Dates and locations in Philippines and Japan revealed for some skill tests required for new working visas

Abstract: Government sources confirmed Thursday the dates and locations, in the Philippines and Japan, for the first round of skill tests for new types of working visas. Tokyo will introduce the new visas in April in the hope of increasing the number of foreign workers with certain skills available to 14 industries said to be suffering from labor shortages. According to the sources, the initial-round tests for the Specified Skill Type 1 visa for those hoping to work in the nursing care industry, which has the most serious shortage of labor, will be held in Manila from April 13 to 14. Their knowledge of Japanese words used specifically in nursing services will be examined as well. The industry is expected to accept up to 60,000 foreign workers in five years through the new visas. Skill tests will be conducted in Tokyo and Osaka on April 25 for prospective workers in the food service industry, and in Sapporo, Tokyo, Fukuoka and four other cities on April 14 for those hoping to work in the hotel industry, the sources said. Foreigners who have completed three-year on-the-job training programs can obtain a Type 1 visa without taking the skill tests. Tests will be held for the nursing care, food service and hotel industries first because the three sectors lack such training programs, the sources said, adding that tests in the remaining industries will take place in May. Initially, skill tests were expected to be held in Vietnam to accept workers in the caregiving and restaurant industries, but none are scheduled to be held there because the country has yet to conclude a treaty with Japan to eliminate malevolent job brokers, the sources explained. Tests to screen foreign workers eligible for the type 2 visa, which requires a higher level of skills, will be held in fiscal 2021 for the construction and shipbuilding industries.


Number of foreign residents in Japan rose 6.6% in 2018, while number of overstayers grew almost twice as much, government data shows

Abstract: The number of foreign residents in Japan had risen 6.6 percent at the end of 2018 from a year earlier, to reach a record high of some 2.73 million, Justice Ministry data showed on Friday. The increase in foreign students and technical trainee visa holders, especially from Vietnam, contributed to the overall growth, an official with the ministry’s Immigration Bureau said. As of the end of last year, 337,000 non-Japanese were registered as students and another 328,360 were technical interns who had come to Japan under government-sponsored programs — each figure up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier, the official said. Vietnamese, comprising 330,835 residents as of late December, saw the highest growth, up 26.1 percent from a year earlier. “In case of Vietnamese residents in particular, this tendency is owing to strong growth in the number of technical trainees and those who come to work as engineers or specialists in humanities,” the official said. Of the foreign nationals in the nation, who hail from 195 countries and regions, the Vietnamese community ranked the third-largest group after Chinese residents at 764,720 and South Koreans at 449,634. In addition, Indonesians and Nepalese, also in the top 10, were among the top three strongest growing communities in the past year. As many as 2.4 million foreigners living in Japan were mid- and long-term residents. Students and white collar workers who reside in Japan for longer periods of time often acquire permanent residency, which has contributed to a steady growth in the number of foreign nationals with permanent-residency status, the ministry official said. That number stood at 771,568 as of late December. Moreover, of the total number of foreign residents, 20.8 percent were concentrated in and around the Tokyo area. Other areas with the highest foreign-born populations were Aichi, Osaka, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures. The ministry also revealed that as of Jan. 1 as many as 74,167 foreigners had overstayed their visas, up 11.5% from a year earlier, with South Koreans topping the list at 12,766. Vietnamese, with 11,131 illegal residents in Japan, represented the highest increase of illegal foreign residents from the previous year, up by 64.7 percent from December 2017. Nearly 80 percent of those came to Japan under the technical trainee program or with student visas, the official said, highlighting the issue as pressing. The total number of foreign trainees who were staying in Japan illegally rose to 9,366 from 6,914 within a year. The official said, however, that foreign trainees are not always to blame for breaking visa rules. She acknowledged cases of foreign trainees becoming victims of rogue dispatchers in their home countries that force applicants to take large loans to pay for their trips to Japan. She said that such agreements are among the reasons why some trainees end up seeking different job opportunities if promised employment conditions are not met. Under the scheme, trainees are not allowed to change jobs while in Japan. There was also a significant rise in the number of Indonesians whose short-stay visas expired or who had overstayed visas that were given for designated activities. Although Japan has introduced a visa-free policy for Indonesian tourists, those who apply are only permitted to stay in the country for less than 15 days. Also, those who don’t have an e-passport registered in compliance with international civil aviation standards need a short-stay visa, which allows visitors to stay in Japan for up to 90 days. Visas for designated activities, meanwhile, are often used by foreign students to undertake paid internships or to look for employment in Japan, as well as to stay temporarily in Japan when their student visas expire. Although Japan has seen an increase in illegal foreign residents in the past several years, the highest number was recorded in May 1994 when 298,646 foreigners were remaining illegally in the country.

china
vietnam
immigration
south korea
permanent residency
foreign residents


Justice Ministry overturns deportation order for gay Taiwanese man without visa

Abstract: In a rare move, the Justice Ministry has revoked a deportation order for a gay Taiwanese man who remained in Japan illegally after overstaying his visa, apparently giving consideration to his longtime partnership with a Japanese national. The man had been suing the government over the denial of special permission to reside in Japan. He has now decided to withdraw the suit. Last week, the ministry’s Immigration Bureau granted the man a one-year resident visa after the Tokyo District Court suggested that it review the order, his lawyers revealed Friday. Japan does not have a specific visa status for LGBT foreign nationals in relationships with Japanese people. “I hope this decision will help change the situation, and will help step up LGBT-inclusive efforts,” Yasushi Nagano, an attorney representing the man, told a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. To their knowledge, this was the first case in which a non-Japanese person was granted special permission to stay in Japan in consideration of a relationship with a Japanese partner of the same sex, Nagano and other lawyers said. The partnership was the point of dispute in the man’s case. The Taiwanese man, who requested his name be withheld over privacy concerns, received a deportation order in 2016 because he had no valid visa status. Over the past 25 years, the man has been in a relationship and has lived with his Japanese partner in Chiba Prefecture. But as Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage, he has not been eligible for a spousal visa. In March 2017, he filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court claiming that the government’s decision to deport him violated Japan’s immigration law. He claimed he should have been granted special permission because his sexuality was the only factor preventing him from receiving a spousal visa. According to Article 50 of the law, the Justice Minister has the authority to grant a special residence permission in opposition to the denial of such a permit by the Immigration Bureau, depending on circumstances that led to the violation of visa rules. The man, who is in his 40s, met his partner in Japan in 1993 on a short-term visa. He decided to remain in Japan despite knowing that his visa expired in April 1994. The man did not turn himself in out of fear of being denied permission to work, as he supported the couple financially, his lawyers said. He claims he could not return to Taiwan for various reasons, including ruptured family ties. Both men have been diagnosed with HIV. Taiwan’s government last month proposed a draft law that would allow same-sex marriage, which if passed would be a first in Asia. “Over the past 25 years, I had no other choice but to live with the person I love in hiding, as same-sex partnerships have not been accepted socially,” the man said, adding that he was grateful for the ministry’s decision. “If we had been allowed to marry, our lives would have been different.”

courts
taiwan
rights
lgbt
tokyo district court


Assaulted member of AKB48 spinoff criticizes results of AKS probe as 'lies'

Abstract: NIIGATA - A member of a sister group of the popular all-girl band AKB48 on Friday criticized the outcome of a probe into an alleged assault against her as “lies” while the group’s management company was disclosing the result. Management company AKS said an investigation launched after Maho Yamaguchi, a 23-year-old member of NGT48, was grabbed by the face by two men at her home in December, found no evidence that any member of the group was involved. But Yamaguchi said Friday in a Twitter post that there are members who admitted having private connections with the attackers. “Why do they continue telling lies,” she wrote in the post while company officials were holding a news conference to announce the results of the investigation. “I’m really sad.” Maiko Hayakawa, manager of the theater for Niigata-based NGT48, said at the news conference that Yamaguchi complained about the conclusion because it did not reflect her opinions. But AKS will seek to “move forward and continue activities with her for NGT,” while continuing to discuss the matter with her, Hayakawa said. Yamaguchi said in the post that the company had told her that if it found anyone having personal links to fans it would dismiss them all and she had high hopes for the investigation. The investigative committee found that some members had personal relationships with fans and said this is problematic but concluded that “excessive behavior by some fans” caused the incident. The two men were arrested by local police but not indicted. The company came under criticism for its tepid handling of the case because it did not reveal the incident until she wrote about the assault in a Twitter post in January and did not respond promptly. AKS replaced Etsuro Imamura as manager of the theater in January after the incident came to light. The company operates Tokyo-based AKB48 and many affiliates at home as well as overseas, such as JKT48 in Indonesia, BNK48 in Thailand and MNL48 in the Philippines.


Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 in Japan

Abstract: Suicide has become the leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 in Japan for the first time in the postwar period, an analysis of government demographic data has shown. While the total number of people across the country who kill themselves has declined remarkably in recent years, statistics released by the health ministry for 2017 showed that 100 children in that particular age group took their own lives, accounting for 22.9 percent of all deaths in their generation. Cancer came second for the age bracket, at 22.7 percent, followed by accidents at 11.7 percent. Among Japanese nationals, the overall number of suicides peaked in 2003 at more than 32,000 before declining to 20,465 in 2017. However, the number of suicides per 100,000 people among those aged 10 to 19 remains flat. Among those between 15 and 39, meanwhile, suicide has been the dominant cause of death since 2012. About half of those who killed themselves were in their 20s. Individual factors prompting children aged 10 to 14 to kill themselves have not been sufficiently clarified, according to the white paper from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on preventing suicide and other documents. Many of those involved in cases of suicide had not previously attempted to kill themselves, making it harder for people around them to recognize the signs, the documents said. A recent trend in Japan in which suicides by children surge just after holidays, such as the spring and summer vacations, has become a major social issue. Junko Sakanaka, a school counselor and member of a government panel tasked with the prevention of suicide, has said it is a “serious situation” for suicide to be the leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14. “To prevent children from taking their own lives, we need to grasp the more detailed, actual conditions. Now, we adults are being questioned on the extent to which we can recognize (children’s) distress signals, which are hard to perceive,” she said. In July 2017, the government adopted a suicide prevention plan, which included a focus on measures to prevent youth suicides. It has strengthened counseling online, while schools are also giving lectures to students on how to seek help when they have concerns.


33 women sue Tokyo Medical University over rigged entrance exams

Abstract: Thirty-three women filed a damages suit Friday against Tokyo Medical University, claiming it rigged its entrance exams in favor of male candidates and deprived them of admission. The plaintiffs, who took entrance examinations between 2006 and 2018, are seeking a combined ¥130 million in damages in the first lawsuit to be filed by a group of examinees since the scandal broke last year, their lawyers said. “I was appalled to learn there was blatant score manipulation. If we keep silent without taking action, the issue will be buried,” a plaintiff in her 20s told a news conference after the lawsuit was filed with the Tokyo District Court. The average age of the plaintiffs is 24. The university declined to comment on the lawsuit because it had not seen the documentation yet. Tokyo Medical University admitted last August it had been deducting points from exam scores since at least 2006 to curb female enrollment and enrollment by men who had failed the exam previously. The unfair treatment of female applicants at the university was said to be aimed at preventing a shortage of doctors at affiliated hospitals in the belief that women tend to resign or take long periods of leave after getting married or giving birth. Other instances of improper admissions processes were exposed following a subsequent government probe into the 81 universities in Japan with medical faculties.

scandals
tokyo district court
tokyo medical university


Malala urges Abe to take up education for young women at G20 summit this summer

Abstract: Malala Yousafzai, an advocate for women’s education and the youngest person to become a Nobel Laureate, urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday to take the initiative in expanding educational opportunities for female youth at the Group of 20 summit this summer. “I spoke with the prime minister today about girl’s education. The importance of investing in girls now — for a future in economic growth and global stability,” Malala said at a news conference after her short meeting with Abe at his official residence. The meeting preceded the joint summit of the World Assembly for Women and the W20 being held in Tokyo on Saturday. Touching on the millions of girls who are out of education and ill-prepared to join the workforce, Malala spoke of her hopes for girls’ education to be high on this year’s G20 agenda, adding, “as the chair of this year’s G20, I hope PM Abe and Japan will lead on girls’ education, and encourage all leaders to commit to new funding to prepare girls for the future of work.” “I hope that he can use his G20 presidency to help my sisters in Japan, G20 countries and around the world to reach their full potential, because our world works better when girls go to school,” she added. This year’s G20 will be held in Osaka in June. At the same news conference, Abe spoke of the inspiration Malala would bring to the table at the joint WAW/W20 summit. “I hope that the attendance of Malala, a global female leader, will inspire lively discussions at WAW — discussions that will empower women through diversity … and eventually snowball into a major force for promoting the prosperity of women in society,” he said. This year’s W20 summit will be held in conjunction with WAW, an annual symposium hosted by the government that aims to promote the empowerment of women. Malala will be making a keynote speech on Saturday, along with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. The W20 is one of numerous engagement groups from the G20, and aims to submit policy suggestions on empowering women to the G20.


Japanese trekker dies after fall on Nepal mountain

Abstract: KATHMANDU - A 64-year-old Japanese man has fallen to his death on a popular trekking route in western Nepal, officials said Thursday. Masashi Nagasawa, who was on an 11-day Annapurna Sanctuary trek with three other Japanese nationals, fell from a cliff Wednesday while returning to his hotel on Mardi Himal after spending time at a nearby viewpoint. Mardi Himal is a long rising ridge on the southwest of the Machhapuchare peak. Amrit Biswokarma, a police official in Kaski district where the accident happened, said Nagasawa fell several hundred meters down the cliff. A team that reached the site by helicopter Thursday after learning about the accident recovered Nagasawa’s body, said Phurba Gyaltsen Sherpa, managing director of Himalayan Sherpa Adventure, the local trekking agency that organized the trek. The body was to be flown to the capital Kathmandu. The accident site is located 160 kilometers northwest of the city. The four Japanese tourists arrived in Nepal on March 14, and started their trek the next day.


Tokyu Setagaya Line in Tokyo becomes first in Japan to be fully powered by renewable energy

Abstract: Tokyu Corp. on Monday began running the Setagaya Line in Tokyo with electricity generated 100 percent from renewable energy sources. According to the railway, it is the first urban train service in Japan that relies entirely on renewable energy. The electrified light rail line is now being powered by geothermal and hydraulic power supplied by the Tohoku Electric Power Co. group. Tokyu has entered a deal with the utility group to receive on a continuing basis more renewable energy than needed for the line’s train operations, in order to make sure it is entirely reliant on renewable energy, although at a higher price. The 5-km-long Setagaya Line, which connects Sangenjaya and Shimotakaido stations, was used by a daily average of 115,000 passengers in the 2017 business year. “Aiming to create a low-carbon and recycling society, we will make efforts to promote the wider use of renewable energy,” a Tokyu official said. Carbon dioxide emissions from the Setagaya Line totaled some 1,065 tons in fiscal 2017. The use of renewal energy will reduce the figure effectively to zero.

tokyo
transportation
rail
renewables
tokyu corp .
setagaya line


American Airlines extends Boeing 737 Max flight cancellations through April 24

Abstract: NEW YORK - American Airlines said Sunday it will extend flight cancellations through April 24 because of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max after two fatal crashes since October and cut some additional flights. American, the largest U.S. carrier, said it is cancelling about 90 flights a day. American is the second-largest U.S. operator of the Max in the United States with 24 jets, behind Southwest Airlines with 34. American said earlier this month it was flying about 85 flights a day out of its 6,700 daily departures on 737 Max planes when the grounded was announced. The airline said it was making the announcement “to provide more certainty to our customers and team members and better protect our customers on other flights to their final destination.” Boeing Co. is expected as early as Monday to formally disclose a planned upgrade to its anti-stall system to the Federal Aviation Administration that has been in the works since October’s Lion Air crash but still needs approval from U.S. regulators. The FAA has said it plans to mandate the upgrade by April, but it is still not clear if the upgrade will address any issues after the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash. American, Southwest and United Airlines were all meeting with Boeing this weekend to review the software upgrade, Reuters reported Saturday. The FAA said earlier the “design changes” would result in flight control system enhancements that will provide “reduced reliance on procedures associated with required pilot memory items.” Reuters reported Thursday the upgrade will include a previously optional warning light. Many airlines, including American, already had the optional light.

u.s .
american airlines
delta
united
ethiopian airlines
737 max
lion air
air accidents


In first for Indonesia, Japan-funded subway opens in gridlocked Jakarta

Abstract: JAKARTA - Indonesia’s long-awaited first subway opened Sunday in the country’s capital with the aim of relieving crippling traffic gridlock in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Minutes after inaugurating the 16-km transit line running south from Jakarta’s downtown, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo presided over a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the second phase: an 8-km northward line planned for completion by 2024. The two projects are being built at a cost of $2.6 billion. “Today we will begin a new civilization by operating the first phase of mass rapid transit in Jakarta,” Jokowi told several thousand guests and residents at the inauguration. The line that opened Sunday includes seven elevated and six underground stations built by two consortia of local and Japanese companies. Passengers can ride for free until the end of the month, after which operator PT MRT Jakarta has said tickets will cost the equivalent of 70 cents to $1. Jokowi, who is campaigning for re-election, told the crowd that he has instructed Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan to begin the next phase of construction on an east-west line covering a distance of 87 km this year. Jakarta’s first subway line, the latest of many infrastructure improvements across the world’s fourth most populous nation, is aimed at helping it catch up with other Southeast Asian capitals such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok in public transport. Jakarta is officially home to about 10 million people, but the population of the greater metropolitan area swells to 30 million. The project, funded through a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, has been planned since the 1980s, but its construction was hampered by political crises, red tape and funding disagreements. Jokowi was the Jakarta governor when construction finally kicked off in October 2013. JICA has predicted that without a major investment in transportation, Jakarta would be overwhelmed by traffic jams by 2020. Annual losses from congestion are forecast to reach $6.5 billion by next year. Congestion has worsened relentlessly in the past decade as car ownership rose, squeezing more and more vehicles onto Jakarta’s unchanging road network. The average rush-hour speed has “significantly decreased” to 10 kph, according to the transport ministry. It often can take two or more hours to move 5 km in some pockets of the city. The line opened Sunday runs from the southern neighborhood of Lebak Bulus to Jakarta’s downtown and is expected to take less than 30 minutes. In addition to the subway project, a $2.4 billion elevated rail network linking Jakarta and its satellite cities is also taking shape, with the first stage expected to begin operating in April. But it likely will take several years for new transit systems to make a dent in the congestion. About 1.4 million people commute into central Jakarta on work days. The initial subway line aims to carry only about 130,000 people a day by the end of this year.

