'Good as gold' not good enough: New labels promote ethical metal

Abstract: PARIS - Forget how many carats — how ethical is your gold? As high-end consumers demand to know the origin of their treasures, some jewelers are ensuring they use responsibly sourced, eco-friendly or recycled gold. Specialized producers now tack a “fairmined” ecologically friendly label on their output, and the Swiss house Chopard last year became the first big name to commit to “100 percent ethical” creations. The Geneva-based firm, which makes the Palme d’Or trophy for the Cannes Film Festival, says it now uses only verified suppliers of gold that meet strict standards to minimize the negative environmental impacts of mining the precious metal. Among the many certificates and standards claiming to codify “responsible” gold mining, two labels stand out: “fairmined” gold — a label certified by a Colombian NGO — and the more widely known “fairtrade,” a label launched by Swiss foundation Max Havelaar. Both support artisanal mines that seek to preserve the environment in terms of extraction methods, along with decent working conditions and wages for the miners. Such production remains limited — just a few hundred kilograms annually. Global gold output, by comparison, totals around 3,300 tons. Concerned jewelers are keen to ensure they can trace the source of their entire supply to an ethical production cycle and to firms certified by the not-for-profit Responsible Jewellery Council, which has developed norms for the entire supply chain. RJC members must adhere to tough standards governing ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices across the precious metals industry. The French luxury group Kering, which says it has bought more than 3.5 tons of “responsibly produced” gold since 2015 for its Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo and Gucci brands, has committed to 100 percent use of “ethical” gold by 2020. “We are trying to maximize the proportion of fairmined and fairtrade gold — but their modest production is in great demand, so the bulk of our sourcing remains recycled gold, (which is) certified RJC Chain of Custody,” said Claire Piroddi, sustainability manager for Kering’s jewelry and watches. Fairmined or fairtrade gold is “about 10 to 12 percent more expensive. But recycled gold barely generates any additional cost premium,” Piroddi said, since it was already refined for its previous life in jewelry or as part of a high-tech product. Going a step further, using only precious metal from electronic or industrial waste is an original idea developed by Courbet, a brand launched just last spring. “We do not want to promote mining extraction or use recently extracted gold, so we sought suppliers who recycle gold used in graphics cards or computer processors. That’s because we know today that more than half of gold’s available reserves have already been extracted,” said Marie-Ann Wachtmeister, Courbet’s co-founder and artistic director. She says the brand’s watchwords are “ethical” and “environmental consciousness.” “In a mine, a ton of terrain might contain 5 grams of gold, whereas a ton of electronic waste might generate 200 grams,” Wachtmeister said. “Clients are also demanding an ecological approach more and more — they are aware of their day-to-day impact and consider the origin of what they wear.” “The issue of supply really resonates with the public at large,” added Thierry Lemaire, director-general of Ponce, a jewelry firm that was established in Paris’s fashionable Marais district in 1886. The company is RJC-certified and uses only recycled gold. “There is a logic to that — if we want to do our work well, then let’s go the whole hog and respect nature. That can be done today because the entire chain has become standardized. Studios such as ours that work for major names on Place Vendome are all certified,” Lemaire said, referring to an upscale square in Paris. He represents the fifth generation of the family controlling Ponce, which produces 45,000 gold rings a year from recycled gold. Working in a pungent atmosphere of heated metal, refiners sit hunched over polishing machines, a large leather hide slung over their knees to catch the tiniest shaving. “Every Friday, we have a great clear-out and go over the workshop with a fine-tooth comb to pick up little bits of (gold) dust and shavings,” Lemaire said. “Nothing is lost. It’s a truly virtuous chain.”

pollution
poverty
recycling
luxury goods
gold
jewelry


FAA to involve experts from several nations in planned comprehensive review of troubled Boeing Max planes

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is planning what it calls a comprehensive multination review of the control systems of the Boeing 737 Max airliner to include experts from nine civil aviation authorities. The review is to begin April 29 and is expected to take 90 days, the FAA announced Friday. The review will “evaluate aspects of the 737 Max automated flight-control system, including its design and pilots’ interaction with the system, to determine its compliance with all applicable regulations and to identify future enhancements that might be needed,” the agency said. That system is suspected to have played a role in the Oct. 29, 2018, crash of a Lion Air flight near Jakarta, killing 189, and in the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane near Addis Ababa, killing 157. Both crashes occurred shortly after takeoff. Boeing Max planes — the aerospace firm’s all-time best-seller — have been grounded worldwide since then, while engineers and investigators seek the exact causes of the crashes. The new review will be chaired by Chris Hart, a former head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, and will include experts from the FAA and NASA. In addition, civil aviation authorities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates will take part. In both the Indonesian and Ethiopian crashes, Boeing’s new anti-stall system known as MCAS has been called into question. It reportedly lowered the crafts’ noses repeatedly despite pilots’ efforts to wrest back control. On Tuesday, Boeing carried out an engineering test flight of a Max plane with an updated MCAS system, considered a key step on the path to re-certifying the plane for flight. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who was on board one recent test flight, vowed to make the 737 Max “one of the safest airplanes ever to fly.”


U.S. arrests armed member of right-wing militia accused of detaining migrants

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The FBI has arrested a member of an armed right-wing militia group accused of illegally detaining migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said Saturday. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 70, was arrested for illegal possession of a weapon. His small but well-armed United Constitutional Patriots (UCP) group says it watches the border, stands guard over people who want to hand themselves in to border patrol and pursues those who don’t. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas described Hopkins, who also goes by the name of “Striker,” as a “dangerous felon who should not have weapons around children and families.” “Today’s arrest by the FBI indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes,” he added. Hopkins was said to have been detaining migrants near Sunland Park, New Mexico. In recent months, thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico, primarily Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence at home. President Donald Trump has described them as a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern border. UCP members insist they will patrol the border until the wall is built. “We’re here to assist the border patrol because they are so short handed,” Hopkins told AFP earlier this month. The group — made up mostly of older veterans — enjoys an enthusiastic social media following. They are equipped with tactical gear, rifles and even custom patches. Hopkins could be heard during lengthy radio broadcasts streamed online several times a week. The border vigilante movement is well-established, with the Southern Poverty Law Center documenting “questionable apprehensions of migrants by private citizens” from as far back as 1999.


Two decades since Columbine massacre, mass shootings have become a feature of American life

Abstract: LITTLETON, COLORADO - It has been 20 years since two heavily armed young men in dark trench coats entered a Colorado high school and launched a bloody attack that seared the word “Columbine” into the American psyche, forever transforming the debate on gun rights and school violence. At a memorial service Saturday to mark the anniversary of the massacre in Littleton, Colorado — in which teenage shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 Columbine High School students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves — there were reflections on grief, loss and healing. “While time may lessen the intensity of the trauma, the incredible memories still remain,” said former Columbine principal Ron Mitchell. “The strength and resilience of this community has given us hope.” The events of that day planted a jarring and lasting sense of vulnerability in Americans’ minds. School shootings, once almost unheard of, have become a tragic feature of American life — requiring all schools to tighten security, forcing even 6-year-olds to take part in traumatic “live-shooter” drills. Places that had always seemed the safest — schools, libraries, even churches and synagogues — no longer seem so. But as folks in Littleton prepared for the official memorial service, there were also signs of a rededication to making things better. Saturday was the third annual Columbine Day of Service, with hundreds of students and teachers donating time and labor to help charitable causes and honor the memory of those who died. “Right after Columbine, people wanted to be better people,” Dawn Anna, mother of 18-year-old victim Lauren Townsend, told The Denver Post. “There was a real change in people’s attitudes.” On Friday, survivors of the massacre joined friends and relatives of the victims at a prayer vigil in a memorial park, lighting candles and laying flowers on plaques bearing victims’ names. One survivor, Amanda Duran, who was 15 at the time of the attack, said she could not believe more has not been done to control gun violence. “You would have thought someone would have come with more gun laws” or required mental health evaluations of would-be gun buyers, she said Friday. “But nothing of that sort happened. So I have just been angry and pissed off.” Her best friend was killed in the shooting. School officials, student leaders and graduates, as well as Colorado Governor Jared Polis, spoke at the official memorial service in Littleton, in a park next to the high school. A recorded message from Bill Clinton, who was U.S. president at the time of the massacre, was played. The shooting sparked a fierce national debate over gun rights and violence. Yet three presidents after Clinton, it seems no closer to resolution. The number of firearms in circulation has continued to grow (now at 393 million in a nation of 326 million people), and mass shootings have become a disturbingly regular part of American life. Since Columbine, an estimated 226,000 children in 233 schools have been exposed to the sight or sound of gunfire, according to a Washington Post investigation. The worst shootings to date were those at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 (20 young children and six adults were killed) and at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last year (17 dead). But the power of an influential gun lobby and a long tradition of gun ownership have meant that little has been done to improve gun safety. In the meantime, Columbine has taken on an almost mythical dimension in the memories of some. A dark fascination with the killings by Klebold and Harris — whose motives remain somewhat murky — maintains a grip on some, as shown by the recent case of 18-year-old Sol Pais. Police had been warned that the young Floridian, “fascinated” by Columbine, was headed to Colorado and had purchased a gun. Hundreds of schools in the Littleton area were protectively closed Tuesday. But in the end, Pais was found in a remote, mountainous spot west of Denver — having shot and killed herself.

