testimony before the oversight panel will focus on what he knows about Trump’s business practices. Gaetz, who went to law school and worked as an attorney, is a member of the Judiciary Committee, but is not on the Oversight panel. Cohen has pleaded guilty to nine felonies, including lying to Congress. He’s scheduled to report to prison on May 6. He had originally been scheduled to testify to Congress in early February, but delayed that appearance, citing threats from Trump.

congress
twitter
robert mueller
donald trump
russia probe
michael cohen
matt gaetz


Contempt ruling stands: U.S. court rejects Roger Stone aide's challenge to special counsel Robert Mueller

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge brought by an associate of Roger Stone, the indicted long-time adviser to President Donald Trump, to the legality of Robert Mueller’s 2017 appointment by the Justice Department as special counsel heading the Russia investigation. In doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision to hold Andrew Miller in contempt for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena served on him by Mueller, who is investigating potential conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Moscow. Miller’s case marked the third legal challenge to Mueller’s authority that has failed so far, including efforts by Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman who has been convicted on a series of charges and pleaded guilty to others, and a Russian company accused of meddling in the election. Miller is a one-time aide to Stone who has worked for other political campaigns in the past. In Miller’s challenge, the court concluded that Mueller’s appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, was lawful under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution that lays out presidential powers on appointing certain public officials. Miller’s lawyer had argued that the appointment was unlawful because Mueller was not named by the president and approved by the Senate. That argument depended on Mueller being viewed as what is known as a “principal officer” who must be confirmed by the Senate. The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department that Mueller is an “inferior officer,” a lower-level official who is under the direction of Rosenstein like other government lawyers. “Special Counsel Mueller effectively serves at the pleasure of an Executive Branch officer who was appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate,” the three-judge panel concluded. “Miller’s contention that Special Counsel Mueller is a principal officer under the Appointments Clause thus fails.” Paul Kamenar, Miller’s attorney, said he is disappointed in the decision and is still weighing whether to appeal it, either to the full appellate court or to the Supreme Court. “The fact that the court took over three months to decide this appeal after oral argument … demonstrates that this was a serious and substantial challenge,” Kamenar said. Stone, a self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” and Republican political operative for decades, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 29 to lying to Congress, obstructing an official proceeding and witness tampering, charges brought by Mueller’s team. Mueller is preparing to submit to Attorney General William Barr a report on his investigation, a probe that has cast a cloud over Trump’s presidency. Trump has called the Mueller probe a witch hunt. He and Russia have denied collusion. Russia has denied election interference. A federal judge previously rejected Manafort’s bid to get an indictment against him dismissed by arguing that Mueller’s appointment ran afoul of Justice Department rules on installing special counsels. Manafort is due to be sentenced next month in two related cases for crimes ranging from bank and tax fraud, to conspiring against the United States and witness tampering. A judge separately rejected Russian company Concord Management and Consulting LLC’s effort to win dismissal of an indictment secured by Mueller that alleges it helped fund a propaganda operation to sway voters in the 2016 election. Concord, like Miller, argued that Mueller’s appointment violated the Constitution, but the judge ruled Mueller’s appointment was lawful. Miller’s legal challenge is the only one that made it to the appellate court. Concord’s attorneys filed a brief and participated in oral arguments in support of Miller’s claim.

robert mueller
donald trump
andrew miller
rod rosenstein
roger stone
russia probe


U.S. disrupted Russian trolls on day of November 2018 election: Washington Post

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. military disrupted the internet access of a Russian troll farm accused of trying to influence American voters on Nov. 6, 2018, the day of the congressional elections, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The U.S. Cyber Command strike targeted the Internet Research Agency in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg, the Post reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials. The group is a Kremlin-backed outfit whose employees had posed as Americans and spread disinformation online in an attempt to also influence the 2016 election, according to U.S. officials. “They basically took the IRA (Internet Research Agency) offline,” the Post quoted one person familiar with the matter as saying. “They shut ’em down.” Cyber Command had no immediate comment on the report. The Internet Research Agency was one of three entities and 13 Russian individuals indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office in February 2018 in an alleged criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper in the U.S. presidential race, boost Trump and disparage his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Prosecutors said the agency is controlled by Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, who U.S. officials have said has extensive ties to Russia’s military and political establishment. Prigozhin, also personally charged by Mueller, has been dubbed “Putin’s cook” by Russian media because his catering business has organized banquets for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

russia
hacking
washington post
u.s. election
trolls
internet research agency
evgeny prigozhin
u.s. cyber command


