Sony chairman, who keyed firm's turnaround with bet on PlayStation and image sensors, to retire

Abstract: Sony Corp. Chairman Kazuo Hirai, the architect of a turnaround at the once-dominant electronics giant, will retire in June after spending more than three decades at the company. The 58-year-old, who ceded the role of chief executive officer to Kenichiro Yoshida in April 2018, will continue to advise the company after his retirement, Sony said in a statement. Shuzo Sumi of Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. was nominated to become chairman of the board. Hirai, who took over as CEO from Howard Stringer in 2012, turned the company’s fortunes around by paring back and refocusing its operations. With Yoshida’s support, Hirai sold off the Vaio personal computer business, reshaped the television set unit and pulled the mobile business back from a destructive fight for market share. He also invested heavily in the PlayStation games business and image sensors used in smartphones, now major drivers of the firm. Profits hit a record last year as he ceded the CEO role. “He’ll be remembered as the guy who turned it around and got Sony back in the black,” said Yasunori Tateishi, the author of two dozen books about Japan’s electronics industry, including several critical of Sony. “And then he left at the very top.” Shares rebounded during his tenure as the company’s finances improved. The stock tripled during his years as CEO, about double the return of the benchmark Topix index. “Since passing the baton of CEO to Yoshida-san last April, as chairman of Sony, I have had the opportunity to both ensure a smooth transition and provide support to Sony’s management,” Hirai said in Thursday’s statement. “As such, I have decided to depart from Sony, which has been a part of my life for the past 35 years.” Hirai began his career in Sony’s music division in the 1980s, where he performed legal work and then promoted Japanese musicians in the U.S. “I thought (being) in the record business was a nice combination of what I wanted to accomplish, to be in the creative industry but not part of the creative process,” he told the Financial Times in 2016. He introduced the kando slogan, which in Japanese means to trigger emotion. He used the phrase throughout his tenure, for everything from his overhaul of the company’s Hollywood business to its development of a virtual reality headset. Hirai became CEO at the end of a fiscal year with ¥437.1 billion in losses, as Sony struggled against rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. The television business epitomized the trouble: Once an industry leader with its Trinitron technology, Sony had lost ¥714 billion on TVs in the previous eight years. The next year, activist investor Daniel Loeb pressed Hirai to step up the pace of change. Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund proposed Sony sell part of its entertainment business in an initial public offering to impose more discipline. Hirai resisted. Then in 2014, hackers broke into the computer systems of Sony’s entertainment division, revealing embarrassing internal correspondence and health details of employees and their children. The U.S. authorities ultimately said North Korea was responsible for the attack, perhaps in retaliation for the Seth Rogen comedy “The Interview.” Still, Hirai fought through the troubles. He elevated Yoshida to chief financial officer in 2014 and together they methodically worked through Sony’s many issues. By cutting back in smartphones and TVs and steadily investing in promising new ventures, the company’s finances began to improve. Sony made a small profit in the 2014 fiscal year and has boosted net income steadily since. One important wager Hirai made was heavy investment in image sensors, critical components for the cameras used in increasing numbers in smartphones. His bet on the PlayStation business paid off. He also tried to rekindle Sony’s entrepreneurial strength, introducing an internal accelerator program in 2014 that let employees pitch new ideas. Results on that front have been mixed. Still, when Hirai handed over the CEO post in April of last year, Sony posted a fiscal year operating profit of ¥734.9 billion. “Hirai established a good foundation for the business,” said Yoshiharu Izumi, an analyst with SBI Securities Co Ltd. “He should be appreciated.” Nevertheless, Hirai leaves as Sony is in need of another revival. With fewer games in store for the aging PlayStation 4 and its Xperia phone business bleeding money, CEO Yoshida will have to prove that the turnaround can continue. The mobile division had an operating loss of ¥15.5 billion during the December quarter, the fourth straight unprofitable period. Yoshida has so far rebuffed pressure to sell off the unit. The PS4, headed for its sixth year, is one of the best-selling consoles in history. But this year’s software lineup is smaller than the record-setting 2018, mostly focused on a pair of zombie titles. Even the camera chips business is seeing an impact from slowing global demand for smartphones. Operating profit in chips fell 23 percent to ¥46.5 billion in the most recent quarter. “He stepped off at the very best time,” said author Tateishi. “If you ask if what he left is sustainable, that’s questionable.”


Migrants rescued off Libya by tanker apparently hijack the ship, force it to head toward Europe

Abstract: VALLETTA - Migrants hijacked a cargo ship in Libyan waters Wednesday and forced the crew to redirect the vessel north to Europe, according to Italian and Maltese authorities. As the vessel headed in a direction leading to the island nation of Malta and Italy’s shores, both countries vowed to keep the hijacked ship out of their territorial waters. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini identified the ship as the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1 and said the crew had earlier rescued migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. He put the number of migrants on board at around 120 and described what was happening as “the first act of piracy on the high seas with migrants that hijacked” a cargo ship. “Poor castaways, who hijack a merchant ship that saved them because they want to decide the route of the cruise,” Italian news agency ANSA quoted Salvini saying with sarcasm. A Maltese special operations team seized the tanker Thursday and returned control to the captain. The migrants would be turned over to police for investigation, armed forces said. Italian media reports said the ship was heading to Libya to drop off the group that was rescued when migrants seized control near the Libyan coast. A private group that operates a rescue ship and monitors how governments treat migrants, Mediterranea Saving Humans, urged compassion for the group on the hijacked vessel and said it hoped European countries would act “in the name of fundamental rights, remembering that we are dealing with human beings fleeing hell.” The Armed Forces of Malta said military personnel were standing by and the tanker still was in Libyan territorial waters as of early Wednesday night. A Maltese military official told Maltese media the ship was carrying 108 migrants. The official was not authorized to speak to reporters and requested anonymity. The official also said Malta would not allow the ship to enter the country’s waters. Salvini said weather conditions were not good and it was too early to tell if the ship was being directed toward Malta or Italy’s Lampedusa island. But he had a message for the pirates: “Forget about Italy.” Mass migration to Europe has dropped sharply since 2015, when the continent received 1 million refugees and migrants from countries in the Middle East, Asia and African. The surge created a humanitarian crisis in which desperate travelers frequently drowned and leading arrival spots such as Italy and Greece struggled to house large numbers of asylum-seekers. Along with the dangerous sea journey itself, those who attempt to cross the Mediterranean risk being stopped by Libya’s coast guard and held in Libyan detention centers that human rights groups have described as bleak places where migrants allegedly suffer routine abuse. European Union member countries, responding to domestic opposition to welcoming immigrants, have decided to significantly downscale an EU operation in the Mediterranean, withdrawing their ships and continuing the mission with air surveillance only. EU officials on Wednesday lamented the move, while Amnesty International reiterated its view that Europe’s collaboration with Libya to stem migration was a human rights outrage. EU members “alert the Libyan coast guard when refugees and migrants are spotted at sea so they can be taken back to Libya, despite knowing that people there are arbitrarily detained and exposed to widespread torture, rape, killings and exploitation,” Matteo de Bellis, an international migration researcher for Amnesty. “This shameful decision has nothing to do with the needs of people who risk their lives at sea, but everything to do with the inability of European governments to agree on a way to share responsibility for them.”

italy
eu
libya
migrants
malta
hijack
matteo salvini


Despair and anger as Venezuelans endure paralyzing blackout, food rots and water disappears

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuelans wavered between despair and rage Wednesday as they endured a third day of a near-nationwide blackout that has paralyzed their country — the second such outage this month. “Food stocks are starting to rot. There’s no water. The transport virtually doesn’t work. There’s no means of communication,” said Nestor Carreno, who was forced to shutter his pizzeria in a formerly upscale district of Caracas. “I don’t know how my family is doing. Insecurity is growing.” A cacophony of saucepans being banged out of windows and car horns in the street has been heard in the capital since the start of the vast outage. Memories of the first, which started on March 7 and lasted a week — forcing citizens to seek water from rivers and sewage outflows as pumps came to a halt — fed the anguish. Many residents stocked up on food and water. The government of President Nicolas Maduro, which blamed the blackouts on U.S. “cybernetic” attacks and opposition “sabotage” and “terrorism,” decreed the closure of public offices and schools until Wednesday night. Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said a new power cut Wednesday had plunged some parts of Caracas and other regions into the darkness once again, shortly after electricity had been restored. He said work was continuing to fix “equipment damaged by the terrorism.” The outage was affecting 21 of Venezuela’s 23 states, according to users on social media. The government has given no official information on its scale. Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whom the U.S. and many of its allies recognize as the country’s interim president over Maduro, called for a national protest on Saturday over “the lack of public services.” “The light has gone, we can’t remain passive actors,” Guaido told supporters. He has rejected the government allegations that the opposition was behind the latest blackout as “lies.” Caracas resident Mildred Tejeras, 48, explained the daily hardships. “You don’t know if you’ll be able to get back home if you’ve gone out to look for something to eat or, now, power or water. We are living through the worst that you can live through in Venezuela,” she said. Power cuts have become frequent in Venezuela over the past few years, underlining the long slide into crisis that the country, once South America’s wealthiest, has experienced. But this month’s blackouts were unprecedented in scale. Experts calculate they cost Venezuela’s economy $200 million per day. In both cases, the government said they were caused by disruptions at the country’s main power plant, the Guri hydroelectric dam on the Orinoco river in the south that supplies 80 percent of Venezuelans. Outside of the anxiety and political exchanges over the blackout, the presence of Russian troops in Venezuela has made the climate more febrile. “It seems (Maduro’s government) doesn’t trust its own troops, because it is importing others … once again violating the constitution,” Guaido said in the opposition-run congress on Tuesday. Under Venezuela’s constitution, any foreign military mission in the country needs to be approved by the congress. Russia, Maduro’s main ally and one of its biggest creditors along with China, on the weekend sent 100 troops and 35 tons of military equipment aboard two flights to Caracas. Moscow said it was done in “full respect for (Venezuela’s) legal norms” and to head off what it described as a U.S.-organized “coup.” But U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly warned that “all options” were available to deal with Venezuela, said Wednesday: “Russia has to get out.” He made the declaration at the White House with Guaido’s wife, Fabiana Rosales, at his side. Trump said Maduro and his government “have no money, they have no oil, they have no nothing. They’ve got plenty of pressure right now. They have no electricity.” He added: “Other than military you can’t get any more pressure than they have. … All options are open.”

