Venezuela opposition takes control of diplomatic properties in U.S.

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Representatives of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido have taken control of three of the country’s diplomatic properties in the United States, Guaido’s U.S. envoy said on Monday, as the opposition presses its bid to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The envoy, Carlos Vecchio, said the opposition had gained control of two buildings belonging to Venezuela’s defense ministry in Washington and one consular building in New York. He added that the group expects to take control of Venezuela’s embassy in Washington “in the days to come.” The moves come after Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s May 2018 re-election was illegitimate. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s rightful leader by most Western countries, including the United States. “We are taking these steps in order to preserve the assets of the Venezuelans here in this country,” Vecchio said from one of the buildings, the office of Venezuela’s military attache to Washington, after removing a portrait of Maduro from the wall and replacing it with one of Guaido. Maduro, who has branded Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, broke off relations with Washington after it recognized Guaido, calling diplomatic and consular staff back to Caracas. Of 55 staff members, 12 decided to remain in the United States and support Guaido, Vecchio said on Monday. He added that his staff would work out of the attache building, which is located in the upscale Kalorama neighborhood and has an assessed value of $2.2 million, according to Washington property records. Venezuela’s information ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the opposition’s move to take possession of the properties. Vecchio spoke alongside Col. Jose Luis Silva, Venezuela’s military attache to Washington who recognized Guaido on Jan. 27. Few other high-ranking members of the military have heeded Guaido’s call to break with Maduro, who retains the support of the armed forces and control of state functions. On Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said an army general has defected and fled to Colombia. Vecchio said he was confident that Venezuela, which is undergoing an economic and humanitarian crisis, was in “an irreversible process of change” but that “it won’t come easily.” The United States withdrew all its remaining diplomatic personnel in Venezuela last week.

u.s .
venezuela
nicolas maduro
embassies
juan guaido


'The clock is ticking': EU's patience 'sorely tested' as signs point to Brexit delay

Abstract: BRUSSELS - European Union governments are exasperated by British dithering over quitting the bloc but have little appetite for pushing it out on schedule next week without a divorce deal, senior figures said on Tuesday. EU ministers in Brussels to prepare a summit with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday voiced frustration after the speaker of Parliament threw up a new obstacle for her plan to get her Brexit deal ratified before the March 29 deadline. “Our patience as the European Union is being sorely tested at the moment,” Germany’s Europe minister, Michael Roth, told reporters. “Dear friends in London, please deliver. The clock is ticking.” But Roth also echoed comments in Berlin by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU’s pre-eminent leader, who said she would “fight to the last minute” until midnight on March 29 to ensure an orderly exit for the EU’s second-ranked economy. Roth said Germany’s main aim was to avoid a no-deal Brexit, which would disrupt business across the continent. However, after two defeats for the withdrawal agreement that May negotiated with the EU, and her difficulty in trying to get it through Parliament on a third vote even before the speaker ruled that it must be substantially changed, it is not clear how May can avert this without asking fellow leaders for more time. Leaders expect to discuss such an extension at the two-day summit starting on Thursday afternoon. But if May has yet to make a concrete proposal on her next move, then the summit can do little more than outline possible steps — such as a readiness to give her a couple of months, or maybe longer. “If there is no move from London, the leaders can also decide to wait,” said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders. “It really depends on what May will say at the summit.” Diplomats said member states were still discussing options for extension — possibly only for two to three months, if May persuades them she can clinch a deal at home, or for much longer if May accepts that radical reworking is needed. But these would come with conditions and might not be agreed on until next week. Merkel said there was “far too much in flux” to forecast the outcome of the summit, but her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, told reporters in Finland: “If more time is needed, it’s always better to do another round than a no-deal Brexit.” EU diplomats say it is highly probable that leaders will unanimously support some sort of extension rather than see Britain lurch out of the bloc in 10 days’ time — even though some governments are starting to argue for ending the uncertainty and trusting arrangements already put in place to mitigate the effects of a sudden, immediate exit. Aides to French President Emmanuel Macron, a powerful voice on the Council alongside Merkel, say the onus is on Britain to say what it would do with more time. “This uncertainty is unacceptable,” his EU affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said in Brussels on Tuesday. “Grant an extension? What for? Time is not a solution, it’s a method — if there’s an objective and a strategy. And it has to come from London.”


Turkey's Erdogan calls on New Zealand to restore death penalty over Christchurch shooting

Abstract: ANKARA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two Christchurch mosques, warning that Turkey would make the attacker pay for his act if New Zealand did not. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. “You heinously killed 50 of our siblings. You will pay for this. If New Zealand doesn’t make you, we know how to make you pay one way or another,” Erdogan told an election rally of thousands in northern Turkey. He did not elaborate. He said Turkey was wrong to have abolished the death penalty 15 years ago, and added that New Zealand should make legal arrangements so that the Christchurch gunman could face capital punishment. “If the New Zealand parliament doesn’t make this decision I will continue to argue this with them constantly. The necessary action needs to be taken,” he said. Erdogan is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections. At weekend election rallies he showed video footage of the shootings which the gunman had broadcast on Facebook, as well as extracts from a “manifesto” posted by the attacker and later taken down. That earned a rebuke from New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who said he told Turkey’s foreign minister and vice president that showing the video could endanger New Zealanders abroad. Despite Peters’ intervention, an extract from the manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan’s rally again on Tuesday, as well as brief footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door. Erdogan has said the gunman issued threats against Turkey and the president himself, and wanted to drive Turks from Turkey’s northwestern, European region. Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, with its Muslim majority is split between an Asian part east of the Bosphorus, and a European half to the west. Erdogan’s AK Party, which has dominated Turkish politics for more than 16 years, is battling for votes as the economy tips into recession after years of strong growth. Erdogan has cast the local elections as a “matter of survival” in the face of threats including Kurdish militants, Islamophobia and incidents such as the New Zealand shootings. A senior Turkish security source said Tarrant entered Turkey twice in 2016 — for a week in March and for more than a month in September. Turkish authorities have begun investigating everything from hotel records to camera footage to try to ascertain the reason for his visits, the source said.