Univision team deported from Venezuela after Maduro interview sours, gear is seized

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela on Tuesday deported a team from U.S. television network Univision after anchor Jorge Ramos said authorities detained them at the presidential palace because President Nicolas Maduro was upset by their interview questions. The six-person team was held for more than two hours and had their equipment confiscated, Ramos told reporters on Monday evening after arriving back at his Caracas hotel, which was surrounded by intelligence agents. Ramos left the hotel on Tuesday morning guarded by personnel from the U.S. and Mexican embassies while intelligence agents escorted them to Caracas’ Maiquetia airport. They left on a midday flight to Miami, according to Reuters witnesses. “They didn’t give us a reason” for the deportation, Ramos told reporters as he arrived at the terminal. “They just said to us last night that we had been expelled from the country.” Ramos, a veteran anchor born in Mexico, told Mexican broadcaster Televisa that Maduro became annoyed when they showed him a video of young Venezuelans eating from a garbage truck, a sign of widespread food shortages across the country. Maduro faces his biggest political challenge since he replaced Hugo Chavez six years ago, with dozens of countries recognizing his rival, Juan Guaido, as the country’s legitimate leader. At least seven foreign journalists who flew in to cover the turmoil were briefly detained in January. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Monday that the government had previously welcomed hundreds of journalists to the presidential palace, but it did not support “cheap shows” put on with the help of the U.S. Department of State.

u.s .
venezuela
mexico
nicolas maduro
univision
jorge ramos


U.S. House OKs Democrats' bill blocking Trump emergency on border wall

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Democrats ignored a veto threat and rammed legislation through the House Tuesday that would stymie President Donald Trump’s bid for billions of extra dollars for his border wall, escalating a clash over whether he was abusing his powers to advance his paramount campaign pledge. The House’s 245-182 vote to block Trump’s national emergency declaration fell well below the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override his promised veto. Top Republicans worked to keep defections as low as possible — 13 backed the Democrats’ resolution — underscoring their desire to avoid a tally suggesting that Trump’s hold on lawmakers was weakening. The vote also throws the political hot potato to the Republican-run Senate, where there were already enough GOP defections to edge it to the cusp of passage. Vice President Mike Pence used a lunch with Republican senators at the Capitol to try keeping them aboard, citing a dangerous crisis at the border, but there were no signs he’d succeeded. “I personally couldn’t handicap the outcome at this point,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who’s planning a vote within the next three weeks. He even said Republicans remained uncertain about the legality of Trump’s move, telling reporters, “We’re in the process of weighing that.” Senate passage would force Trump’s first veto, which the House vote demonstrated that Congress would surely fail to overturn. But the showdown was forcing Republicans to cast uncomfortable votes pitting their support for a president wildly popular with GOP voters against fears that his expansive use of emergency powers would invite future Democratic presidents to do likewise for their own pet policies. House Republicans who joined all voting Democrats to support the Democratic resolution included moderates from competitive districts like Fred Upton of Michigan and libertarian-leaning conservatives like Thomas Massie from Kentucky. The White House wrote to lawmakers formally threatening to veto the legislation. The letter said blocking the emergency declaration would “undermine the administration’s ability to respond effectively to the ongoing crisis at the Southern Border.” Republicans said Democrats were driven by politics and a desire to oppose Trump at every turn, and said Trump had clear authority to declare an emergency to protect the country. They also defended the president’s claims of a security crisis along the boundary with Mexico, which he has said is ravaged by drug smugglers, human traffickers and immigrants trying to sneak into the U.S. illegally. “We are at war on the Southern border with the drug cartels,” said Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas. Trump has asserted that barriers would stop drugs from Mexico from entering the U.S. In fact, government figures show that 90 percent of drugs intercepted from Mexico are caught at ports of entry, not remote areas where barriers would be constructed. Democrats said Republicans repeatedly accused former President Barack Obama of flouting the Constitution, which gives Congress control over spending, but are ignoring Trump’s effort to do the same. “Is your oath of office to Donald Trump, or is your oath of office to the Constitution?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asked Republicans. Trump’s push for the wall reflected a continuation of the anti-immigrant views that helped fuel his election, some Democrats said. “Since when do we call human beings in need a national emergency?” said Mexican-born Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill. “Is he running out of insults for people like me?” Democrats also said the crisis is a fiction manufactured by Trump to dance around Congress’ vote this month to provide less than $1.4 billion for barrier construction. That was well below the $5.7 billion Trump demanded as he futilely forced a record-setting 35-day federal shutdown. “The president does not get to override Congress in a raucous temper tantrum over his inability to broker a deal” with lawmakers for more money, said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, sponsor of the one-sentence measure blocking the declaration, called Trump’s move “constitutional vandalism.” Trump used a 1976 law to declare a national emergency and ordered the shift of $3.6 billion from military construction projects to wall building. Citing other powers, he intends to shift another $3.1 billion from Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a fund that collects seized assets. The money would be used to build steel barriers up to 30 feet tall and other barriers and for “law enforcement efforts,” said a White House statement. In the Senate, three Republicans have said they will back Democrats’ drive to block the emergency declaration: Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis. One more GOP defection would provide enough votes to approve the Democratic measure, assuming all Democrats and their independent allies back it. Republicans said senators asked Pence numerous questions about which projects Trump would divert to pay for the wall, with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., saying the discussion was “hearty.” Shelby, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls spending, said his panel would quickly “backfill” money for military construction with other funds he did not identify. “That issue won’t stay alive long,” Shelby told reporters. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chief GOP vote counter, said there may be GOP attempts to amend the House measure, saying Republicans “think they have amendments that would improve it.” That suggests that McConnell may try finding a way to add language that could sink the Democratic resolution or, perhaps, make it more palatable for Republicans. The law requires the Senate to vote on a measure within 18 days of receiving it from the House. Though presidents have declared 58 emergencies under the law, this is the first aimed at acquiring money for an item Congress has explicitly refused to finance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director for national security at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice. This is also the first time Congress has cast votes on whether to annul an emergency declaration, she said. Even with Democrats’ effort near-certain to ultimately fail, several lawsuits have been filed aimed at blocking the money, including by Democratic state attorneys general, progressive and environmental groups. Those suits at the very least are likely to delay access to those funds for months or years.