russia
venezuela
poverty
water
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido


Terror stalks Mali massacre village amid fears attackers will return

Abstract: OGOSSAGOU, MALI - Eleven-year-old Amy raises her left arm to show where a bullet grazed her side, and from deep within her, a boundless distress comes out in great sobs. The girl’s life was plunged into hell on Saturday when gun- and machete-toting men entered her village in central Mali, set to kill everyone from her community, the Fulani. “Our fear here is that they will come back and kill all those who didn’t die. We are really afraid,” the child says. Amy says she lost several members of her family in the massacre at Ogossagou, a village in the Bankass district near the border with Burkina Faso. The bloodletting has been blamed on a militia from the Dogon ethnic group — a farming and hunting community that has long been at loggerheads with the cattle-grazing Fulani over access to the land. It is the latest spiral of violence in the ethnic mosaic of central Mali, where ancient tensions have boiled over — stoked, say experts, by the arrival of violent jihadi groups. Homes in the village have been put to the torch, and rotting animal carcasses litter the ground. The stench fills the air. Near a well stands a mound of sand that witnesses described as a mass grave holding about 40 of the estimated 160 people who were murdered. “We hauled four bodies out of this well, including that of a child aged just seven years old,” a health worker said. On the ground were pieces of the Real Madrid football jersey that the child had worn. “We heard gunfire” at around 5 a.m., said cattle farmer Boubar Toure. “The attackers went directly to the home of the village chief,” added Hamadou Belco Barry. Barry said they murdered the village chief in front of his mother, whom they then killed. They then attacked other members of his family, he said. “They threw grenades in — there were men, women and children in them, one of whom was aged less than three,” a tearful witness said, pointing to a mud-walled home. One of the assailants took up a position outside the house and chopped down any who tried to flee with his machete, he said. In another part of the village, traces of black smoke scar the walls of several huts. This was where the village’s marabout, or traditional medicine man, Bara Sekou Issa, was slain along with his family. One of his relatives, who says he survived the bloodbath, stands alongside children in rags, all of them walled in by silence. One of them, wearing an ochre-coloured turban, lost his mother and father, the villagers say. “These children that you see are deeply traumatized,” a local official told AFP, seeking to remain anonymous. “We don’t have any means to look after them.” He points to a 12-year-old boy who, according to local people, has not uttered a word since Saturday. In addition to killing and maiming the inhabitants, the militiamen also torched the village’s slender stores of food, the witnesses said. A woman named Awa, who said she had lost her daughter and husband, reached out for food and bags of water handed out by NGOs. In the aftermath of the attack, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita came to the village and vowed to bring security and enforce justice. A short while later, the authorities said they had arrested a “wounded assailant.” “Everyone knows the attackers, but no one wants to tell the truth,” a spokesman for the villagers, Ahmadou Barry, said. A Dogon hunters’ association, Dan Nan Ambassagou, has been accused of the atrocity by the villagers — a charge it denies — and was dissolved by the authorities on Sunday. The UN is sending a 13-member team to investigate, including crime-scene experts, while the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, has vowed to do her utmost to bring the perpetrators to justice.

mali
terrorism
islam
mass murder
ibrahim boubacar keita
dogon


U.S. jury says Bayer must pay $80 million to man in Roundup cancer trial

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK - A U.S. jury on Wednesday awarded $80 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company facing thousands of similar lawsuits. The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages to Hardeman after finding that Roundup was defectively designed, that Monsanto failed to warn of the herbicide’s cancer risk and that the company acted negligently. Bayer bought Roundup maker Monsanto last year for $63 billion. The company in a statement on Wednesday said it was disappointed with the jury’s decision and that it would appeal the verdict. “This verdict does not change the weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators worldwide that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they are not carcinogenic,” Bayer said. The trial is only the second of more than 11,200 Roundup lawsuits set to go to trial in the United States. Previous litigation setbacks and a prior jury verdict against the company have sent Bayer shares plunging. The verdict comes after the same jury on March 19 found Roundup to have been a “substantial factor” in causing Hardeman’s cancer, allowing the trial to proceed to a second phase to determine liability and damages. Bayer shares fell more than 12 percent after last week’s jury finding. In the trial’s second phase, Hardeman’s lawyers were able to present previously excluded internal documents allegedly showing the company’s efforts to influence scientists and regulators about the widely-used product’s safety. Lawyers for Hardeman were seen by a Reuters reporter cheering in the elevator outside the courtroom after the verdict was announced. “As demonstrated throughout trial, since Roundup’s inception over 40 years ago, Monsanto refuses to act responsibly,” Hardeman’s lawyers said in a statement, adding that the company instead focused on “manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about Roundup.” After the verdict, Hardeman told reporters he was “overwhelmed.” “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. Hardeman’s case was considered a bellwether trial to help determine the range of damages and define settlement options for the more than 760 other federal cases pending in the same court before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. In the first trial phase of Hardeman’s case, the jury deliberated for more than four days before finding Roundup responsible for the man’s cancer. Bayer on Wednesday said that was an indication that jurors were “very likely divided over the scientific evidence.” The company said its appeal would focus on legal rulings by Chhabria, who allowed some of Hardeman’s scientific experts to testify despite calling plaintiffs’ expert opinions “shaky” in a 2018 ruling. But legal experts have noted that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees the San Francisco federal court, has generally been permissive in allowing expert testimony. Monsanto’s Roundup was the first to contain glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer. But it is no longer patent-protected and many other versions are available. Bayer does not provide sales figures for the product. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators have found that glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic to humans. The World Health Organization’s cancer arm in 2015 reached a different conclusion, classifying glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” In the first U.S. Roundup trial, another California man was awarded $289 million in August after a state court jury found Roundup caused his cancer. That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal. Hardeman’s case featured a significant difference from that trial after Chhabria decided to split cases before him into two phases: one to decide causation on purely scientific grounds, the other to determine Bayer’s potential liability and damages only if the jury first ruled that the weed killer was a substantial factor in causing cancer. That decision had been seen as beneficial to Bayer. Legal experts said the jury’s verdict in the first phase of the Hardeman case was a significant setback, narrowing the company’s legal options going forward. Chhabria has scheduled another bellwether trial for May and a third trial is likely to also take place this year. All three will be split into causation and liability phases. Bayer is also scheduled to face another Roundup trial in California state court beginning on March 28 and at least two trials in Missouri state court in the fall.

courts cancer monsanto herbicides roundup bayer


Republicans, for third time in a week, block effort seeking Robert Mueller report release

Abstract: WASHINGTON - For the third time in a week, U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a measure calling for special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference to be publicly released. Amid the squabble over the timing and scope of the release, a senior Republican senator assured that Attorney General Bill Barr will release the special counsel’s findings in a matter of “weeks, not months.” The Republican-led upper chamber has faced mounting pressure to align with a measure from the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives that seeks swift release of the full report to Congress and the American people. Senate Democrat Diane Feinstein took to the Senate floor asking for unanimous consent to pass the non-binding resolution, which cleared the House in mid-March by 420 to 0. “The fact is that a four-page summary can not possibly illuminate what this thorough of an investigation uncovered,” said Feinstein, referring to Barr’s summary description of the report. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected, stressing the need for Mueller and Barr to review the report and determine what can be publicly released and what must be redacted. “I think we should be consistent in letting the special counsel actually finish his work, and not just when we think it may be politically advantageous to one side of the other for him to do so,” he said. Mueller and his team spent 22 months investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, and possible connections between team Trump and Moscow. While he found there was conclusive evidence that Russia influenced the vote, Barr in his summary cleared Trump and his team of any collusion with Russia regarding election interference. Two previous efforts by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to advance the House measure were also blocked, actions the top Democrat denounced on the Senate floor Wednesday. “When we read reports that Barr only wants to release a summary, and Leader McConnell is unsupportive of transparency, something doesn’t smell right,” Schumer said. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham meanwhile said he met with Barr Monday and the attorney general laid out a path for reviewing the report with Mueller and releasing it. “He’s going to do all that in weeks, not months, he’s going to turn it over to the committee, then I think he’ll come to the Senate, hopefully some time in April” to testify, Graham told Fox News.