terrorism
new zealand
turkey
recep tayyip erdogan
mass shootings
chirstchurch


Trump gripes he is being blamed for inspiring alleged white supremacist's New Zealand mosque massacre

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump waded Monday into the controversy over his response to the massacre of 50 people in two New Zealand mosques, complaining that he was being blamed for the tragedy. “The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand,” Trump told his more than 59 million followers on Twitter. “They will have to work very hard to prove that one,” he tweeted. “So Ridiculous!” Trump appeared to be referring to criticism of his response to the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a 28-year-old white supremacist claiming to be resisting genocide against white people. In a lengthy written rant, the alleged killer referred to Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity.” Trump did on several occasions tweet and speak to condemn the “horrible” attack and offer any U.S. assistance to New Zealand’s authorities. However, he courted controversy Friday when he played down the wider implications of the gunman’s ideology, saying that violent white nationalism is not a growing problem. “It’s a small group of people,” he said. Trump’s homeland security chief, Kirstjen Nielsen, gave a distinctly different emphasis Monday in a speech where she said that “domestic terrorists,” like the New Zealand killer, increasingly resemble the better known threat from Islamist groups. “The primary terrorist threat to the United States continues to be from Islamist militants and those they inspire, but we should not and cannot and must not ignore the real and serious danger posed by domestic terrorists,” she said. “They are using the same do-it-yourself, mass murder tactics as we saw with the horrible assault last week in New Zealand against Muslim worshipers,” she said. Trump’s dismissal of a broader security threat led to a flurry of criticism from Democrats and other critics over the weekend. They pointed to his frequent labeling of illegal immigrants as invaders, his high-profile restrictions on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, and a lukewarm condemnation of a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. “Time and time again, this president has embraced and emboldened white supremacists — and instead of condemning racist terrorists, he covers for them. This isn’t normal or acceptable,” tweeted Kirsten Gillibrand, who formally entered the Democratic race for the White House Sunday. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney went on television Sunday to push back, saying “the president is not a white supremacist. I’m not sure how many times we have to say that. “To simply ask the question every time something like this happens overseas, or even domestically, to say, ‘Oh, my goodness, it must somehow be the president’s fault,’ speaks to a politicization of everything that I think is undermining sort of the institutions that we have in the country today,” he said on Fox television.

twitter
donald trump
white supremacist
fake news
mick mulvaney
kirstjen nielsen
new zealand mosque massacre


Trump tweet paints possible 2020 rival Joe Biden as 'low I.Q.'

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday gave possible 2020 presidential election rival Joe Biden a taste of what to expect if he does jump in the race, with a tweeted insult about his intelligence. Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama and is seen as potentially the most heavyweight Democrat, remains on the sidelines. However, on Saturday he appeared to confirm his candidacy before correcting himself in midsentence, as if having made a slip of the tongue. Trump, who delights in inventing mocking nicknames and poking fun at opponents, pounced. “Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President,” Trump tweeted. “Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual!” Biden’s surprise slip — or, as some speculated, crafty hint — came during a speech in his home state of Delaware. “I’m told I get criticized by the new left. I have the most progressive record of anybody running for the United…,” he said, immediately correcting himself — “anybody who would run.”

twitter
joe biden
donald trump
2020 u.s. presidential election


Germany likely to renege on pledge to Trump to boost military spending

Abstract: BERLIN - Berlin could renege on its pledge to raise military spending, in the latest gesture of defiance by German Chancellor Angela Merkel toward U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly blasted NATO leaders for not meeting a target of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense. If confirmed at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, the move by Berlin would be the latest step in the gradual estrangement between the U.S. and one of its top European allies. While the budget foresees an increase in military spending in 2020, it does not provide a plan for how to reach the 2 percent target. The German government’s budget plan for 2020 calls for a 1.7 percent hike in spending to €362.6 billion and relies on ministries cutting costs to avoid incurring new debt given forecasts for slower economic growth, Finance Ministry sources said Monday. The plan assumes that Europe’s largest economy will grow by 1.0 percent in 2019, down from an initially projected 1.8 percent, the sources said. The Economy Ministry last week said the economy had a subdued start to 2019 and probably grew moderately in the first quarter, its outlook dampened by trade conflicts and sluggish demand for industrial products among other factors. To balance the budget, government ministries will have to identify combined spending cuts of €625 million each year, with program delays and other measures to contribute additional savings, the sources said. They said military spending would rise by €2.1 billion over a previous plan for 2020, boosting the share of defense spending to 1.37 percent of gross domestic product from 1.25 percent in 2018 and 1.3 percent this year. “That the German government would even be considering reducing its already unacceptable commitments to military readiness is a worrisome signal to Germany’s 28 NATO allies,” said U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell. The military budget is slated to rise to €45.1 billion in 2020 from planned spending of €43.2 billion this year, a separate government source said. However, the share of military spending would drop back to 1.25 percent in 2023, with any further spending increases to be negotiated year by year, the sources said. “We’re taking it one step at a time,” said one of the sources. That leaves Germany well below the 2 percent target set by NATO members for 2024, and below the 1.5 percent share that Germany has pledged to meet by that date.