guns
u.s .
murder
mass shootings
columbine


Airstrikes and explosions hit Tripoli in escalation of offensive by eastern Libyan forces against government

Abstract: TRIPOLI - Several airstrikes and explosions shook the Libyan capital overnight, residents said, in an escalation of a two-week offensive by eastern forces on Tripoli, which is held by the internationally recognized government. A Reuters reporter and several residents said they saw an aircraft circling for more than 10 minutes over the capital late on Saturday, and that it made a humming sound before opening fire on several areas. An aircraft was heard again after midnight, circling for more than 10 minutes before a heavy explosion shook the ground. It was not clear whether an aircraft or unmanned drone was behind the strike, which triggered heavy anti aircraft fire. Residents had reported drone strikes in recent days, but there has been no confirmation and explosions heard in the city centre this time were louder than in previous days. Residents counted several missile strikes, one of which apparently hit a military camp of forces loyal to Tripoli in the Sabaa district in the south of the capital, scene of the heaviest fighting between the rival forces. Authorities closed Tripoli’s only functioning airport, cutting air links to a city of an estimated 2.5 million residents. The airport in Misrata, a city 200 km to the east, remained open. The Libyan National Army (LNA) force loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar started an offensive two weeks ago but has been unable to breach the government’s southern defences. If a drone strike was confirmed this would point to more sophisticated warfare. The LNA has so far mainly used aging Soviet-made jets from the air force of Moammar Gadhafi, toppled in 2011, lacking precision firepower and helicopters, according to residents and military sources. In the past the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have supported Haftar with airstrikes during campaigns to take eastern Libya. Both countries flew airstrikes on Tripoli in 2014 during a different conflict to help a Haftar-allied force, U.S. officials said at the time. Since 2014 the UAE and Egypt have provided the LNA with military equipment such as aircraft and helicopters, helping Haftar gain the upper hand in Libya’s eight-year conflict, U.N. reports have established. The UAE even built an air base in Al Khadim in eastern Libya, one such report said in 2017. The airstrikes, which were also filmed by residents in video posted online, came after a day of heavy clashes in southern districts, with shelling audible in the city centre. The violence spiked after the White House said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Haftar earlier in the week. The disclosure of the call and a U.S. statement that it “recognized Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources” has boosted the commander’s supporters and enraged his opponents. Western powers and the Gulf have been divided over a push by Haftar’s forces to seize Tripoli, undermining calls by the United Nations for a cease-fire. Both sides claimed progress in southern Tripoli on Saturday, but no more details were immediately available. A Reuters TV cameraman visiting the southern Khalat Furgan suburb heard heavy shelling but saw no apparent change in the frontline. On Friday, two children were killed in shelling in southern Tripoli, residents said. The fighting has killed 227 people and wounded 1,128, the World Heath organization (WHO) said before the airstrikes. On Thursday, both the United States and Russia said they could not support a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Libya at this time. Russia objects to the British-drafted resolution blaming Haftar for the latest flare-up in violence when his LNA advanced to the outskirts of Tripoli earlier this month, diplomats said. The United States did not give a reason for its decision not to support the draft resolution, which would also call on countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance and for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya.

conflict
terrorism
u.n .
libya
tripoli
khalifa haftar


Jihadis kill more than 60 regime fighters across Syria over 48 hours

Abstract: BEIRUT - Jihadis have killed more than 60 Syrian regime fighters in 48 hours, a monitor said Saturday, in some of the deadliest attacks on pro-Damascus forces in recent weeks. Kurdish-led forces in March announced the defeat of the Islamic State group’s “caliphate” in eastern Syria, but the jihadis have retained hideouts there and in other parts of the country as well as the ability to carry out deadly assaults. Since Thursday, IS jihadis have killed 35 pro-Damascus fighters in regime-held parts of central and eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said it was “the highest death toll among regime forces since the caliphate was declared defeated” in the eastern village of Baghouz last month. Regime fighters also came under attack on another front of Syria’s grinding eight-year war, the Britain-based monitor added. On Saturday, jihadis linked to Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate attacked loyalists outside the northwestern region of Idlib, killing 26 pro-Assad fighters, it said. It was the latest death tally in a civil war that has killed more than 370,000 people since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. President Bashar Assad has managed to claw back around 60 percent of the country with Russian military backing since 2015, but several regions remain beyond the regime’s control. These include a large swathe of northeastern Syria held by Kurdish-led forces who have been fighting IS with the support of a U.S.-led coalition, as well as the region of Idlib held by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate. Regime forces in theory control the vast desert that stretches from the capital Damascus to the Iraqi border, but IS is still present there. Since Thursday they have killed 27 troops and allied militiamen, including four Syrian army officers, in the desert east of Homs province, the Observatory said. IS claimed the attacks. The Observatory also said IS fighters killed another eight soldiers and militiamen in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor on Thursday night. That attack targeted a desert village south of the city of Mayadeen on the Euphrates River, upstream from Baghouz. IS swept across a large swath of Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in territory that was once roughly the size of the United Kingdom. But after various military operations in both countries, IS lost the last shred of its proto-state on the eastern banks of the Euphrates last month. The U.S.-led coalition has repeatedly warned that the battle against the jihadis is not over. In the northwestern Idlib region, Assad’s forces face Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate. Idlib was to be protected from a massive regime military offensive by a deal inked in September by government ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey. But the accord has unwound as HTS took full control of the region in January, and the area has come under increasing bombardment. A planned buffer zone around the region was never fully implemented as jihadis refused to withdraw from it. Saturday’s attack by an HTS affiliate on the western edges of Aleppo city killed 21 loyalists. An ambush by HTS-linked jihadis took the lives of five more pro-regime fighters in the northeast of Latakia province. On Friday, Assad urged progress on removing “obstacles” to the stalled Idlib deal ahead of talks to be attended by Russia, fellow ally Iran, and Turkey this week in Kazakhstan. And on Saturday, he met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov in Damascus for talks, including on ways to overcome obstacles resulting from international sanctions imposed on Syria, the presidency said.

conflict
u.s .
vladimir putin
terrorism
russia
syria
bashar assad
syrian civil war
islamic state
donald trump


Syria's Assad discusses peace talks, renting out key port with Russians

Abstract: BEIRUT/MOSCOW - Syrian President Bashar Assad met senior officials from his strongest ally, Russia, in Damascus on Friday and Saturday to discuss upcoming peace talks, renting out Tartus port and trade between the two countries, state media in Syria reported. Russia has helped Assad’s forces to take back most of the country but the eight-year-long war continues. Swaths of the northeast and northwest are out of his control, while sanctions and a fuel shortage are constricting the economy. Moscow has pushed for a political process involving talks on a new constitution and elections as a way to end the conflict, but Assad has played down the possibility that the Turkey-backed opposition or foreign countries might participate. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late on Friday that Assad had met Moscow’s Syria envoy, Alexander Lavrentiev, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin and several Russian Defense Ministry officials. However, while it said they had discussed the formation of a constitutional committee, which Syria’s opposition last year agreed to join under U.N. auspices after a Russian-hosted peace conference, Syrian state media did not mention it. Syria’s official Sana news agency said meetings had focused on the next round of talks in Kazakhstan involving Syria, its allies Russia and Iran, and the rebels’ backer Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Syria’s war and about half the pre-conflict population of 22 million has been displaced. Russia launched a military intervention to support Assad in 2015, turning the tide of the fighting in his favor. On Saturday, Sana said Assad had met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov to discuss trade and economic cooperation, “particularly in the fields of energy, industry and increasing trade.” The Tass news agency cited Borisov as saying that a contract on renting Tartus port by Russia was expected to be signed soon. In 2017, the Russian parliament ratified a deal with Damascus to cement Russia’s foothold in the country and pave the way for establishing a permanent military presence at naval and air bases in Syria. It was also agreed that Russia would expand and modernize the port’s supply of facilities for its fleet. Borisov said Russia now hoped to sign the deal to rent the port within a week, according to Tass. “We have advanced quite substantially on this issue and hope that the contract will be signed within a week and the port Tartus will be transferred for the Russian business usage,” he was quoted as saying. The Tartus naval facility is Russia’s only naval foothold in the Mediterranean. The Sana news agency said Assad and Borisov discussed mechanisms to overcome obstacles including those “resulting from the sanctions which countries against the Syrian people imposed on Syria.” The United States and European Union imposed tough sanctions on Syria early in the conflict over what they described as atrocities carried out by the government, which it denies. Last week, Syrian state media reported that a fuel shortage which has resulted in rationing and long queues at petrol stations came in the context of difficulty in importing fuel and the halting of a credit line from Iran. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem said on Saturday that “Syria is always coordinating with Iran.”


Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky set for crushing victory in Ukraine presidential election

Abstract: KIEV - Ukraine readied Saturday for a change in leadership as a young comedian appeared set to crush his incumbent rival in presidential polls, delivering a stinging rebuke to the old elite. The 41-year-old TV star Volodymyr Zelensky’s bid to lead Ukraine began as a long shot but all polls predicted he would defeating President Petro Poroshenko in Sunday’s second-round vote. His victory would open a new chapter in the history of a country that has gone through two popular uprisings in two decades and is mired in a five-year conflict with Moscow-backed insurgents in the east. Despite mounting uncertainty Ukrainians are fed up with corruption, poverty and the war that has claimed some 13,000 lives over the past five years. “There is a hope that a simple man will better understand us and dismantle the system that we have in our country,” said Yuliya Lykhota, 29, in an interview in Kiev. “It is very important to raise our people’s spirits.” Others said they doubt the political novice’s ability to enact real change as Ukraine’s sixth president. “I do not believe he will last long once he’s elected,” said Sergiy Fedorets, 62. “He has no support in parliament. He’ll be eaten alive.” Poroshenko came to power after a bloody 2014 uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. But many in the country of 45 million people feel the promises of the uprising have not been fulfilled. Zelensky has capitalized on popular anger as well as his popularity as the star of the sitcom “Servant of the People,” in which he plays a school teacher who becomes a president. Analysts say his political program is vague at best and it remains unclear who will fill key positions in his government. Ahead of the vote a popular news website, Ukrainska Pravda, published an interview with a therapist who pointed to severe anxiety in the country. “There is not a single person who would not be discussing the situation in the country,” said Oleg Chaban. “People are more tense because they are paying with their lives and expect real change quickly.” Poroshenko, 53, has fought hard to secure re-election but his pleas to forgive him for past mistakes and give him a second chance have fallen on deaf ears. A survey by the Rating pollster showed Zelensky winning 73 percent of the vote against 27 percent for Poroshenko. On Saturday, Poroshenko once again called on Ukrainians to think twice before casting ballots for his rival. “A five-year presidential term is not a comedy that you can easily switch off if it is no longer funny,” he wrote on Facebook. “Neither is it a horror movie that can be easily stopped.” The West has closely watched the race amid concern a new government might undo years of reforms it has backed. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called both Zelensky and Poroshenko on Friday. He “reiterated our commitment to working with whomever the Ukrainian people choose to ensure the success of a secure, prosperous, democratic, & free (country),” Washington’s special envoy, Kurt Volker, said on Twitter. On Friday, the two rivals traded insults in the first and only debate of the campaign at Kiev’s 70,000-seater Olympic Stadium in front of thousands of spectators. Ukrainians said the head-to-head was more about political theatrics and a battle of wits than a much-needed policy debate. Zelensky accused Poroshenko — a tycoon who made a fortune in chocolate before taking office — of enriching himself and failing to end the war in the east. The Ukrainian leader attacked the inexperience of the untested Zelensky, questioning his ability to be a wartime commander-in-chief and saying he would not be able to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also drew attention to Zelensky’s ties to controversial tycoon Igor Kolomoysky. Supporters credit Poroshenko with rebuilding the army and securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia but he won only just over half of Zelensky’s vote share in the first round of the election last month.

elections
ukraine
petro poroshenko
volodymyr zelensky


Sudan arrests members of party of ousted leader al-Bashir amid investigation into corruption and crimes

Abstract: KHARTOUM - Sudanese authorities have arrested several members of the former ruling party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, an official of his National Congress Party (NCP) said on Saturday. Sudan’s attorney general has also asked the country’s intelligence and national security agencies to lift the immunity of a number of their officers suspected of killing a teacher who died in custody after protests in February, state news agency SUNA said. The moves appear to be part of a widening crackdown on officials from al-Bashir’s administration intended to placate protesters who want the Military Council, which took over after toppling al-Bashir, to hand power to civilians. Attorney General al-Walid Sayed Ahmed also ordered the formation of a committee to oversee investigations into crimes involving public funds, corruption and criminal cases related to recent events, SUNA said, citing a statement from his office. Thirty-nine protesters have been killed since the protests erupted in December, according to official figures. Some opposition groups say as many as 60 died. The teacher who was arrested after protests died due to injuries caused by a “solid object,” according to a medical report cited by the head of a state investigations committee. A regional police chief had initially said food poisoning had caused the death of the teacher, which sparked large protests at the time. Sudan’s public prosecutor has begun investigating al-Bashir on charges of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds, a judicial source said earlier on Saturday. The source said that military intelligence had searched al-Bashir’s home and found suitcases loaded with more than $351,000 and €6 million, as well as 5 million Sudanese pounds. “The chief public prosecutor … ordered the (former) president detained and quickly questioned in preparation to put him on trial,” a judicial source told Reuters. “The public prosecution will question the former president in Kobar prison,” the source added. Al-Bashir has not been questioned yet, said the source. Two of his brothers were also detained on allegations of corruption, the source said. Relatives could not be immediately reached on Saturday for comment about the investigation. Separately, a source in al-Bashir’s NCP said that authorities arrested the acting party head Ahmed Haroun, former first vice president Ali Osman Taha, former al-Bashir aide Awad al-Jaz, the secretary general of the Islamic movement Al-Zubair Ahmed Hassan and former parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Taher. The source also said parliament speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omar and presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie were under house arrest. Al-Bashir, who is also being sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of genocide in the country’s western Darfur region, was ousted on April 11 by the military following months of protests against his rule and had been held at a presidential residence. Al-Bashir’s family said earlier in the week that the former president had been moved to the high-security Kobar prison in Khartoum. Hassan Bashir, a professor of political science at the University of Neelain, said the measures against al-Bashir are intended as a message to other figures associated with his rule that they are not above the law. “The trial is a step that the military council wants to take to satisfy the protesters by presenting al-Bashir for trial,” he said. Al-Bashir survived several armed rebellions, economic crises and attempts by the West to turn him into a pariah during his 30-year rule before he was toppled in a military coup. At a sit-in outside Sudan’s Ministry of Defence that began on April 6, protesters stood besides posters of al-Bashir that called on the ICC to put him on trial. The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, leading the protests, has called for holding al-Bashir and members of his administration to account, a purge of corruption and cronyism and easing an economic crisis that worsened during his last years in power.


Theresa May's party reportedly will tell her to quit before July

Abstract: LONDON - A top member of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party will tell her in the coming week that she must step down by the end of June or her lawmakers will try again to depose her, the Sunday Times reported, without citing sources. May survived a vote of no confidence in December and although party rules mean lawmakers cannot challenge her again until a year has passed, lawmaker Graham Brady will tell her the rules will be changed unless she quits, the newspaper said. Brady, who chairs the Conservative Party’s influential 1922 Committee of backbench lawmakers, will tell her that 70 percent of her members of parliament want her to resign over her handling of Brexit, the Sunday Times said. Britain was originally due to leave the European Union on March 29, but that deadline was pushed back to April 12 and then again to Oct. 31 as May failed to break an impasse in parliament on the terms of Brexit.


Britain's Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 93rd birthday at Easter service

Abstract: LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest and longest reigning living monarch, celebrated her 93rd birthday Sunday by attending the traditional Easter service at Windsor Castle. Elizabeth was accompanied by members of her family, including grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry, and William’s wife, Catherine, at the Easter Mattins service in St. George’s Chapel. Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, who is due to give birth to the couple’s first child imminently, did not attend. The couple, who were married at the chapel in May 2018, posted a birthday greeting to Elizabeth on their official Instagram account. “Happy Birthday Your Majesty, Ma’am, Granny. Wishing you the most wonderful day! Harry & Meghan,” they wrote. Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926, in Bruton Street, central London, and became queen in 1952 at the age of 25, meaning she has now reigned for more than 67 years. She has an official birthday in June which is publicly marked with a large parade of soldiers through central London, known as Trooping the Color.

britain
queen elizabeth
windsor
harry
meghan


Total of arrested climate activists passes 750 in Britain

Abstract: LONDON - More than 750 climate change activists blocking roads at some of London’s most famous landmarks have been arrested over the last six days, police said on Saturday, up from a Friday total of 682. The protests, organized by climate group Extinction Rebellion, have for several days disrupted travel through parts of central London, including at Marble Arch and Waterloo Bridge. The activists had also blocked the Oxford Circus shopping district, but by 1700 GMT the roads had been cleared by police and traffic was flowing again. Extinction Rebellion has called for non-violent civil disobedience to force the British government to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025 and stop what it calls a global climate crisis. Twenty-eight of those arrested had been charged with offenses, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told BBC News that the protests had caused “miserable disruption.” She said there were now 1,500 police officers, up from 1,000 previously, working to clear the roads. On Waterloo Bridge, which connects south and central London, a Reuters journalist said police had cleared away banners and obstructions like bales of hay and even a sofa. But as of early evening, the area was still packed with activists, who remained good-humored. The police reiterated that protests were only allowed to continue at Marble Arch. “I’ve got one message for the protesters and that is: Please, go to Marble Arch where you can protest lawfully. Stop your unlawful protest, and if you don’t want to go to Marble Arch, then go home,” Dick said. On Friday, actress Emma Thompson joined activists at Oxford Circus, at the heart of one of the capital’s most popular shopping districts, to read poetry praising Earth’s bounties.