transportation
indonesia
rail
jakarta
jica
joko widodo


China's local government debt: The bomb that doesn't explode — but gets kicked down the road

Abstract: HONG KONG/BEIJING/SHANGHAI - China has embraced the idea of defaults imposing some discipline on debtors in its bond market. And some of the most troubled debtors are local governments’ financing vehicles. So an LGFV default has long seemed on the cards. But it just isn’t happening. Moody’s Investors Service thought the first one might come in 2017. Almost two years later, there have been some close calls — including with a late payment by a unit owned by Qinghai province on a dollar bond last month that caused ripples through the investment community — but no default. What it suggests is China’s leadership isn’t prepared for a borrower with a regional authority’s imprimatur to renege on its principal, triggering higher borrowing costs across a swath of the world’s third-largest bond market. Stepping in with official assistance when needed will help local authorities sustain the development spending key to holding up national growth. The cost may be an even bigger future reckoning with bad debt. “In the longer run, someone has to pay eventually for this so-called ‘kick the can down the road’ plan — taxpayers and depositors perhaps,” said Desmond How, head of fixed income, GaoTeng Global Asset Management. Regulators may need to reverse some policies, giving LGFVs greater rein to borrow to help support economic growth, How said. For investors willing to stomach the occasional late payment, the implicit backing for LGFVs offers some yield pick-up. Luo Xianzhi, fund manager at Shanghai Tianzeng Investment Management Co., says he’s sitting on a 9 percent annualized return since he started stocking up on local securities last November. “The LGFV bonds issued for land development, infrastructure construction and shantytown rebuilding indeed have implicit government support” that’s unlikely to disappear given their importance for growth, said Shanghai-based Luo. “I think there never will be big-scale defaults from this sector.” If so, that makes a contrast with other securities in China, where borrowers are reneging on bond payments at a record pace. Defaults were logged on 119.6 billion yuan ($17.8 billion) of domestic debt last year, and payments were missed on another 15 billion yuan of notes in the first two months of 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Most of those have stemmed from privately owned enterprises, but there have been some state companies too. Chinese policy makers have had a Hamlet-like approach toward LGFVs over the past decade. They came to prominence when the previous generation of national leaders unleashed a record credit boom in the midst of the global financial crisis. Reluctant to run up the central government’s debt, Beijing let local authorities set up units to fund all manner of spending. The lack of control later spooked national regulators, who agonized over a massive build-up of bad debt. Yet the vital role LGFVs continue to play in supporting development means a get-tough approach carries risks as well. That helps explain the pattern of regulatory changes over the years. For its part, Moody’s still warns a first default is looming. Ivan Chung, head of greater China credit research at the agency in Hong Kong, highlights a December statement by regulators calling on local officials to dispose of zombie borrowers. Given more than 2,000 LGFV bond issuers, it’s unlikely that existing support channels will be sufficient to cover all troubled borrowers, he said. “I expect isolated default cases to happen in the next two-to-three years.” Regulators have lately been offering support, including relaxing bond issuance rules and letting the state-directed China Development Bank lead local government debt restructuring plans in pilot cities. “It shows that local governments don’t have enough money for the debt repayments unless the central authorities step in to support them — otherwise many of the LGFVs would go into default,” said Hao Hong, chief strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. Support is likely to expand as LGFV debt maturities swell, he said. With 3.6 trillion yuan coming due from April 1 through the end of 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the readiness to help will assuredly be tested.

china
debt
loans
local government financing vehicles
lgfv


Companies still reluctant to relocate from Tokyo despite tax breaks, survey finds

Abstract: The government’s five-year program to promote the relocation of company headquarters away from central Tokyo has made limited progress. In a survey of 1,768 municipalities conducted since November, 76 percent said they had seen little or no benefit, such as increased jobs. Under a five-year program that started in April 2015, the government provides tax advantages when companies based in Tokyo’s 23 wards transfer their headquarters outside of Tokyo or its three neighboring prefectures, or if those based outside Tokyo expand their head offices. The government has been promoting corporate office relocations to increase local jobs and revitalize regional economies, but businesses prefer to keep their offices in Tokyo where their clients are also concentrated. The number of cases in which tax breaks were given under the program stood at 287 as of February, far short of the government’s target of 7,500 by March 2020. Only 9 percent of the municipalities said they had benefited from the central government program, according to the survey. Companies tended to set up new offices in major cities rather than in smaller cities or rural areas, it showed.


Nikkei 225 logs biggest loss since December, with Tokyo stocks dropping 3% on global economic fears

Abstract: Tokyo stocks tumbled Monday, with the Nikkei 225 index logging its biggest point loss since Dec. 25 on rekindled concerns over the global economy following the release of sluggish U.S. and European economic data. Investors ditched shares and fled to the safety of bonds as risk assets fell out of favor on growing fears of a U.S. recession, sending global yields plunging. The Nikkei ended the day 650.23 points, or 3.01 percent, lower at 20,977.11, its lowest close since Feb. 15. The broader Topix, which covers all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 39.70 points, or 2.45 percent, in the red at 1,577.41. Every industry category in the main section lost ground, led by oil and coal product, nonferrous metal and machinery issues. Tracking slumps in U.S. and European shares late last week, Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower and later extended their losses to fall below the 21,000 threshold. The Nikkei briefly lost over 700 points. The day’s fall was the largest for the Nikkei since Dec. 25, when it closed 1,010.45 points lower. “Investors turned risk-off following a series of economic data,” said Akira Tanoue, a senior strategist in the investment research department at Nomura Securities Co. “Concerns about the global economic recession are emerging.” Manufacturing output data from Germany came in weaker than expected, while measurements of manufacturing and services activities in the United States showed sluggishness. Makoto Sengoku, a market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said the market “overreacted” to the overseas data and economic growth would not weaken sharply. In the first section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 2,014 to 104, with 22 ending the day unchanged. Nikkei heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp., which invests heavily in global startup technology companies, slid ¥565, or 5.0 percent, to ¥10,705. Construction machinery company Komatsu Ltd. declined ¥110.50, or 4.1 percent, to ¥2,554.50, and factory automation equipment firm Fanuc sank ¥750, or 3.8 percent, to ¥18,800. Trading volume on the main section fell to 1.33 billion shares from Friday’s 1.37 billion. As the sell-off that struck the U.S. and Europe on Friday ripped through Asian stock markets, investors said more pain is yet to come. Indexes in Australia, Hong Kong and China also tumbled Monday. The moves came after U.S. shares notched their worst day in 11 weeks on Friday as a gauge of Treasuries inverted and data from Europe renewed fears about global growth. U.S. 10-year treasury yields were 1.9 basis points below three-month rates after yields inverted for the first time since 2007 on Friday. Historically, an inverted yield curve — where long-term rates fall below short-term — has signaled an upcoming recession. After almost three months of optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks and dovish central bank messaging spurred the best start to a year for global equities in two decades, investors have shifted focus and are starting to react to bad omens for the economy. “The market had gone too far in pricing in good news,” said Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic markets at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. in Sydney. “It was just a matter of time. This is going to be the start of a multiweek correction in markets.” Despite a surprisingly dovish stance by the Federal Reserve last week, the S&P 500 Index lost about 0.8 percent for the week as the yield on 10-year Treasuries, already at a 14-month low, extended its decline. “Historically a ‘dovish’ Fed is not necessarily a good sign, as it announces that an economic downturn is on the way,” said Eleanor Creagh, Sydney-based market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets (Australia). “And the bottom line is growth is slowing,” she said. “We are reaching that point where the weakening fundamentals are catching up with the equity market, the equity market has been buoyed by buybacks and is waking up to the fact that the Fed is not raising rates because the U.S. economy needs support and is weak as we approach the buyback blackout period,” Creagh said. With less than a week left in the first quarter, some investors may be taking money off the table, according to Kerry Craig, the Melbourne-based global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “After such a strong quarter, profit-taking shouldn’t be unexpected.” Naeimi isn’t alone in his view that global stock markets could be headed for a correction. “If the market did correct 10 percent, I wouldn’t be surprised,” said JPMorgan’s Craig. “I’m not sure it’s the start of it, but I don’t see a huge amount to support for the market.” Still, not everyone is pessimistic. While a short downturn in global markets is possible, Bryan Goh, executive director and chief investment officer for Singapore at Bordier & Cie, said it probably won’t last. “As long as central banks have our back, there’s no serious problem,” Goh said. “The global slowdown isn’t a surprise, so markets are prepared.”