u.s .
nato
military
angela merkel
germany
budgets
donald trump


White House aide Kellyanne Conway defends Trump as husband challenges U.S. president's mental state

Abstract: WASHINGTON - There are marital spats and then there’s the row — unfolding before millions of people — between a top Trump adviser and her husband over the president’s mental health. Kellyanne Conway has made a name for herself as one of Donald Trump’s toughest, sharpest defenders. But she’s never faced a challenge quite like having to rebut her own husband, prominent lawyer George Conway, who has taken to Twitter and The Washington Post to claim that her boss is unwell. His latest tweet posted the symptoms — which he says Trump matches — for “Anti-social and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” His condition is getting worse. — George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 17, 2019 “*All* Americans should be thinking seriously *now* about Trump’s mental condition and psychological state, including and especially the media, Congress-and the Vice President and Cabinet,” he wrote earlier. So Kellyanne Conway, a regular on the television news shows, found herself in front of the cameras again Monday. “No, I don’t share those concerns,” she said. “I have four kids and I was getting them out of the house this morning before I got here so I can talk to the president about substance, so I may not be up to speed on all of them,” she said.

twitter
donald trump
kellyanne conway
george conway


'Full horror' of cyclone in southeast Africa yet to emerge: Red Cross

Abstract: MAPUTO/HARARE - Cyclone winds and floods that swept across southeastern Africa affected more than 2.6 million people and could rank as one of the worst weather-related disaster recorded in the southern hemisphere, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. Rescue crews are still struggling to reach victims five days after Cyclone Idai raced in at speeds of up to 170 kph (105 mph) from the Indian Ocean into Mozambique, then its inland neighbors Zimbabwe and Malawi. Aid groups said many survivors were trapped in remote areas, surrounded by wrecked roads, flattened buildings and submerged villages. “There’s a sense from people on the ground that the world still really hasn’t caught on to how severe this disaster is,” Matthew Cochrane, spokesman for International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. “The full horror, the full impact is only going to emerge over coming days,” he added. The official death count in Mozambique stands at 84 — but its President Filipe Nyusi said on Monday he had flown over some of the worst-hit zones, seen bodies floating in rivers and now estimated more than 1,000 people may have died there. The cyclone hit land near Mozambique’s port of Beira on Thursday and moved inland throughout the weekend, leaving heavy rains in its wake on Tuesday. Studies of satellite images suggested 1.7 million people were in the path of the cyclone in Mozambique and another 920,000 affected in Malawi, Herve Verhoosel, senior spokesman at the U.N World Food Programme said. It gave no figures for Zimbabwe. Several rivers had broken their banks, or were about to, leaving a huge area covered by the waters, and only accessible by air and water, Lola Castro, WFP regional director for Southern Africa, told the U.N. briefing by phone from Johannesburg. Heavy rains preceded the cyclone, compounding the problems, said Clare Nullis of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. “It the worst fears are realized … then we can say that it is one of the worst weather-related disasters, tropical-cyclone-related disasters in the southern hemisphere.” Droughts are classed as climate-related not weather-related. In Beira, a low-lying coastal city of 500,000 people, Nullis said the water had nowhere to drain. “This is not going to go away quickly,” she said. Beira is also home to Mozambique’s second largest port, which serves as a gateway to landlocked countries in the region. The control room of a pipeline that runs from Beira to Zimbabwe and supplies the majority of that country’s fuel had been damaged, Zimbabwe’s Energy Minister Jorum Gumbo told the state-owned Herald newspaper on Tuesday. “We, however, have enough stocks in the country and I am told the repairs at Beira may take a week,” he was quoted as saying.

africa storms disasters mozambique zimbabwe


India deployed nuclear subs and carrier group amid soaring tensions with Pakistan