u.s .
congress
immigration
republicans
democrats
donald trump


Delayed departure from EU possible as May seeks approval for new Brexit strategy

Abstract: LONDON - Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday face a vote by MPs over her newly revised Brexit strategy, which could allow them to approve an eventual delay to Britain’s EU departure. The embattled leader will ask lawmakers to approve a three-step plan set out Tuesday that would give her more time to attempt to rework a draft divorce deal struck with the European Union. Under the new plan, if she fails to come up with a Brexit deal that wins MPs’ support by March 12, May will swiftly call further votes on what happens next — including on Britain leaving the bloc without any deal and on postponing Brexit. “Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended,” May told MPs Tuesday, referring to the EU law Britain invoked to schedule its exit from the European bloc. “Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 March. “The House (of Commons) needs to come together … and send a clear message that there is a stable majority in favor of leaving the EU with a deal.” The prime minister, who reached an agreement with European leaders late last year but saw it overwhelmingly rejected by British lawmakers in January, had repeatedly ruled out delaying Brexit. But she made the dramatic reversal this week amid threats of mass resignations from her own ministers, who fear Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29. The government published an updated assessment Tuesday of preparedness for such a scenario, which found a majority of businesses are not ready for a new trading regime. It also warned that some food prices were likely to increase — particularly for fresh fruit and vegetables —- and that this could “exacerbate, or create, shortages.” However, May’s change in course has already angered Brexit hard-liners in her own Conservative Party, with influential MP Jacob Rees-Mogg warning “any delay to Brexit is a plot to stop Brexit.” The beleaguered British leader is also set to face a series of votes on various amendments tabled by MPs, including cross-party moves to lock in her commitments made on Tuesday. Under May’s proposals, she will have two more weeks to try to win concessions from the EU over the so-called “backstop” clause to keep the Irish border open in all scenarios. Parliament will vote on any revised deal by March 12, and if lawmakers again refuse to back it, they would then vote the next day on whether Britain should leave without a deal. Following that measure’s expected defeat, they would then decide on March 14 on a “short, limited” extension of no more than three months before Britain leaves the EU. “They are commitments I am making as prime minister and I will stick by them,” May vowed on Tuesday. But an amendment put forward by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory backbencher Oliver Letwin, seeks to bind her government into the steps, and to bringing forward the “necessary legislation to change the exit date.” Meanwhile the main opposition Labour Party said it would be tabling an amendment with five demands, including Britain remaining in a customs union with the EU after Brexit. In a significant shift, the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn announced Monday that it would support a second referendum on the issue if it could not get the demands adopted. Cross-party supporters of another public vote on Brexit have also put forward an amendment to kick-start that process next month. It was tabled by a small group of pro-European former Labour and Conservative MPs, who have broken away to form The Independent Group, with support from others including the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats. It is not expected to pass in the House of Commons, where a majority of MPs are still thought to be against another referendum. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow will on Wednesday morning select which amendments will be voted on by MPs, from around 7 p.m.