republicans
robert mueller
democrats
mitch mcconnell
donald trump
diane feinstein
russia probe


Israeli spelunkers say salt cave running through Mount Sodom into Dead Sea is world's longest

Abstract: MOUNT SODOM, ISRAEL - Israeli cave explorers said Thursday that a salt cave with striking stalactites near the Dead Sea is the world’s longest, beating the record-holder in Iran. The cave, named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometers (6.25 miles), runs through Mount Sodom, Israel’s largest mountain, and spills out to the southwest corner of the adjacent Dead Sea. Pale salt stalactites hang from the ceilings, and some of the walls sparkle with salt crystals. Drops of salty water are visible at the tips of some of the stalactites. Malham became known to researchers through the work of Amos Frumkin, founder and director of Hebrew University’s Cave Research Center, who in the 1980s mapped around 5 kilometers (3 miles) of it. But in 2006, researchers mapped over 6 kilometers of the N3 cave in southern Iran’s Qeshm Island, granting it the widely recognized status of the world’s longest salt cave. Two years ago, Israeli spelunker Yoav Negev decided to complete Frumkin’s work, reaching out to Bulgarian cave explorers for reinforcements with the promise of a warm winter adventure. Negev, the founder of the Israel Cave Explorers Club, joined forces with Boaz Landford, a researcher at the university’s research center, to organize a delegation of eight European spelunkers and another 20 locals. They spent some 10 days mapping the cave in 2018. A second 10-day expedition in 2019 with 80 local and international spelunkers completed the measuring and mapping of the cave with lasers, determining its length at over 10 kilometers. Mount Sodom is essentially a huge salt block covered by a thin but resilient layer of cap rock. The rare desert rains that find their way through cracks in the cap rock dissolve the salt to form small caves that flow down toward the Dead Sea. Even in the short period of time since Frumkin’s mapping, the cave’s structure has changed, and will continue to do so. Much of the cave’s interior is covered by a fine dust that blows in from the desert. Massive slabs of salt, some amber-colored from dust and minerals, jut out to form dramatic installations. A thin slab appearing to have been sliced out is nicknamed “The Guillotine,” while twin slabs in a different hall earned the title of “The Ten Commandments.” Reporters touring the site clambered and crawled through the narrow passages before reaching the “Wedding Hall,” where hundreds of white stalactites of various shapes and lengths create a festive backdrop. To Negev, Malham is in “a category of its own.” “There’s nothing like it in Israel,” he said, claiming that no other cave comes close to the 10-kilometer mark. Negev pointed to its vast network of “caverns, passageways, piers, plateaus — one over another.” He called it “the most impressive and complex in Israel . . . and one of the most beautiful and fascinating ones I’ve been in.” Negev downplayed the significance of retaking the title from Iran — Israel’s main enemy — saying he has “excellent ties” with Iranian spelunkers through social media and professional conferences. “The political rivalry creates a desire to connect and mutual curiosity,” he said. “They’re really excellent spelunkers.” “I wish I could visit there,” he said of Iran and its caves.


Determined to deliver Brexit, May puts her job on the line if Parliament OKs her deal

Abstract: LONDON - Faced with losing all control over the Brexit process, British Prime Minister Theresa May has made one final, desperate move: hinting she will step down if MPs approve her Brexit deal. The Conservative leader has faced growing calls to resign over the political crisis that has gripped Britain for months, and which forced her to ask the EU last week to delay Brexit by a fortnight. With many MPs now pressing for a longer extension or even to reverse the whole process, May has made one last attempt to secure support for the divorce deal she has struck with Brussels. She told MPs in her party on Wednesday evening that she would not “stand in the way” of new leadership for the “second phase of Brexit negotiations” — without spelling out when exactly this would be. May has in the past won praise for her determination and ability to survive an extraordinary period of political turmoil since the Brexit vote. But her approach to the endgame — refusing to accept that MPs did not like her deal and delaying Brexit to keep trying to push it through — has prompted frustration and anger on all sides. She has all but lost control of her government, with ministers from both the pro- and anti-Brexit camps joining scores of Conservative MPs in defying the government in parliamentary votes. This weekend, after another humiliating Brussels summit, British newspapers were full of reports of moves by her colleagues to oust her. The Conservative-supporting Spectator magazine suggested May was the “worst prime minister in our history,” condemning her “lack of imagination, inability to lead a team or solve complex problems. Her former director of communications, Katie Perrior, wrote in The Times newspaper that May was “a passenger at the time when the country needed a rally driver. Top selling tabloid The Sun praised May’s “remarkable resilience in the face of repeated humiliations,” but said it was “time to move on.” Despite having campaigned to stay in the EU, May embraced the cause once she took office with the mantra “Brexit means Brexit. Her promise to leave the EU’s institutions and end free movement of workers delighted euroskeptic MPs, but caused dismay among many pro-Europeans. The splits in her Conservative party became a serious problem after a disastrous snap election in June 2017, when May lost her parliamentary majority. She was forced to strike a deal with Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and since then has struggled to keep her party and its allies together. Naturally reserved and reliant on her husband, Philip, and a few close aides, May says she is just quietly “getting on with the job. But in the last election, she struggled to engage with voters and was dubbed the “Maybot” after churning out the same answers and speeches over and over again. May’s legacy from her previous role as interior minister has also been called into question in recent months, with growing criticism of her crackdown on irregular migration. The question now is whether May’s gamble succeeds — and who might succeed her. May has faced repeated challenges since taking office, with figures such as former foreign minister Boris Johnson constantly challenging her authority. But she won a leadership challenge within her own party in December, even if she had to promise to quit before the next scheduled election in 2022. May’s critics are hampered by their own divisions, and have so far failed to unite behind a rival candidate.


Theresa May offers to quit and MPs vote on eight other Brexit options, but still no end to stalemate

Abstract: LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to sway hard-line opponents of her European Union divorce deal on Wednesday with an offer to quit, and Parliament’s bid to agree on an alternative fell short, leaving the Brexit process as deadlocked as ever. May told her Conservative lawmakers she would step down if her Brexit deal was finally passed by Parliament at the third attempt, in a last-ditch bid to win over many of her party’s euroskeptic rebels. But some were unmoved, and the Northern Irish party crucial to getting the agreement through said it would reject the deal again. Britain was supposed to leave the bloc on Friday, but Brussels agreed last week to put back the divorce date until April 12 to give London a chance to resolve the three-year crisis, which has split the country down the middle. However, it still remains uncertain how, when or even whether the United Kingdom, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, will leave the EU. The possibilities that it will leave with no deal to soften the shock to its economy, or delay the departure date to hold a general election, have increased as other options fade. While May’s deal continued to stumble, an attempt by Parliament to take control of the process by holding a series of indicative votes on other options produced no immediate way through the impasse. None of the proposals, many of which involved closer alignment with the EU than May envisages, won the support of a majority of lawmakers. “In a spectacular display of indecision, the House of Commons has voted against remaining in the EU and every version of leaving the EU,” tweeted James Cleverly, the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman. Some proposals fared better than May’s deal did two weeks ago. Parliament is to hold more indicative votes on Monday after refining the options most likely to secure a majority. Many Conservative euroskeptics had made clear they would only consider supporting May’s deal if she gave a firm commitment to resign, hoping a new leader would be more sympathetic to their views when negotiating the terms of Britain’s future relationship with the EU. “I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party,” May told a meeting of Tory lawmakers. “I know there is a desire for a new approach — and new leadership — in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations — and I won’t stand in the way of that.”But within hours of May’s offer, the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government, said it would vote against the deal if May brought it back a third time. “We’re in a situation where we cannot sign up to the Withdrawal Agreement,” DUP leader Arlene Foster said. The government gave itself the option of bringing May’s deal back to Parliament on Friday, although Speaker John Bercow repeated his warning that he would not allow a third vote unless the motion had changed substantially since its last defeat. May, who voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, had already promised to step down before the next election, due in 2022. Her deal, defeated in Parliament by 149 votes on March 12 and by 230 votes on Jan. 15, means Britain would leave the EU single market and customs union as well as EU political bodies. But it requires some EU rules to apply unless ways can be found in the future to ensure that no border posts need to be rebuilt between British-ruled Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Many Conservative rebels and the DUP object to this “Irish backstop,” saying it risks binding Britain to the EU for years. To succeed, May needs at least 75 lawmakers to come over to her side. After the ERG met, a spokesman said: “There is no way enough votes are coming out of that room to put the (Withdrawal Agreement) through.” While May was addressing her lawmakers, MPs in the main chamber debated eight other Brexit options, ranging from leaving abruptly with no deal to revoking the divorce altogether. Though there was no majority support for any, the option calling for a referendum on any departure deal, and another suggesting a U.K.-wide customs union with the EU, won more votes than May’s deal two weeks ago. If May’s deal were to pass, her office said there would be a contest to replace her after May 22, when Britain would leave the EU. Most voters think the Brexit negotiations have been handled badly, and recent polls suggest there may now be a slight majority for staying in the EU. Many Conservative MPs say May herself has caused the chaos by not negotiating harder with the EU.