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India’s Navy has confirmed it sent nuclear submarines, an aircraft carrier battle group and dozens of other naval vessels to the North Arabian sea after a suicide bombing in February led to a tense military stand-off with Pakistan. India was conducting large-scale military exercises off its coast when a paramilitary convoy was attacked in the disputed state of Kashmir on Feb. 14, prompting the navy to ‘swiftly’ shift its ships to an operational deployment, the force said in a statement Sunday. The deployment consisted of nuclear submarines, a carrier group centered around INS Vikramaditya and ‘scores of other ships, submarines and aircraft,’ it said. The statement, which also announced an event attended by India’s navy chief, contained the most details so far about India’s military mobilization following the terrorist attack. Roughly 60 navy ships, 12 coast guard vessels and 60 aircraft were engaged in the TROPEX war games exercise, the navy’s biggest, when they were ‘swiftly transited from exercise to operational deployment,’ the navy said. The attack in Kashmir prompted India to launch retaliatory airstrikes against what New Delhi said was a training camp in Pakistan belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based group that claimed the bombing that killed 40 paramilitary troops. In a separate sortie, Islamabad sent fighter jets to hit targets in India and shot down an Indian Air Force plane, which crashed inside the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir. An Indian pilot was captured, but was later returned. India was following standard operating procedures and did not do anything out of the ordinary by mobilizing its ships, said Abhijit Singh, a former Indian naval officer and senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi. “It’s being made out that India’s navy was right on Pakistan’s doorstep, but it wasn’t like that — this wasn’t an escalation from India’s side,” Singh said, adding that ships participating in naval exercises often carry only the bare minimum of supplies and ordnance. “They would have suspended the exercises to get the ships back in harbor and get them ready for any possible engagement.” India had previously said its armed forces shifted into a state of heightened readiness after Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed Pakistan for the attack. At the time, Indian officials denied Islamabad’s statement that it had detected and chased away an Indian submarine from territorial waters. An Indian foreign ministry spokesman and a Pakistan navy spokesman were not immediately able to comment.

india
kashmir
pakistan
military
nuclear weapons


South Korean light and laser system warns 'smartphone zombies' of traffic

Abstract: ILSAN, SOUTH KOREA - A city in South Korea, which has the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate, has installed flickering lights and laser beams at a road crossing to warn “smartphone zombies” to look up and drivers to slow down, in the hope of preventing accidents. The designers of the system were prompted by growing worry that more pedestrians glued to their phones will become casualties in a country that already has some of the highest road fatality and injury rates among developed countries. State-run Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) believes its system of flickering lights at zebra crossings can warn both pedestrians and drivers. In addition to red, yellow and blue LED lights on the pavement, “smombies” — smartphone zombies — will be warned by laser beam projected from power poles and an alert sent to the phones by an app that they are about to step into traffic. “Increasing number of smombie accidents have occurred in pedestrian crossings, so these zombie lights are essential to prevent these pedestrian accidents,” said KICT senior researcher Kim Jong-hoon. The multidimensional warning system is operated by radar sensors and thermal cameras and comes with a price tag of 15 million won ($13,250) per crossing. Drivers are alerted by the flashing lights, which have shown to be effective 83.4 percent of the time in the institute’s tests involving about 1,000 vehicles. In 2017, more than 1,600 pedestrians were killed in auto related accidents, which is about 40 percent of total traffic fatalities, according to data from the Traffic Accident Analysis System. South Korea has the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate, according to Pew Research Center, with about 94 percent of adults owning the devices in 2017, compared with 77 percent in the United States and 59 percent in Japan. For now, the smombie warning system is installed only in Ilsan, a suburban city about 30 km northwest of the capital, Seoul, but is expected to go nationwide, according to the institute. Kim Dan-hee, a 23-year-old resident of Ilsan, welcomed the system, saying she was often too engrossed in her phone to remember to look at traffic. “This flickering light makes me feel safe as it makes me look around again, and I hope that we can have more of these in town,” she said.


Taiwan independence backer to challenge President Tsai Ing-wen for ruling party nomination

Abstract: TAIPEI - A former premier and vocal proponent of independence for Taiwan will challenge his former boss, President Tsai Ing-wen, for the ruling party’s nomination, ensuring the island’s tense relationship with China will be a central focus of the presidential campaign. Former Premier Lai Ching-te said in a text message Monday that he would vie for the Democratic Progressive Party’s backing in the election slated for next year. Lai — a former mayor of the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan who once described himself as an “independence worker” — resigned in January, weeks after the party suffered a resounding loss in local elections. “Taiwan is facing a more precarious situation in the face of China’s threats,” Lai said Monday, after submitting his nomination application at DPP headquarters in Taipei. “Taiwan doesn’t want to be a second Hong Kong or Tibet. The elections in 2020 are critical to Taiwan’s future.” Tsai, who is almost three years into her first term, has said she plans to seek re-election despite receiving support of less than 30 percent in most recent polls. Although Tsai stepped down as the DPP leader after losing several counties and cities to the more China-friendly Kuomintang opposition in November, she had so far faced no obvious challengers from within the party. Tsai spokesman Xavier Chang said via text message that Lai’s candidacy doesn’t change the president’s plans to run. Tsai said in a Facebook post Monday that she planned to submit her formal application to run before the end of the week. The DPP is scheduled to announce its candidate April 17. Lai’s candidacy could make the issue of legal independence for the democratically run island a central campaign theme, just as an increasingly assertive Chinese President Xi Jinping pushes Taiwan for talks on eventual unification. Xi suggested earlier this year that mainland China and Taiwan enter into “in-depth democratic consultations” and work toward unification, the clearest signal yet that he wants to settle the 70-year dispute. Beijing has said any moves by Taiwan to formalize its status as a sovereign state separate from mainland China would be grounds for invasion. The two split during the Chinese civil war in 1949. While the DPP officially supports Taiwan’s independence, Tsai has so far avoided outright moves that might risk provoking the Communist Party in Beijing, saying that she wants to maintain the status quo. That has frustrated some within her party who support a more decisive break from the mainland. Lai has pointed to the risk of the DPP losing not just the presidency but also its hard-won majority in the Legislature as a motivating factor behind his decision to run. Taiwan is expected to hold legislative elections on the same day as the presidential vote. “We need to impress voters so that the DPP can win both the presidential and legislative elections in 2020,” he told supporters at a temple in Tainan on Tuesday. Lai is likely to see strong support in southern Taiwan, a traditional DPP stronghold. After Tsai appointed Lai premier in August 2017, he described himself as a “Taiwan independence worker” and said the island was already a sovereign independent country, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The opposition Kuomintang, which has run Taiwan’s government for all but 11 years since 1949 including decades under martial law, may have a crowded nomination contest. Former New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu and ex-parliamentary Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, who both support closer China ties, have already announced their candidacy and Kuomintang Chairman Wu Den-yih may also run. An October poll by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council found that some 23 percent of Taiwanese people support formal independence either immediately or at some later date, while 19 percent support unification. Most of the rest are in favor of maintaining the status quo.