Defections force Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s hand on calling for new Brexit referendum

Abstract: LONDON - Labour Party leader and lifelong euroskeptic Jeremy Corbyn may be hoping his cautious new support for a second Brexit referendum isn’t put to the test, experts say. The shift appears to have been prompted by the defection of nine Labour MPs last week, many of whom cited Corbyn’s ambiguous Brexit stance as a reason. Corbyn on Monday said he would put forward or support a parliamentary vote on holding a second referendum if the party’s plan for Brexit is rejected. “For him personally, it’s something of a U-turn,” said Steven Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham. Corbyn does not oppose Brexit, and his support for staying in the European Union ahead of the 2016 referendum was lukewarm at best. Voters in the referendum chose, by 52 to 48 percent, to quit the European Union. That will happen on March 29 unless Britain delays or reverses the decision. At the party conference last year, Corbyn reportedly resisted attempts to push for a second referendum with the option of staying in the EU. “I don’t think he anticipated having to embrace a referendum anytime soon … because he thought a deal would be about to be made,” Fielding said. “He’s done his best to avoid it. He’s doing it because he has to.” The MPs’ defections appear to have forced the leader’s hand, said Oliver Patel, manager of the UCL European Institute: “Is it a coincidence that Monday, the week after nine Labour MPs defected from the Labour Party, eight of whom wanted a second referendum … the Labour Party made a decisive shift towards a second referendum?” Corbyn is also under pressure from MPs in the party’s traditional heartlands, which voted for Brexit, to honor the party’s election manifesto and uphold the result of the 2016 vote. “If Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t give a free vote on this, then what will happen is he will destroy the Labour Party,” MP John Mann warned on Sky News. “This is the metropolitan Labour Party — it’s got nothing to do with Labour voters in my area.” Although Corbyn faces no immediate threat to his leadership, his poll numbers have dwindled in recent weeks as the Brexit endgame draws near. He faces a tough task uniting the different strands of his party. “Jeremy Corbyn — potential prime minister — you can wave goodbye to that at the moment,” said Fielding, adding that the departure of centrist MPs “has put the kibosh” on those immediate ambitions. Keeping together pro- and anti-Brexit wings of his party depends on Corbyn’s “skills to finesse” his message, convincing Brexit supporters that Labour tried its best to respect the referendum result. Corbyn could be banking on parliamentary mathematics to help him out by voting against the plans. “They will know the number of Labour MPs who will vote against that referendum will more than cancel out any Tory MPs who might vote for a second referendum,” said Fielding. The question on the ballot paper is also the source of some debate, with Corbyn yet to join his pro-remain colleagues in stating that staying in the European Union would be an option. All of which means that a second referendum is still some way from becoming reality. “In theory we’re closer. In practice we’re no closer to it,” said Fielding.


