Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris emerges as front-runner to oust Trump as rivals circle

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Kamala Harris faces questions from U.S. voters Monday as an official White House candidate, a day after the Democratic senator formally declared her 2020 bid to become America’s first black female president. By launching her campaign early — a year before any primary votes are cast — the California lawmaker leapfrogs several party luminaries waiting in the wings, and a few already in the race, to become the de facto front-runner. It’s a burgeoning field that may ultimately feature dozens of candidates seeking to oust President Donald Trump. Harris immediately took her campaign to Iowa, the state that votes first in the nominating process, holding a televised town hall from Des Moines that was set to air at 9 p.m. Tuesday. A crowd of more than 20,000 watched her kick off her campaign Sunday in Oakland, California. But complicating the launch, billionaire former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said hours later that he is seriously considering jumping into the race — as an independent. The self-described “lifelong Democrat” told CBS news show “60 Minutes” that he will run as a “centrist independent outside of the two-party system.” Not only is Trump unqualified to be president, Schultz said, but Republicans and Democrats are failing the American people by engaging daily in “revenge politics.” Schultz’s announcement drew sharp rebukes from Democrats, who warned he would siphon off Democratic votes and clear Trump’s path to re-election. “If he ran, it would be the best thing possible for Donald Trump,” tweeted Rep. Brendan Boyle. “I urge him, for the good of the country, to reconsider this bad idea.” Trump, clearly aware that a Schultz run could help the sitting president, wasted little time in seeking to goad him into the race, declaring the coffee king “doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to run for President!” But another billionaire businessman, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, strongly urged Schultz to halt his independent antics. “In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president,” said Bloomberg, who himself considered an independent run three years ago. “That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now.” Harris, 54, and Schultz, 65, join several candidate already in the race, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, House Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Obama-era Housing Secretary Julian Castro of Texas. The compelling Oakland speech was a show of strength by Harris and most likely a calculated shot across the bow to those still on the 2020 sidelines, notably the four Bs mulling a run: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Beto O’Rourke. Harris spoke of the “arrogance of power” demonstrated by Trump and his administration, and warned that “the American dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before.” “We must answer a fundamental question: Who are we?” she said. “America, we are better than this.” Harris, whose father is from Jamaica and whose mother is Indian, said that “in the face of powerful forces trying to sow hate and division among us, the truth is that as Americans, we have so much more in common than what separates us.” One distinct advantage for Harris is the shift that her home state has made in the primary calendar. For years, California — the nation’s most populous state — voted near the end of the process, meaning nominees were often decided before a single Californian cast a vote. But the state has moved its primary forward, to so-called Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020, which would give the Golden State a dramatically more powerful say in determining the nominee. One prominent Californian, outspoken Rep. Ted Lieu, has already endorsed Harris, describing her as “the person we need to move America forward.” Harris is a former state attorney general. She said her platform will include several progressive policies like debt-free college and “Medicare for all,” which would allow Americans to opt into government-run health coverage.

congress
elections
democrats
donald trump
kamala harris
2020 u.s. presidential election


Maduro rival Juan Guaido says he is taking control of Venezuela's foreign assets

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela’s self-proclaimed acting president, Juan Guaido, said Monday he was taking control of the country’s foreign assets as he piled pressure on leader Nicolas Maduro by calling for a new wave of protests over the embattled regime. Guaido, the opposition leader who has declared himself the country’s ruler amid violent anti-government protests, says “usurper” Maduro’s rule is illegitimate and wants to set up a transitional government ahead of new elections. In a statement published on social media, he said he was “beginning to take progressive and orderly control of our republic’s assets abroad to prevent, during his exit … that the usurper and his band try to empty the coffers.” Guaido also called for a two-hour strike Wednesday “to demand that the armed forces side with the people,” ahead of a “big national and international rally” on Saturday to acknowledge support from several European countries that have issued Maduro a deadline to hold new polls. His remarks came as the death toll in last week’s protests rose to 35, according to NGO workers, with the government security forces accused of killing another eight in “extra-judicial executions.” Pope Francis said Monday following a trip to Panama that he was afraid the escalating political crisis in Venezuela would descend into “a bloodbath.” The White House meanwhile urged Venezuela’s military to accept a “peaceful, democratic and constitutional transfer of power.” National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters in Washington President Donald Trump was leaving “all options … on the table” when it came to considering getting the U.S. military involved in the crisis. Maduro, 56, has so far refused to budge, telling Turkish television station CNN Turk: “No one can give us an ultimatum.” Millions of Venezuelans have been left in poverty or fled the country due to an economic crisis, marked by hyperinflation and shortages of basic necessities, which began in 2014. Maduro devalued the currency by 35 percent on Monday, aligning it with the exchange rate for the dollar on the black market, but analysts said it would only “make things worse.” Guaido, the 35-year-old head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, says the election Maduro won in May wasn’t fair as it was boycotted by the opposition, while many in the international community branded it a fraud. Guaido launched a power struggle with Maduro by declaring himself “acting president” on Jan. 23. He has the been recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by the United States and a dozen Latin American countries, while Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands said they would follow suit unless Maduro calls elections by Feb. 3. The EU has so far held back from joining the ultimatum, saying it would take “further actions” if elections were not called in the coming days, including the issue of recognition of the country’s “leadership.” Russia, China, Turkey and leftist regional allies Cuba, Bolivia and Mexico continue to back Maduro. On Monday, the president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Eduardo Ferrer, called for the leaders of both sides to meet “through peaceful channels” to find a way to “rebuild institutional democracy and full respect of human rights.” Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Mexico and Uruguay are to present offers to host talks on solving the political crisis to the United Nations. Canada said it would host an “urgent meeting” of the Lima Group of 13 Latin American nations plus Canada on Feb. 4 to “discuss the steps we can take to support Juan Guaido and the people of Venezuela.” That came as Rafael Uzcategui, director of the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights, accused the FAES police special forces unit of carrying out eight unlawful executions following last week’s protests, which he said had proved more deadly than previously thought. “We have the corroborated figure, with first name, surname, place and presumed guilty parties, of 35 people murdered in the context of the protests” since Monday last week, said Uzcategui. Another NGO, Foro Penal, said 850 people, among them 77 children, have been arrested. The U.S. has warned there will be a “significant response” if U.S. diplomats, Guaido or the opposition-controlled National Assembly are targeted with violence and intimidation. Encouraged by the international support for his cause, Guaido is on a mission to weaken the military’s support of Maduro, which has been essential to keeping him in power since 2013. His appeals have included promises of amnesty, and mass protests against Maduro, who has presided over the collapse of the economy and a severe humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food and medicine. Venezuela Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino on Monday dismissed the amnesty offer as a “deception” and an “instrument of manipulation,” insisting that “no-one in the armed forces believes it.” So far, the military has backed the leftist regime, which was ushered into power 20 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez, a former military officer. But Venezuela’s military attache in Washington, Army Col. Jose Luis Silva, switched his support to Guaido while Washington also accepted exiled opposition leader Carlos Vecchio as Venezuela’s new charge d’affaires to the United States. Scarlet Salazar, a Venezuelan consular officer in Miami, said Monday she was also throwing her support behind Guaido in a videotaped statement.

u.s .
venezuela
eu
canada
elections
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido


Voter disillusionment with Trump spreads: poll

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Two years into President Donald Trump’s administration, a majority of Americans have lost confidence in the brash real estate magnate’s performance on everything from the economy to foreign policy, a poll showed Monday. The ABC News/Washington Post poll was published after Trump suffered a major setback in his signature push for more wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. On Friday, Trump agreed to suspend a punishing government shutdown after the tactic failed to pressure Democrats into backing his wall project. Surveys have long shown Trump to be struggling for popularity beyond his hardcore base. The RealClear Politics average currently shows him with 41.2 percent job approval ratings and 55.5 percent disapproval. An average put together by the FiveThirtyEight site puts those numbers at 39.4 to 56 percent. The new poll, however, focuses on disappointment among voters. On the economy, which has been Trump’s chief claim to success, only 49 percent believe he has done an excellent job, according to the poll. That’s down from 61 percent who were expecting excellent results at the time he was inaugurated. On job creation, those numbers fell to 51 percent from an original 59 percent. On grappling with the enormous federal budget deficit, only 33 percent think he has done a good or excellent job, compared to 50 percent who started with high expectations. Forty-four percent of voters expected Trump to do an excellent job improving the country’s chaotic and expensive health care system, but the number now is only 33 percent. Forty-eight percent of Americans say they have no confidence in Trump’s future performance, the poll found. The number is 37 percent for Trump’s main opponent in Congress, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. The Post-ABC poll was conducted by Jan. 21-24 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults.