Western Christians mark Easter at Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre church

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Hundreds of pilgrims filed into Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’s resurrection, for Easter celebrations Sunday. Catholics and Protestants marked Easter on Sunday, while Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrated Palm Sunday, with Easter Sunday coming for them on April 28. The church, in the Old City of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem, is built at the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. A recently renovated ornate shrine within the church surrounds the cave where Jesus is believed to have been interred. Pilgrims from both faiths mingled there in a packed crowd. “Too much of an unruly crowd is not so spiritual,” grumbled Donatella Buhler from Switzerland, there with her children. Polish pilgrim Matthew Novak was more impressed. “It’s really different,” he said. “You can feel the spirit of religion.” Roman Catholic Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa celebrated Mass near the shrine and alluded to the pain and violence all around, and to the hope born of faith. “Each of us brings his or her experience of Easter, of death and resurrection,” he said in his sermon. “In the tragic situation we are living, it is this hope that comes to the rescue of a faith that is at odds every day with such great violence.” He did not directly mention Sunday’s series of bomb attacks in Sri Lanka which included strikes on three churches, killing more than 200 people. On Friday, Christians traced the route of the Stations of the Cross through the Old City, passing through the traditional sites of Jesus’s condemnation up to his crucifixion.

religion jerusalem easter christians orthodox


China's top legislature to draw up tighter rules on human gene, embryo trials

Abstract: BEIJING - China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, will consider tougher rules on research involving human genes and embryos, the first such move since a Chinese scientist sparked controversy last year by announcing he had created the world’s first “gene-edited” babies. He Jiankui, associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, attracted condemnation from the global scientific community when he said he had used a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born in November. Chinese authorities launched an investigation into He’s work and said they had halted the kind of research he has been undertaking. Under the draft laws sent to the NPC for review Saturday, medical and human trials will face closer scrutiny and stricter requirements, such as ensuring human subjects are properly briefed, state media outlet Xinhua reported. The rules will also require all future trials to be approved by administrative authorities as well as ethical committees, it said. The report did not specify a timeline for the approval of the regulations, or make specific mention of He’s research. In videos posted online and at last November’s conference where He made his controversial presentation, He said he believed his gene editing would help protect the girls from infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Chinese authorities and institutions, as well as hundreds of international scientists, condemned him and said any application of gene editing on human embryos for reproductive purposes was against the law and medical ethics of China.


Chinese Navy's 70th anniversary celebrations: Mere muscle-flexing or something more?

Abstract: China’s navy will mark its 70th anniversary this week with an array of events, including a massive international fleet review and parade — but is this merely military muscle-flexing or something more nuanced? The Chinese People’s Liberation Army will hold four days of events starting Monday to celebrate the key anniversary . These will include a large-scale naval parade on Tuesday, where Beijing will show off some of its newest warships — including nuclear submarines and destroyers — for the first time. In what Chinese state-run media has touted as a move toward more transparency, Beijing has invited more than 10 countries, including Japan, to take part in the fleet review, while more than 60 countries are sending naval delegations, with more than 30 of them featuring major naval leaders. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has overseen his country’s military buildup , is expected to preside over the fleet review, which comes on the heels of a similar maritime parade last year in the South China Sea that featured a total of 48 vessels and 76 planes, including the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, as well as guided-missile destroyers, nuclear submarines and fighter jets. Amid this context, regional nations and the United States are likely to view this year’s display with mixed emotions, said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “A stronger PLA Navy does signify a stronger and confident China,” Koh said. “Seen from the economic perspective, it bodes well for the region. But seen from the geopolitical perspective, a stronger PLA Navy would inevitably invoke unease and concerns, given the existing geopolitical flash points around the region that involve China and its neighbors.” For Zhang Baohui, director of Lingnan University’s Center for Asian Pacific Studies in Hong Kong, the event is less about showing off its improving military prowess and more about something all great powers desire. “I believe the intention is to increase China’s prestige by showing its ability to put together a major event that is participated by all regional countries,” Zhang said. “Prestige matters in big ways for great powers. Their rivalries are often over prestige and status.” Pointedly, the United States has decided to mostly sit out the events, sending only representatives from its embassy’s defense attache office in Beijing instead of vessels or top officials. The U.S. snub, a decision apparently made out of concerns that China could have used the presence of American warships to bolster its international standing, comes as Beijing continues to aggressively bolster its presence in the South and East China seas and near Taiwan. In the East China Sea, Beijing is at odds with Tokyo over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyus. It frequently sends government-backed vessels to the surrounding waters. In the contested South China Sea, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year, it has built up and fortified a series of islets, turning them into military outposts. And near Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary, it has conducted so-called encirclement exercises with fighter jets and heavy bombers. But despite growing international scrutiny over its moves in the contested waterways and elsewhere in recent years, Beijing is using this year’s anniversary to reach out to its counterparts across the globe to present a friendlier image. On Saturday, during a news conference ahead of the anniversary events, Vice Adm. Qiu Yanpeng, deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, reiterated Beijing’s boilerplate stance that its armed forces are not a threat and that it will never “pursue hegemony.” “The PLA Navy is always a force of peace, and will never pose a threat to any other country,” Qiu said. “With its growth, the PLA Navy has provided the world with more and more security products.” The point of the naval review, he added, is to show the world China’s “firm determination to safeguard peace and seek development with joint efforts.” Still, he noted, China’s past history of invasions from the sea — some 470 times, he said — pointed to its need for a strong maritime defense. “A strong navy is essential for building a strong maritime country,” Qiu said. The ruling Communist Party’s propaganda arm has also pulled out all the stops for the event, with state-run television creating a daily dose of slick videos touting the power and prestige of the modern Chinese Navy for more than a week ahead of the anniversary. Nanyang Technological University’s Koh said the parade would not only show off the “great strides” the navy has made over seven decades, it would also serve as “a veritable signal of deterrence to perceived and would-be adversaries within China’s neighborhood and beyond … the United States in particular.” As for Sino-Japanese relations, which have warmed in recent months amid a flurry of high-level exchanges, security concerns continue to persist but have been put aside for the sake of stability, observers say. This has been highlighted by Japan’s decision to attend the fleet review while also announcing the deployment to the Indo-Paciifc area of one of its largest warships, the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Izumo helicopter carrier from April 30, said Lingnan University’s Zhang. “I think with improving relations between the two countries, China has become less sensitive to Japan’s presence in the South China Sea,” Zhang said. “This shows that interpretation of intentions is shaped by the overall relations between countries. When relations are good, states tend to have more benign interpretations of others’ intentions and are thus less edgy about what they are doing.”

china
east china sea
u.s .
taiwan
military
senkakus
south china sea
self defense forces
china-japan relations
xi jinping


Easter attacks in Sri Lanka kill at least 207, injure scores more

Abstract: COLOMBO - A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 207 people, including dozens of foreigners. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks — the worst act of violence since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war a decade ago — as “cowardly”, as the government imposed an immediate and indefinite curfew across the entire country of 21 million people. The powerful blasts — six in quick succession and then two more hours later — wrought devastation, including at the capital’s well-known St. Anthony’s Shrine, a historic Catholic Church. At least two of the attacks were confirmed as being carried out by suicide bombers, according to police sources and a hotel official. Hospital sources said British, Dutch and American citizens were among the dead, with Britons and Japanese also injured. A Portuguese man also died, the country’s LUSA news agency reported. An AFP photographer at the scene at St. Anthony’s saw bodies lying on the floor, some draped with scarves and clothes. Much of the church roof was blown out in the explosion, with roof tiles, glass and splintered wood littering the floor along with pools of blood. At the Shangri-La hotel, an AFP photographer saw extensive damage on the second floor restaurant, with windows blown out and electrical wires hanging from the ceiling. The injured flooded into local hospitals, where officials reported hundreds of wounded were being admitted. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts, but documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches”. “A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” the alert said. The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalizing of Buddhist statues. The government ordered a nationwide curfew to start immediately and last “until further notice”, and a “temporary” social media ban was imposed “in order to prevent incorrect and wrong information being spread”. The first blast was reported at St. Anthony’s, followed by a second deadly explosion at St. Sebastian’s, a church in the town of Negombo, north of the capital. “A bomb attack to our church, please come and help if your family members are there,” read a post in English on the church’s Facebook page. Soon after, police confirmed that a third church in the east-coast town of Batticaloa had been hit, along with three high-end hotels in the capital — the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri-La and the Kingsbury. An official at the Cinnamon Grand, near the prime minister’s official residence in Colombo, said a suicide bomber blew himself up at people at the hotel’s restaurant. “He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast,” he said. A police official said that the death toll after the first six blasts was at least 156, including 35 foreigners. Later in the afternoon, two died in a strike at a hotel in the south of Colombo, while a police source said a suicide bomber hit the suburb of Orugodawatta in the north of the capital, killing three and bringing the overall toll to at least 161. President Maithripala Sirisena said in an address that he was shocked by the explosions and appealed for calm. On Twitter, Wickremesinghe wrote: “I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. “I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation.” The Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, described those behind the attacks as “animals” and called on the authorities to “punish them mercilessly”. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences on the “horrible terrorist attacks”, and Pope Francis in his Easter address at the Vatican spoke of his “affectionate closeness with the Christian community, attacked while it was at prayer”. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, Harsha de Silva, said he had been to two of the attacked hotels and was at the scene at St. Anthony’s, where he described “horrible scenes”. “I saw many body parts strewn all over,” he tweeted, adding that there were “many casualties including foreigners”. “Please stay calm and indoors,” he added. Embassies in Colombo warned their citizens to shelter in place, and Sri Lankan Airlines told customers to arrive at the airport four hours ahead of flights because of ramped-up security in the wake of the attacks. Only around six percent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups. There have been no attacks in Sri Lanka linked to foreign Islamist groups, despite local media reports that a 37-year-old Sri Lankan was killed in Syria in 2016 while fighting for the Islamic State group. In January, Sri Lankan police seized a haul of explosives and detonators stashed near a wildlife sanctuary following the arrest of four men from a newly formed radical Muslim group.