Who might be the prime minister to inherit the Brexit mess if Theresa May quits?

Abstract: LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday offered to quit if her twice-defeated EU divorce deal passes, in a last-ditch attempt to persuade euroskeptics to back it. Here are some of those who could be in the frame to replace her: Michael Gove, 51 : One of the highest-profile Brexit campaigners during the 2016 referendum, Gove has had to rebuild his Cabinet career after falling early to May in the contest to replace David Cameron, who resigned the day after losing the referendum. Seen as one of the most effective members of the Cabinet in bringing forward new policies, the high-energy environment minister has become a surprise ally to May and has so far backed her Brexit strategy. Gove teamed up with Boris Johnson during the 2016 Brexit campaign only to pull his support for Johnson’s subsequent leadership bid at the last moment and run himself. Betting odds indicate he is the leading candidate to replace May and has a 22 percent chance of being the next prime minister. Boris Johnson, 54 : A former foreign minister, Johnson is May’s most outspoken critic over Brexit. He resigned from the Cabinet in July in protest at her handling of the exit negotiations. Johnson, regarded by many euroskeptics as the face of the 2016 Brexit campaign, set out his pitch to the membership in a bombastic speech at the party’s annual conference last October — some members queued for hours to get a seat. He called on the party to return to its traditional values of low tax and strong policing, and not to try to ape the policies of the left-wing Labour Party. David Lidington, 62 : May’s de-facto deputy prime minister, he supported “remain” in the 2016 referendum and played a key role in David Cameron’s failed renegotiation effort prior to the Brexit vote. Lidington has been touted as a possible interim leader. At the weekend, he said he did not think he had any wish to take May’s job. “One thing that working closely with the prime minister does is cure you completely of any lingering shred of ambition to want to do that task,” he said. Jeremy Hunt, 52 : Hunt replaced Johnson as foreign minister in July and has urged the Conservative membership to set aside their differences over Brexit and unite against a common foe: the EU. Hunt voted to remain in the EU in the referendum. He served six years as Britain’s health minister — a role which has made him unpopular with many voters who work in or rely on the state-run, financially stretched National Health Service. Jacob Rees-Mogg, 49 : A flamboyant millionaire who cultivates the image of an English gentleman from days gone by, Rees-Mogg has developed a cult following among those who want a more radical departure from the EU than May is proposing. Rees-Mogg, the head of the influential ERG euroskeptic group of lawmakers, announced he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister the day after she unveiled her draft Brexit deal. But does he want the top job? Asked immediately after saying he had submitted his letter to depose May, Rees-Mogg said he would not be putting himself forward for the job. Dominic Raab, 44 : Britain’s former Brexit minister quit May’s government last year in protest at her draft exit agreement, saying it did not match the promises the Conservative Party made in the 2017 election. Raab served only five months as head of the Brexit department, having been appointed in July. He was seen as a relative newcomer to the top table of government, but had served in junior ministerial roles since being elected in 2010. Raab campaigned for Brexit ahead of the referendum. Asked earlier this month if he would like to be prime minister he said: “Never say never.” Sajid Javid, 49 : Javid, a former banker and champion of free markets, has served in a number of Cabinet roles and scores consistently well in polls of party members. A second-generation immigrant of Pakistani heritage, he has a portrait of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on his office wall. Javid voted “remain” in the 2016 vote but was previously considered to be euroskeptic. David Davis, 69 : Davis, a leading euroskeptic, was appointed to lead Britain’s negotiations with the EU in July 2016, but he resigned two years later in protest at May’s plans for a long-term relationship with the bloc. Last month, he told a magazine he would probably be the Conservative Party leader if the role was like an application for a job as chief executive. “But it isn’t. And that isn’t the way the decision is done,” he said. Penny Mordaunt, 46 : Mordaunt is one of the last remaining pro-Brexit members of May’s Cabinet, where she serves as international development minister. Many had expected her to join the wave of resignations that followed the publication of May’s draft withdrawal deal. Andrea Leadsom, 55 : Another pro-Brexit campaigner who still serves in May’s Cabinet, Leadsom made it to the last two in the 2016 contest to replace Cameron. But rather than force a run-off vote against Theresa May, she withdrew from the contest. She currently runs parliamentary business for the government. Amber Rudd, 55 : Rudd resigned as interior minister last year after facing an outpouring of indignation over her department’s treatment of some long-term Caribbean residents who were wrongly labelled illegal immigrants. She could win support from pro-EU lawmakers in the Conservative Party. But she struggled to retain her seat at the 2017 election and has one of the smallest majorities in Parliament.

eu
u.k .
boris johnson
brexit
theresa may
michael gove


Trump tells Russia to get troops out of Venezuela, warning 'all options' are on table

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops from Venezuela and warned that “all options” were open to make that happen. The arrival of two Russian air force planes carrying nearly 100 Russian troops outside Caracas on Saturday has escalated the political crisis in Venezuela. Russia and China have backed President Nicolas Maduro, while the United States and most Western countries support opposition leader Juan Guaido. In January, he invoked the constitution to assume the country’s interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. “Russia has to get out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he met with Guaido’s wife, Fabiana Rosales. The U.S. government believes the Russian troops include special forces and cybersecurity personnel. Asked how he would make Russian forces leave, Trump said: “We’ll see. All options are open.” Russia has bilateral relations and agreements with Venezuela that it plans to honor, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said, in response to Trump’s comments. “It’s not up to US to decide actions and fate of other countries. It’s only up to the people of Venezuela and its only legitimate president Nicolas Maduro,” Polyanskiy said on Twitter. Maduro, who retains control of state functions and the country’s military, has said Guaido is a puppet of the United States. Rosales, a 26-year-old journalist and opposition activist, told Trump that Guaido was attacked on Tuesday, though she did not provide details. “I fear for my husband’s life,” she said. She was accompanied by the wife and sister of Roberto Marrero, Guaido’s chief of staff, who was arrested and detained last week. Earlier at the White House, Rosales met Vice President Mike Pence, and told him that power outages and food shortages were hurting children in her country. “They are trying to break our morale. They want to submerge us in eternal darkness. But let me tell you that there is light, and the light is here,” Rosales told Pence. She is slated to meet U.S. first lady Melania Trump in Palm Beach on Thursday on a swing through South Florida, home to the largest community of Venezuelan exiles in the United States. Rosales is also slated to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the Venezuelan diaspora at a prominent Washington think tank. Pence praised Rosales for being “courageous.” “Our message very simply is: We’re with you,” Pence said.

russia
venezuela
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido
fabiana rosales


Hero French pilot in Entebbe hijacking dies aged 95

Abstract: NICE, FRANCE - A French pilot hailed for bravery during a hijacking drama targeting Jews on an Air France flight in 1976 has died aged 95, his son told AFP on Wednesday. Michel Bacos was flying from Tel Aviv to Paris when Palestinian and German radicals hijacked the aircraft, which was eventually flown to Entebbe in Uganda. The former French Resistance fighter earned France’s highest award, the Legion d’Honneur, for refusing to leave the plane and ordering his crew to remain with Jewish passengers who were separated from non-Jews. He died in the south of France where he had been living with his wife for the last 30 years, their son, Eric Bacos, told AFP. The hostages were eventually freed after six days by Israeli commandos, who launched a raid that has since been re-told in multiple documentaries and films as one of the most famous special-forces operations in history. The commandos freed all but four of 105 hostages, with the loss of one Israeli soldier, Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

france
benjamin netanyahu
uganda
jews
hijacks
michel bacos
entebbe


Trump administration approved secret nuclear power tech sales to Saudi Arabia, document shows

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has approved six secret authorizations by companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The Trump administration has quietly pursued a wider deal on sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, which aims to build at least two nuclear power plants. Several countries including the United States, South Korea and Russia are in competition for that deal, and the winners are expected to be announced later this year by Saudi Arabia. Perry’s approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of the deal, but not ship equipment that would go into a plant, a source with knowledge of the agreements said on condition of anonymity. The approvals were first reported by the Daily Beast. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in the document that the companies had requested that the Trump administration keep the approvals secret. “In this case, each of the companies which received a specific authorization for (Saudi Arabia) have provided us written request that their authorization be withheld from public release,” the NNSA said in the document. The NNSA and the Department of Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS last year that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if its rival Iran did. In addition, the kingdom has occasionally pushed back against agreeing to U.S. standards that would block two paths to potentially making fissile material for nuclear weapons clandestinely: enriching uranium and reprocessing spent fuel. Concern in Congress about sharing nuclear technology and knowledge with Saudi Arabia rose after Oct. 2, 2018, when U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The Part 810 authorizations were made after November 2017, but it was not clear from the document whether any of them were made after Khashoggi’s killing. Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat, called on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a congressional hearing on Wednesday to release the names of the companies that got the approvals by the middle of April, and Pompeo said he would look into it. Sherman also said the Trump administration has attempted to evade Congress on sharing nuclear power with the kingdom. Pompeo said the administration was working to ensure any shared technology nuclear power would not present proliferation risks. Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. IP3 did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it was one of the companies that got a Part 810 authorization. Separately, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has accepted a request by Sens. Marco Rubio, a Republican and Bob Menendez, a Democrat, to probe the administration’s talks on a nuclear deal with Saudi, a GAO official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday.