Dollar falls below ¥110 in Tokyo before slight rebound

Abstract: The dollar dropped below ¥110 in Tokyo trading Monday, hit by risk-averse selling amid growing fears about a global economic slowdown. But the greenback showed resilience in late afternoon trading, traders said. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.06-06, down from ¥110.77-77 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1307-1307, down from $1.1387-1388, and at ¥124.45-45, down from ¥126.14-14. In overseas trading Friday, the dollar temporarily fell below ¥109.80 after dismal European economic data hit the currency market. Carrying over the weakness, the dollar moved around ¥110 in early Tokyo trading Monday. Toward noon, the U.S. currency slipped through ¥109.90 in the wake of the Nikkei 225’s tumble reflecting concerns over the course of the global economy, traders said. Besides the weak German and French manufacturing data, the benchmark U.S. long-term interest rate’s fall below the key three-month rate helped swell the slowdown worries, market sources said. In late afternoon trading, however, the dollar recouped some of the earlier losses thanks to buybacks triggered by a halt to the U.S. long-term rate’s decline in off-hours trading, they added. “Speculation about the Bank of Japan’s purchase of exchange-traded funds also induced dollar buying in the afternoon,” an official at a major securities firm said. But a think tank analyst pointed out that the market now tends to react easily to events and developments suggesting slowdowns around the world.


Tokyo stocks dive 3% to below 21,000 amid growing fears of global economic slowdown

Abstract: Stocks plummeted Monday as investors shied away from risk assets on mounting worries about a global economic slowdown. The Nikkei 225 average tumbled 650.23 points, or 3.01 percent, to end at 20,977.11, its first closing below 21,000 since Feb. 15. On Friday, the key market gauge rose 18.42 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 39.70 points, or 2.45 percent, lower at 1,577.41 after gaining 2.72 points Friday. The market took a nosedive right after the opening bell, hit by severe selling by investors who turned risk averse in view of sell-offs in the European and U.S. markets following the release of weak manufacturing data, brokers said. Concerns over the course of the global economy grew in the wake of drops in purchasing managers’ indexes in Germany, France and the United States, analysts said. The yen’s sharp rise against the dollar on safe-haven demand and falls in other Asian stocks also battered sentiment here, brokers said. A drop in the key 10-year interest rate below the three-month rate in the U.S. on Friday fueled the slowdown fear, as the “inverted interest rate” is widely regarded as a prelude to a recession, an official at an asset management firm said. Japanese long-term interest rates also dropped Monday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond hitting the lowest level in two years and seven months. Stocks remained deep in negative territory throughout the day. But speculation about the Bank of Japan’s purchases of exchange-traded funds and buying to secure rights to receive dividends for fiscal 2018, which ends Sunday, somewhat underpinned the market, said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. Referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent “dovish turn,” which has made some players anticipate even an interest rate cut this year, Kuramochi said the TSE “hinges on moves of the dollar-yen pair this week.” Falling issues overwhelmed rising ones 2,014 to 104 in the first section, while 22 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.327 billion shares from 1.365 billion Friday. The stronger yen battered export-oriented issues. Industrial equipment manufacturers Fanuc sagged 3.84 percent and Yaskawa Electric 5.35 percent, and electronic parts supplier Murata Manufacturing lost 3.14 percent. Mega-bank groups including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial were hurt by the interest rate drops along with insurers and other financials. Technology investor SoftBank Group, clothing store chain Fast Retailing and drugmaker Eisai were also among major losers. The handful of winners included furniture retailer Nitori and Mitsubishi Logistics.


Trump sees swift pushback on Stephen Moore, his latest pick for the Fed

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Stephen Moore has drawn swift and unusually pointed criticism after President Donald Trump picked him to be a governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with at least one prominent Republican economist calling on the Senate to block the appointment. “He does not have the intellectual gravitas for this important job,” wrote Greg Mankiw, a Harvard professor who was chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, in a blog post on Friday. “It is time for senators to do their job. Mr. Moore should not be confirmed.” Moore’s selection is subject to Senate approval. He’s Trump’s sixth nomination to the nation’s monetary authority, which has a seven-seat board of governors that typically is filled with trained economists, former financial-industry executives and bank regulators. There are currently two vacant seats. Two previous Trump nominees, Nellie Liang and Marvin Goodfriend, failed to advance in the Senate in 2018. Unlike Moore, neither faced accusations that they were unqualified. Even some private-sector economists who’ve generally supported Trump’s efforts to accelerate growth with lower taxes, less regulation and fairer trade deals were nonplussed by the selection of Moore, who is an official at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and was an economic adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. “The fact that Stephen Moore gets nominated and has a plausible path to confirmation but Peter Diamond didn’t is truly detestable,” said Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research. He was referring to Diamond, a Nobel Prize-winning economist whom President Barack Obama nominated to the Fed but ended up withdrawing from consideration in June 2011 in the face of Republican opposition. “The upshot is that Stephen Moore will not have much influence if he’s sat around the table,” Dutta said. While most presidential nominees keep a low public profile until they’re considered by the Senate, out of respect for the democratic process, Moore took to the airwaves two days ago — just hours after Trump announced his nomination. In a Bloomberg Television interview he called the Fed’s December rate increase, which was approved in a unanimous vote, “a very substantial mistake.” Moore acknowledged he had a “long road ahead” that includes Senate confirmation. Known along with Arthur Laffer as a supply-side supporter of tax cuts to unleash faster economic growth, he also said he has a lot to learn about monetary policy. “I’m kind of new to this game, frankly, so I’m going to be on a steep learning curve myself about how the Fed operates, how the Federal Reserve makes its decisions,” Moore, 59, said on BTV. “It’s hard for me to say even what my role will be there, assuming I get confirmed.” He also tweeted on Friday, thanking Trump “for the opportunity to serve & for your zealous commitment to freeing the American economic engine from government overreach & oppressive taxation!” It’s not unheard-of for a U.S. president to pick a like-minded adviser, or even a political donor, to serve on the Fed Board. Alice Rivlin, a director of President Bill Clinton’s Office of Management and Budget, was his nominee to be Fed vice chairman in 1996. Ben Bernanke led the White House Council of Economic Advisers before Bush chose him to be chairman of the central bank in 2006. And current Fed Gov. Lael Brainard, selected by Obama in 2014, donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign. Janet Yellen had an opposite trajectory, serving as a Fed governor from 1994 to 1997 before joining the Clinton administration as CEA chair. She returned to Washington as Fed vice chair after a stint as San Francisco Fed president, and was later appointed by Obama as the Fed’s first woman chair. The difference is they’re all respected Ph.D. economists, so concerns about politicizing the Fed didn’t become a much of a factor in their Senate confirmation hearings. Moore, who has a master of arts in economics from George Mason University in Virginia, is better known for helping promote a fiscal agenda than he is for monetary-policy expertise. He co-wrote, with Laffer, a 2018 book on Trump’s economic strategy entitled “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.” He also formerly wrote on the economy and public policy for the Wall Street Journal, and is on his second stint at the Heritage Foundation. “Moore focuses on advancing public policies that increase the rate of economic growth to help the United States retain its position as the global economic superpower,” according to his biography on the Heritage Foundation website. “He also works on budget, fiscal and monetary policy and showcases states that get fiscal houses in order.” Moore didn’t pull punches when asked about the criticism from Mankiw. “I don’t know why Greg Mankiw is attacking me,” he said in an email on Saturday. “One possible reason is that in his textbook he calls supply-siders like Laffer ‘charlatans and cranks.’ He then removed that section from the book — because he got so much flak for it when he went into the Bush administration.” In an emailed request for a response, Mankiw said he doesn’t believe Moore’s “background makes him a good fit for the job of Fed governor.” The professor also disputed Moore’s facts. “The passage he refers to was removed in the second edition of my book,” Mankiw said. “That edition was completed in July 2000, four months before President Bush was elected and 2 1/2 years before I joined the administration.”

u.s .
federal reserve
donald trump
stephen moore


Japanese consumer appliance maker Iris Ohyama opens South Korean plant

Abstract: SEOUL - Iris Ohyama Inc., a maker of home appliance and household goods, has launched its first factory in South Korea, aimed at meeting growing local demand from e-commerce and hedging the risks of the U.S.-China trade row. The company has invested about ¥7 billion ($64 million) to produce circulators, air purifiers, comforter dryers and storage items at the plant in Incheon, near Seoul, it said at an opening ceremony Friday. Aiming to meet increasing demand from online shoppers, the plant will double as a logistics center in addition to an existing facility in Gunpo, south of the capital, according to the company. Iris Korea Co., its local unit, has so far handled LED lighting, cleaners and rice cookers among other products imported from its plant in Dalian on the northeastern coast of China. The new factory mainly produces circulators, which the Japanese firm has manufactured in China and exported to other countries, including the United States. In light of the lingering trade war between Beijing and Washington, it plans to initially produce 100,000 circulators per year at the new plant, avoiding the risk of additional tariffs on the goods. Sales of circulators in the South Korean market topped 1 million units last year, according to local media reports. The local e-commerce market grew 22.6 percent year on year to 111 trillion won ($97.8 billion) in 2018, government statistics show. Iris Korea’s logistics base in Gunpo has fallen short of capacity. The South Korean unit, which has hired about 50 employees for the Incheon plant launch, expects to post ¥5 billion in sales for the first year of the plant, said Akihiro Oyama, president of Sendai-based Iris Ohyama. Iris Ohyama may consider building a second plant in South Korea, and if so the location will likely be outside Incheon to enhance efficiency of goods transportation, he said.