religion
terrorism
sri lanka
ethnicity
sri lanka attacks


India's top judge accused of sexual harassment

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India’s top judge fought off a sexual harassment storm Saturday after a former Supreme Court staff member accused him of making unwanted advances and hounding her. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the accusations made by a 35-year-old former court assistant were “unbelievable” and an attempt to stop him hearing important cases. Saying judicial independence was at stake, Gogoi, 64, called a special session of the apex court after the woman wrote to 22 Supreme Court judges on Friday, alleging he twice made sexual advances in the office of his official residence in October last year. “He hugged me around the waist, and touched me all over my body with his arms and by pressing his body against mine, and did not let go,” she wrote in an affidavit. “He told me ‘Hold me,’ he did not let go of me despite the fact that I froze and tried to get out of his embrace by stiffening and moving my body away,” the document added. The woman claimed she was dismissed from her job and her family had been harassed after she rebuffed Gogoi’s advances. She also said she was summoned by Gogoi’s wife, who asked her to prostrate herself and rub her nose at her feet to seek forgiveness. “I have taken this unusual and extraordinary step of sitting in court today because things have gone too far,” Gogoi said. “This is unbelievable. I don’t think I should stoop low even to deny these allegations. … There has to be a bigger force behind this.” The chief justice, who is to retire in November after a year as chief justice, said he was scheduled to hear many sensitive cases in coming days and that he would continue his work “without any fear.” “Why do you think a person decides to become a judge? Reputation is all that matters for a judge. If that is also under attack, what is left?” Gogoi said the woman had a criminal background and that the media must act responsibly on reporting the allegations. A New Delhi court is to hear a police application on Wednesday to cancel bail for the woman in a separate criminal investigation. The woman, a married mother of one, has called on the Supreme Court to set up a “special inquiry committee” to look into her accusations. The #MeToo movement has touched several Bollywood directors, actors and media figures accused of sexual harassment. A junior foreign minister was forced to resign last year after several women accused him of harassment. The Supreme Court, one of India’s most respected institutions, has 25 judges appointed by the president, including the chief justice. The court often rules on key policy matters and orders measures taken in public interest. The latest allegations set Twitter abuzz Saturday with a leading women’s rights activist, Kavita Krishnan, saying the judiciary must come clean on the “extremely serious” charges.


Accident involving bus in Kobe leaves two people dead and at least six injured

Abstract: KOBE - A public bus hit pedestrians on Sunday on a crosswalk near a major railway station in Kobe, killing two people and injuring at least six others. Police said Yusei Nasu, 23, and Rio Yanai, a 20-year-old university student, died in the accident. The city’s fire department said it received an emergency call at around 2 p.m. concerning the accident involving a city-run bus that occurred on a route near JR Sannomiya Station. Police arrested Fumio Ono, the 64-year-old driver, at the scene for negligence resulting in death. “The bus suddenly accelerated and hit people,” Ono was quoted by police as saying. Ono also said he had stepped on the brake pedal after he dropped off all the passengers at a bus stop near the scene, according to the police. The driver was quoted as saying he was supposed to stop at a line immediately before a pedestrian crossing when the vehicle sped up. Ono, who joined Kobe’s transportation bureau in 1986, has decades of experience as a bus driver. In an incident in 2010, a passenger fell as he started his bus, according to the bureau. An official at the bureau said there had been no reported instances in which Ono had confused the accelerator and brake pedals. Ono went to work as usual on Sunday, according to his wife. The accident happened on a prefectural road with four lanes on either side in one of Kobe’s main shopping districts. The bus came to a halt after it smashed into the center divider. “We sincerely apologize that our city-run bus caused a terrible accident,” Naoki Naito, a senior executive of the transportation bureau, said at a press conference. Pedestrians at the accident site were shaken. “I can’t believe such an accident occurred,” said Kaito Otoma, a 20-year-old student who was crossing the road with others when he saw the bus slowly move toward them despite the red light. Otoma said he moved away quickly and was saved but the young woman in front of him was hit. The driver then got off the bus and was speaking frantically on his cellphone, according to the student. “If I had made one wrong step, I would have been a victim, too,” Otoma said.


Japan's ruling LDP loses two out of two Lower House by-elections in possible harbinger for July polls

Abstract: The ruling Liberal Democratic Party was dealt a crushing blow Sunday after losing the Lower House by-elections in Okinawa and Osaka, viewed as a harbinger for the Upper House election just a few months away, Kyodo News projections showed. The loss of both national races in the second wave of the unified elections marked a significant setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who doubles as head of the ruling party. It is the first time the LDP has lost a national by-election since Abe’s second term began in 2012, excluding the uncontested Lower House by-election in Kyoto Prefecture in 2016. The by-elections for the No. 3 constituency in Okinawa and the No. 12 district in Osaka were won by freelance journalist Tomohiro Yara, who was backed by opposition parties, and by Fumitake Fujita of Nippon Ishin no Kai, respectively. The House of Councilors election is scheduled for July. The losses revealed dissatisfaction with the administration, said a senior lawmaker from Komeito, the ruling LDP’s coalition partner. But some in the LDP said the losses were expected because of the particular local interests in Okinawa and Osaka. Still, one veteran member said the public’s memory of the losses would fade after the unusually long 10-day Golden Week holiday, suggesting it would have a limited impact on the Upper House election. In Okinawa, home to the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, pro- and anti-base candidates vied for the House of Representatives seat left vacant by Denny Tamaki, who is now governor. Yara, 56, is opposed to Okinawa hosting U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. “The relocation to Henoko is not a solution,” Yara said after his victory became certain. The Okinawan people’s will was clearly evident given the results of the election. Tamaki, who supported Yara as his successor in the district, said he wants to solve the Futenma issue as soon as possible through discussions with Tokyo and Washington. The LDP’s Aiko Shimajiri, 54, who used to be minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, had supported a bilateral plan to move the base from a crowded residential area in Ginowan to the less-populated coastal district of Henoko in Nago, which makes up part of the constituency. The two by-elections were part of a wave of hundreds of other races to pick mayors and assembly members in cities, towns and villages nationwide on Sunday. Abe’s LDP was hoping to build momentum in the run-up to the Upper House poll and mitigate the negative impact of two of his Cabinet members who resigned over controversial remarks. In Osaka, the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, faced off against Nippon Ishin no Kai, which has seen strong local support for its plan to streamline the major western city’s administration by creating a metropolis akin to Tokyo. Fujita, 38, of Nippon Ishin, competed against the LDP’s Shinpei Kitakawa, 32, who was also supported by Komeito, and two other candidates in the Osaka No. 12 district. The by-election was held following the death of former Deputy Environment Minister Tomokatsu Kitagawa. Sunday’s vote comes after Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada stepped down earlier this month over remarks he made deemed offensive to people affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and ensuing Fukushima nuclear crisis. Abe’s effective firing of Sakurada came after deputy land minister Ichiro Tsukada quit on April 5 over remarks that suggested he had acted in the interests of the prime minister’s constituency on a road project. The vote also comes as the outlook for Japan’s economy, which has enjoyed modest growth, has become increasingly uncertain due partly to trade frictions between the United States and China. A close aide to Abe hinted Thursday at the possibility of another delay in the consumption tax hike, scheduled for October from 8 percent to 10 percent, depending on a key quarterly business sentiment survey by the Bank of Japan to be released on July 1. Tax hikes are often unpopular among Japanese voters, but Abe sought approval in a Lower House election in 2017 to use part of the revenue to enhance child care support. In the first round of the unified elections on April 7, the LDP won a gubernatorial race in Hokkaido and a majority of prefectural assembly seats, but the results revealed party divisions in some regional areas.

shinzo abe
okinawa
osaka
ldp
elections
lower house
komeito
ishin no to


Abe makes surprise comedy show appearance in bid for public support for June Osaka G20 summit

Abstract: OSAKA - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a surprising appearance on a comedy show held at the Namba Grand Kagetsu theater in Osaka on Saturday, seeking support for the Group of 20 summit to be held in the city in June. “I’m Shinzo Abe, I’m real,” the prime minister said on the show run by Japanese entertainment powerhouse Yoshimoto Kogyo. During the show, comedian Medaka Ikeno was asked by a member of the cast about the G20. “To be honest, I don’t know much about it, but here’s a person who is very familiar with it,” Ikeno said. Then, Abe appeared on the stage, surprising the audience. “You’re impersonating [the prime minister], aren’t you?” a cast member told Abe, and the prime minister replied, “I’m real,” provoking laughter. Abe explained to the audience that discussions will be held on a broad range of issues at the June 28-29 summit among leaders of the 20 advanced and emerging economies, including the United States, Russia and China, as well as Japan. Abe also said he was seeking Osaka residents’ understanding and cooperation since strict traffic controls will be put in place during the summit period. Earlier Saturday, Abe visited Osaka Castle Nishinomaru Garden to inspect Osaka Geihinkan there, which will be used for the G20 leaders’ dinner during the summit.