u.s .
saudi arabia
nuclear power
rick perry
donald trump
mike pompeo
mohammed bin salman


U.S. transport chief asks why some Boeing safety features are not required on ill-fated Max models

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Wednesday it was “very questionable” why some safety features were not required on the Boeing Co. 737 Max, ahead of a much-anticipated Senate hearing where leaders in her department will be questioned about two recent 737 Max crashes. Chao stopped short of saying the government would require retrofitting all aircraft with new safety features. “I don’t think we are there yet, but it is very questionable if these were safety-oriented additions, why they were not part of the required template of measures that should go into an airplane.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, said she was considering introducing a bill that would require “key safety equipment” be included in “basic plane sale costs. … I feel very strongly that key safety equipment should be included in the basic sale price of a plane.” Chao said “it’s troubling that if indeed it was a safety feature that it was not included.” Reuters reported last week that Boeing plans to mandate a previously optional cockpit warning light as part of a software update to the 737 Max fleet that was grounded. That feature might have warned earlier of problems that possibly played a role in the crashes of Ethiopian and Indonesian planes that killed almost 350 people. Boeing is expected to disclose details of its anti-stall software upgrade on Wednesday and confirm plans to make the alert mandatory. At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Transportation Department’s budget, Chao said the issue will be reviewed by an outside committee and the department’s inspector general. Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat and pilot, questioned Chao on why it took the Federal Aviation Administration so long to ground the 737 Max while regulators around the world moved faster to halt the planes. He also questioned why safety features were not mandated by Boeing or the FAA. “It looks like we are following,” Manchin said, adding it was “just wrong” not to require the alert. Chao defended the FAA’s decision-making as a “fact-based” review and decided to ground the planes after it received new satellite data and evidence at the scene. The FAA has said it will review the software upgrade and plans to mandate it by April but has emphasized that it will not agree to unground the planes until it has more details about what led to the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash. Sen. Ted Cruz, who will chair the hearing later on Wednesday, said on CNBC, “Another major area of inquiry is the process of certification of the 737 Max to begin with. “Why didn’t this process catch this problem if this was the cause of the accident?” Chao said 1,461 Boeing employees are involved in certification. She defended the FAA’s decision to allow Boeing to perform much of the certification work for the government. U.S. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel will testify that the FAA will significantly change its oversight approach to air safety by July 2019. At the same hearing, the FAA’s acting administrator, Dan Elwell, will tell a Senate Commerce Committee panel the agency’s oversight approach must “evolve.” Scovel’s testimony for the hearing first reported by Reuters says that in response to a 2015 inspector general report, the FAA agreed to improve oversight of organizations performing certifications on its behalf.

u.s .
congress
faa
ethiopian airlines
elaine chao
737 max
lion air
air accidents


Brazil to privatize some of its most famous national parks starting this year

Abstract: BRASILIA - Brazil aims to begin privatizing the management of its national parks this year, including some of its most famous natural tourist sites, the country’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said on Wednesday. The government aims to privatize as many as possible, he said. Salles listed Foz do Iguacu, one of the world’s largest waterfalls that straddles the border with Paraguay and Argentina, as one of many famous national parks around the country that could be brought under private management. Activists and environmentalists have said they fear right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who assumed office Jan. 1, and Salles will roll back environmental oversight in the country in favor of economic development. On the campaign trail, Bolsonaro criticized fines for environmental infractions, considered pulling out of the Paris Agreement on climate and at one point proposed that the agriculture and environment ministries be merged. A system to carry out the privatization will be in place “definitely this year,” Salles told reporters following a hearing in Brazil’s Senate. “We’ll see how many we’re able to do. The effort is being made to do the maximum possible without disturbing a process that relies both on an economic model but also on well executed sustainability.” The move would involve privatizing oversight for territories demarcated as “conservation units” that are generally managed by government agency Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The institute is named for Mendes, the defender of the Amazon rainforest who was murdered for his work. Salles called Mendes “irrelevant” in a television interview earlier this year. Salles listed Fernando de Noronha island — an exclusive getaway for underwater divers — as well as Pau Brasil, Chapada dos Veadeiros and Itatiaia national parks as also being potential targets for private management. Salles said the Environment Ministry was seeking to create a new body for resolving environmental fines. The structure that Salles called the “nucleus of conciliation of fines” would have the power to authorize, modify or cancel fines as well as reach accords with environmental offenders who confess infractions. Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo first reported the initiative was under consideration last month. Fines are a key tool employed by environmental agency Ibama to enforce its regulations. The current model, in which it is extremely rare that fines are actually collected, cannot continue, Salles said.

brazil
forests
environment
parks
conservation
jair bolsonaro


Global warming blamed as wildfires blaze across unseasonably hot, dry Portugal

Abstract: GONDOMIL, PORTUGAL - Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters struggled on Wednesday to contain wildfires which erupted far earlier in the season than usual because of unexpectedly hot and windy weather. Ten fires were burning across the country, most in the north, several months before the late spring season when fire crews are normally in place. Meteorologists said global warming had made it difficult to predict where blazes would erupt. “We are having significant fire outbreaks in areas where we didn’t know the risk was high,” Miguel Miranda, president of the Portuguese Institute of Meteorology (IPMA), told Portuguese radio station TSF. “We are in unexplored territory, we have never been through this.” Helicopters dropped water on flaming woodlands near the tiny village of Gondomil on Portugal’s northern edge near the Spanish frontier. A firefighter there told Reuters the force was waiting at a wooded area until the weather conditions made it possible to fight the blaze. There were no immediate reports of casualties or figures for property damage. Portugal’s government issued a wildfire alert on Tuesday evening, with no rain in sight and temperatures at the start of the week that soared as high as 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit), far above seasonal norms. The weather conditions resemble those that caused a devastating wildfire in the central town of Pedrogao Grande in June 2017, killing 64 people and injuring more than 250, the worst disaster in modern Portuguese history. The government warning prohibits farmers from using slash-and-burn methods and requires employers to authorize absences for workers who serve as volunteer firefighters. Temperatures are expected to remain unseasonably hot, according to IPMA, with the temperature in the northern river city of Porto expected to reach 24 degrees on Wednesday, compared with a March average of 12C. “This meteorological scenario means an increase in the fire risk index from Monday until Wednesday with favorable conditions for the rapid spread of fires throughout the mainland, with high to very high levels,” the Civil Protection agency said on its website. The most aggressive wildfire raged in the municipality of Oliveira de Azemeis since the early hours of Tuesday morning, with 450 firefighters on the ground who managed to bring it under control on Tuesday. In the district of Esposende, also in northern Portugal, a wildfire on Tuesday forced authorities to evacuate two schools due to high levels of smoke. It has since been put out.


Pentagon warns nations not to 'make it a mess' in space as U.S. studies India anti-satellite weapon test

Abstract: MIAMI - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has warned any nations contemplating anti-satellite weapons tests like the one India carried out Wednesday that they risk making a “mess” in space because of debris fields they can leave behind. Speaking to reporters in Florida during a visit to the U.S. military’s Southern Command, Shanahan said the United States was still studying the outcome of a missile India said it launched at one of its own satellites. “My message would be: We all live in space, let’s not make it a mess. Space should be a place where we can conduct business. Space is a place where people should have the freedom to operate,” Shanahan said. Experts say that anti-satellite weapons that shatter their targets pose a space hazard by creating a cloud of fragments that can collide with other objects, potentially setting off a chain reaction of projectiles in Earth’s orbit. India’s foreign ministry played down any risk of debris from its missile test, saying the impact occurred in low-Earth orbit and that the remnants would “decay and fall back on to the Earth within weeks.” The U.S. military’s Strategic Command was tracking more than 250 pieces of debris from India’s missile test and would issue “close-approach notifications as required until the debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn said. New Delhi and Washington, which generally have close relations, have been in talks regarding the event, and India publicly issued an aircraft safety advisory before the launch, Eastburn added. Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, added the International Space Station was not at risk at this point. NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that the consequences of anti-satellite weapons tests could be long-lasting. “If we wreck space, we’re not getting it back,” he said, without mentioning India by name. In Islamabad, Pakistan issued a call against military threats in outer space. “Space is the common heritage of mankind, and every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which can lead to the militarization of this arena,” the foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. “We hope that countries which have in the past strongly condemned demonstration of similar capabilities by others will be prepared to work towards developing international instruments to prevent military threats relating to outer space.” India would only be the fourth country to have used such an anti-satellite weapon, after the United States, Russia and China. The United States ran the first anti-satellite test in 1959, when satellites themselves were rare and new. Shanahan noted that given the increasing global reliance on space, it was important to create rules of the road for space. “I think not having rules of engagement is worrisome. So, how people test and develop technologies is important,” he said, adding, “I would expect anyone who tests does not put at risk anyone else’s assets.”