china
u.s .
south korea
manufacturing
iris ohyama


Born to be airborne: Japanese firm aims to sell flying motorbikes by 2022

Abstract: Tokyo-based venture company A.L.I. Technologies Inc. aims to release a mass-market flying motorcycle by 2022, Chief Executive Officer Shuhei Komatsu said. A.L.I. Technologies, which mainly develops small drones, hopes to sell the product, called a “hover bike,” in emerging economies in Africa, the Middle East and Asia with poor road infrastructure. Many companies around the world are developing flying cars. A.L.I. Technologies is among those trying to enter the market. “We’ll create a (flying) bike first, in order to get flying cars widely used in society eventually,” Komatsu said. “Our hover bike is an ensemble of drone technologies,” he said, expressing confidence that his company can commercialize the flying motorcycle. The envisioned vehicle will use propeller power to hover dozens of centimeters above the ground. It will stay at the desired altitude through technologies that use sensors to avoid obstacles. A.L.I. Technologies is developing a special limited version for sale around late next year. Reservations will be accepted this May at the earliest. As for the mass-market model, Komatsu said, “We want to deliver it to customers from around 2022.” He said the price will roughly match those of minivehicles. The company hopes the flying motorcycle will be usable on public roads in Japan, according to Komatsu.

drone
motorbikes
a.l.i . technologies
hover bike


Japan sportswear firm Descente appoints new chief from Itochu after rare hostile takeover

Abstract: OSAKA - Sportswear maker Descente Ltd. said Monday it has appointed a new head from top shareholder Itochu Corp., effective in June, after the trading house succeeded in completing a hostile takeover earlier this month. Descente President Masatoshi Ishimoto, a member of the company’s founding family, will be replaced by Shuichi Koseki, senior managing executive officer in charge of Itochu’s textile division, pending shareholder approval at the annual meeting in June. The move reflects a major concession on the part of Descente, which owns the rights to sell such brands as Le Coq Sportif, Munsingwear and Umbro in Japan and other parts of Asia. The firm apparently wanted to avoid dragging out its feud with Itochu further, which could put its brand image in peril. But among Descente employees, strong opposition persists to Itochu’s increasing influence, even though it helped the company overcome difficult times in the 1980s and 1990s. In the hostile takeover bid, Itochu successfully increased its stake in Descente from 30.44 percent to 40 percent through a tender offer bid conducted from Jan. 31 to March 14. The trading house now has veto power over crucial management decisions. The dispute between Descente and Itochu, which have had ties for over 50 years, arose as the trading house sought to change the sportswear maker’s overseas strategy. Itochu has said Descente is too dependent on its South Korean business and that it should diversify, such as by strengthening sales in China. It also hinted the current president would be replaced if Descente remained opposed to changing course. Ishimoto, 56, was appointed president of Descente in 2013, marking the first time in 19 years that a member of the sportswear company’s founding family had taken the helm instead of an Itochu-appointed chief. Koseki, 63, who joined Itochu in April 1979, has been responsible for the trading house’s textile business and operations in China for many years.


Uber reportedly poised to declare $3.1 billion deal to acquire Mideast rival Careem this week

Abstract: DUBAI/LONDON - Uber Technologies Inc. will announce a $3.1 billion cash-and-shares deal to acquire its Dubai-based rival Careem Networks FZ as early as this week, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The U.S. ride-hailing giant will pay $1.4 billion in cash and $1.7 billion in convertible notes for Careem, according to the sources, who asked not to identified because the talks are private. The notes will be convertible into Uber shares at a price equal to $55 per share, according to the term-sheet seen by Bloomberg. Shareholders in Careem, whose backers include Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s investment firm and Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten Inc., were asked to agree to the terms of the transaction by Monday evening and a deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the sources said. Uber spokesman Matt Kallman declined to comment while a spokesman for Careem wasn’t immediately able to comment. Uber’s acquisition of Careem would come ahead of its imminent initial public offering, which could become one of the biggest listings ever seen on the New York Stock Exchange. Uber is expected to publicly file for an IPO in April, kicking off a listing that could value the company at as much as $120 billion, people familiar with the plans have said previously. Careem was valued at about $1 billion in a 2016 funding round, making it one of the most valuable technology startups in the Middle East. The company has over a million drivers and operates in more than 90 cities in 15 countries, according to its website. For Uber, a deal would signal its commitment to the Middle East, where one of its biggest investors — a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund — is based. The acquisition would also be a departure in strategy for Uber, which has used such deals to offload costly overseas operations in exchange for stakes in competitors in the past.


Carlos Ghosn to hold news conference in mid-April or later, his lawyer says

Abstract: Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn is expected to hold a news conference in mid-April or later, one of his lawyers said. Ghosn, 65, intends to meet the press within April but may need more time to organize his statement against the charges, the lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters Monday. Hironaka also said Ghosn, who remains a director at Nissan, is not seeking to attend the automaker’s board meeting to be held soon. Ghosn failed to obtain approval from the Tokyo District Court when he tried to attend a board meeting on March 12. Ghosn was released on bail March 6 after being arrested in November. He has been charged with understating his remuneration for a number of years in Nissan’s securities reports and transferring derivatives losses from his private asset management company to the automaker. He denies the allegations. As part of conditions for his release, Ghosn is banned from contacting Nissan executives and other people potentially linked to the allegations. He is allowed to attend board meetings at Nissan if the court gives approval.

nissan
renault
carlos ghosn
autos
financial misconduct


80% of young eels farmed in Japan may have been smuggled from Taiwan via Hong Kong

Abstract: About 80 percent of young eels put into aquaculture pools in Japan in December and January may have been smuggled from Taiwan via Hong Kong, according to trade data and sources close to the matter. Around 6 tons of juvenile eels were imported to Japan from Hong Kong in those two months, according to government data, but Hong Kong does not engage in eel fishing, raising suspicions about their origin. Industry observers say most may have been illegally brought from Taiwan, which bans eel exports. The eels start their spawning migration in the waters of East Asia and are designated as a species at risk of extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to deteriorating habitat conditions and overfishing. Eels are a prized summer delicacy in Japan, but imports of young eels could spark international criticism at a meeting of parties to the Washington Convention in Sri Lanka, which will open in late May. The members of the international pact, officially called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, are expected to discuss enhancing transparency in eel transactions. According to Finance Ministry trade statistics, Japan imported about 1.6 tons of young eels in December and about 4.4 tons in January from Hong Kong. Meanwhile, none were shipped from mainland China and Taiwan, although they catch the fish. During this period, 6.2 tons of juvenile eels were put into aquaculture ponds in Japan, according to the Fisheries Agency. The figure was higher than the previous year, when the catch of young eels was extremely poor, but far lower than the 11.3 tons of two years earlier. About 5 tons of the 6.2 tons is believed to have been shipped from Hong Kong, while the remainder was caught domestically, the sources said. The catch of young eels in Japan has been declining, with only about 1 ton taken in December and January, the first two months of the fishing season through April — with the catch for the whole season likely to be a record low. Young eel imports to Japan from Hong Kong increased dramatically after Taiwan introduced an export ban in 2007. “Japan faces a critical situation as most of the domestically farmed eels are obtained through suspected illegal trade,” said Kenzo Kaifu, an associate professor of conservation ecology at Chuo University. If the resource is not properly managed across the entire East Asia region, there will be growing calls for a legally binding international framework to protect the species, Kaifu said. “It is also important for Japanese consumers to clearly oppose to the situation,” he added.

china
hong kong
taiwan
fishing
fish
eels


Focus shifts to sleeper cells as Islamic State fighters emerge from tunnels to surrender as 'caliphate' falls