Top adviser to South Korean president suggests Seoul's patience with North may be wearing thin

Abstract: SEOUL - North Korea should take “actual action” toward giving up its nuclear weapons to break the deadlock in talks with Washington, a top security adviser to the South’s president said, suggesting Seoul’s patience with Pyongyang may be wearing thin. President Moon Jae-in was instrumental in brokering the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, seizing on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to catalize a rapid diplomatic rapprochement after a year of missile tests, threats and tensions. But the first summit between the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June produced only a vague commitment to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Their second meeting in Hanoi last month broke up without agreement, or even a joint statement, as the two failed to come to a deal over sanctions relief and denuclearization. Since then, Pyongyang has said it is considering suspending the talks and images have emerged of rebuilding works at the Sohae rocket launch facilities. That triggered international alarm that North Korea might be preparing a long-range missile or space launch, which could put the whole negotiations process at risk — Pyongyang has not carried one out for more than a year and Trump has repeatedly said its continued moratorium is crucial. A launch of any kind by the North would be a “disaster,” said Moon’s special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in. The “outcome will be catastrophic,” he said. In Hanoi, U.S. officials said, Trump urged Kim to “go all in” and that “the weapons themselves need to be on the table.” In return, they were “prepared to go all in as well.” But it was not clear exactly which facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex the North was willing to give up, while they wanted “basically all the sanctions except for armaments” lifted, the officials said. For its part the North’s foreign minister said it only wanted some of the measures eased, and that its proposal to close “all the nuclear production facilities” at Yongbyon was its best and final offer. Moon’s goal, his adviser said, was a “nuclear weapons-free, peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula” — and he would not accept a peaceful accommodation with a nuclear-armed North. The South Korean president has long pushed engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table, but his security adviser backed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assessment that “talk is cheap,” saying that the North had given “words and commitment, but no actions.” Kim had told the South Korean leader that he had dismantled 30 percent of the Sohae rocket site, including “about 20 percent of the launchpad — but he hasn’t shown us,” Moon Chung-in said. “That still needs some kind of observation or inspection.” Similarly, Pyongyang claimed to have demolished “two-thirds” of its nuclear testing ground at Punggye-ri, but that too “needs verification,” he said. “North Korea should take further moves to really dismantle all of them,” he stressed. “It is now the North Korean turn to show actual action to make (the) U.S. move.” Openness was crucial, he added. There are many competing estimates of the North’s nuclear arsenal, and Moon places the most faith in figures of 30-35 weapons from U.S. expert Siegfried Hecker, who has been to Yongbyon. “But still we never know,” he added. “That is why we need the process of declaration and inspection. It’s like a blind man touching (an) elephant.” A retired professor of politics, Moon Chung-in has been involved with policy toward the North for decades and was one of the architects of the “Sunshine Policy” of engagement with Pyongyang under President Kim Dae-jung. He stressed that he speaks for himself and not the president — as an adviser, he is outside the formal policymaking process — but his comments may suggest the South will press the North harder to narrow the gap with Washington on nuclear talks. The breakdown in Hanoi meant a mooted trip by Kim to Seoul was off the table for now, Moon said, but added it was vital the two Korean leaders met again for more talks. The South is pushing an “all for all” agreement, as demanded by the US, combined with Pyongyang’s insistence on a step-by-step process to get there, described by Moon Chung-in as “incremental implementation with an acceptable road map.” That would require compromise from both sides. Moon has met Kim twice and says the North Korean leader has a “mastery of issues.” “He’s young, much more willing to talk” than his father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, “kind of entertaining.” Kim understands that “complete denuclearization” includes his existing stock of weapons, and the missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland and other targets, he said. The North Korean leader was — like any negotiator — looking to minimize risk while maximizing benefits, Moon said, and “hedging” because “regime survival is at stake.” But he must have been “very shocked” when Trump walked out of the Hanoi meeting, Moon said. “I think that was a very important learning process for him.”

u.s .
north korea
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis
donald trump
moon jae-in
kim-trump summit