Fiery crash at Cairo train station kills 20

Abstract: CAIRO - A hurtling train crashed, derailed and caught fire at Cairo’s main station on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people in the latest disaster to strike Egypt’s rundown railways. The country’s transportation minister resigned hours after the accident. A train engine appeared to have slammed into the buffers at the end of the track at high speed, sparking a major blaze that blackened the walls of the Ramses station. Firefighters were seen hosing down the charred wreckage of the train inside the station, as security forces guarded the site. Twenty people were killed and 40 injured, the health ministry said. Ahmed Ibrahim, a jewellery salesman, said he was on his way to work when he heard a loud explosion. “I ran to see a lot of people injured. I had to carry a young girl with my own hands,” he said, apparently still in shock. “I saw bodies cut in half. I’d never seen that … I never thought I’d ever touch dead bodies.” CCTV footage circulating online showed the train’s locomotive smashing into the barrier without slowing down. People walking on the platform were enveloped by smoke. Separate footage filmed inside the station showed a fire engulfing the train and a nearby platform and people rushing to help the casualties. Photos that emerged after the crash showed several scorched bodies scattered around the train wreckage. Several people were seen in videos running around and screaming for help after catching fire. “I carried around 20 charred bodies to ambulances,” said Atef Ahmed Mahmoud from the Nile Delta city of Zagazig. Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with chronic transport problems in the country, where roads are as poorly maintained as railway lines. Officials often blame the rail network’s poor maintenance on decades of negligence and a lack of funds. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli who was quick to visit the site, promised a tough response. “Any person found to be negligent will be held accountable and it will be severe,” he said. Hours later the cabinet announced that Madbouli had accepted the resignation of Transport Minister Hisham Arafat. People at the site of the crash appeared to be frustrated at the government’s failure to revamp the railway network. “Is my fate to die (on the tracks)? It happens all the time … what do the authorities do?” asked a man traveling from the Upper Egyptian province of Minya. The government has repeatedly promised to take steps to upgrade the sector especially after several derailments and collisions in recent years. Egypt signed a deal worth 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) with a Russian-Hungarian consortium to deliver passenger coaches to Egypt in 2018. The previous year it signed a $575 million deal with General Electric to purchase 100 locomotives. Still, figures by the official statistics agency show there were 1,793 train accidents in 2017, up from 1,249 in 2016. In August 2017 two passenger trains collided near Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing more than 40 people and injuring scores. The next year a train crash in the northern province of Beheira killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more. Months later 60 people were injured when another train derailed. Egypt’s transportation minister sacked the head of the railway authority at the time. The deadliest accident on Egypt’s railways dates back to 2002 when 373 people died when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.

accident egypt deaths cairo train infrastructure


Amtrak train stuck in Oregon blizzard for more than a day finally moving

Abstract: PORTLAND, OREGON - Passengers stranded on an Amtrak train for more than a day in a remote and snowed-in part of Oregon said the train was moving again Tuesday after it got stuck when it hit a tree that fell on the tracks. “It’s just like relief. I’m just excited to get off of here,” Abbie Jeffrey, 16, told the KGW television station. The Coast Starlight train left Seattle for Los Angeles early Sunday. It hit the tree southeast of Eugene, Oregon, Sunday evening. The 183 passengers were kept on the train because the heavy snow had knocked out power in the town of Oakridge, the closest populated place to the train, Amtrak said in a statement. There was enough food on the train for the passengers, the statement said. More than a foot (30 cm) of snow had fallen in the area by Monday. Rebekah Dodson boarded the train Sunday afternoon in the small Oregon city of Albany and had expected to be in Klamath Falls by 9:50 p.m. The train at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday “came to a sudden halt and the conductor said that they had some damage from some low-hanging limbs because of the sudden snow storm and they were going to stop and fix it,” Dodson said. Amtrak Executive Vice President Scot Naparstek apologized in a statement. “With more than a foot of heavy snow and numerous trees blocking the track, we made every decision in the best interest of the safety of our customers during the unfortunate sequence of events,” he said. Officials decided that the train was the safest place for passengers to stay because it had food, heat electricity and functioning toilets, Naparstek said. He said Amtrak will contact customers “to provide refunds and other compensation as appropriate.”