economy
jobs
washington post
surveys
donald trump
abc news
border wall


Corruption seen rising in U.S. under Trump, watchdog warns

Abstract: BERLIN - The United States slid down the rankings of a global corruption index last year as America’s system of checks and balances faced growing threats on Donald Trump’s watch, Transparency International said Tuesday. The U.S. lost four points to score 71 out of 100 on the watchdog’s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, sending the country tumbling out of the top 20 for the first time since 2011. “The low score comes at a time when the U.S. is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power,” TI said in its annual report. The second year of Trump’s presidency was a turbulent one, ranging from damaging revelations in an investigation probing links between Trump’s 2016 campaign team and Russia, to his controversial backing for a Supreme Court nominee accused of sexual assault. The U.S. leader, who frequently rails against the media for writing “fake news,” was also dogged by accusations of nepotism and conflicts of interest. Last month, Trump agreed to close his personal charity after the New York attorney general said it had acted “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.” Transparency International’s closely-watched index ranks 180 nations according to their perceived level of public sector corruption, where a score of zero means very corrupt and 100 signifies very clean. “The Trump presidency has illuminated the cracks in the U.S. system for ensuring a government that is accountable to the public interest,” said TI’s Zoe Reiter, acting representative to the US. “But President Trump is a symptom rather than a cause; the issues were there before he took office. For example, the Office of Government Ethics simply doesn’t have the teeth to control for conflicts of interest at the highest levels,” she said. As in previous years in the index New Zealand and Nordic countries were among the best in class, with Denmark narrowly beating New Zealand to the top spot at 88 and 87 points respectively. Strife-torn Somalia was once again the worst performer, below Yemen, South Sudan and Syria which all scored in the low teens. The Berlin-based watchdog also singled out Turkey and Hungary for falling down the rankings, blaming “the deterioration of rule of law and democratic institutions, as well as a rapidly shrinking space for civil society and independent media.” “With many democratic institutions under threat across the globe — often by leaders with authoritarian or populist tendencies — we need to do more to strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights,” TI’s managing director Patricia Moreira said. As part of its recommendations, the group urged governments to stand up for a free press and support civil society organizations that encourage public oversight over government spending. The index is compiled based on data from 12 international organizations including the World Bank, African Development Bank and the World Economic Forum.

united states
corruption
donald trump
transparency international
corruption perceptions index


iPhone Facetime bug lets unanswered callers eavesdrop and observe

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - A newly discovered Facetime bug lets people hear and even see those they are reaching out to on iPhones using the video calling software, sparking privacy fears. The bug, initially outlined by Apple product and review website 9to5Mac.com , was reported by several media outlets. A video posted at Twitter account @BmManski showing how simple it is to take advantage of the flaw, and listen in on an iPhone being called using Facetime, logged nearly 2 million views and was shared 14,000 times by late evening in California. Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer🤒 #Apple explain this.. pic.twitter.com/gr8llRKZxJ — Benji Mobb™ (@BmManski) January 28, 2019 Some Twitter users offered advice to disable the Facetime application until a fix was in place. An Apple support page listed Group Facetime calling as “temporarily unavailable” as of 7:16 p.m. PST due to an ongoing “issue” that was not specified. An Apple statement quoted in U.S. media said the iPhone maker was aware of this issue and had “identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week.” When a phone number is dialed using Facetime — the iPhone’s internet-based voice and video calling feature — the caller can swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap an option to add a person, according to video demonstrations. If a caller enters their number as also being the added caller, a group call begins even though the person being called has not answered yet. The caller can then eavesdrop on the person being called, and in some demonstrations peek through the front-facing camera. Declining a call breaks the connection. “Disable Facetime for now until Apple fixes,” advised Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and chief executive, advised in a tweet. Dorsey’s message included a forwarded post by technologist Andy Baio. “Want to see a really bad bug?” Baio asked in his post. “You can Facetime any iOS device running 12.1 and listen in remotely-WITHOUT THE OTHER PERSON ANSWERING THE CALL.” Disable FaceTime for now until Apple fixes https://t.co/FNbPAmZsLf — jack (@jack) January 29, 2019 Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Facetime software enables voice or video calls using iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch, and Macintosh computers.

smartphones privacy apple computers facetime iphone software


NGO denounces 'extra-judicial executions' by Venezuela police

Abstract: CARACAS - Eight people were killed in “extra-judicial executions” by Venezuelan special forces following last week’s protests against President Nicolas Maduro, a nongovernmental organization said on Monday. Rafael Uzcategui, director of the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights, also said that another 35 people have been killed since the protests began Jan. 21. Speaking at a press conference, Uzcategui said the extra-judicial executions happened in operations conducted by the police special forces unit, FAES, in socially deprived areas. “We have the corroborated figure, with first name, surname, place and presumed guilty parties, of 35 people murdered in the context of the protests” since Monday last week, said Uzcategui. Protests broke out last week after a group of soldiers rose up against Maduro on Monday to support parliament President Juan Guaido’s call to disavow the socialist leader. Guaido proclaimed himself acting president Jan. 23 during a mass street rally that brought out tens of thousands of people to protest against Maduro, whom they blame for Venezuela’s economic meltdown that has left millions in poverty and forced millions of others out of the country. Alfredo Romero, the director of another NGO, Foro Penal, said 850 people, among them 77 minors, have been arrested. Romero said authorities had broken in to “the homes of poor people without any judicial order” to make arrests. Following the arrests, Foro Penal said the number of political prisoners in the country has risen to 976. Opposition parties branded as fraudulent last May’s election which saw Maduro win another term, citing the number of opposition leaders that were jailed, exiled or barred from standing. Guaido, whose claims to authority have been recognized by the United States and a dozen Latin American countries, has called two more protests this week in a bid to force Maduro, who is backed by the military, from power.

murder
venezuela
ngo
nicolas maduro
juan guaido


Race for hypersonic weapons heats up as France joins 'stealth by speed' contest

Abstract: PARIS - World powers are vying to develop “hypersonic” weapons that travel several times the speed of sound, with France the latest to join a field led so far by Russia and China. Hypersonics are like missiles that travel at over five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) but are able to maneuver in midflight, making them much harder to track and intercept than traditional projectiles. France is the fourth of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members to join the “stealth by speed” contest, after China, Russia and the United States. “We have decided to issue a contract for a hypersonic glider” that can travel at over 6,000 ph, Defense Minister Florence Parly said last week, promising a test flight by the end of 2021. “Many countries are acquiring them (hypersonic weapons) and we have the knowhow to develop them. We could no longer afford to wait,” Parly said, unveiling project V-MaX (Experimental Maneuvering Vehicle). In March last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin stunned Western military analysts — and many in Russia—- by unveiling plans for a new arsenal of hypersonic weapons, which he said would render missile defense systems obsolete. Putin insisted the weapons would only ever be used in self-defence, but his presentation featured video montages of missiles crossing the Atlantic, sparking jitters among NATO members. A few months later U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to walk away from a key arms control treaty with Moscow. France has already carried out studies on propulsion systems for hypersonic flights as part of a €37 billion ($42 billion) revamp of its nuclear arsenal. Under the V-MaX project, being led by ArianeGroup — a joint venture between Airbus and France’s Safran — the air-to-surface ASN4G missile, which will replace the medium-range ASMP, could possibly be configured to travel at hypersonic speeds. “These (hypersonic) weapons could constitute an instantaneous threat of a conventional or even nuclear strike,” France’s inter-ministerial Secretariat for National Defense and Security (SGDSN) wrote in a 2017 report on next-generation technologies. Hypersonic gliders would be carried to the end of the Earth’s atmosphere by a launch vehicle and would then “glide” back to a target on the ground. “The goal is high-speed maneuverability. That’s how it differs from a ballistic trajectory,” the French government’s defense procurement and technology agency (DGA) said. “Once the initial speed is reached, we can play with speed and altitude to move up and down, to the left and to the right, creating a trajectory that is more difficult to intercept. And, the agency added: “If we are targeted by a defense system, we can operate evasive maneuvers.” In December, the Kremlin touted the capabilities of its new hypersonic glider, aptly named Avanguard. The Kremlin said that in tests the intercontinental projectile reached 27 times the speed of sound — 33,000 kph (20,500 mph), or Mach 27. “At this speed not a single interceptor missile can shoot it down,” Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov boasted. China has also reportedly carried out several successful tests since 2014 of a glider that can reach speeds of between Mach 5 and Mach 10. Harry Harris, former U.S. military commander for the Pacific region, admitted last year: “China’s hypersonic weapons development outpaces ours … we’re falling behind.” The United States, which is developing several hypersonic programs, is also studying the feasibility of creating a space-based interceptor system, in which an orbiting craft of some sort would be equipped with missiles that could destroy an incoming warhead while it is in space. “The U.S. will now adjust its posture to defend against any missile strikes, including cruise and hypersonic missiles,” President Donald Trump said in January, releasing a review of the U.S. missile defense network. For France, developing and deploying a device that can withstand hypersonic speeds poses an enormous challenge. The DGA, the French defense agency, admitted that it had “relatively little experience” in the area. “The first use will probably not be for several years, and will be limited in terms of payload, flight time and precision,” the SGDSN cautioned.