In interview, Dalai Lama contemplates Chinese gambit after his death

Abstract: DHARAMSHALA, INDIA - The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, said Monday it was possible that once he dies his incarnation could be found in India, where he has lived in exile for 60 years, and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. Sat in an office next to a temple ringed by green hills and snow-capped mountains, the 14th Dalai Lama spoke a day after Tibetans in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala marked the anniversary of his escape from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, disguised as a soldier. He fled to India in early 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has since worked to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote and mountainous homeland. China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, brands the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate a dangerous separatist. Pondering what might happen after his death, the Dalai Lama anticipated some attempt by Beijing to foist a successor on Tibetan Buddhists. “China considers Dalai Lama’s reincarnation as something very important. They have more concern about the next Dalai Lama than me,” said the Dalai Lama, swathed in his traditional red robes and yellow scarf. “In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in free country, one chosen by Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese! It’s possible, it can happen,” he added, laughing. China has said its leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor, as a legacy inherited from China’s emperors. But many Tibetans — whose tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death — suspect any Chinese role as a ploy to exert influence on the community. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was 2 years old. Speaking in Beijing at a daily news briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the 14th Dalai Lama himself was chosen by following centuries-old religious rituals and history, which were “respected and protected” in rules and ordinances regulating religion. “Therefore reincarnations, including that of the Dalai Lama, should observe the country’s laws and regulations and follow the rituals and history of religion,” Geng said. Many of China’s more than 6 million Tibetans still venerate the Dalai Lama despite government prohibitions on displays of his picture or any public display of devotion. The Dalai Lama said contact between Tibetans living in their homeland and in exile was increasing, but that no formal meetings have happened between Chinese and his officials since 2010. Informally, however, some retired Chinese officials and businessman with connections to Beijing do visit him from time to time, he added. He said the role of the Dalai Lama after his death, including whether to keep it, could be discussed during a meeting of Tibetan Buddhists in India later this year. He, however, added that though there was no reincarnation of Buddha, his teachings have remained. “If the majority of (Tibetan people) really want to keep this institution, then this institution will remain,” he said. “Then comes the question of the reincarnation of the 15th Dalai Lama.” If there is one, he would still have “no political responsibility,” said the Dalai Lama, who gave up his political duties in 2001, developing a democratic system for the up to 100,000 Tibetans living in India. During the interview, the Dalai Lama spoke passionately about his love for cosmology, neurobiology, quantum physics and psychology. If he was ever allowed to visit his homeland, he said he’d like to speak about those subjects in a Chinese university. But he wasn’t expecting to go while China remained under communist rule. “China — great nation, ancient nation — but it’s political system is totalitarian system, no freedom. So therefore I prefer to remain here, in this country.” The Dalai Lama was born to a family of farmers in Taktser, a village on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, in China’s Qinghai province. During a recent visit to Taktser, police armed with automatic weapons blocked the road. Police and more than a dozen plain-clothed officials said the village was not open to nonlocals. “Our strength, our power is based on truth. Chinese power based on gun,” the Dalai Lama said. “So for short term, gun is much more decisive, but long term truth is more powerful.”


Grieving New Zealand turns to gun laws as it looks for lessons from Christchurch mosque massacre

Abstract: WELLINGTON - After days of intense grieving for New Zealand’s worst-ever mass shooting, attention began to turn to how the country’s gun laws need to change and what warning signs might have been missed ahead of a gunman’s attack on two mosques that killed 50 people. Bodies of the victims of Friday’s attacks in Christchurch were being washed and prepared for burial in a Muslim ritual process, with teams of volunteers flown in from overseas to assist with the heavy workload. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her Cabinet had made in-principle decisions on changes to gun laws that she would announce next Monday, saying now was the time to act on tightening access to firearms. Simon Bridges, leader of the opposition National Party, said he wanted to get details of the changes to see if there could be bipartisan support in Parliament. The National Party draws support from rural areas, where gun ownership is higher than in urban areas. “We know that change is required. I’m willing to look at anything that is going to enhance our safety — that’s our position,” Bridges told TVNZ. In addition to the 50 killed, dozens were wounded at the two mosques in the South Island city during Friday prayers. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist who was living in Dunedin, on New Zealand’s South Island, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, where police said he was likely to face more charges. Andrew Little, the minister who oversees New Zealand’s intelligence agencies, said monitoring of online activity had been stepped up in the wake of the Christchurch attacks. “There are people who have been online making statements who have been interviewed by the police; that will continue. There is a level of intervention, there is a heightened level of monitoring,” Little said on TVNZ on Monday night. Ardern said there would be an inquiry into what government agencies “knew, or could or should have known” about the alleged gunman and whether the attack could be prevented. “We have to know whether there have been failings, whether there have been gaps,” Little said on TVNZ. “We have to leave no stone unturned to not only deal with the perpetrator and ensure the criminal justice system gets to deal with him, but to understand how this could have happened in this country.” More than 250 New Zealand police ranks are working on the inquiry in the attacks, with staff from the U.S. FBI and Australia’s Federal Police working with local investigators. In the wake of the deadly attack, other incidents were drawing scrutiny. A gun club in the northern town of Kaitaia burned down early on Tuesday morning, and police were treating the blaze as suspicious. A bomb hoax that closed Dunedin Airport on Sunday night and caused some flights to be diverted was under investigation, police said. A black laptop bag was thought to have been bought onto the airfield by someone climbing over fences around the Dunedin airport. Police found a note written by the person who left the “hoax device,” which was dealt with by defense force experts. “The insensitive nature of this act in light of recent events cannot be overstated,” police said in a statement.