Abstract: BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - Dozens of Islamic State group jihadists emerged from tunnels to surrender to U.S.-backed forces in eastern Syria on Sunday, a day after their “caliphate” was declared defeated. Syria’s Kurds warned that despite the demise of the proto-state, the thousands of foreign jihadis they have detained are a time-bomb the world urgently needs to defuse. An AFP reporter saw dozens of people — mostly men — file out of the battered jihadist encampment in the remote village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border to board pickup trucks. “They are IS fighters who came out of tunnels and surrendered today,” Kurdish spokesman Jiaker Amed said. Some sported thick beards and wore long woollen kaftans over their dark-coloured robes, or a checkered scarf around their faces, as they trudged out of their final hideout under the drizzle. “Some others could still be hiding inside,” said Amed. World leaders were quick to hail Saturday’s announcement by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that the last shred of land controlled by IS in Syria had been conquered. But the top foreign affairs official for the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region warned IS members captured during the assault still posed a threat. “There are thousands of fighters, children and women and from 54 countries, not including Iraqis and Syrians, who are a serious burden and danger for us and for the international community,” Abdel Karim Omar told AFP. “Numbers increased massively during the last 20 days of the Baghouz operation,” he said. He also warned of the continuing danger posed by IS sleeper cells. The SDF is continuing to carry out operations to rout out any remaining jihadis in the area and uncover possible weapons caches. “This back-clearance operation will be deliberate and thorough and help ensure the long-term security for the area,” the U.S.-led coalition backing the SDF wrote on Twitter. As the SDF’s months-long assault closed in against the last IS strongholds in the Euphrates Valley, jihadis and their families gradually gathered in Baghouz. While some managed to escape, many foreigners stayed behind, either surrendering or fighting to the death. According to the SDF, 66,000 people left the last IS pocket since January, including 5,000 jihadis and 24,000 of their relatives. The assault was paused multiple times as the force allowed people to evacuate from the enclave on the banks of the Euphrates. The SDF have screened droves of people scrambling out of Baghouz in recent weeks, detaining suspected jihadis and trucking civilians and IS relatives to camps further north. Most relatives have been crammed into the Al-Hol camp, a facility built for 20,000 people but which now shelters 72,000. The Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria has warned it does not have capacity to detain so many people, let alone put them on trial. But the home countries of suspected IS members are reluctant to take them back, due to potential security risks and the likely public backlash. Several held in Syria have been stripped of their citizenship. “There has to be coordination between us and the international community to address this danger,” Abdel Karim Omar said. “There are thousands of children who have been raised according to IS ideology,” he added. “If these children are not re-educated and re-integrated in their societies of origin, they are potential future terrorists.” The SDF’s main support has been the international military coalition launched by the United States in mid-2014 to counter the expansion of IS. Its aerial campaigns against IS hubs across a “caliphate” which once spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom have leveled major cities and contributed to the biggest wave of displacement since World War II. According to the Airwars monitoring NGO, at least 7,500 civilians have died as a result of coalition actions in four and half years. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people since it erupted eight years ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor says. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to drastically scale down U.S. military presence in Syria once IS is defeated, leaving the Kurds exposed to threats by Damascus and Turkey. Ankara sees the SDF as a terrorist organization and Abdel Karim Omar warned that any cross-border offensive risked leading to mass breakouts from the jails where jihadis are currently held. “Any new threat or new war would give an opportunity to these criminals to slip out,” he said. IS, faced with multiple offensives in Syria and Iraq since 2014, has morphed from a territorial force back into a clandestine insurgency group carrying out hit-and-run attacks in both countries. The SDF’s top commander said Saturday that anti-IS operations were entering a new phase. Mazloum Kobane said the new focus would be IS sleeper cells that “are a great threat to our region and the whole world.”

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


Russian air force planes land in Venezuela carrying troops, says report

Abstract: CARACAS - Two Russian air force planes landed in Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, according to a local journalist, amid strengthening ties between Caracas and Moscow. A flight-tracking website showed that two planes left from a Russian military airport bound for Caracas on Friday, and another flight-tracking site showed that one plane left Caracas on Sunday. The report comes three months after the two nations held military exercises on Venezuelan soil that President Nicolas Maduro called a sign of strengthening relations, but which Washington criticized as Russian encroachment in the region. Reporter Javier Mayorca wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the first plane carried Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of the ground forces, adding that the second was a cargo plane carrying 35 tonnes of material. An Ilyushin IL-62 passenger jet and an Antonov AN-124 military cargo plane left for Caracas on Friday from Russian military airport Chkalovsky, stopping along the way in Syria, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. The cargo plane left Caracas on Sunday afternoon, according to Adsbexchange, another flight-tracking site. A Reuters witness saw what appeared to be the passenger jet at the Maiquetia airport on Sunday. It was not immediately evident why the planes had come to Venezuela. Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Russia’s Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry did not reply to messages seeking a comment. The Kremlin spokesman also did not reply to a request for comment. The Trump administration has levied crippling sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry in efforts to push Maduro from power and has called on Venezuelan military leaders to abandon him. Maduro has denounced the sanctions as U.S. interventionism and has won diplomatic backing from Russia and China. In December, two Russian strategic bomber aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons landed Venezuela in a show of support for Maduro’s socialist government that infuriated Washington. Maduro on Wednesday said Russia would send medicine “next week” to Venezuela, without describing how it would arrive, adding that Moscow in February had sent some 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid. Venezuela in February had blocked a convoy carrying humanitarian aid for the crisis-stricken country that was coordinated with the team of opposition leader Juan Guaido, including supplies provided by the United States, from entering via the border with Colombia.

u.s .
russia
venezuela
nicolas maduro
donald trump


Trump breaks silence to declare 'complete exoneration' even though Robert Mueller report is vague on obstruction

Abstract: WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - Breaking his silence on the special counsel investigation, President Donald Trump celebrated a summary of the findings Sunday, claiming it “was a complete and total exoneration,” even though the report did not reach a definitive answer on whether he obstructed justice. Trump spoke to reporters before boarding Air Force One in Palm Beach, saying “it was just announced there was no collusion with Russia. … There was no obstruction, and none whatsoever.” The president’s comments came after the Justice Department said that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not find evidence that Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. The four-page summary by Attorney General William Barr said Mueller’s report “does not exonerate” the president on obstruction and instead “sets out evidence on both sides of the question.” Trump’s victory lap came after he kept a low profile over the weekend, heeding the advice of his lawyers, who warned him against tweeting about the probe before details were released. But on Sunday night he signaled that he was eager to go on the offensive against the probe that has shadowed his presidency. “It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this,” Trump said. “This was an illegal takedown that failed.” White House advisers and allies were equally elated, with campaign manager Brad Parscale declaring in a statement that Trump “has been completely and fully vindicated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.” For their part, Democrats called for Mueller’s full report to be released and vowed to press on with their own investigation, setting up future clashes with the White House. Before the summary was released, Trump, who spent the weekend golfing and relaxing with his family, was said to be relieved and happy that Robert Mueller’s probe ended without any new indictments , according to people close to the White House. The president notably dialed back his high-octane Twitter account over the weekend. Early Sunday morning, he tweeted: “Good Morning, Have A Great Day!” and “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The relative silence stood in contrast with the previous weekend, when Trump unleashed more than 50 tweets, many scathing attacks on the investigations that imperiled his presidency. Trump spent Sunday golfing with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., former Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, also a former South Carolina congressman, according to a White House official, as aides sought to keep the president busy during the tumultuous weekend. The president has railed against Mueller for months, calling the investigation a politically motivated “witch hunt.” The inquiry focused on whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 campaign, as well as whether the president tried to obstruct the probe. A larger pack of aides than normal — including press secretary Sarah Sanders — traveled with Trump to Mar-a-Lago to manage any fallout. Trump was briefed on what his supporters would say on television throughout the weekend; aides hoped the president might stay quiet if he felt his messages were getting out even if he wasn’t delivering them himself. White House officials were cautious about declaring victory or getting ahead of the details, said a person familiar with White House thinking, who like others, insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Trump allies like Republican Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan handled television interviews over the weekend, while White House officials were expected to speak more during the week. Trump spent the weekend surrounded by aides, friends and family, including son Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who are at the Florida estate for spring break with their children. Trump’s eldest son was out fishing with his children when the report was delivered. The president and first lady Melania Trump celebrated their son Barron’s 13th birthday with dinner on the patio of Mar-a-Lago on Friday night. Trump also attended a GOP dinner that night and basked in the applause of hundreds of dressed-to-the-nines attendees. He spent Saturday golfing with singer-songwriter Kid Rock in temperatures that hit the 80s, and headed back to his golf club again on Sunday. Trump also spent time on the phone with trusted confidants. The president’s low-key approach was a marked shift from his posture in recent days. Beginning last weekend, he unleashed a storm of tweets that were unusually harsh and varied, even by Trump’s standards. He leveled fresh recriminations at the late Sen. John McCain. He called adviser Kellyanne Conway’s husband a “loser husband from hell,” former FBI Director James Comey a “dirty cop” and former Vice President Joe Biden as a “low I.Q. individual.” And Trump tweeted ongoing denouncements about the Mueller probe, saying it is the “biggest scandal in the history of the country.” Aides blamed that Twitter explosion in part due to too much free time. Heading into this high-stakes weekend, Trump advisers made a point of keeping the president busy and focused on positive developments, according to the Republican close to the White House.

robert mueller
donald trump
rod rosenstein
russia probe
william barr


Mexican president says state was main violator of human rights

Abstract: MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday the state had in the past been the main violator of human rights in the country, as he blamed violence and disappearances on his predecessors’ “neo-liberal” economic policies. “There was a time in which the main violator of human rights was the state. It was the violator par excellence of human rights. That’s over,” Lopez Obrador said at an event in which his government set out plans to end disappearances in Mexico. “I, as president, and at the same time as commander of the country’s armed forces, will never give the order to massacre, to repress the people of Mexico,” he said. Tens of thousands of people are registered as disappeared in Mexico, where fighting between drug cartels and their clashes with security forces have been blamed for more than 200,000 deaths since late 2006. The violence has been punctuated by mass killings, some of which have drawn international condemnation of the Mexican authorities. Most notorious was the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers in the southwestern city of Iguala. The government said the youths were massacred after corrupt police handed them to a local drug gang, who incinerated their bodies. But many questions remain about the teachers’ fate, and the incident did lasting damage to the reputation of Lopez Obrador’s predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto. Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, has sought to present his presidency as a complete break with previous administrations, and said he would not back a policy of “an eye for an eye” that tried to tackle “violence with violence.” Homicides have remained close to record levels since the veteran leftist took power. The event set out plans to increase coordination between authorities, relatives and emergency services under a “national search system” designed to track down the disappeared. Lopez Obrador said the government would spare no expense in its efforts to find the missing, and to put names on some 26,000 unidentified bodies currently in storage. During his address, which was attended by relatives of some of the many disappeared, the president again attacked the economic policies of previous governments, saying they were corrupt, had impoverished Mexico and encouraged violence. “This is what we’re suffering from,” he said, “the rotten fruit of neo-liberal economics prescribed for 36 years.”