china
france
u.s .
russia
hypersonic weapons


Backs to the Euphrates: Islamic State in Syria is boxed in to shrinking pocket of land

Abstract: SOUSA, SYRIA - Kurdish-led fighters pressed their assault against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria Monday, boxing the jihadis into a tiny last pocket of land along the Euphrates River. Bad weather and reduced visibility delayed the launch of yet another push to flush out the few hundred die-hard jihadis battling to defend the remnants of their once-sprawling “caliphate. With support from a U.S.-led military coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces are in the final stages of an assault launched more than four months ago against the jihadis’ last bastion. A dwindling number of IS fighters, led mostly by Iraqi commanders, are now defending only a handful of hamlets in the Euphrates Valley, SDF commander Heval Roni said. “Geographically speaking, there are only 4 sq. km left under IS control, stretching from Baghouz to the Iraqi border,” he told AFP in the Baghouz area. “There are some high-ranking IS leaders among them … but we don’t know who exactly,” said Heval Roni, who heads SDF operations in the area. The SDF is a Kurdish-led force that also includes Arab fighters from the region and which has spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria since it was formed in 2015. The commander said he had no information about IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is believed to still be alive and is the world’s most wanted man. In an interview to AFP last week, the top commander of the SDF said the battle was winding up but that his forces would need about a month to assert full control over the area and declare victory. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,200 jihadis and around half as many SDF fighters have been killed since the start of the offensive on Sept. 10. The Britain-based monitoring group says more than 400 civilians have also perished, many of them killed by coalition airstrikes. The SDF has warned that perilous sweeping operations would follow the conquest of IS’s last fixed position in the area. U.S. President Donald Trump announced in December that he had ordered a complete troop withdrawal from Syria, a move that left the SDF feeling betrayed and exposed to Turkish threats. Trump justified the decision by claiming that IS had been defeated, a claim described as premature by most, including by members of his own administration. The White House’s special envoy to the fight against IS resigned after the announcement. The main U.S. partner on the ground in Syria has said that the final demise of the “caliphate” as a statehood experiment will not eliminate the threat posed by IS as an armed group. “There is no end to IS as an organization. They’ve been trying to finish Al-Qaeda for 20 years and they didn’t manage. It’ll be the same with IS,” said Heval Roni.

syria
kurds
islamic state
euphrates river


U.S. plans to 'suspend' INF nuclear treaty with Russia, White House official says, in move that bodes ill for Japan

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. plans to suspend its obligations under a 1987 nuclear weapons treaty with Russia after a deadline passes this weekend and the Trump administration inches closer to full withdrawal from a pillar of Cold War diplomacy, a White House official said Monday, in a move that could have dire implications for Japan. Unless Russia destroys all its ground-launched cruise missiles, known as 9M729s, as well as associated equipment and launchers by Feb. 2, the U.S. will suspend its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to the official, who asked not to be identified because a decision hasn’t been announced. The official did not say whether the U.S. would simultaneously announce a full withdrawal from the INF treaty, which would trigger a process that would take six months to complete. NATO officials have been preparing for a collapse of the accord for months. President Donald Trump indicated in October that he would pull the U.S. out of the treaty, but decided to delay the suspension after consulting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other allies. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in early December the U.S. was giving Russia two more months to get back into compliance with the treaty. “We must confront Russian cheating on their nuclear obligations,” Pompeo said at the conclusion of the NATO meeting in early December. “Our nations have a choice: We either bury our head in the sand, or we take common-sense action in response to Russia’s flagrant disregard for the express terms of the INF Treaty.” The U.S. argues that Russia has jeopardized the INF treaty for years by deploying ground-launched missiles that fall within the banned range of 500 kilometers (311 miles) to 5,500 kilometers. NATO partners have called on Russia to show compliance. Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton has called the INF outdated and said it doesn’t address China’s rising threat. While the U.S. has pinned much of the blame for its planned exit from the treaty on Russia, a closer look shows that China’s buildup of its missile forces — which as Bolton has suggested pose a grave threat to U.S. military bases in Japan and elsewhere in the region — may also play a large part in any decision to abrogate the 31-year-old arms-control deal. The historic bilateral pact has left China unconstrained to amass a missile arsenal that puts U.S. and Japanese forces at risk, according to observers. According to the Pentagon’s annual report this year on Chinese military power, Beijing’s robust military modernization program has allowed it to now field an array of conventionally armed short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as ground- and air-launched land-attack cruise missiles as part of its so-called anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategy to prevent the U.S. and others militaries from intervening in its immediate areas of concern. More importantly for Tokyo, “a growing number” of the Chinese missiles put U.S. bases in Japan in range, the Pentagon report said. Amid this backdrop, and as the U.S. and China begin to enter what some have termed “a new Cold War,” the INF decision is likely to have a number of implications for Japan, including the possibility of the United States rebuilding its short- and intermediate-range missile arsenal and dispatching the weapons to the region. The INF issue is another flash point in U.S.-Russia relations that have been strained by Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, its alleged poisoning of a former spy living in the U.K. and its aggression toward Ukraine. Trump canceled a scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin late last year at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires and it’s not clear when the two leaders will next meet. Russia has denied violating the INF treaty and has accused the U.S. instead of breaking the deal, adding that a withdrawal from the Cold War accord would trigger an arms race. While the Trump administration has some support among military hawks in Congress for pulling out, other lawmakers have argued that such a move would be a gift to Russia by giving it a free pass to expand missile production and deployment. Europeans largely favor holding onto the treaty, crediting it with ending the proliferation of ground-launched intermediate-range nuclear missiles. But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg predicted in December that the accord will collapse, and called the two-month window offered by the U.S. a “last chance” for Russia. “But we must also start to prepare for a world without the treaty,” he said at the time.

china
u.s .
russia
weapons
nuclear weapons
treaties
donald trump


Maritime rescue center opened on South China Sea islet as Beijing seeks to reinforce claims

Abstract: China opened a maritime rescue center on one of its man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, state-run media reported, as Beijing seeks to reinforce its claims in the strategic waterway. China’s Ministry of Transport opened the rescue center on Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, “to better protect navigation and transport safety in the South China Sea,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It quoted the ministry as saying the center “will offer better support to maritime rescue operations in the southern part of the South China Sea” near the Spratly chain. Beijing has built up a series of military outposts in the South China Sea, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims. As part of what some experts say is a concerted bid to cement de facto control of the South China Sea, three of Beijing’s man-made islets in the Spratlys — Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs — all boast military-grade airfields. Recent reports have also said the islets, including Fiery Cross, have emplacements for missiles, extensive storage facilities and a range of installations that can track satellites, foreign military activity and communications. In a bid to offset concerns over the militarization of these islets, China has consistently said the facilities there are for defensive purposes and that the islands themselves are civilian and will provide navigational services to ships in the vicinity. But some observers have expressed concern that the moves could help boost Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the islets. These moves have seen China build ecological conservation and restoration facilities and marine observation centers on Fiery Cross, Subi and Meiji Reefs. Xinhua has said that the facilities were “providing public services, including marine forecasts and disaster alarms, to the international society and passing vessels.” In late July, China announced that it would permanently station a search-and-rescue ship at Subi Reef, the largest of China’s seven man-made outposts in the Spratlys and home to a lighthouse and extensive docking facilities. In October, another rescue ship was sent to the region to replace the vessel.

china
vietnam
philippines
military
disputed islands
south china sea


Trump's cost-sharing spat with ally South Korea raises fears of U.S. pullback from peninsula