india
u.s .
space
military
narendra modi
patrick shanahan


Chinese rocket startup fails to put satellite into orbit

Abstract: BEIJING - A rocket developed by OneSpace has failed to reach orbit after lifting off from a state launch facility in northwestern China, state media reported Thursday, the second failed orbital launch by a privately funded Chinese firm in five months. An anomaly occurred within “tens of seconds” after OneSpace’s OS-M1 rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday, the official Technology Daily reported, declaring that the launch had failed. OneSpace’s rocket was carrying the Lingque-1B Earth-observing satellite, developed by Beijing-based ZeroG Lab. The satellite maker, partly funded by Shenzhen-listed Huaxun Fangzhou Co. has plans to build a network of remote sensing satellites. Footage apparently from the launch site that was widely shared on Chinese social media showed the rocket lost control within a minute of takeoff. Tens of private Chinese space companies have joined a race in recent years to develop rockets capable of delivering low-cost micro-satellites with commercial applications, backed by mostly Chinese venture capital. In May 2018, OneSpace became the first private firm to send an independently developed rocket into space. That was followed by successful suborbital launches by another company, iSpace, four months later. The next step was to send a payload into orbit. Beijing-based Landspace attempted to deliver a satellite into orbit in October but failed. The push by private Chinese firms to send a payload into orbit is partly inspired by the recent technological success of U.S. firms, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. It is also encouraged by the Chinese government. The State Council, or Cabinet, said in a white paper in December 2016 the space industry is an important part of China’s overall development strategy. Beijing encouraged private investors to participate in its push in a bid to commercialize some aspects of the space industry, setting up funds and opening up government launch sites for their use. One of China’s near-term tasks is to develop major satellite systems of remote sensing, communications and broadcasting, and navigation and positioning. President Xi Jinping has made becoming a space flight superpower a priority for the government since coming to office in 2012. The government aims to send a permanent manned space station into orbit by around 2022.


Anti-satellite weapons are rare, high-tech and risky to test

Abstract: LONDON/NEW, DELHI/ATLANTA - India tested an anti-satellite weapon on Wednesday, saying the indigenously produced interceptor was used to destroy an object in orbit. Such a weapon allows for attacks on enemy satellites — blinding them or disrupting communications — as well as providing a technology base for intercepting ballistic missiles. India, whose space program has developed launchers, satellites and probes to the moon and Mars, created the interceptor used in Wednesday’s test domestically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a broadcast on television. Previous tests The United States performed the first anti-satellite tests in 1959, when satellites themselves were rare and new. Bold Orion, designed as a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile re-purposed to attack satellites, was launched from a bomber and passed close enough to the Explorer 6 satellite for it to have been destroyed if the missile had been armed. The Soviet Union performed similar tests around the same time. In the 1960s and early 1970s, it tested a weapon that could be launched in orbit, approach enemy satellites and destroy them with an explosive charge, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. In 1985, the United States tested the ASM-135, launched from an F-15 fighter jet, destroying an American satellite called Solwind P78-1. There were no tests for more than 20 years. Then, in 2007, China entered the anti-satellite arena by destroying an old weather satellite in a high, polar orbit. The test created the largest orbital debris cloud in history, with more than 3,000 objects, according to the Secure World Foundation, a group that advocates sustainable and peaceful uses of outer space. The next year, the United States carried out Operation Burnt Frost, using a ship-launched SM-3 missile to destroy a defunct spy satellite. Debris Debris from anti-satellite tests can create problems for other satellites and spacecraft in orbit, as tiny bits of junk whiz through space many times faster than a rifle bullet. The International Space Station, for example, regularly tweaks its orbit to avoid debris of all kinds. China’s 2007 test is considered the most destructive. Because the impact took place at an altitude of more than 800 km (500 miles), many of the resulting scraps stayed in orbit. The U.S. test in 2008 did not create as much orbital debris, and because it was at a lower altitude, atmospheric drag caused much of it to fall toward Earth and burn up. India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure there was no debris in space and that whatever was left would “decay and fall back onto the Earth within weeks.” The U.S. Strategic Command, which tracks objects in orbit for the U.S. military, had no immediate comment about Wednesday’s test. Military use Destroying an enemy’s satellites, which can provide crucial intelligence and communications in war, is considered an advanced capability. With Wednesday’s successful test, India theoretically puts other countries’ satellites at risk. Neighboring Pakistan, with which India traded airstrikes last month, has several satellites in orbit, launched using Chinese and Russian rockets. But China, which put dozens of satellites in orbit in 2018 alone, according to state media, could see India’s fledgling capability as more of a threat. India needs to build anti-satellite weapons “because adversary China has already done it in 2007,” said Ajay Lele, senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “More than anything I would say through this India is sending a message to the subcontinent,” he added. “India is saying that we have mechanisms for space warfare.”

india
space
military
weapons
narendra modi


Shadowy group accused of North Korean Embassy intrusion in Spain suspends operations

Abstract: SEOUL - A dissident group accused of breaking into North Korea’s embassy in Madrid said on Thursday it was temporarily suspending operations, after a Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants for two suspected intruders now believed to be in the United States. A shadowy group called Cheollima Civil Defense, also known as Free Joseon, acknowledged on its website late on Tuesday that it was behind the incident but said it was not an attack and that the group had been invited into the embassy. In a statement on its website on Thursday, Cheollima Civil Defense said that while it has “bigger tasks ahead,” it had temporarily suspended work because of “speculative” media reports. “We ask the media to restrain itself in its interest in our organization and its members,” the statement said, noting that the group’s membership includes North Korean refugees, but that it had not recently contacted defectors living in South Korea. A judicial source said on Wednesday that warrants were issued for the group’s alleged leader and another suspect after an investigation by a Spanish court found that they broke into the embassy, tried to persuade an official to defect and then stole computer equipment. The suspected leader has been identified by the court in an official document as Adrian Hong Chang, a Mexican citizen who is a U.S. resident. The other suspect sought in the arrest warrant is Sam Ryu, who is a U.S. citizen of Korean descent. According to the court’s official document, which was made public on Tuesday, Hong Chang is believed to have traveled to the United States a day after the raid and contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to pass on information about it. It was unclear how the court knew that the man had contacted the FBI, which said on Tuesday it is “our standard practice to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.” An authoritative U.S. government source said on Wednesday that the FBI received the names of the alleged embassy intruders from Spanish investigators and was looking into the matter at the request of Spanish authorities. Other Spanish judicial sources told Reuters the two arrest warrants are likely to be the first of several as there were believed to have been ten intruders. The other suspects include South Korean citizens. Lee Wolosky, an American attorney who represents Cheollima Civil Defense, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Spanish court “purported to reach conclusions without any input from representatives” of the group. He said it was irresponsible of the court “to disclose publicly the names of people who are working in opposition to a brutal regime that routinely and summarily executes its enemies.” The U.S. State Department has said the U.S. government was not involved in the raid and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Spanish arrest warrants. Three of the intruders took an embassy official into the basement and tried to convince him to defect. They identified themselves as members of a group who campaigned for the “liberation of North Korea,” the Spanish court document said. The document gave a detailed account of the intruders’ movements before as well as during the intrusion, including their stay in a hotel and purchases of knives, balaclava masks and fake guns. The embassy raid occurred shortly before the Feb. 27-28 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi. The group kept embassy staff tied up for several hours and then searched the premises for arms before leaving, at which point they separated into four groups and headed to Portugal, the document alleged. Hong Chang then flew from Lisbon to New York. His current whereabouts was unknown, the document said. In Spain the High Court has the power to investigate criminal offenses, after which formal accusations are launched.

u.s .
north korea
history
espionage
spain
north korea nuclear crisis


Mystery deepens over raid at North Korean Embassy in Madrid allegedly led by 'Oswaldo Trump'

Abstract: MADRID - The mystery over a commando-style assault on North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, allegedly led by man who had an Uber account in the name of “Oswaldo Trump,” deepened Wednesday after a shadowy group committed to overthrowing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed responsibility. A dissident organization known as the Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) said it had orchestrated the raid carried out on Feb. 22 to end illicit activities rampant in North Korea’s foreign missions. It denied using any violence, saying in a statement on its website that its members were invited into the embassy “and contrary to reports, no one was gagged or beaten.” But the statement contradicts a Spanish National Court report published a day earlier that said a group of people had roughed up employees of the embassy and robbed computers before fleeing. The alleged leader of the group, Adrian Hong Chang, a 35-year-old Mexican who had an Uber account in the name of Oswaldo Trump, contacted “the FBI in New York five days after the assault” with information related to the incident in the embassy, the court added. The embassy raid came just days before a high-stakes nuclear summit in Hanoi between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump that ultimately failed to reach an accord. The timing has fueled speculation that the assailants were trying to get information on North Korea’s former ambassador to Spain, Kim Hyok Chol, who became North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator after he was expelled from Spain in 2017. CCD said the raid had no links to the Hanoi summit — which ended abruptly with no agreement — and that no other governments were involved until after the event. But it added it had “shared certain information of enormous potential value with the FBI in the United States, under mutually agreed terms of confidentiality.” Hong Chang, who lives in the United States, first visited the North Korean Embassy in Madrid on Feb. 7, presenting himself as Matthew Chao, a “managing partner” at a firm he called Baron Stone Capital, according to the court’s report. He said he was interested in investing in North Korea and asked to meet with embassy’s charge d’affaires. Hong Chang later visited a shop where he would buy the knives and fake guns that were later used during the raid on the embassy before leaving Spain on Feb. 9. He returned to Spain on Feb. 19 via Prague. Three days later a group of 10 men led by Hong Chang broke into the embassy and tied up its occupants and covered their heads with plastic bags. Two members of the group took the charge d’affaires to the embassy’s basement and tried to convince him to defect, which he refused. One embassy employee managed to escape by jumping from a first floor balcony, seriously injuring herself, and managed to call police. When officers arrived at the embassy, Hong Chang — who wore a pin badge depicting North Korea’s leader — opened the door and claiming to be a high embassy representative convinced them that there was no problem. The gang then fled, most of them in embassy vehicles. The following day Hong Chang flew from Lisbon to New York. A police source told AFP that the court had issued international arrest warrants for members of the gang but could not say how many nor if they involved Hong Chang. CCD — which offers to assist people attempting to defect from North Korea — emerged in 2017 when it posted an online video of the son of the North Korean leader’s assassinated brother, saying it had guaranteed his safety. Last month the group declared itself a government-in-exile for the North called “Free Joseon,” using an old name for Korea.