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oregon
blizzard
amtrak
coast starlight


Pakistan claims to have shot down two Indian aircraft as tensions flare

Abstract: ISLAMABAD/NEW, DELHI - Pakistan said it shot down two Indian aircraft in the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday and arrested the pilots, prompting both countries to shut down large swaths of airspace as tensions between them reached their highest point since a 1971 war. One Indian aircraft fell inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, and the other crashed on India’s side of the Line of Control, said military spokesman Asif Ghafoor. One pilot was injured and receiving medical treatment and the other was in custody, he said at a news conference in Islamabad. “Both are under arrest, and we are treating them with dignity,” Ghafoor said. Videos circulated on social media that claim to show the arrested Indian pilots in Pakistan’s custody. In one, the pilot states his name, service number and religion. In a separate clip, an injured pilot is being transported in a vehicle. Ghafoor said that man was under treatment at the Combined Military Hospital. India’s ANI news agency reported that a Pakistan F-16 that had violated Indian airspace was shot down 3 kilometers within Pakistan territory in Lam Valley. Ghafoor said Pakistan didn’t use F-16 planes in the operation. Anit Mukherjee, a former Indian Army major and assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said: “This is unprecedented territory — we haven’t had tit-for-tat airstrikes between India and Pakistan since the 1971 war. We don’t know what will come from this. But it seems like Pakistan has given a response. And there have been casualties — captures, deaths.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the foreign ministers of both countries on Wednesday. He said, “We encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, and avoid escalation at any cost” and noted Pakistan’s priority was to avoid military action and take “meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.”Earlier Wednesday, it appeared the bitter rivals were looking to lower the temperature with renewed diplomatic outreach. Pakistan has sought help from the United Nations to de-escalate the situation, while India — which is facing national elections in a few weeks — reached out to countries including U.S., U.K., China, France and Russia and urged the government in Islamabad to take action against terrorist groups based in the country. The diplomatic back-and-forth came after India’s Air Force said its jets bombed targets inside Pakistan, which scrambled its own jets in response, for the first time in nearly 50 years. The target was a camp run by Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for a Feb. 14 suicide car bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 members of India’s security forces. “They will not allow things to go out of control because both countries are facing tremendous pressure from global powers including China and the U.S.,” said Rashid Ahmed Khan, head of politics and international relations department at University of Central Punjab, Lahore. “There will be a controlled and managed escalation.” Meanwhile, security forces clashed with militants in Indian-administered Kashmir early Wednesday, killing two insurgents, according to a security spokesman. Prior to Tuesday’s attack, which India said killed more than 300 people in a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp inside Pakistan, New Delhi had detained more than 150 people mainly linked to a local separatist group and boosted its military presence in the region, according to news reports. On Wednesday, Pakistan announced that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had sought out United Nations assistance to help de-escalate tensions with India. Tuesday’s strikes represent the worst escalation since 2001, when Pakistan and India moved ballistic missiles and troops to their border following an attack on parliament in New Delhi that was also blamed on Jaish-e-Mohammad. India and Pakistan have fought three major wars since partition and independence in 1947. The latest escalation marks a test for the leaders of both nations, with one seeking re-election in a few months and the other facing his first real challenge on foreign policy. With a bitterly contested national election just weeks away in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to exploit his military’s airstrikes Tuesday. Speaking on Tuesday to a huge, cheering crowd at an election rally in the state of Rajasthan, Modi twice stated that India was “in safe hands” and declared it a “glorious day,” without explicitly mentioning the attack. Both India and the U.S. see Pakistan as providing safe haven for terrorist groups and point to the fact that the leadership of groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the Mumbai attacks in 2008, still live freely in Pakistan. Facing the first major geopolitical challenge of his term, Khan directed the country’s armed forces and the public to “remain prepared for all eventualities.” Facing a general election due by May, Modi is under substantial pressure after blaming Pakistan for the worst attack on security forces in Kashmir in several decades earlier this month. Tuesday’s airstrikes show he is “willing to take on risk to respond to Pakistan’s terrorist provocations,” said Alyssa Ayres, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and former U.S. state department South Asia. “It does appear to strengthen Modi’s hand heading into elections,” Ayres said. “Now the international diplomatic community should exert maximum pressure on Pakistan so this situation does not spiral.” Uzair Younus, a South Asia director at the Washington-based consultancy Albright Stonebridge Group LLC, said: “While details of the attack remain murky, we are already seeing India claiming a massive success, while Pakistan is downplaying the true extent of the damages. The upside is that it’s likely that neither side will go up the escalation ladder following this attack.” There is no doubt Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party will use the airstrikes as an illustration of his forceful leadership, said Eswaran Sridharan, academic director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India. “Modi comes out looking strong.”

conflict
india
pakistan
elections
narendra modi
_asia