Abstract: SEOUL/WASHINGTON - Just as President Donald Trump looks to make peace with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, his administration is putting fresh strain on the U.S.’s seven-decade alliance with South Korea. At issue is the Trump administration’s insistence that South Korea accepts as much as a 50 percent increase in what it pays for U.S. military protection, including subsidizing the nuclear-capable bombers stationed thousands of miles away in Guam. The dispute caused their cost-sharing deal to lapse on Dec. 31 and, if it’s not renewed soon, South Korean civilian personnel will face furloughs like the ones that just ended in Washington. The prospect of getting a deal before an April 15 deadline seems poor, according to a South Korean official familiar with the talks. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s negotiators have sought help from people outside the direct talks, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the official, who asked not to be named due to sensitivities of the discussions. A State Department spokesperson said Friday that South Korea must contribute “significantly more” than it has offered to achieve what the administration believed was a fair balance of costs. The administration is asking all its allies to offset the cost of U.S. deployments overseas, said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The dispute is among several issues weighing on the relationship as Trump — a frequent critic of the 70-year-old alliance — prepares for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month. In recent weeks Kim has made demands that would weaken the military readiness of the allies, including seeking the removal of U.S. “strategic assets” from the region and an end to joint drills. “My main concern is a possible perfect storm where Trump’s desire to withdraw troops will be reinforced, if he is misled to believe he can trade them for North Korean nuclear weapons and if the allies can’t settle defense cost negotiations before the next Trump-Kim summit,” said Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “This would be an immediate crisis for South Korea that trumps North Korea’s nuclear weapons threat.” The cost-sharing dispute was among the security issues left unresolved when former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned on Dec. 20, citing differences with Trump over the value of alliances. The pact, which lasts five years and requires legislative approval by both nations, expired 11 days later. While the U.S. doesn’t detail South Korea’s contribution to the deployment, American officials have said Seoul subsidizes about half of its local personnel costs. South Korea said it paid an estimated 960 billion won ($849 million) last year, financing the construction of U.S. military facilities and paying South Korean civilians who work at military posts. With the deal about to expire, the U.S. suddenly requested 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion) from South Korea, lawmaker Hong Young-pyo, the Democratic Party’s floor leader in the National Assembly, told ruling party officials Monday. “It is undesirable that one country’s unilateral demand undermines its ally’s trust and causes divisions,” Hong said. The real crisis won’t hit until April 15 when South Korea is scheduled to start paying civilian personnel. “We are both very keen to get to agreement as quickly as possible,” South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told CNN on Thursday. “It’s still a back and forth. We are not there yet, but we are very much hoping to close the gap.” The State Department declined to make Timothy Betts, the deputy assistant secretary of state for plans, programs and operations, available to discuss the negotiations. The department spokesperson said the U.S. commitment to South Korea’s security remained “ironclad,” a description long preferred by both sides. The alliance serves to maintain U.S. influence in Asia and defend against Kim, who hasn’t yet committed to give up the nuclear weapons he once threatened to use to “sink” Japan and reduce the America to “ashes and darkness.” Even if the U.S. normalized ties with North Korea, a military presence on the peninsula would remain a valuable check on China’s rising might. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with the open-ended troop deployment, saying after his meeting with Kim in June that he would “like to bring them back home, but that’s not part of the equation right now.” At the same time, he accepted a long-standing Kim demand and suspended major joint military exercises that the two sides have relied on to maintain readiness. The moves have raised more doubts about the U.S. commitment to the alliance than at any time since President Jimmy Carter considered withdrawing American troops in the 1970s. Kim has sought to tie the alliance to nuclear talks, with state media saying last month the U.S. nuclear-armed aircraft and warships must be part of any disarmament deal. The U.S. demands have even managed to bridge South Korea’s partisan divide, especially one proposal to replace the five-year pact with a deal that legislatures from both sides must approve annually. The conservative-leaning editorial page of Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea’s biggest newspapers, warned Trump on Thursday against using the alliance as a bargaining chip. “It’s so hard to say how much of this is a negotiation tactic,” said Jenny Town, a research fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Center. “But it is consistent with how Trump has undervalued U.S. alliances, and may cause more damage to the U.S.-ROK relationship as a whole than whatever monetary concessions are gained.”

u.s. military
south korea
diplomacy
donald trump


Followed and harassed: Foreign journalists paint 'darkest picture of reporting conditions inside China'

Abstract: BEIJING - Detentions, visa delays and suspected phone bugging are among the challenges faced by foreign journalists in China, who say working conditions are getting worse with many reporting being watched and harassed. A survey of 109 journalists published Tuesday “painted the darkest picture of reporting conditions inside China in recent memory,” the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement. Surveillance was a key concern, with close to half of respondents saying they had been followed in 2018, while 91 percent were concerned about the security of their phones, the FCCC’s report said. Fourteen people said they were physically blocked from accessing public areas in the far western region of Xinjiang. Up to a million Uighurs and members of other mostly Muslim minority groups are held in extrajudicial detention in camps in the region, according to a group of experts cited by the United Nations. China has accused foreign media of sensationalizing the issue, but 23 respondents who visited Xinjiang in 2018 said they were subject to some sort of interference — including being forced to delete pictures or data, having their interviews disrupted or even being detained. “I was followed and tracked for nearly 1,600 kilometers, by at least nine cars and 20 people … had armed police approach my vehicle with shields raised and tell me to put my hands outside the car,” Nathan VanderKlippe of the Globe and Mail said in the report, adding that he was detained multiple times in Xinjiang. Chinese authorities say the country has a basic policy of “opening up to the outside world” including protecting the rights of foreign journalists, who may interview anyone who gives prior consent. But correspondents report increasing pressure from Chinese officials. Many have been threatened with visa delays, according to the FCCC, which noted that BuzzFeed News bureau chief Megha Rajagopalan was effectively expelled after her visa was not renewed. Six correspondents said they felt their visa renewal difficulties were related to their news coverage, with at least four journalists issued short three-month or six-month visas, — including Sankei Shimbun bureau chief Kinya Fujimoto — instead of the standard one-year stay. Local staff and sources have also been harassed and intimidated, with this at times extending to their family and friends. “There is a risk that even foreign media will shy away from stories that are perceived as too troublesome, or costly, to tell in China,” said FCCC president Hanna Sahlberg. “These trends run contrary to the FCCC’s hopes for real openness for foreign media to be able to cover China.”

china
media
censorship
rights
press freedom
journalism
foreign correspondents ' club of china


Shueisha starts free online distribution of popular manga in English, except in East Asia

Abstract: Comic book publisher Shueisha Inc. has started free online distribution in English of some of its popular series in the hope of tapping new markets. Through the Manga Plus website and app , which will also be available in Spanish in coming months, readers will be able to access 38 current serial titles published in Shueisha magazines, including the pirate adventure “One Piece,” simultaneously with their release in Japan. The online service also offers 13 completed series, including famous adventure manga “Dragon Ball.” It is available around the world except in Japan, China and South Korea, where similar services already exist. In addition to attracting new manga fans in regions such as Latin America and Africa, the service is aimed at countering piracy through swift distribution, Shueisha said Monday. Part of the advertising revenue will be used to support manga creators, it said.

manga
comics
one piece
dragon ball
shueisha
manga plus


Aging equipment and bad cable connections behind home-use solar system accidents in Japan

Abstract: A commission under the Consumer Affairs Agency has found that numerous fires and other serious accidents involving home-use solar power systems have been caused by factors such as old equipment and faulty cable connections. The Consumer Safety Investigation Commission looked at 72 of the 127 cases registered with the agency’s accident information databank between March 2008 and November 2017, except for cases including those still being investigated by the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation. All of the cases studied by the commission involved systems with solar panels made by Japanese companies. The commission took an in-depth look at 13 cases in which roofs and other parts of houses caught fire because of problems with the panels or connection cables. Fires linked to solar panels occurred in products that had been in use seven years or longer. Age caused problems in electric resistance inside the equipment, resulting in abnormal flows of electricity and eventually leading to accidents, according to the commission. In some cases of fire, cables had been connected incorrectly when the solar power systems were installed or suffered short circuits due to animals chewing them. In seven of the 13 cases in which the damage was particularly serious, there was no fire-resistant material between the solar panels and the roof. The commission called for accident prevention measures to be taken, such as urgent inspections by producers and switching to systems with fire-resistant material.

fires
consumer affairs agency
solar energy


Japan and Qatar agree to launch strategic ministerial talks

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Tuesday and agreed on the launch of a “strategic dialogue” under which their foreign ministers will regularly discuss a range of topics as part of efforts to lift bilateral ties to a higher level. It is the third such agreement Japan has with a Middle East nation, having previously forged similar ties with Egypt and Jordan. During the meeting in Tokyo, their eighth overall, Abe and Tamim also agreed to support activities of private companies in the energy sector to ensure a stable supply of liquefied natural gas from Qatar. “Qatar is the most reliable LNG supplier to Japan,” Abe said. Noting that Japan will host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 and Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, the emir said, “Through those big events, I want to strengthen the bilateral ties further.” Among regional issues, the two leaders discussed Qatar’s severance of diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations since June 2017, according to a Japanese official. Abe told Tamim that it is important to settle the issue through dialogue, the official said. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic relations with Qatar as a result of the emirate’s alleged support for Islamist terrorist and extremist groups, although Doha has denied the accusations. Abe also expressed Tokyo’s gratitude for Doha’s role in last October’s release of Japanese freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who was held captive in Syria for more than three years by a warring faction after entering the country to cover the civil war. Tamim said he was “pleased” that Yasuda was reunited with his family as a result of his country’s contribution. Qatar is believed to have influence on Syrian rebel groups.

shinzo abe
qatar
sheikh tamim bin hamad al-thani


With raft of challenges but no serious challenger, Abe remains popular by default