u.s .
north korea
kim jong un
spain
fbi
madrid
donald trump
cheollima civil defense
oswaldo trump


Government bill on power harassment takes aim at Japan's workplace woes

Abstract: A supervisor berates employees as slackers and incompetents. A president taunts, punches and forces a worker to write a letter of resignation — leading the employee to commit suicide. A whistle-blower exposes an illegal cartel, only to be banished and given mundane tasks to perform for over 20 years. These are real-life examples of workplace harassment — known in Japan as pawahara (power harassment) — that have come to light in Japanese courtrooms over the years. Earlier this month, the Abe administration adopted a draft bill requiring companies to set up protocols for preventing and dealing with abuses of power. If it becomes law, the legislation will take force within a year for big companies and within three years for midsize and small businesses. Bureaucrats say the move shows the government understands power harassment is a serious social problem. Critics say it doesn’t go far enough. How serious is the problem? Power harassment started becoming a major issue over 10 years ago. Complaints to labor bureaus skyrocketed from 22,153 in 2006 to 70,917 in 2016 — up more than threefold. In a 2016 government survey, roughly 33 percent of respondents said they had experienced power harassment in the past three years. How is power harassment defined? In broad terms, it refers to workplace harassment. But in government speak, as defined in the bill, pawahara is the act of causing physical or emotional pain, or demoralizing the workforce by exploiting one’s position. To meet the criteria, behavior has to be considered out of line in day-to-day business. In 2012 the labor ministry listed six examples of power harassment: physical attacks, verbal abuse, deliberate isolation from other employees, making excessive demands, making too few demands, and infringing on the privacy of others. What does the legislation propose? The bill revises a law designed to improve the working environment for women. Among other pending details, the government would obligate employers to properly handle harassment claims, such as by installing counseling and training programs for both workers and managers. Those seeking counseling or involved in a pending case would be protected by law from punishment or dismissal. In addition, employers need to insert clauses on workplace harassment in the company rules and inform all staff of the new policy, said Keiichiro Ueda, deputy director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Division at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. But the specific guidelines — including the legal definition of power harassment itself, apparently — will be decided after the Diet passes the bill. “The guidelines would define what constitutes ‘power harassment,'” Ueda said. “The objective is to demonstrate the thresholds and delineate what companies have to do.” Ueda hopes the guidelines to be hammered out will help companies determine whether a complaint should be considered a case of power harassment. Is the draft bill significant? This is the first time the government has weighed in on workplace harassment by proposing legislation, Ueda said. The bill essentially signals the government is committed to dealing not only with workplace harassment, but all types of unwanted conduct, including sexual harassment. “Power harassment is representative of broader social issues,” he said. “This legislation is a starting point for the government to take further action in dealing with harassment.” Megumi Nakatsuji, a labor and social security attorney based in Tokyo, applauded the move. Although several companies have introduced similar plans on their own, she said some remain ill-equipped to process harassment claims. “I think the move was good since the plan covers all companies,” Nakatsuji said. Does the bill penalize firms that refuse to comply? No, the bill does not include any punitive measures, Ueda said. However, the labor ministry official said the government can issue administrative guidance to pressure a company to comply. If that fails to rectify the situation, the government can shame it by releasing its name to the public, he said. But some experts say the name-and-shame approach doesn’t solve everything. Megumi Imamura, another Tokyo-based attorney who has dealt with workplace harassment cases, thinks the legislation is a step forward, though any administrative guidance may not go far enough in prompting companies to modify their working environments. “Most of my clients work in small businesses,” Imamura said. “So there are cases where the top executive is the harasser, so I’m not so sure if an internal counseling office would solve the matter.” Nakatsuji, though, said imposing stiff penalties may not be a solution either. Harassers and companies alike have been found liable in criminal and civil cases. What prompted the government to draw up the bill now? One factor is the government’s overall push for labor reform. Last year, it enacted the work-style reform law to limit overtime to 100 hours per month to promote productivity and prevent overwork. The law takes effect on Monday. This discourse generated momentum for taking up the workplace harassment issue, Ueda said. Another factor is the fact that power harassment has been growing. Nakatsuji said complaints soared as both workplace harassment and public awareness of it grew. Today’s work culture — typified by overwork combined with little support from supervisors and colleagues — may be creating a toxic environment that induces power harassment, she said. Cultural influences may be playing a role as well. Ueda, the labor ministry official, said Japanese companies have been run based on sustained, long-term relationships between employees and management. In an environment like that, employees may feel that it is imperative to obey their bosses no matter how unreasonable their workloads become. Another looming factor that could be cause for friction is diversification, he said. “The workforce in Japan is growing diverse, and with lifetime employment crumbling, not everyone is sharing the same values in the office,” he said. “So there will inevitably be more friction (in such an environment).” What’s next? Ueda said the government’s highest priority right now is to focus on laying the legal groundwork for dealing with power harassment cases. It is also considering initiatives to set up a counseling hotline that would be available at night and on weekends. “The key thing is for people to know what power harassment actually is,” Nakatsuji said. “In a single sentence, it impairs the dignity of people and is nothing but risk and hampers productivity for companies.”

labor laws
harassment
jobs
power harassment
mhlw


Bureau head Shoko Sasaki to lead upgraded Immigration Agency when it launches April 1

Abstract: Shoko Sasaki, 57, director-general of the Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau, will become the first commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency when it launches Monday, the government said Wednesday. The agency, to be established as an affiliate of the Justice Ministry, will be upgraded from the bureau as the government introduces new types of visas to allow more foreign workers to live and work in the country. The agency will comprise two departments. One of them will deal with immigration control, such as immigration clearance and deportations, while the other will take charge of managing and supporting foreign nationals residing in Japan and preparing an environment for them to live and work in the country. A total of 5,432 personnel will be deployed to the agency, including an increased number of immigration officers. Sasaki joined the Justice Ministry in 1985. She took her current post in January after serving as director of the Entry and Status Division and as assistant vice justice minister. Norimitsu Takashima, 57, director-general of the ministry’s Human Rights Bureau, will assume the role of deputy commissioner of the new agency. Takashima will be replaced at the Human Rights Bureau by Hiroshi Kikuchi, a 55-year-old prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office.

immigration
justice ministry
shoko sasaki
immigration agency


Kyoto University sits at top of Japanese college rankings for second year running

Abstract: Kyoto University was crowned the best among about 330 Japanese universities in rankings released Wednesday by Times Higher Education, moving into sole possession of first after sharing the top spot in 2018 with the University of Tokyo, which finished second this year. The top nine spots were dominated by national universities, with Tohoku University ranking third, followed by Kyushu University. Hokkaido University and Nagoya University jointly held fifth place. The third annual Japan University Rankings were produced in cooperation with Benesse Corp., an education services company. Unlike the annual global rankings, which focus on quality of research, the Japanese version places importance on universities’ strength in developing student abilities. Japanese universities were judged on four areas — resources, engagement, outcomes and environment. These were quantified by 16 “individual performance indicators” such as resources spent on students, faculty-to-student ratio, scholarly output, research grants and academic reputation. Akita International University, a public university, came in 10th. Known for encouraging study abroad, it was also ranked first for fostering an international environment. Private universities ranked lower. International Christian University was in 11th place, Waseda University was 13th and Keio University was 14th.

kyoto university
education
universities
rankings
times higher education


As Tokyo Olympics loom, Japan needs to fill Takeda's empty seat ASAP, says IOC's Bach

Abstract: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - The International Olympic Committee is looking to appoint a new member for Japan soon following the departure of Japanese Olympic Committee chief Tsunekazu Takeda from the global ruling body, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Wednesday. Takeda, who is under investigation in France for suspected corruption and will step down from his JOC role in June, ceased to be an IOC member on Tuesday after a decision by the IOC executive board. He had initially planned to leave that post in June as well. Bach said the IOC board did not want any uncertainty regarding Takeda’s future with Tokyo hosting the Olympics next year. “I think he also wanted to clear the way in the interest of Japan and also of the IOC,” Bach told a news conference, adding that the IOC would like to identify a successor as soon as possible. “Japan not only being the host and a very strong member of the Olympic movement, we are interested in having as soon as possible a member in Japan.” International Gymnastics Federation President Morinari Watanabe is an IOC member from Japan, though his membership is not individual but linked to the presidency of the federation. Takeda’s IOC departure means he also no longer heads the organization’s marketing commission, a key body in securing deals with major sponsors. The 71-year-old joined the IOC in 2012. French prosecutors have questioned Takeda in Paris and placed him under formal investigation in December for suspected corruption in Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Summer Games. Takeda, who was president of the 2020 bid committee, has been head of the JOC since 2001 and his resignation leaves a cloud hanging over both the national committee and organizers of the Tokyo Games. French investigators have led a yearslong probe into corruption in athletics and in early 2016 extended their inquiry into the bidding and voting processes for the hosting of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Multimillion dollar payments made by the Tokyo bid committee to a Singapore consulting company are being examined. Takeda has said there was nothing improper about the contracts made between the committee and the consultancy and that they were for legitimate work.