rights
mexico
mass killings
manuel lopez obrador


'Time's up, Theresa'? Prime Minister May urged to set her own exit date to get Brexit deal

Abstract: LONDON - U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May was under pressure on Monday to give a date for leaving office as the price to bring Brexit-supporting rebel lawmakers in her party behind her twice-defeated European Union divorce treaty. At one of the most important junctures for the country in at least a generation, British politics was at fever pitch and, nearly three years since the 2016 referendum, it was still unclear how, when or if Brexit will ever take place. With May humiliated and weakened, ministers lined up to insist she was still in charge and to deny a reported plot to demand she name a date to leave office at a Cabinet meeting on Monday. Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun newspaper said in a front page editorial that May must announce she will stand down as soon as her Brexit deal is approved and the United Kingdom has left the EU. “Time’s up, Theresa,” the newspaper said on its front page. The newspaper said her one chance of getting the deal approved by Parliament was to name a date for her departure. May called rebel lawmakers including Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker to her Chequers residence on Sunday, Downing Street said, along with ministers David Lidington and Michael Gove. The two ministers denied reports they were being lined up as a possible caretaker prime minister. “The meeting discussed a range of issues, including whether there is sufficient support in the Commons to bring back a meaningful vote (for her deal) this week,” a spokesman said. May told the lawmakers on Sunday that she would quit if they voted for her twice-defeated European Union divorce deal, ITV news said. “I am reliably told that Theresa May told Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith, Steve Baker, Jacob Rees-Mogg, David Davis et al at Chequers that she will quit if they vote for her deal, including the backstop they hate,” ITV political editor Robert Peston wrote. “But she gave no specifics. So there is not a lot of trust she would actually quit,” Peston wrote. May was told by Brexiteers at the meeting that she must set out a timetable to leave office if she wants to get her deal ratified, Buzzfeed reporter Alex Wickham said on Twitter. The Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, said some ministers were urging May to pivot to a no-deal Brexit as the only way to survive in power. May’s deal was defeated by 149 votes on March 12 and by 230 votes on Jan. 15. To get it passed, she must win over at least 75 MPs: dozens of rebels in her Conservative Party, some Labour MPs, and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up her minority government. The Sunday Times reported 11 unidentified ministers agreed May should stand down, warning she has become a toxic and erratic figure whose judgment has “gone haywire.” Brexit had been due to happen on March 29 before May secured a delay in talks with the EU. Now a departure date of May 22 will apply if Parliament passes May’s deal. If she fails, the U.K. will have until April 12 to offer a new plan or decide to leave without a treaty. Some lawmakers have asked May to name her departure date as the price for supporting her deal. Lawmakers are due on Monday to debate the government’s next steps on Brexit, including the delayed exit date. They have proposed changes, or amendments, including one which seeks to wrest control of the process from the government in order to hold votes on alternative ways forward. Amendments are not legally binding, but do exert political pressure on May to change course.


Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand calls Trump 'coward' as she launches 2020 bid outside his NYC hotel

Abstract: NEW YORK - Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand delivered a fiery repudiation of U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday at the doorstep of one of his most famous properties, making it clear she will not pull her punches in seeking to replace him. “President Trump is tearing apart the moral fabric of this country,” Gillibrand declared to hundreds of supporters, with Trump International Hotel and Tower — which she called a “shrine to greed, division and vanity” — as a backdrop in Midtown Manhattan. “Our president is a coward.” The speech, the first since Gillibrand formally launched her 2020 campaign last week, and its location were intended to show voters that she will attack Trump directly, in contrast to some Democratic rivals who have hesitated to focus on the Republican president early in the 2020 campaign. While some candidates, most notably Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have harshly criticized Trump, others have largely avoided using his name, as Democrats try out different tactics for confronting the divisive president. Gillibrand’s aggressiveness could endear her to angry Democratic voters who are desperate to defeat Trump next year. “She’s trying to differentiate herself,” said Maria Cardona, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. “It’s a pretty crowded field. She’s not really in the middle of it, and she needs to be in the middle of it.” Though Gillibrand’s formal campaign for the Democratic nomination began last week, she announced she was exploring a candidacy in January and spent the last two months visiting states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that will hold early nominating contests next year. But she has struggled to build momentum among a group of more than 15 announced and potential candidates, including five other sitting senators and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to join the race soon. “Gillibrand simply lacks the star power or national prominence that would lead to extensive free media time,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Polling Institute at Monmouth University. In recent surveys, Gillibrand has remained stubbornly mired in the 1-percent range, while other first-time presidential candidates like Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, both U.S. senators, have shown more competitiveness. The race remains in its infancy, however, with the first nominating contest in Iowa still 10 months away. “Most voters are just learning the candidates’ names,” said Jesse Ferguson, a senior spokesman for Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “Right now, the priority for a candidate is to introduce themselves and show what their values are and how that’s the answer to what we have in the White House.” Gillibrand, known as a moderate when she served as a congresswoman from upstate New York, has refashioned herself into a staunch progressive. In her speech on Sunday, she expressed support for several liberal policy goals, including universal paid family leave, the environmental agenda known as the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all and legalizing marijuana. She also referenced her own efforts in the Senate to address sexual assault in the military and on college campuses and to secure equal pay for women. But it was her pointed criticism of Trump that may help separate her from the pack. “I’m proud to have stood up to Donald Trump more than anyone else in the U.S. Senate,” she said, referring to her voting record. Several supporters said they appreciated her willingness to go after Trump, even if it risks an insulting counterattack from the famously no-holds-barred president. “We need to fight Trump head on,” said Kathleen Nichols, 62. “Kirsten’s a fighter.” Eric Seyfried, 53, said he had donated money to Gillibrand for years, starting with her first congressional run in 2006. “If you’re afraid to take on a bully because the bully is going to come after you, maybe you’re not supposed to be president of the United States,” he said.

congress
democrats
kirsten gillibrand
donald trump
trump tower
2020 u.s. presidential election


Slavery reparations debate resurfaces in 2020 White House race

Abstract: WASHINGTON - In January 1865, as the U.S. Civil War was drawing to a close, some freed slaves were promised “40 acres and a mule” to begin new lives. The audacious experiment was fleeting — repudiated within months by President Andrew Johnson, successor to the assassinated Abraham Lincoln, and the land returned to its former owners. More than 150 years later, the question of whether the United States should provide compensation to African-Americans for past wrongs is still on the table. Reparations for centuries of slavery and racial discrimination has emerged as a spirited topic of debate among the slew of candidates seeking to become the 2020 Democratic nominee for president. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, during his failed 1988 White House bid, raised the controversial subject but it has never figured so prominently before in a presidential race. Barack Obama, America’s first black president, and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did not support compensation for the descendants of slaves. Among the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio, have come out strongly in favor of reparations. “America was founded on principles of liberty and freedom and on the backs of slave labor,” Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, said recently at a CNN event in Jackson, Mississippi. “This is a stain on America,” Warren said. “I believe it’s time to start the national, full-blown conversation about reparations in this country.” Castro, seeking to become the first U.S. president of Hispanic origin, said he backed reparations while acknowledging there is a “tremendous amount of disagreement” on what they should be. “If, under the Constitution, we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn’t you compensate people who actually were property?” he said. Warren has thrown her support behind a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would appoint a commission to examine the subject. The bill, HR 40, calls for a panel “to address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865.” The commission would “consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery.” HR 40 — so named for the unkept “40 acres and a mule” pledge — was first introduced in the House three decades ago and has been resubmitted every year since, but has never reached the floor for a vote. Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the two black candidates in the race, have also signaled support for reparations while former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke has said there should be a “conversation” about the subject. “We need to study the effects of generations of discrimination and institutional racism and determine what can be done, in terms of intervention, to correct course,” Harris said on National Public Radio. Marianne Williamson, a self-help author considered a long shot for the nomination, is the only Democratic candidate for the moment advocating direct payments to African-Americans. Williamson has proposed creating a $200 billion to $500 billion fund to do it — a number that scholars of the subject have ridiculed as far too little. A more reasonable figure, they argue, would run into the trillions of dollars. Two other Democratic hopefuls — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — have supported addressing racial inequality as part of their wider plans to reduce income disparity. “I think right now our job is to address the crises facing the American people in our communities,” Sanders said on ABC’s “The View.” “And I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check.” Klobuchar said there was a need to “invest in those communities that have been so hurt by racism.” “That means looking at, for our whole economy, community college, one-year degrees, minimum wage, child care,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It doesn’t have to be a direct pay for each person.” Blacks are a key voting bloc for Democrats and their support is seen as essential to the candidate running against Republican President Donald Trump next year. Fifty-two percent of the African-Americans surveyed in a 2015 CNN-Kaiser poll supported cash payments to the descendants of slaves. But 89 percent of the white Americans polled opposed the idea. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a seminal 2014 article in The Atlantic called “The Case For Reparations,” said the idea is “frightening” to many Americans “not simply because we might lack the ability to pay.” “The idea of reparations threatens something much deeper — America’s heritage, history, and standing in the world,” Coates said. “But I believe that wrestling publicly with these questions matters as much as — if not more than — the specific answers that might be produced,” he said. “An America that asks what it owes its most vulnerable citizens is improved and humane.” The United States has handed out reparations in the past including to Japanese-Americans put in internment camps during World War II.