Abstract: About six months after facing calls to resign, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe finds himself in a relatively strong position ahead of a year with key challenges at home and abroad. While his popularity has fallen from its peak in 2013, recently he’s seen a bump: A January poll by public broadcaster NHK put his disapproval rating at the lowest in almost a year. With no serious challenger to his power emerging from his Liberal Democratic Party or from the opposition, Abe is set to be Japan’s longest-serving prime minister if he remains in office until November. In a new Diet session that started Monday, Abe will look to build momentum for an unpopular consumption tax hike set for implementation later this year, while preparing his ruling coalition to keep its majority in an Upper House election in July. At the same time, he faces the threat of more tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and a deepening rift with South Korea over compensation for Japan’s actions during its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. “We can’t take it easy,” said Tomomi Inada, chief deputy secretary-general of Abe’s ruling LDP, in an interview about the upcoming Upper House election. “We don’t know what might happen in the Diet session.” The Diet presents some unique political challenges, in that the gatherings can suck up most of the administration’s time. Abe and his ministers must attend televised committee sessions and answer questions from lawmakers for hours on end. The opposition is likely to use the current session to hammer the government over slipshod data collection for government statistics, which forced his administration to amend the budget this month. They could also whip up public sentiment against the planned tax hike in October. Raising the unpopular levy — which the government has done twice since it was introduced in 1989 — has previously sent the economy into reverse and incited political revolts. The tax hike could slam the brakes on domestic spending, hurting the economy at the same time that it faces pressure from a global slowdown. To sell the plan, Abe has said it would fund generous social security policies for young families — part of his efforts to spur population growth in the world’s fastest-aging country. “We need a stable source of revenue,” to fund plans for a social security system for all generations, Abe told the Diet in a policy speech Monday. He said that the increased revenue would be matched by spending on public services as well as measures to encourage consumption and protect those with lower incomes. Since his unexpected return to power in 2012 after an abbreviated first stint as premier, his signature Abenomics program mostly coincided with a global upswing that’s helped the country break out of a decadeslong deflationary malaise, fueled corporate profits and supported the stock market. But debt keeps rising, demographic problems abound and women are still very much underrepresented in key management roles. Abe acknowledged the need to allay concerns over the tax at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting this month. A poll by the Sankei newspaper showed 74 percent of respondents were uneasy about its effect on the economy. “At this point, I think we have an economic environment where we can raise the sales tax, but we want to make that even more certain in the run-up to October,” Abe told an audience after giving a speech at the meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in which he touted policies he’s introduced to cope with an aging population. Other challenges also wait for Abe this year, including the abdication of Emperor Akihito at the end of April, followed by the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito and Japan’s hosting of a Group of 20 summit in June. But so far diplomatic headaches — including an increasingly hostile relationship with fellow U.S. ally South Korea and a failure to achieve progress on a territorial dispute with Russia — don’t appear to have hurt Abe’s support. Harukata Takenaka, a professor of politics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said he didn’t expect Abe to suffer serious losses in the July election because the opposition is still divided. In a governor’s race in Yamanashi Prefecture, a candidate backed by the ruling coalition ousted one supported by the two main opposition parties on Sunday. Abe’s third consecutive term as LDP leader doesn’t end until September 2021. In the longer term, much depends on how skillfully he times the next general election, Takenaka told reporters this month. “If I were prime minister, I would call the general election after the 2020 Olympics” in Tokyo, he said. “Then he could claim to have made Japan great again, win the general election and the possibility might emerge of staying on for a fourth term as LDP president.”


Fired-up Hyogo city mayor sorry for calling official 'stupid' and asking him to 'burn down' building

Abstract: KOBE - A mayor in Hyogo Prefecture is in hot water for calling a senior city official “stupid” and suggesting he “burn down” a local building that stood in the way of the construction of a new road. “All that has been reported by the media is true. I deeply regret such unforgivable behavior,” Akashi Mayor Fusaho Izumi said at a news conference Tuesday, after his comments came to light in the media in recent days. In the heated exchange in June 2017, a raging Izumi reportedly told the official to burn the building, which was home to businesses and residences, albeit in a figurative manner. Izumi, 55, said earlier in the day that he apologized on Monday to the official, acknowledging that his behavior was an abuse of power resulting from an angry outburst. The outburst was reportedly sparked because authorities had failed to make progress in negotiations to evict the building’s tenants over a period of approximately five years.


Japan files criminal complaint against man who allegedly tried to bring wagyu eggs and sperm to China

Abstract: The agriculture ministry filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday against a man who allegedly tried to bring hundreds of fertilized eggs and sperm of wagyu cattle to China. The ministry filed the complaint with the Osaka Prefectural Police because the case is very serious as it involved a large number of wagyu eggs, officials said. Japan bans the export of fertilized and unfertilized eggs and sperm of the cattle under the animal infectious diseases control law. Offenders are subject to imprisonment of up to three years or up to ¥1 million in fines. The case marks the first criminal complaint over wagyu exports, according to the ministry. The man is alleged to have tried to bring a container of fertilized wagyu eggs and sperm from a port in Osaka to Shanghai. His attempt was discovered at Chinese customs. After returning to Japan, the man told customs personnel that he was asked by his acquaintance to carry the container. The man said he did not know that it was illegal.


Chinese trainee arrested over abandoning baby tells police she feared deportation from Japan

Abstract: YOKOHAMA - A 22-year-old Chinese citizen in Japan under the government-sponsored technical training program was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of abandoning her newborn son at a residential compound near Tokyo last month for fear of being sent back home. The baby was not in a life-threatening condition and has since been taken to a home for infants. His mother, Zhan Meijuan, allegedly left the infant wrapped in a blanket at a compound in her neighborhood at around 2:50 p.m. on Dec. 19 after giving birth at her home in the city of Kawasaki, according to police. Zhan came to Japan last August and worked at a food processing plant in Kanagawa Prefecture. “I won’t be able to stay in Japan if the company finds out (about the baby). I thought a Japanese family would raise him if I left him at their home,” she was quoted by the police as saying. Investigators gathered clues about the suspect based on security camera footage, the police said. As of late October, more than 300,000 foreign nationals were engaged in unskilled labor in Japan as interns under the program, which is intended to transfer skills to developing countries. But the system has been criticized as being a cover for companies to import cheap labor.

children
immigration
kawasaki
foreign trainees
zhan meijuan


Swine fever epidemic unabated in central Japan as seventh case discovered, again in Gifu

Abstract: GIFU - A swine fever epidemic plaguing Gifu Prefecture since September is continuing to rage with a seventh case identified Tuesday, leading to a cull of 1,600 pigs, local authorities said. After tests confirmed the fresh case at a farm in the city of Kakamigahara, prefectural officials requested the dispatch of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to cull and bury the pigs. The prefectural government also plans to cull about 150 pigs at a wholesale market in the city of Gifu that received a dozen pigs from the Kakamigahara farm, as well as some 900 pigs at a farm in the city of Motosu that earlier this month bought about 80 piglets from the site of the latest outbreak. Following the sixth case, which was confirmed in December in Seki, also in Gifu, about 470 GSDF troops joined prefectural officials to cull 8,000 pigs, according to the prefectural government. Farm minister Takamori Yoshikawa said on Tuesday he has instructed officials to work out new measures for tighter control of the disease. He added that Japan will not be able to export pork to the European Union under a bilateral free trade accord that will come into force on Friday unless swine fever is eradicated in the country. The current outbreak, which began in the city of Gifu in September, is the first in the country since 1992. The disease, which has also been detected in wild boars in both Gifu and neighboring Aichi Prefecture, does not affect humans even if an infected animal is consumed. After the outbreak began, Gifu Prefecture imposed restrictions on shipping hogs and transporting feed crop and droppings in areas near affected farms, but lifted the last remaining restriction on Saturday. Gifu Gov. Hajime Furuta expressed disappointment Tuesday, saying it was regrettable the case had occurred despite measures being taken to contain the disease. The latest case “will again halt pig shipments that had restarted little by little,” said an official from a Gifu industry group. Japan had declared swine fever eradicated in 2007.


Bluefin tuna catches off Japan sluggish as fishers curb operations due to stricter overfishing rules

Abstract: Bluefin tuna catches in coastal waters off Japan have been sluggish so far in the current fishing season that runs from July 2018 to March this year. Many fishers have apparently curbed operations following the introduction this season of stricter rules designed to tackle overfishing, with the total amount of catches standing at some 40 percent of the upper limit. Bluefin tuna is a delicacy and used in top-quality sushi and other dishes. An upper limit is set for each of the country’s 47 prefectures, on the basis of factors including past catches. This season, the total amount of catches of bluefin tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms each came to 651 tons in all prefectures as of Jan. 21, against a combined limit of 1,528.7 tons, and that of tuna weighing 30 kilograms or over stood at 480.4 tons, against a cap of 1,125.2 tons, according to the Fisheries Agency. Bluefin tuna catches “are unlikely to surge during the remaining period” because the peak of the fishing season is already over in many areas, an official of the agency suggested. Of all prefectures, only Chiba has seen its catches top its limit for tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms. The catch amount came to 39.4 tons, passing the cap of 36.3 tons. “We had refrained from active fishing toward the end of last year, when bluefin tuna would be traded at high prices, but catches at year-end turned out to be poor,” said a fisher in Aomori. Japan started to set prefecture-by-prefecture catch limits in 2016 for bluefin tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms. But many continued to overfish the prized species or engaged in inappropriate fishing activities. Catches in Hokkaido in the season from July 2017 to June last year were about seven times greater than the maximum quota set for the prefecture. To cope with the situation, the agency started this season to punish offenders and set prefectural catch limits for bigger bluefin tuna as well. “Many fishers are unaccustomed to following such quotas,” the Aomori fisher said. He also cited the need to create a system that allows prefectures whose catches are close to their limits to receive unused portions from prefectures with catches well below their quotas.