guns
muslims
white supremacism
jacinda ardern
brenton tarrant
new zealand mosque massacre


Myanmar military court plan to probe army's alleged Rohingya atrocities hit as 'delusional'

Abstract: YANGON - Myanmar’s army said on Monday it had set up a military court to investigate its conduct during a crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017 that forced more than 730,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The court comprising a major-general and two colonels will investigate events in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017, the military said in a statement posted on the website of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the army commander-in-chief. “The information is released that the investigation court was formed with the following persons to further scrutinize and confirm the respective incidents,” the military said. The court will respond to allegations made by the United Nations and rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accusing security forces of mass killings, rape and arson. Myanmar forces launched their offensive in Rakhine State in response to a series of attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security posts near the Bangladesh border. A U.N. fact-finding mission last year said the military campaign was orchestrated with “genocidal intent” and recommended charging Min Aung Hlaing and five other generals with the “gravest crimes under international law. Myanmar has denied the accusations of murder, rape and other abuses by its forces though Min Aung Hlaing said last month “a number of security men may have been involved. A previous military investigation, in 2017, exonerated the security forces of any crimes. The new court is “another bad faith maneuver” to fend off international pressure, said Nicholas Bequelin, Southeast Asia and Pacific director of Amnesty International. “The military stands accused of the gravest crimes under international law and has shown no sign of reform,” he said. “The idea that the Tatmadaw could investigate itself and ensure justice and accountability is both dangerous and delusional,” Bequelin added, referring to the army. The military information unit did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Myanmar is facing growing international calls for accountability over the Rakhine campaign. The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary examination into the violence, while a commission of inquiry formed by Myanmar and including Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo and Kenzo Oshima, Japan’s former ambassador to the U.N., is due to publish its findings this year. The creation of the military court was based on assessments and suggestions from the military-appointed judge advocate-general, as well the allegations contained in human rights reports, according to the army statement.

myanmar
u.n .
icc
genocide
rohingya
atrocities
rakhine


New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern vows never to speak killer's name

Abstract: CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed Tuesday never to utter the name of the twin-mosque gunman as she opened a somber session of Parliament with an evocative “ as salaam alaikum” message of peace to Muslims. “He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand,” Ardern promised grieving New Zealanders, while promising that she would deprive the man who slaughtered 50 people in Christchurch of the publicity he craved. “He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety,” she told assembled lawmakers of the 28-year-old Australian accused of the slaughter. “That is why you will never hear me mention his name. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless.” “I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them.” Dressed in black, the 38-year-old leader opened her remarks in Parliament with a symbolic greeting uttered across the Islamic world. “ Wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh ” she said, meaning: “May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you too.” She closed her address by noting that “on Friday, it will be a week since the attack, members of the Muslim community will gather for worship on that day. Let us acknowledge their grief as they do.” Her comments came as dozens of relatives of the deceased began arriving from around the world ahead of expected funerals which have already been delayed far beyond the 24 hours after death usually observed under Islamic custom. The slow process of identification and forensic documentation has so far made burials impossible, adding to families’ grief. Javed Dadabhai, who traveled from Auckland to help bury his cousin, said families and volunteers were told: “It is going to be a very slow process, a very thorough process.” “Some families have been invited to have a look at their family members … the ones that are easiest to recognize, but we are talking about three or four.” “The majority of people still have not had the opportunity to see their family members,” he said. In the wake of the mass shooting, Ardern has promised to reform New Zealand gun laws that allowed the gunman to legally purchase the weapons he used in the attack on two Christchurch mosques, including semi-automatic rifles. New Zealanders have already begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons, including John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton. Hart said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted that “on the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country.” The tweet drew a barrage of derogatory messages to his Facebook account — most apparently from the U.S., where the pro-gun lobby is powerful and vociferous. Hart deleted the messages but posted online a New Zealand greeting: “A warm kia ora to all my new American Facebook friends.” “I’m not familiar with your local customs, but I assume ‘Cuck’ is a traditional greeting,” he said of the insult, short for “cuckold” frequently used by far-right pundits. Police said they did not have data available on the number of weapons handed in since Friday. But they issued a statement saying that “due to heightened security and the current environment, we would ask that people please call us first before attempting to surrender a firearm.” Ardern has said that details of the government’s proposed law changes on gun ownership will be announced by next week, but she indicated that gun buybacks and a ban on some semi-automatic rifles were under consideration. “As the Cabinet, we were absolutely unified and very clear: the terror attack in Christchurch on Friday was the worst act of terrorism on our shores, it was in fact one of the worst globally in recent times, it has exposed a range of weaknesses in New Zealand’s gun laws,” she said.

guns
immigration
australia
new zealand
christchurch
mass shootings
jacinda arden
brenton tarrant