Abe sends ritual tree offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine for spring festival

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering Sunday to Yasukuni Shrine, which is regarded as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism by other countries throughout Asia. The offering was made on the occasion of a three-day spring festival through Tuesday at the Shinto shrine in Tokyo. But Abe, who has a strong conservative support base, is expected to refrain from visiting the shrine as Japanese-Chinese ties frayed by issues linked to history and territory continue to improve. Yasukuni Shrine is often a source of diplomatic friction. Past visits by Japanese leaders and lawmakers have infuriated both China and South Korea. Abe has not visited the shrine since 2013. Historical issues, however, continue to cast a pall over Japan’s relations with South Korea. In recent months, the two countries have been at loggerheads over the issue of compensating Korean wartime laborers. On Sunday, Abe had a masakaki (tree offering) sent in his name for the spring festival at Yasukuni, which honors convicted Class-A war criminals along with millions of war dead. The tree is used in Shinto-style rituals. Abe regularly sends ritual offerings to the shrine for the spring and autumn festivals. On Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender, he makes a donation. This year’s spring festival comes as Japan is making preparations for the first visit in June by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is expected to attend a Group of 20 summit in Osaka. The South Korean Supreme Court last year ordered Japanese companies to compensate for what Korean plaintiffs say was forced labor during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

china
shinzo abe
wwii
yasukuni shrine
history
spring festival
masakaki


Worker influx ignites resort island rent bubble on Miyakojima

Abstract: An influx of construction workers to meet the demands of the tourism boom on the Okinawan resort island of Miyakojima is creating severe apartment shortages, sending rents higher. Take the rent for studio apartments, which combine the living room, bedroom and kitchen into a single room, using Miyakojima and Naha for comparison. The rent for a 25- to 30-sq.-meter unit in the redeveloped northern district of Naha usually costs ¥55,000 to ¥60,000 a month, according to Naha-based real estate company Takechan Home. In Miyakojima, however, the rent for this type of apartment climbs to as high as ¥80,000 to ¥100,000. In some new buildings, room sizes have been reduced to fit in more units. Takechan chief Takao Takeshima called the situation “abnormal.” “This is a social problem that’s happening on the island as a whole,” he said. “I thought apartment demand would meet supply in two to three years, but now I can’t predict when the rent will settle down.” An official from a local real estate company said the occupancy rate is almost 100 percent for the apartments it handles. Driving Miyakojima’s rent bubble is the large labor contingent building the new Ground Self-Defense Force base, schools and other facilities on the island. Due to the surge in tourism, however, Miyakojima is also short on hotels and other accommodations. With more being built across the city, public works projects ordered by the municipal and central governments are making the shortage chronic, prompting businesses to recruit people from outside the island. Hotels and restaurants are also amassing workers, exacerbating the paucity in housing. Miyakojima has become a widely known tourist destination since its exposure on TV and in magazines rose after the January 2015 opening of the Irabu Ohashi Bridge, which links it to the island of Irabu. Since fiscal 2015 began, tourism there has risen by 100,000 to 300,000 people a year, thanks to new flights and port calls by cruise ships from overseas. The total for fiscal 2018 ended in March is expected to top 1.1 million. The tourism boom has led to more workers being employed by the service industry. “Apartment units are occupied regardless of their conditions and distance to the urban area, as soon as they become vacant,” said Isao Sawada, who heads real estate company Jutaku Joho Center in the city of Miyakojima. His company hopes to increase the number of rooms by adding more apartment buildings, but that has proved difficult. “People in construction businesses have asked us to ‘wait for one to two years because we are all tied up,'” said Sawada. The lack of apartments led some people to stay in hotels and guest houses as a stopgap measure. A civil servant in his 50s who was transferred to Miyakojima from Naha said he was aware of the apartment shortages but never thought it would get that bad. “It is affecting my job and life,” he said. After he was notified of the transfer, he began looking for an apartment in the city in early March but couldn’t find one. With the help of a friend, he managed to sign a rental contract for a new apartment. Delays in construction, however, pushed back his move-in day, which was supposed to be on April 1, forcing him to live in a hotel in Miyakojima. “I visited the construction site and found that the work was proceeding very slowly,” he said. “I seemed to have a long way to go before I can move in.” A woman who runs a guest house in the city has received frequent inquiries from companies asking her to accommodate their employees over the last two years. She said allowing them to stay for a long time could encourage them to treat her guest house as their own home, potentially making other guests visiting for sightseeing purposes uncomfortable. She said she thus decided to “let them stay up to a week or so.” Some guests have told her they move from one accommodation to another at the company’s instruction because they cannot secure apartments. At a real estate business in the city, requests to raise rent started pouring in from landlords in October. The requests range between 5 and 15 percent. Some were spurred into action after finding new apartments being rented at higher rates. “Tenants cannot refuse the increase because they have nowhere else to go,” said a man from the real estate business. “We are persuading the owners to consider the timing and pricing.” The Miyako branch of Okinawa Prefecture’s consumer affairs center, meanwhile, received six consultation requests on rent hikes between last December and March. In one case, a tenant was asked by the owner to quickly accept a ¥20,000 rent hike . A prefectural official said the law lets owners demand a higher rent. “It will be up to the court to decide which argument is more reasonable, so we are urging the two sides to settle the matter through talks,” the official said.

okinawa
tourism
real estate
construction
miyakojima


Aging Japan to see 25% of breadwinners turn 75 or older by 2040: report

Abstract: Japan’s rapidly-aging society will see a quarter of its breadwinners turn 75 or older by 2040, the Nikkei daily has reported, citing a study from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. The total number of head-of-households who are 75 years of age or more will mount to 12.17 million by that year, while the number of single-person households will climb to 19.94 million, or two-fifths of the total, the report said. The number of people living alone who are 75 or older will top 5 million, it said. As the number of elderly Japanese people living by themselves increase, the country is increasingly in need of a revamp of its social security system and relevant infrastructure, the report said. The government has been opening the door to more low-skilled foreign workers as the rapidly aging population fuels a labor shortage. With unemployment at just 2.3 percent, near the lowest since the early 1990s, labor shortages are being felt in a range of industries from convenience stores to construction before the Tokyo Olympics next year.


87-year-old driver in Tokyo car crash that killed mom, daughter suspected of mistakenly pressing gas pedal

Abstract: No skid marks have been detected on the road in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district where a car crash killed two people and injured eight others Friday, causing investigators to suspect that the driver mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal, police said Saturday. Mana Matsunaga, 31, and her 3-year-old daughter, Riko, died when a car driven by an 87-year-old man rammed into their bicycle. The car also struck another cyclist, injured the driver of a garbage truck and mowed down four pedestrians before coming to a halt some 150 meters after first striking a guard rail. The Metropolitan Police Department has identified the driver as Kozo Iizuka. Both Iizuka and his wife, who was in the car with him, suffered broken bones and were admitted to hospital. The driver was quoted by police as saying the accelerator pedal became stuck. Police have found no evidence that Iizuka is suffering from any serious health problems or was under the influence of alcohol or medication at the time of the accident. In the investigation so far, nothing has been found that could have impeded the movement of the accelerator pedal, they said. In footage from his dashboard camera, Iizuka says,”What’s going on” just before the crash. He is also heard calling his son, saying he ended up running over many people and claiming the accelerator pedal got stuck, the police said. A neighbor of the driver said he saw Iizuka walking with a cane and having trouble parking his car in his garage in recent months. On Saturday, scores of people paid their respects to the victims as the scene of the accident. “I saw the news and brought some sweets and juice,” said Toshiharu Asakawa, a company employee who lives in the neighborhood. “I can’t believe something like this happened on the road I use to commute every day.” A woman in her 60s said she knew Matsunaga and her daughter, whom she noted were living happily with their family in the neighborhood. “Mana was a sweet person and Riko, being a toddler, was very cute. I am at a loss for words to give her family,” she said. Iizuka, after graduating from the University of Tokyo, joined the trade ministry in 1953. He resigned as head of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology in 1989.

tokyo
accidents
elderly
ikebukuro
traffic accidents


The week ahead for April 22 to April 28

Abstract: Monday Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to leave for eight-day trip to France, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, the United States and Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump to welcome Abe in Washington from Friday to Saturday, during which they will discuss key issues including bilateral trade and recent developments concerning North Korea. Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn to reach end of detention period for latest arrest over alleged misuse of company funds. Tokyo prosecutors are expected to indict Ghosn the same day. Go wunderkind Sumire Nakamura, 10, to make professional debut. Tuesday Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko to visit Emperor Hirohito’s mausoleum in Musashino Imperial Graveyard in western Tokyo to mark forthcoming abdication. Wednesday BOJ to begin two-day monetary policy meeting. Board members expected to keep easing measures unchanged despite signs of economic slowdown. Inflation forecast for fiscal 2021 likely to fall short of 2 percent target. Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to visit China as special envoy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nikai to attend China’s “Belt and Road” forum in Beijing with nearly 40 foreign leaders. Thursday Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum’s main building to reopen after two years of renovations. BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda to hold news conference after two-day monetary policy meeting. Nintendo Co. to release earnings for FY 2018. Friday Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry to release unemployment rate for March. Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to release ratio of job offers to job seekers for March. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to release preliminary industrial production index for March. Hitachi Ltd., Sony Corp., ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co. to release earnings for FY 2018. Saturday Golden Week holiday to start, this year extended to 10 days to celebrate the Imperial succession. Crowding at major airports and railway stations expected to reach peak as vacationers travel domestically and abroad. Hospitals to offer fewer services and most banks to remain closed during holiday. Japan Trade Union Confederation, nation’s largest labor organization, to hold May Day convention in Tokyo. Sunday Spring Tenno-sho to be held at Kyoto Racecourse.