Letters containing suspected cyanide targeted 18 Japanese newspapers and drugmakers

Abstract: Threatening letters with white powder suspected to be potassium cyanide were recently sent to a total of 18 companies, police sources said Tuesday. The letters include those delivered to the Tokyo headquarters of major dailies the Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun, and offices of drugmakers in Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido, according to the sources. Letters to the Tokyo-based companies contained messages threatening to produce and distribute fake drugs, they said. A letter sent to the Asahi on Friday threatened to distribute drugs laced with potassium cyanide, a highly toxic substance, unless Bitcoin worth 35 million South Korean won (about ¥3.4 million) was paid, the newspaper said. It did not say to whom the money should be paid. A similar envelope was delivered last week to the Mainichi’s Tokyo offices. According to NHK, police identified some of the powder as potassium cyanide. Some of the letters were sent under the names of former senior members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, including its guru, Shoko Asahara, who were executed last year for a series of crimes including the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo. Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department and others are investigating the cases on suspicion of attempted extortion. The police suspect that the threatening letters were sent by a single person or entity, given the similarity of their content, the source said.

media
drugs
aum shinrikyo
asahi shimbun
newspapers
drugmakers
mainichi shimbun
police


Father arrested in Chiba on assault charge after death of daughter, 10, who had told school of 'bullying' by dad

Abstract: CHIBA - Police have arrested a man on suspicion of assault after his 10-year-old daughter died last week at their home in Chiba Prefecture. Yuichiro Kurihara, 41, was arrested Friday on suspicion of assaulting his daughter Mia, whose body was found with several bruises on it. The girl had reported to her school in November 2017 that she had been “bullied” by her father and was taken into protective custody for about seven weeks after a bruise was found on her cheek. Her 31-year-old mother, whose name has not been released, has told investigators her husband did not stop his abusive behavior despite her pleas, investigative sources said Tuesday. Mia was found dead in the bathroom of the family’s home in the city of Noda after the police received an emergency call from Kurihara late Thursday night, in which he said his daughter had fallen unconscious and was not breathing following a scuffle between them. Kurihara reportedly told the police he had made Mia stand for a period of time from earlier that morning and had later got into the scuffle with her while scolding her. He said he had drenched her with cold water from the shower and had grabbed her by the neck. The police said Monday that the autopsy on Mia revealed no major injuries or diseases and had failed to identify the cause of death. She had not suffered from malnutrition. Mia, who lived with her parents and 1-year-old sister, had been absent from school since Jan. 7, the first day of class this year, according to Noda’s education board. Kurihara had told the school that Mia was staying in Okinawa Prefecture with her mother. In 2017, Mia had told officials from a prefectural child welfare center that she had been hit by her father when her mother was away and had been scolded for not doing her homework, the center said. The center said at a news conference Monday that neither its officials nor her school staff had visited Mia’s home after her period of protective custody ended as they believed she did not face imminent danger. “The decision to let her return home (from the center) was reasonable but our handling of the case after that was insufficient,” said Hitoshi Nihei, head of the center in Chiba’s city of Kashiwa. Nihei said the center had determined that the abuse had not been severe and its basic policy after ending protective custody was “watching over her at school.” The local police and the Noda Municipal Government had shared information on Mia, but the police also said they did not think her case required an immediate response. The girl’s death comes at a time when the government has pledged to improve measures to prevent child abuse following the death of 5-year-old Yua Funato in Tokyo in March last year. Funato had written “forgive me” in a notebook, begging her parents to stop mistreating her. Insufficient information sharing among public entities was seen as one of the factors behind the high-profile abuse case.

children
abuse
child abuse
yuichiro kurihara
mia kurihara


Osaka District Court dismisses Chinese citizens' wartime forced labor suit

Abstract: OSAKA - The Osaka District Court dismissed Tuesday a lawsuit filed by a group of Chinese citizens seeking compensation totaling ¥82.5 million from the Japanese central government over forced labor during World War II. The suit, brought by a group of 19 former forced laborers and their relatives to the court in 2015, also demanded an apology from the government. The plaintiffs include those taken from northern China and forced to work at a mining camp in Akita Prefecture and at a dockyard in the city of Osaka. They claimed the workers were treated as “captives” and that Japan’s national policy at the time violated an international treaty that stipulates the rights of prisoners. Japanese courts have repeatedly turned down similar claims from Chinese plaintiffs based on a top court decision. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that Chinese nationals have no right to compensation as it was renounced under a 1972 joint communique issued when diplomatic ties between the two countries were normalized. Presiding Judge Ryosuke Sakai relied on that legal precedent but acknowledged the suffering of Chinese people who were forcibly removed to Japan during the war amid a labor shortage. Li Tiechui, 95, now the sole living survivor among the former workers, played a major role in a large uprising that occurred at the Hanaoka mining camp in 1945. More than 400 workers were killed during the incident and from torture conducted in its aftermath. The Hanaoka camp was operated by contractor Kajima Gumi, the forerunner to present-day construction company Kajima Corp., which reached an out-of-court settlement in 2000 with a separate group of plaintiffs. Both sides agreed to set up a fund to compensate the Chinese victims of the labor camp.

china
wwii
history
courts
china-japan relations
osaka district court
wartime labor


Don't call them 2020 Tokyo Olympics volunteers, call them the 'Field Cast'

Abstract: Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games announced Monday that volunteers working at competition venues and the athletes’ village will be known as the “Field Cast.” Prospective volunteers had until Jan. 20 to vote for one of four proposed nicknames, which also included “Games Anchor,” “Games Force” and “Shining Blue.” Field Cast received 16,187 of the 37,739 votes, while Shining Blue was the second-most popular with 10,328. City volunteers, recruited separately by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will be known as the “City Cast” and will offer transport and sightseeing information to spectators and tourists inside the capital. Organizers said the monikers are intended to create a sense of unity among volunteers, and they will strive to boost recognition of the nicknames after orientation sessions begin on Feb. 9. “We believe that each volunteer is essential to the success of the Tokyo 2020 Games,” said organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto. “We will continue our preparations so that all games volunteers and staff will grow to love and be proud of these names, and will help in leading to the success of the games.” The nicknaming trend began in 2012 at the London Games, where volunteers were known as “Games Makers.” Those at last year’s Pyeongchang Winter Games were called “Passion Crew.” Last week, organizers revealed they had received over 200,000 volunteer applications, far surpassing their original target of 80,000 when they began the online process in September. The Tokyo Olympics will be held between July 24 and Aug. 9, 2020, followed by the Paralympics from Aug. 25 to Sept. 6.

tokyo
volunteers
2020 tokyo olympics
2020 tokyo paralympics
field cast


Facebook follows Google with $300 million in funds to support local-level journalism

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Facebook announced Tuesday that it will invest $300 million over three years to support journalism, with an emphasis on promoting hard-hit local-level news organizations. The move, on the heels of a similar initiative by Google last year, comes with online platforms dominating the internet advertising ecosystem, making it harder for legacy news organizations to make a transition to digital. “People want more local news, and local newsrooms are looking for more support,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president in charge of global news partnerships, said in a blog post. “That’s why today, we’re announcing an expanded effort around local news in the years ahead.” In the U.S., social media have overtaken print newspapers as a news source for Americans, according to a survey released last year by the Pew Research Center. The survey report found 20 percent of U.S. adults say they often get news via social media, compared with 16 percent from newspapers. Facebook, which has been criticized for enabling manipulation of its news feed, has consistently said it does not want to be considered a media organization that makes editorial decisions but wants to support journalism and efforts to fight misinformation. It has funded fact-checking projects around the world, including one in partnership with AFP. The move by Facebook follows the Google News Initiative unveiled last year by the U.S. internet search giant. Ken Paulson, a former USA Today chief editor who heads the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, said the Facebook initiative was “a great move.” “Local news media have suffered significant collateral damage from the enmity directed at national news organizations, and yet they’re the most critical to a functioning democracy,” Paulson said. “Every investment helps.” But Nikki Usher, a George Washington University professor of media studies, said the effort “is a bit of smoke and mirrors because it’s hard to tell what’s really local for Facebook.” Usher said the effort may end up aiding large regional newspapers and local TV stations but may not impact the under-75,000 circulation publications, which make up a large part of the news ecosystem. Facebook’s effort is “a lot of money in one sense but in another sense it’s not that much, the equivalent of revenues of one large newspaper,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University. “It’s certainly better than doing nothing, and I hope it will be of some help,” Kennedy said. “But nothing is going to make that much difference unless Facebook and Google pay for the content they are displaying.” Matthew Ingram of the Columbia Journalism Review said both the Facebook and Google initiatives include money for previously announced projects. In Facebook’s case, it includes spending to get media companies to produce content for its Watch video feature. “In Google’s case, and to some extent in Facebook’s as well, the aid that is being given amounts to help in convincing newsrooms and journalists to use the company’s products more,” Ingram wrote. The Facebook initiative includes a $5 million endowment to the Pulitzer Center to launch “Bringing Stories Home,” which will foster coverage on topics that affect local communities — funding at least 12 local in-depth, multimedia reporting projects each year. Facebook also said it giving $6 million to the British-based Community News Project, which partners with regional news organizations and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. The huge social network said it was expanding its Accelerator pilot, which launched in the United States in 2018 to help local newsrooms with subscription and membership models. Facebook said it would invest over $20 million to continue the initiative in the U.S. and to expand globally, including in Europe. The funding includes $2 million for the Report for America initiative to place 1,000 journalists in local US newsrooms over the next five years and $1 million for the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, a news innovation and technology hub. It also includes a $1 million commitment to the American Journalism Project, aiming at promoting venture philanthropy and local civic news organizations.