u.s .
slavery
democrats
elizabeth warren
kamala harris
julian castro


A more skeptical U.S. Supreme Court to hear redistricting challenge

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Last year, proponents of limiting partisan politics in the creation of electoral districts needed to win over Justice Anthony Kennedy. They couldn’t. The issue is back before the Supreme Court again, with arguments on Tuesday, and it might be harder than ever to convince the justices to rein in the practice known as partisan gerrymandering, designing districts to benefit one political party. A new round of redistricting awaits after the 2020 census, and the court’s decision could help shape the makeup of Congress and state legislatures over the next 10 years. With Kennedy retired, the question is whether federal courts will remain open at all to complaints about political line-drawing. “The question of what the outcome will be in light of recent changes in the membership of the Supreme Court is anybody’s guess,” said Seth Waxman, the former lead high court lawyer in the Clinton administration and a supporter of limits on drawing districts for partisan gain. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is in Kennedy’s seat. Chief Justice John Roberts is now the court conservative closest to the center and the focus of the arguments for reining in partisan redistricting, said Michael Kimberly, the lawyer for Republican voters who challenged a Democratic congressional district in Maryland. “The concern now is persuading him,” Kimberly said, acknowledging Roberts’ skepticism about the court’s involvement in the issue during arguments last term. Critics of partisan manipulation of electoral maps say that when one party controls redistricting, it can exaggerate and entrench its power, even in states that are otherwise closely divided between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans were the big beneficiaries of the most recent round of redistricting in 2011, following the once-a-decade census, because they scored resounding victories in the 2010 elections. The court has before it two cases, from Maryland and North Carolina, with strong evidence that elected officials charged with drawing and approving congressional districts acted for maximum partisan advantage. In North Carolina, Republicans ran the process and sought to preserve a 10-3 split in the congressional delegation in favor of the GOP, even as statewide races are usually closely divided. In Maryland, Democrats controlled redistricting and sought to flip one district that had been represented by a Republican for 20 years. Both plans succeeded and lower courts concluded that the districts violated the Constitution. Bolstering those court outcomes were the candid appraisals by former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, and North Carolina state Rep. David Lewis, a Republican, of the critical role politics played in redistricting. Part of the point in redrawing the 6th congressional district in western Maryland was to “create a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican, yes, this was clearly my intent,” O’Malley said in testimony for the lawsuit challenging the district. Needing to reduce the district’s population by just over 10,000 people to ensure similarly sized congressional districts, Maryland Democrats instead removed 360,000 Republicans and replaced them with 350,000 Democrats. In North Carolina, Lewis boasted that the congressional map he helped draw in 2016 — to replace a map that had been struck down for relying too heavily on race — would preserve the Republicans’ already sizable edge. He told fellow lawmakers then that he was proposing a 10-3 map “because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.” Lewis said later he was joking, but those who sued don’t think so. The 2018 race margins describe a tell-tale sign of partisan gerrymandering, according to map critics: Voters supporting the minority party are packed tightly into fewer districts, resulting in easy victories, while the majority party wins narrower races, but in more districts. While each of the three incumbent Democrats cruised to re-election in November with at least 70 percent of the vote, no winning Republican in a contested race received above 60 percent. North Carolina voters will fill two House seats this year. One is in the GOP-leaning 9th Congressional District, where the state elections board ordered a new election based on evidence of illegal absentee ballot activities involving a political operative who worked for the Republican candidate. The other is the seat held by the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr. A court ruling that leads to further remapping could add confusion for voters and candidates in the middle of campaigns. But the Supreme Court might not be as receptive as the lower courts. In 1986, the justices held that federal courts should be open to claims of partisan gerrymandering. But since then, the court has not struck down districts on those grounds or even decided on the right way to do so. By contrast, the court has invalidated many districts because of racial gerrymandering over the past 50 years. By 2004, four conservative justices were ready to take courts out of the business of dealing with partisan gerrymandering claims, but Kennedy wouldn’t go along. Kennedy’s position encouraged supporters of limits when the justices took up cases last year involving Republican-drawn state legislative districts in Wisconsin and the same Maryland congressional district. The cases had statistical analyses, proposals for how judges could reasonably determine when districting plans went too far and the non-partisan optics of Republicans in the offending role in one state and Democrats in the other. Yet the court left the big issues unresolved in a pair of rulings in June that were nonetheless a setback for advocates who hoped they had finally found a way to prove their case to a long-skeptical Supreme Court and Kennedy, in particular. But lower federal courts have continued to rule on redistricting complaints. In addition to the Maryland and North Carolina decisions, there are pending challenges to Republican-controlled plans in Michigan and Ohio that could be affected by the high court’s decision. Paul Clement, who served as President George W. Bush’s top Supreme Court lawyer, said the justices should once and for all declare federal courts off limits for partisan redistricting because the inherently political job of drawing electoral districts belongs to the politicians. In his Supreme Court filing on behalf of North Carolina Republicans, Clement wrote that a “judicially manageable test for adjudicating partisan gerrymandering claims does not exist.” A separate state court challenge to North Carolina legislative districts also is under way, following an approach used by Pennsylvania Democrats to win a state Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down the state’s Republican-drawn congressional districts.


Russia probe findings offer re-election weapon for Trump

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that Donald Trump did not collude with Russia to win the presidency in 2016 gives the president a powerful weapon to use against his Democratic opponents and a potential boost to what is shaping up to be a tough bid for re-election in 2020. Mueller’s conclusion that neither Trump nor his aides conspired with Russia in 2016 takes away a central charge that Democrats have flung at Trump for two years — that he did not win the presidency fairly or cleanly. The allegations have played out on an endless loop on cable TV news shows, overshadowing Trump’s presidency from day one. Democrats have vowed to continue congressional investigations into the 2016 election campaign and Trump’s business practices. But without the solid foundation of a Mueller report that found evidence of any crimes by the president, they now risk seeming to overplay their hand. “This is a gold star day for Donald Trump,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “Now the shackles are off. He’s able to demonize the news media and Democrats as perpetuating what he calls a hoax. And he’ll be able to use his innocence as fodder for the campaign trail.” The question for Trump now is whether he will be able to bring a minimum of discipline to his campaign messaging and to the presidency itself. History suggests he will have trouble with self-discipline. Just last week, he was immersed in a strange fight with a dead man, sharply criticizing the late Republican Sen. John McCain and falsely accusing him of being at the root of some of the collusion allegations against him. He has also been prone to making baffling abrupt decisions, such as occurred last week when he called off a round of sanctions against North Korea before they had even been imposed. Despite the Mueller report’s conclusions, Trump remains an intemperate president, eager to lash out at any and all critics and perceived slights. “This was an illegal takedown that failed,” Trump said on Sunday, even though Mueller left open the question of whether the former real estate magnate had attempted to obstruct the Russia probe, which did find extensive evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. “Now is the time to get back on the offense on the economy and growth,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed. “This is a good time to get back to a real healthy dose of message discipline for the entire administration, department-wide and the White House. That’s what you do when something like this happens.” Trump, on a golfing weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, got the news in his private quarters at his Mar-a-Lago retreat from White House counsel Emmett Flood, and watched TV coverage of the Mueller report in his cabin on Air Force One. Trump’s initial comments in reacting to the Mueller conclusion suggests he is not inclined to move past the investigation. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One for the flight back to Washington, Trump called for Democrats to be investigated, expanding on his often repeated assertion that the Mueller probe was Democrat-inspired. Mueller was appointed by Trump’s Department of Justice in 2017 after he fired FBI Director James Comey. “It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this,” Trump said. “Before I even got elected it began, and it began illegally.” Trump’s comments could foreshadow an effort by his supporters to seek payback for the cloud that has hung over his time in the White House. “I’m interested in moving on and trying to get this behind us, but people have to pay for what they’ve done for the past two years,” said former Trump campaign aide David Bossie. “We must investigate the investigators.” Trump’s path to re-election remains a perilous one. Analysts say he will probably need to win the Midwestern states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, just as he did in his improbable 2016 victory, and Democrats are already pouring resources into those states. Trump will foreshadow his campaign message on Thursday night when he headlines a “Make America Great Again” rally in Michigan. Trump supporters viewed the Mueller report as a blow to the more than a dozen Democrats who are campaigning for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination. “This is very problematic for any Democrat who’s running for president in 2020 that was hoping they would face a weakened or beaten-down President Trump,” former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said. “In fact, President Trump will likely see a ratings boost coming out of this and a strong tailwind pushing him towards the upcoming election.” Reuters/Ipsos polling has shown that Americans decided early on in Mueller’s investigation whether they thought Trump was guilty of collusion or not. The polling found few undecided voters. Brinkley said Democrats will need to adjust their tactics and emphasize their differences with Trump’s record on issues ranging from healthcare and climate change to immigration. “Some of those charges are going to have to rise to be the main charges against Trump,” he said, noting there was fatigue with the Russia issue.

vladimir putin
russia
espionage
scandals
robert mueller
donald trump
2016 u.s. presidential election
russia probe