Insurance industry to set guidelines to prevent 'genetic discrimination'

Abstract: The country’s insurance industry will establish guidelines banning life and medical insurers from collecting or using personal genetic information for decisions regarding eligibility for coverage and premiums to prevent “genetic discrimination,” sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The Life Insurance Association of Japan has said its member firms do not use genetic information to make decisions about coverage, but people with genetic diseases and private groups supporting them have voiced concerns about discrimination in the absence of laws prohibiting insurers from gaining such data. The industry group will state in its guidelines that its member firms will continue the practice, according to the sources. It will urge insurers not to use data from genetic testing even if people looking to purchase policies voluntarily offer their genetic data, they said. In a 2017 government survey on the use of genetic information involving some 11,000 people, about 300 said they have experienced discriminatory treatment by insurance companies.


U.S. Federal Reserve faces politicization under Trump

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Reserve has regularly faced criticism from Donald Trump, but in recent days the president took matters into his own hands — raising concerns that the Fed is being politicized. Not only did he again urge the Fed to lower interest rates, but he tapped two unconventional loyalists to fill two empty seats on the Fed board. Stephen Moore, 59, is a controversial economist and former Trump campaign adviser. And Herman Cain, 73, previously served as a board member at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank and is the former CEO of a pizza restaurant chain. Cain, a candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination in the 2012 presidential election, suspended his campaign following allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied. With the 2020 election looming, Trump often praises the health of the U.S. economy — but on Friday he said that he wants it to take off like “a rocket ship.” To make that happen, he urged the Fed to restart its post-financial crisis “quantitative easing” program of buying bonds to add liquidity to the economy. Trump’s moves have alarmed some experts, but he is not alone in thinking the Fed went too far last year; some economists such as Joseph LaVorgna from Natixis think it tightened too much. For Michael Gapen of Barclays Research, the president’s choices “could raise questions about the independence of the Federal Reserve and could be perceived as an attempted politicization of monetary policy.” Tim Duy, economics professor at the University of Oregon and an expert on the central bank, told AFP that he believes “the threats to the Fed independence are at the highest in decades.” Such pressure from the White House has not been seen since the 1970s. On the eve of his 1972 re-election, former president Richard Nixon pressed then Fed chair Arthur Burns to lower interest rates. “Donald Trump is very mad at (Fed chair) Jerome Powell and his colleagues for continuing to raise the interests rates (in 2018) and realizes he has a role to play here. He can appoint whoever he wants to the Fed,” added Duy. At the beginning of his term, Trump had more traditional choices such as Richard Clarida or Randal Quarles, both U.S. Treasury Department economists. Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday defended his boss’s approach. “It’s a free country and the president has a lot of well-informed opinions as a successful businessman and investor,” he said. “We are not pressuring. We are not going after their independence but we have our point of view.” Trump replaced Janet Yellen, nominated by Barack Obama to be the first woman Fed chair, with Jerome Powell, a former investment banker who was already on the board of governors. But now Trump blames Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for recommending Powell, according to the Wall Street Journal. “I guess I’m stuck with you,” Trump said saying during a phone call with Powell, the newspaper reported. Most believe it is not legally possible for Trump to get rid of Powell, who can be replaced at the end of his term in three years. Recently Powell, who cautiously avoids commenting on the president’s complaints, insisted that he could not be dismissed by Trump. “So far Fed watchers really believed the Fed was going to be the only agency that would be able to stand the turmoil of Washington and I think we are seeing it’s obviously not true,” Duy said. “It’s a wake-up call,” he said.

u.s .
monetary policy
federal reserve
donald trump


China's virtual reality arcades aim for real-world success amid massive growth in market

Abstract: SHANGHAI - Chen Jiuxiao puts on virtual reality goggles and is immediately transported to a snow-covered ski slope, down which she slaloms without ever leaving Shanghai. “I felt weightless skiing down the mountain,” Chen, 25, gushes after re-emerging in the material world. “The scenery around me was so authentic.” Chen, a hospitality worker, said she ventured into one of Shanghai’s VR arcades due to word of mouth from her tech-savvy friends. China had an estimated 3,000 VR arcades in 2016, and the market was forecast to grow thirteenfold between then and 2021 to amount to 5.25 billion yuan ($782 million), according to a joint report by iResearch Consulting Group and Greenlight Insights. Add in the profits to be made from headsets, equipment, games and other products, and it’s little wonder that augmented reality and VR industries are excited about China. “Chinese growth in the next five years could see it dominate AR/VR long-term — and not by a small margin,” Silicon Valley consultancy Digi-Capital said in a report last year. “China has the potential to take more than $1 of every $5 spent” in the industry globally by 2022, it added. One key factor is China’s government. Tens of millions of Chinese have become obsessive players of mobile video games, causing concern that China was raising a generation of myopic youngsters addicted to battle games. Authorities imposed curbs last year on the number of new game releases and playing time for youths, rattling the industry and shaving billions off the market value of big players including gaming giant Tencent. But the government is pushing hard for China to become a world leader in next-generation technologies including artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. VR has been lumped into that favored class, benefitting from a slew of preferential policies. Chen Wei, manager of Shanghai VR arcade Machouse said VR was likely to avoid the fate of mobile video games in China. He cites the relatively high cost of arcade play — up to 70 yuan ($10) or more for a 15-minute game — and of setting up home systems. “It’s hard for minors to get addicted,” he said. The nascent VR games industry suffers from a shortage of high-quality games, however. At a VR amusement park in Shanghai, a new game lands only once every three months, officials there said. Firms such as Tencent remain hesitant to dive in to the arcade scene until the sector reaches critical mass, analysts explained. But the company, along with fellow Chinese giants Alibaba and Baidu, is investing in virtual online shopping and VR entertainment, all of which could trickle down into gaming. Already a number of towns and cities in China have declared themselves incubator zones that are integrating VR into research, manufacturing, education and other spheres, luring in capital, according to Chinese reports. Seekers VR, which is based in the eastern city of Wenzhou and owns a franchised chain of 200 arcades in more than 70 cities across China, is working with the Wenzhou government to establish a college focused on educating students about VR and using the technology in lessons. “There is no dominant competitor in the VR industry since it is so immature, and we will bring more and more opportunity,” said Seekers VR’s CEO Belle Chen. The expected wide-scale adoption in China of ultra-fast 5G networks is expected to further boost VR development, and foster growth in areas such as education and training, said Chen Wei. “There is no better way to learn skills, and at a lower cost, than VR,” he said. “Even though VR is still educating users about what it is, it could explode someday.”