u.s .
google
journalism
social media
facebook
fake news


Amazon posts and then removes job listings for positions at new New York office

Abstract: SEATTLE - Amazon.com Inc. rolled back what initially appeared to be its first job listings for a new corporate campus in New York City, saying it planned to kick off the hiring process “later in 2019.” The retail and technology giant this month published two job postings, seeking a software development manager and software engineer, which said that following Amazon’s recent announcement of its expansion in New York, the company would build out a 50-person team there in 2019 as part of Amazon’s Intelligent Cloud Control group. “Our expansion in HQ2 will allow ICC to meet its ever-increasing staffing needs and provide leadership necessary across all of the other Amazon teams we work with that will also establish a base in HQ2 in the future,” the company said in the job postings. Those references to HQ2 were removed by the company after press inquiries on Monday. An Amazon spokeswoman said the two advertised roles were for jobs in existing offices in New York, where Amazon has been expanding teams focused on cloud computing, advertising and fashion. Amazon in November said it would build new corporate campuses in the New York City neighborhood of Long Island City and Arlington in northern Virginia, ending a search for what the Seattle-based company originally pitched to bidding cities as a single second headquarters, or HQ2, that it would staff with some 50,000 employees. Amazon has said it would hire about 700 people at its new Long Island City location in 2019, and about 3,000 next year. “We haven’t posted roles in our Long Island City headquarters yet, but we’re excited to kick off our recruiting process later in 2019,” Amazon said in a statement, adding that the company also hadn’t yet listed jobs for the new northern Virginia location.


Shutdown bites economy and U.S. Coast Guard as Washington talks stall

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy is taking a larger-than-expected hit from the partial government shutdown, White House estimates showed on Tuesday, as contractors and even the Coast Guard go without pay and talks to end the impasse seemed stalled. The shutdown dragged into its 25th day on Tuesday with neither Trump nor Democratic congressional leaders showing signs of bending on the topic that triggered it — funding for the wall Trump promised to build along the border with Mexico. Trump invited a bipartisan group of members of Congress for lunch to discuss the standoff but the White House said Democrats turned down the invitation. Nine House Republicans — none of whom are involved in party leadership — attended the private lunch. House Democratic leaders said they did not tell members to boycott Trump’s lunch but had pressed those invited to consider whether the talks would be productive or be a photo-op for Trump. “We are unified,” Rep. Steny Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators has been exploring solutions. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican participant, told reporters in a Capitol hallway that the group had “momentum” but gave no other details. Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democratic member of the group, said “anything can be part of the negotiations.” “There’s a group — everybody’s talking. Everybody wants to find a way out of this,” he said. “Never in my political life have I ever seen the workers and the citizens that are dependent upon the services be used as a pawn,” Manchin said. Trump is insisting Congress shell out $5.7 billion for wall funding as about 800,000 federal workers go unpaid during the partial shutdown. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she was working with the White House and Congress to pass legislation to fund the Coast Guard. While the Pentagon is not affected by the shutdown, the Coast Guard budget is part of Nielsen’s department. “Like the other branches of the U.S. military, active duty @USCG should be paid for their service and sacrifice to this nation,” Nielsen wrote on Twitter. The Trump administration had initially estimated the shutdown would cost the economy 0.1 percentage point in growth every two weeks that employees were without pay. But on Tuesday, there was an updated figure: 0.13 percentage point every week because of the impact of work left undone by 380,000 furloughed employees as well as work left aside by federal contractors, a White House official said. The partial shutdown is the longest in U.S. history and its effects have begun to reverberate across the country. Longer lines have formed at some airports as more security screeners fail to show up for work while food and drug inspections have been curtailed and farmers, stung by recent trade spats, have been unable to receive federal aid. Speaking on CNBC, Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said the partial shutdown will cost the airline $25 million in lost revenue in January because fewer government contractors are traveling. Trump ran for office in 2016 on a promise to build a wall to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking. He had toyed with the prospect of declaring a national emergency to circumvent Congress to secure the funding, but this week has backed off from that idea, which would attract a court challenge. Democrats, who took over the U.S. House of Representatives this month, have rejected the border wall but back other border security measures. They also have insisted the government be fully open before negotiations occur. House Democrats have passed a number of bills to fund the roughly one-quarter of federal operations that have been closed, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has said the chamber will not consider legislation that Trump will not sign into law. McConnell, who has mainly stayed out of the public fray on the shutdown, on Tuesday accused Democrats of “acrobatic contortions” to avoid negotiating on the shutdown.

u.s. economy
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democrats
delta air lines
u.s. coast guard
mitch mcconnell
donald trump


Bank of Japan to cut inflation forecast due to sharp fall in oil prices

Abstract: The Bank of Japan is almost certain to cut its inflation forecast for the fiscal year starting in April given the sharp fall in oil prices, according to sources familiar with the matter. The government’s decision to make preschool education free adds to the case for the downgrade, which will be delivered at the end of the next board meeting on Jan. 23, the people said. Looming cuts to mobile phone charges darken the picture but are hard to quantify, they said. There are no indications that monetary policy will be changed at the gathering because these pressures are seen as temporary and don’t change the picture of underlying inflation, according to the sources. The BOJ’s current forecast is for inflation to average 1.4 percent next fiscal year, a figure that private economists judge to be overly optimistic. Oil prices have dropped about 20 percent since the last quarterly outlook report in October. The size of the downgrade can’t be gauged until board members provide their estimates at the meeting next week. The central bank will continue to closely monitor the price views of companies and consumers to see if the transitory factors affect inflation expectations, some of the sources said. The BOJ will also consider whether it needs to reassess its growth forecast for fiscal 2019, taking into account measures planned by the government to offset the impact of a planned consumption tax hike in October, the sources said. Last month, the Cabinet Office said gross domestic product, the total value of goods and services produced in the country, is expected to grow 1.3 percent in real terms in the fiscal year, a downgrade from the July forecast of 1.5 percent growth. The planned measures, including a temporary bonus point system for cashless payments and reduced taxes on big ticket items, will support the economy, but the BOJ also needs to weigh them against risks to the global economy, according to the sources. The government estimates in its economic outlook that the free preschool education measure will cut overall consumer prices by 0.3 percentage point.


No social skills required: Autistic staff help global IT consultancy thrive

Abstract: LONDON - From a British call center to an Alaskan satellite facility, Lars Backstrom has had a lot of jobs, but says he always felt like a hexagonal peg in a square hole — he just didn’t fit in. That changed last year when the 55-year-old Swede joined the British branch of Auticon, an IT consultancy that employs people with autism, some of whom have skills that are particularly well-suited to analyzing data and recognizing patterns. “They put me down in a hexagonal hole,” Backstrom told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. “Spotting details and creating models, that is very enjoyable,” he said. “It’s a fantastic experience. … I feel both physically and mentally much, much better.” More than one in 100 people worldwide are estimated to have autism, a developmental disorder that can lead to social, communication and behavioral challenges and make it difficult to get or keep a job. Britain’s National Autistic Society (NAS) says only 16 percent of people on the autistic spectrum — who have one of a range of conditions that affect their social interaction and other behaviors — are employed. The figures are similar in Germany, where Auticon was first established in 2011 by a father dismayed at the lack of job opportunities for his autistic son. The social enterprise — a company set up to do good as well as making a profit — aims to provide people on the spectrum with a working environment they can thrive in. It now employs more than 150 in France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Britain and the United States and is one of a growing number of businesses to recognize them as a valuable resource, said Emma Kearns, NAS’s employment training manager. “Not all autistic people are able to work. But the vast majority are desperate to find a job,” Kearns said in a statement. “With a little understanding and small adjustments to the recruitment process and workplace, autistic adults can be a real asset to all sorts of businesses.” Auticon operates as a consultancy, hiring people with autism and sending them out to advise client companies — typically blue-chip organizations dealing with large stacks of data. Recruiting is based on practical skill assessments rather than interviews, said Auticon UK’s chief executive, Ray Coyle. “An interview is a test of social interaction skills in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people … and that is a difficult environment for many autistic people,” he said. “We ask people to tell us what they are good at and we test them on that.” Previous experience in IT is not required and the company pairs staff with a job coach that caters to their needs. From chit-chat with colleagues to coffee breaks and work meetings, office life can cause stress and anxiety for people with autism, said coach Richmal Maybank. The coaches talk clients through the needs of the consultants — some might be sensitive to noise or light and work best in a dark room or with noise-cancelling headphones — and hold weekly meetings with the consultant to ensure all is well. For Backstrom, the system has proved life-changing. Despite holding three degrees in physics, geophysics and creative writing, he had been out of full-time employment for eight years before joining Auticon in April. In 2014 he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that has made it hard for him to interact with colleagues. “My comfort zone is really me and a good book,” said Backstrom, who is currently working with accounting firm KPMG in London. The group is profitable and is looking to expand into Poland and Australia. Last year its staff worked on more than 200 projects for clients that ranged from German insurer Allianz to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But finding recruits is not easy, as many potential candidates do not have the confidence to apply or have given up looking for work altogether, added Coyle. “If people feel that society has given up on them and that they are more or less permanently excluded from the job market they are not going to be looking at job ads,” he said. Yet the company hopes its success could help bring about change, encouraging others to hire more people with autism. “A lot of the valuable work that we do is in changing people’s perspective and people views to see the positives rather than just the challenges,” said Coyle.