ioc
tsunekazu takeda
thomas bach
2020 tokyo olympics


Japan marked first fall in asylum-seekers in eight years in 2018 amid tougher screening

Abstract: Japan marked a fall in applicants seeking refugee status in 2018 for the first time in eight years amid stricter rules, government data showed Wednesday. The number of applicants fell approximately 47 percent from the previous year to 10,493, with 42 people granted asylum — up from 20 — the Justice Ministry said. Japan saw a sharp rise in the number of asylum-seekers following a reform in 2010 that granted work permits to applicants awaiting government screenings for longer than six months. The ministry, however, introduced a stricter process in January last year, saying the work permit system was “misused” by people who believed they could work in Japan as long as they had applied for refugee status. Asylum-seekers came from 74 countries last year, the ministry said. People from Nepal formed the biggest group, followed by those from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines and Pakistan. Applicants from the five nations were down 41 percent from 2017 but still accounted for around 55 percent of the total. The 42 people granted asylum included 13 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, five from Yemen and five from Ethiopia, the ministry said. One of those granted asylum had been threatened after their father was killed by a militant group in their war-torn country, and another was detained by a militia group while taking part in humanitarian aid activities, according to the ministry. Separately, residence permits were issued for 40 people from countries including Pakistan and Syria, although they were not granted refugee status, the ministry said. The ministry also said a total of 16,269 people were deported from Japan last year, up 19 percent from the previous year, for overstaying visas, engaging in activities other than permitted and other violations of the immigration law. More than 60 percent of the deportees were confirmed to be working illegally, the ministry said. By nationality, the largest group was from Vietnam with 4,395 people, followed by China with 4,185, Thailand with 2,101 and the Philippines with 1,692, the ministry said.


Hokkaido court convicts ex-gangster, saying drug charge 'provable' without illegal warrantless GPS data

Abstract: ASAHIKAWA, HOKKAIDO - A Hokkaido court convicted a man Thursday of possessing stimulant drugs, but ruled some of the evidence gathered by police using GPS data without a warrant was inadmissible. The Asahikawa District Court sentenced Masayuki Tanikawa, 46, a former gangster, to six years in prison and fined him ¥1.5 million ($13,600) for possessing 61 grams of stimulant drugs. Tanikawa was arrested in the parking lot of a hospital in Asahikawa on May 2017 and police deemed the drugs were for commercial purposes and not personal use. Presiding Judge Hidehiko Sato said the crime was “sufficiently provable” through the evidence obtained through interrogation. Tanikawa’s defense claimed during the trial that data from a GPS device that the police had attached intermittently to the defendant’s car since 2013 and footage from a surveillance camera set up by the police to monitor the garage could not stand as evidence because it had been obtained illegally. Prosecutors argued that Tanikawa was charged based on evidence that the police collected through other means and was not closely linked to the GPS data. They had sought a seven-year prison term and a fine of ¥1.5 million. As for the surveillance camera, the prosecutors asserted its legitimacy, saying that police were monitoring a parking lot adjacent to a public road and were not invading a private area. On the matter, the court sided with the prosecution team. In March 2017, the Supreme Court ruled against warrantless GPS data collection in investigations, saying it violates privacy, and said even investigations making use of GPS devices with a warrant were questionable. In Tanikawa’s trial, prosecutors also said that the investigators had used the GPS device before the top court’s ruling, and they had thought that they were able to conduct such an investigation without a warrant at that time. Following the ruling by the Supreme Court, the National Police Agency ordered all prefectural police to refrain from using GPS devices in investigations.

drugs
courts
yakuza
organized crime
hokkaido
gps
asahikawa


Chile agrees to let French investigators question suspect about Japanese student's disappearance

Abstract: BESANCON, FRANCE - French investigators will travel to Chile next month to question a man suspected of killing his Japanese ex-girlfriend, who vanished from her university residence in France in 2016, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Nicolas Zepeda is the sole suspect in the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki, 21, who vanished in the eastern French city of Besancon on the night of Dec. 4, 2016, after having dinner with Zepeda, her 28-year-old ex. Her body has not yet been found, despite extensive searches of a nearby forested area. Authorities in France believe she was suffocated by Zepeda in a jealous rage. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance. Besancon’s public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, said that Chilean authorities had agreed to allow a French team of investigators to travel to Chile to question the teaching assistant, who left France shortly after Kurosaki’s disappearance. Manteaux said the team would travel to Chile “during the second half of April.” Kurosaki and Zepeda met in Japan and started a relationship but later split. She was last seen dining with him in a restaurant a short drive from Besancon, a town in the foothills of the Alps. He has admitted to going to her university residence afterward and claims the pair had consensual sex. Fellow students said they heard terrified cries and banging noises in the residence on that night but no traces of blood were found in her room. Chilean authorities have so far declined to serve an international warrant issued by France for his arrest. Manteaux said they had, however, agreed to let French investigators be present when Zepeda is questioned by a Chilean prosecutor, and that they will also be allowed to ask questions. Manteaux added that he was hoping to convince the Chileans that the evidence against Zepeda was strong enough to bring charges against him, paving the way for France to file a request for his extradition. Manteaux told a news conference in November that Zepeda had bought five liters of flammable liquid and matches at a supermarket days before Kurosaki disappeared and that his rental car was returned covered in mud.

france
murder
chile
narumi kurosaki
nicolas zepeda


Record 3,578 involved in cannabis cases in 2018, with rate among Japan's teens up fivefold since 2014

Abstract: Police took action against a record 3,578 people in cannabis cases in 2018, up 570 from the previous year, data released by the National Police Agency showed Thursday. The NPA data showed the figure per 100,000 people doubled from 1.7 in 2014 to 3.5 in 2018, with a sharp growth seen among teens and those in their 20s. An NPA official said, “We are worried that more youths may use the drug without recognizing the hazards.” By age group, the number per 100,000 people came to 6.0 among those aged 14 to 19, a more than fivefold jump from 1.1 in 2014. The figure more than doubled from 5.0 to 12.2 among people in their 20s while it increased from 4.1 to 7.3 among those in their 30s. Of the 3,578 people, 2,928 were implicated in possession of cannabis, followed by 201 in dealing, 152 in cultivation, 138 in receiving and 63 in smuggling. Police said 13,862 people were involved in overall drug cases, with stimulant drug cases topping the list at 9,868 despite a slight decline from the previous year. Cannabis cases came second, accounting for 25.8 percent of the total. The number of people involved in cocaine cases more than tripled from 61 in 2014 to a record 197 in 2018, up 20 from a year earlier. The amount of stimulant drugs seized by police nationwide in 2018 totaled 1,138.6 kilograms, topping 1 ton for the third straight year. That of cocaine jumped to 42.0 kg from 9.6 kg in 2017, while 12,303 pills, including synthetic drugs such as MDMA, were confiscated. The street value of stimulants was ¥60,000 per gram, while that of cannabis was ¥5,000. Cocaine and heroin came in at ¥20,000 and ¥30,000, respectively, according to the NPA. Meanwhile, in a separate report, the NPA said Thursday the number of people recognized as gangsters by police dropped to a record-low 30,500 in 2018 amid an intensified crackdown on organized crime. The total, including yakuza members and those loosely associated with crime syndicates, fell about 4,000 from the year before, marking the 14th consecutive year of decline, according to the agency tally. By group, Yamaguchi-gumi was the largest at 9,500 members, while Sumiyoshi-kai had 4,900 and Inagawa-kai had 3,700, the agency report said. The number of crime syndicate members and associates investigated in crime cases by police reached 16,881 in 2018, down 856 from the previous year. Of that figure, those suspected of violating the Stimulants Control Law accounted for 4,569, while those who allegedly committed bodily harm stood at 2,042. A total of 1,749 cases of fraud were recorded. “It is becoming harder to live as a crime syndicate member amid crackdowns and escalating social exclusion of members,” said an NPA official. But the agency also said it had found yakuza were playing a key role in so-called special fraud cases, including defrauding old people by impersonating their children or their grandchildren and asking for urgent money transfers over the phone. Of the 2,747 people police investigated last year over special fraud cases, 630 people, or 22.9 percent, were members of crime syndicates. The agency said 24 of the 53 people who were recognized as the main culprits in special fraud cases were crime syndicate members, and 58 of the 121 coordinators in those cases were also gangsters. Altogether, police confirmed more than 16,000 special fraud cases in 2018 and the amount swindled exceeded ¥35 billion.