china
computers
virtual reality
video games


Japanese prosecutors ask judges to question Carlos Ghosn's wife

Abstract: Prosecutors in Tokyo have asked judges to question Carlos Ghosn’s wife in connection with funds allegedly misappropriated by the former Nissan Motor chairman, sources said Sunday. Tokyo prosecutors are considering questioning Ghosn’s wife, Carole, over an allegation that part of the automaker’s sales incentive payments to an Omani distributor was channeled to her company for personal use, the sources said. Prosecutors suspect that Carole Ghosn’s company used the money partly to fund the purchase of a luxurious yacht mainly for their family’s use. The prosecutors asked her to meet them for voluntary questioning as an unsworn witness, but the request was turned down, which prompted them to ask judges to question her on their behalf before they open the first hearing on the allegations, public broadcaster NHK reported. Such a request gives judges the power to question on a mandatory basis witnesses who refuse to testify, according to the broadcaster. Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment. Meanwhile, Carole Ghosn has flown to Paris to appeal to the French government to help her husband and said the government “should do more for him,” the Financial Times reported on Sunday. “I don’t think they’ve done enough. I don’t think he’s had enough support and he’s calling for assistance,” she told the FT in an interview before boarding a flight out of Japan on Friday. “As a French citizen, it should be a right.” Carole Ghosn also told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in France that her husband had recorded a video interview in English before his detention. “He names the people responsible for what has happened to him. The lawyers have it. It will be released soon,” she told the newspaper. It was separately reported that Ghosn’s defense team plans to show around April 11, the day he was due to hold a news conference, a video message he recorded before his latest arrest. Ghosn was rearrested on Thursday on suspicion he had tried to enrich himself at Nissan’s expense, in another dramatic twist that his lawyers called an attempt to muzzle him. The fresh arrest opens up the possibility that he will be interrogated again without his lawyer present, as is the norm in Japan. The additional charge would likely prolong Ghosn’s trial, which is expected to begin later this year, his lawyer has said, adding that loss of access to Ghosn’s trial-related documents could put his client at a disadvantage in fighting his case. Tokyo prosecutors confiscated Carole Ghosn’s passport and a mobile phone Thursday when they served a fourth arrest warrant on Ghosn in connection with the misuse of Nissan monies paid to the Omani company, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. It was not clear if her passport had been returned or whether she holds multiple passports. Suhail Bahwan Automobiles allegedly received $15 million between December 2015 and July 2018 and transferred $5 million of it to a bank account of Good Faith Investments, a Lebanese investment firm Ghosn effectively owns. Ghosn has denied all of the allegations. A suspicion emerged that the money was transferred from the Omani distributor to the Lebanese firm through several companies, the sources said. The prosecutors suspect it was an attempt to conceal the flow of the funds before they ended up in Carole Ghosn’s company, they said. Good Faith Investments is also suspected of sending money to a California-based investment firm where Ghosn’s son is CEO. The Tokyo District Court on Friday approved the prosecutors’ request for Ghosn to be detained up to 10 days until April 14. His detention could be extended if approved by the court. Ghosn was first arrested in November and has since been indicted on charges including violating the financial instruments law by underreporting remuneration to regulators for years and aggravated breach of trust in relation to the alleged transfer of private investment losses to Nissan, all of which he has denied. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on Saturday that his country respects Japan’s judicial procedures regarding the Ghson case. The French minister was quoted by a Japanese Foreign Ministry official as saying in a bilateral meeting with Kono on the fringe of the Group of Seven gathering in western France that France respects Japan’s “judicial independence” in a reference to Ghosn’s re-arrest Thursday. Le Drian also said France continues to uphold the principle of the presumption of innocence and provide consular protection to Ghosn, according to the Japanese official. Ghosn holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese nationality. Kono later told reporters investigations into the allegations against Ghosn “will not influence bilateral relations.” Information from Reuters added

france
scandals
nissan
carmakers
renault
carlos ghosn
oman


U.K.'s Theresa May, seeking compromise with opposition, warns of greater risk of no-deal Brexit if talks drag on

Abstract: LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday that the longer it takes to find a compromise with the opposition Labour Party to secure a parliamentary majority for a Brexit deal, the less likely it is that Britain will leave the European Union. May has so far failed to secure backing for her negotiated agreement with Brussels as some Conservative lawmakers and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government, have voted it down. She has since turned to the opposition Labour Party in a bid to secure a majority for an orderly Brexit, although its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Saturday he was waiting for May to move her Brexit red lines. “The fact is that on Brexit there are areas where the two main parties agree: we both want to end free movement, we both want to leave with a good deal, and we both want to protect jobs,” May said in comments released by her Downing Street office. “That is the basis for a compromise that can win a majority in Parliament and winning that majority is the only way to deliver Brexit.” “The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the U.K. never leaving at all,” she said. May has a plan to enshrine in law a customs arrangement with the EU to win over the Labour Party, and her aides have discussed offering the opposition a place in the British delegation to Wednesday’s EU summit, The Sunday Times newspaper reported. The prime minister has asked EU leaders to postpone Britain’s exit from the bloc until June 30. The EU, which gave her a two-week extension the last time she asked, insists she must first show a viable plan to secure agreement on her thrice-rejected divorce deal in the British parliament. It is the latest twist in a saga which leaves Britain, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, struggling to find a way to honor a 2016 referendum vote to take the country out of the globe’s largest trading bloc. May reiterated on Saturday her hope that lawmakers would approve a deal to allow Britain to leave the bloc as quickly as possible. “My intention is to reach an agreement with my fellow EU leaders that will mean if we can agree a deal here at home we can leave the EU in just six weeks,” she said. One of the most senior Brexiters in her government, the leader of the lower house of parliament Andrea Leadsom, also said there was a risk of Brexit slipping further from grasp. “The vision we had of Brexit is fading away — and we are running out of time to save it,” she wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Some of May’s lawmakers are warning they will try to oust her if Britain participates in EU parliamentary elections next month and is forced to extend membership of the bloc beyond June, The Observer newspaper reported. The Sunday Telegraph said ministers are discussing whether to resign if a Brexit delay means Britain must field candidates. In a further sign of the ever heavier strains on the Conservatives, more than 100 candidates for upcoming local elections wrote to May warning of the growing anger at the grassroots level and among the public. “Our party and our government have completely lost touch with voters,” the candidates said, according to The Sunday Telegraph. “Let’s be clear: more fudge and a further dilution of Brexit is not the answer.” Opposition leader Corbyn also faces pressure as more than 80 of his lawmakers warned that another vote on Brexit must be a red line in Labour’s talks with the government, The Independent newspaper said.


May has not moved 'an inch' on Brexit, says Labour's legal chief

Abstract: LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May has not moved “an inch” on her Brexit “red lines,” Labour’s top legal policy chief Shami Chakrabarti said on Sunday, suggesting there was little hope of a quick breakthrough before an EU summit. “So far, our impression is that Mrs. May hasn’t moved an inch on her red lines … In substance, as yet, there’s been not a jot of movement from the government,” Chakrabarti told Sky News. “It seems to me that this has been left so late in the day. … It’s hard to imagine that we are going to make real progress now without either a general election or a second referendum on any deal she can get over the line in parliament.”


G7 pushes North Korea to continue denuclearization talks with U.S.

Abstract: DINARD, FRANCE - Foreign ministers of Group of Seven nations on Saturday pushed North Korea to continue denuclearization negotiations with the United States while vowing to maintain pressure on Pyongyang to encourage it to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. In a communique issued after a two-day meeting in Dinard, western France, the ministers also expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China seas — a veiled criticism of China’s militarization of outposts in disputed areas of the South China Sea and its attempts to undermine Japan’s control of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The Senkakus are administered by Japan, but claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them the Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively. Some G7 members touched on China’s expanding global ambitions through its signature “Belt and Road” initiative infrastructure project, a Japanese official said. But the communique makes no reference to the initiative in an apparent effort to demonstrate unity among the group. Italy signed up to the initiative two weeks ago, making it the first G7 member to do so. Critics say President Xi Jinping’s project is intended to draw countries deeper into Beijing’s economic orbit. The G7 meeting came after the breakdown of a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February, an outcome that increased uncertainties over security in Northeast Asia. “We encourage the DPRK to avoid any provocations and call for the DPRK to continue discussions with the United States on denuclearization,” the communique said, referring to North Korea by the acronym for its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Washington has said it remains open to dialogue with Pyongyang but North Korea has threatened to withdraw from denuclearization talks with the United States and reconsider a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests. “We regret that the DPRK has not taken concrete, verified actions towards denuclearization, and we urge the DPRK to comply with and fulfill its international obligations, and undertake those actions,” the communique said. To compel Pyongyang to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and related delivery system programs, the G7 is committed to fully enforcing U.N. sanctions and is calling on all states — including China and Russia — to fully implement sanctions, according to the communique. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Japan “fully supports” U.S. diplomatic engagement with North Korea, and that Tokyo “would like to give a push to the U.S.-North Korea process toward achieving the full denuclearization of North Korea.” Kono also said he won the backing from his peers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States, plus the European Union, to press North Korea to immediately resolve the issue of its abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s. Kono said the G7’s level of interest in China “has become much higher” since last year’s foreign ministerial meeting in Toronto. He added European countries have stepped up debates on how to deal with China, especially after a visit by Xi to the continent last month. Also in March, the European Commission, the executive branch of the 28-nation union, labeled China “an economic competitor in pursuit of technological leadership and a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance.” As if to reflect such sentiment, the G7 communique said: “We encourage China to participate responsibly in the free and open international rules-based system.” The G7 also shared concerns about Beijing’s industrial strategy, investment practices, inadequate intellectual property protection and other matters that make it difficult to ensure a level playing field for foreign businesses. Among other issues, the G7 ministers demanded that Venezuela urgently hold “new free, transparent and credible presidential elections,” citing the “illegitimacy” of the process that resulted in President Nicolas Maduro’s 2018 re-election. The United States, Japan and European countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has declared himself interim president, while Maduro is backed by Russia and China. Kono and his European G7 peers, however, were apparently at odds with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, who attended the Dinard session in lieu of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, over Trump’s recognition last month of the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory, according to a Japanese official. Trump’s controversial move followed a similar decision last year when his administration relocated the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after recognizing the latter as Israel’s capital. The Dinard session was held to lay the groundwork for the G7 summit slated for Aug. 24 to 26 in Biarritz, France.

china
east china sea
north korea
senkakus
nuclear weapons
disputed islands
south china sea
group of seven


Euroskeptic lawmaker says Britain should make life difficult if left in EU

Abstract: LONDON - Leading euroskeptic Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said if Britain were to stay in the European Union beyond April 12, the country should become the bloc’s most difficult member and veto a seven-year financial framework. “If we are forced to remain in we must be the most difficult member possible,” Rees-Mogg, leader of the ERG, a euroskeptic group in the governing Conservative Party, told Sky News on Sunday. “When the multiannual financial framework comes forward, if we’re still in, this is our one-in-seven-year opportunity to veto the budget and to be really very difficult.”