Netflix hikes prices for U.S. subscribers by 13-18% as it expands presence and content

Abstract: BANGALORE, INDIA - Netflix Inc. is raising monthly fees for its U.S. subscribers by between 13 percent and 18 percent, the video streaming pioneer’s first price increase since 2017 as it spends heavily on original content and international expansion. Prices for its popular standard plan, which allows streaming on two devices at the same time, will be increased to $12.99 per month from $10.99, the company said in a statement. Netflix shares rose 6 percent to $352.64 in morning trading, adding to their 30 percent rise so far this year. The company’s top-tier plan, which allows streaming on four screens in high definition, will be raised to $15.99 from $13.99 per month, while fee for its basic plan will rise to $8.99 from $7.99. In comparison, Time Warner Inc’s HBO Now streaming service charges $14.99 per month, while Hulu’s no-advertisements plan is priced at $11.99 per month. “It highlights that Netflix has pricing power and even after the increase it remains a very cheap entertainment alternative,” Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said. The price hikes will be applied to all existing members over the next few months and to all new members immediately. “We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience for the benefit of our members,” the company said. Netflix has been pouring money to bolster its original content to fend off intensifying competition from players such as Amazon.com’s Prime Video service and Hulu. But that has led to an increase in Netflix’s long-term debt, which doubled to $6.50 billion in 2017 from $3.36 billion in 2016. The company is expected to have a debt level of $8.33 billion in 2018, according to Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co., which owns 15,019 shares of Netflix.

streaming
netflix
hulu
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u.s. subscribers


Tokyo stocks turn lower as investors start to sell following recent rally

Abstract: Stocks turned lower on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday, as investors moved to sell in the wake of the recent rally. The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 112.54 points, or 0.55 percent, to end at 20,442.75. On Tuesday, the key market gauge gained 195.59 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 4.95 points, or 0.32 percent, at 1,537.77. It rose 12.99 points the previous day. The Tokyo market made a firmer start tracking the strength of Wall Street on Tuesday. British Parliament’s rejection on Tuesday of the Brexit deal between the government of Prime Minister Theresa May and the European Union had little effect on the market because it had been widely expected, brokers said. But both Nikkei and Topix indexes quickly lost steam as selling took the upper hand following the two-session rally, they said. “The Nikkei’s rebound above the psychologically important threshold of 20,500 prompted profit-taking,” said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co. An asset management firm official pointed out that stocks encountered futures-linked selling to “correct” their recent rapid advance. But the market’s downside was “solid,” Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., said. “The Bank of Japan is believed to have bought exchange-traded funds.” Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,424 to 635 in the TSE’s first section, while 69 issues were unchanged. Volume dropped to 1.209 billion shares, from Tuesday’s 1.345 billion shares. Kose plunged 3.53 percent because the cosmetics maker’s operating profit for April-December last year failed to beat a market consensus, brokers said. Investors also shunned peers Shiseido and Fancl. Other major losers included optical-equipment-maker Olympus and clothing retailer Fast Retailing. By contrast, movie distributor Toho drew popularity thanks to its announcement the previous day of a plan to buy back its own shares. Also bought were retailer FamilyMart Uny and air-conditioner-maker Daikin. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March contract on the Nikkei average was down 80 points at 20,430.

stocks
nikkei
tokyo stock exchange
topix


Dollar almost unchanged around ¥108.60 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar was almost unchanged around ¥108.60 in Tokyo trading late Wednesday after paring early losses thanks to repurchases. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥108.60-61, almost unchanged from ¥108.65-65 at the same time on Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1393-1393, down from $1.1469-1470, and at ¥123.74-75, down from ¥124.62-63. After moving around ¥108.60-70 in early trading, the dollar fell below ¥108.40 in line with a drop in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average. The greenback rose back to around ¥108.50 toward noon thanks to buybacks, traders said. In the afternoon, the U.S. currency moved narrowly around the threshold amid a dearth of major fresh trading incentives. In late trading, the dollar firmed to around ¥108.60 on the back of higher long-term U.S. interest rates, traders said. Tuesday’s rejection by the British Parliament of the Brexit deal between the government of Prime Minister Theresa May and the European Union “wasn’t surprising and had almost no impact on dollar-yen” rate movements, said an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service company. A wait-and-see mood is growing, with investors hoping to see the outcome of a vote of no confidence that the May government faces later on Wednesday, traders said. The dollar’s topside versus the yen is increasingly limited as it is difficult for currency market players to purchase the U.S. currency actively amid uncertainty over the impact of the partial U.S. government shutdown, which has become the longest ever, according to a Japanese bank official.


France seeks Renault board meeting to replace chair and CEO Carlos Ghosn, sources say

Abstract: PARIS - The French government is moving to dismiss Renault’s scandal-hit Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn and has requested a board meeting to consider candidates to replace him, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The French state, Renault’s biggest shareholder, had until now supported the company’s decision to keep Ghosn in his post while he awaits trial in Japan for alleged misconduct at Nissan, the French carmaker’s alliance partner he also chaired until his dismissal in November. But the government, which holds a 15 percent stake in Renault and two board seats, has asked the company to convene its nominations committee followed by a full board meeting on Jan. 20 to begin the process of appointing one or more successors to Ghosn, according to three people briefed on the process. A spokesman for Renault and a French finance ministry official both said they had no knowledge of plans for a weekend board meeting. Ghosn’s Nov. 19 arrest in Tokyo and swift firing by Nissan have deepened tensions with Renault, which owns a 43.4 percent stake in the Yokohama-based carmaker. The French move to replace Ghosn follows a decision by the Tokyo District Court earlier Tuesday to deny the ousted chairman’s request for release on bail. Ghosn has been charged over allegations he failed to disclose about ¥9 billion in additional compensation for the period from 2010 to 2018 that he had arranged to be paid later. His close aide Greg Kelly and the company itself have also been indicted. Both men deny the deferred pay agreements were illegal or required disclosure, while former alliance boss Ghosn has denied a separate breach of trust charge over personal investment losses he is suspected of temporarily transferring to Nissan in 2008. Jean-Dominique Senard, who is soon to step down as CEO of tire-maker Michelin, is likely to replace Ghosn as Renault chairman, according to two sources. The French state and its advisers are also considering candidates for the Renault CEO role currently occupied on an interim basis by Ghosn’s deputy Thierry Bollore. Bollore is among contenders for the permanent CEO appointment. Others under consideration include senior Toyota executive Didier Leroy, Elior boss Philippe Guillemot and one other potential candidate, a source involved in the discussions said. “Philippe Guillemot denies being a candidate for Ghosn’s succession,” said a spokesman for food-services group Elior. “It’s possible that people considered him, but no more than that.” Senard could alternatively be appointed chairman and CEO, taking over both of Ghosn’s current roles, the source said. “All these options are on the table.” Leroy declined to comment, and attempts to reach Senard at Michelin were unsuccessful. Headhunting firms Korn Ferry and Emeric Lepoutre & Partners, which are involved in the executive search, could not be reached after hours. French officials had said Ghosn should be kept in office unless it became clear he would remain “incapacitated” for much longer, also hinting that Tuesday’s court decision would be an “important development.” Two senior French finance ministry officials were traveling to Tokyo on Tuesday for talks with Nissan stakeholders aimed at stabilizing the alliance with Renault, the Le Figaro daily reported. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said in a Monday interview he expected Renault to back Nissan’s ouster of Ghosn when its board of directors were finally given full access to the findings of its internal investigation.