Tokyo residents mourn victims of New Zealand mosque shootings

Abstract: About two dozen Muslim residents of Japan huddled together Tuesday afternoon outside the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward at a vigil for the victims of last week’s mosque shootings in Christchurch. Participants from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq and Indonesia gathered at a Shibuya park to condemn violence and offer prayers, chanting “terror has no religion.” Holding banners with slogans condemning terrorism, they marched in groups to leave floral tributes. At least 50 people were killed and several dozens more were wounded in an attack on two mosques full of worshipers during midday Friday prayers. Samiul Islam, 26, who just got a job in Osaka after receiving a master’s degree in tourism and hospitality management from a Japanese university, came to protest terrorism. “It’s not a protest against any country. It’s against terrorism,” he told The Japan Times after offering a prayer. Pakistani Naim Ul Ghani Arain, a car dealer from Saitama Prefecture who has lived in Japan for 37 years, organized the vigil. He praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to change gun laws. “It’s important to limit access to weapons,” he said. He also called for severe punishment in terrorism cases to prevent massacres like the one in Christchurch from reoccurring. He also called for the end of anti-Muslim bigotry and white supremacy around the world. “No religion allows for such acts of terror,” he stressed. He said the group gathered to show the world that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism and expressed his discontent with the media’s hesitation to label massacres caused by non-Muslims as terrorism. The suspect in the attack is 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant, who opened fire at worshippers while livestreaming the massacre via Facebook. Before the shooting, Tarrant posted links to a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto on Twitter and a right-wing online forum. Tarrant was charged with murder on Saturday and is likely to face additional charges. Ardern, whose office received the manifesto several minutes before the country’s deadliest mass shooting, slammed the attack as an act of terrorism. She said she would change the country’s gun laws and ban all semi-automatic weapons.

guns
violence
immigration
australia
new zealand
christchurch
mass shootings
brenton tarrant


All aboard the Sakai Muscle Line? Osaka Metro axes foreign language website after botched translation

Abstract: Punctual trains. Rat-free platforms. A high standard of cleanliness. The Japanese commuter railway system is known for efficient, sanitary and high quality service. But creating an accurately translated website offering train information may not have been a top priority for Osaka Metro Co. The operator of Osaka’s municipal subway system took down a website offering multilingual information on Monday after a botched translation went viral and was mocked on social media. The website included errors such as listing the “Sakai Muscle Line” for the Sakaisuji Line (the kanji character for “ suji ” refers to muscles) and “car near Eyes 3” for car No. 3 (“ ryome ” — a word for trains cars — consists of kanji characters meaning “both” and “eye”). A section promoting a new TV commercial also used mangled English: “Osaka Metro TV uploaded footage of city is the new born. Please visit the can’t usually see pretty CM filming behind the scenes!” The operator said the odd English was a result of literal translation generated by an automated translation program. Screenshots of the website shared on social media revealed that other station names were butchered: “Before the Zoo” for Dobutsuen-mae, “Powerhouse Town” for Daikokucho and “Prince Bridge Now City” for Taishibashi-Imaichi. An Osaka Metro spokesperson said users notified the operator of the mistakes on Saturday. The company had used a Microsoft automated translation program since Sept. 1 last year for its English, Chinese, Korean and Thai websites. The spokesperson said that in the past someone reached out about a translation error on the company’s Chinese website but that there were no efforts to make a fix to the overall system. It remains unclear when the website — which now displays a message saying it is down “due to maintenance” — will go back online, the spokesperson said. Osaka will host the G20 summit in June and the World Expo in 2025.


Japan's Cabinet OKs amendment that bans corporal punishment after spate of tragic cases

Abstract: The Cabinet approved an amendment Tuesday banning parents from inflicting corporal punishment upon their own children, an effort intended to curb child abuse at home in light of recent high-profile cases where children were fatally mistreated in the name of discipline. If passed by the ongoing regular Diet session, the amendment would take effect in April next year. The ban on physical punishment would not only apply to parents but also to foster parents and welfare workers. The government is also eyeing a revision to the parental right to discipline guaranteed by the Civil Code within two years, amid long-standing criticism that the statute has been interpreted by some parents as giving a green light to corporal punishment that borders on abuse. Experts by and large hail the ban as a step forward in a country where physical punishment against children at home has long been tolerated as a means of discipline. But at the same time, they say the ban, which comes with no penalties, is a largely symbolic move. While it helps steer parents away from such violence, it would fall short of eradicating child abuse cases across the board, they say. The ban is the main pillar of a package of amendments, greenlighted by the government on Tuesday, to the child abuse prevention law and related legislation, including imposing a five-year plan on the central government to finance efforts to boost the number of child welfare institutions in major cities. Amendments also include obligating school and welfare center officials to keep their knowledge of child abuse confidential, following a nationwide outcry over the information mishandling that is seen to have played a part in the death of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara in the city of Noda, Chiba Prefecture, in January. In that case, city education board officials were roundly criticized for succumbing to pressure from her father, Yuichiro, to give him a copy of a school questionnaire where Mia, who was assured her answers would remain private, detailed the abuse that it is alleged was inflicted by him. Experts say the ban on corporal punishment by parents and other guardians will help spread the idea that exerting physical force on children can no longer be justified as a form of discipline. “It will definitely encourage relatives, friends and school teachers to step in and chide parents for physically punishing their kids, under the logic that what those parents are doing is now officially illegal,” Saori Nambu, an associate professor at Nippon Sport Science University who is an expert on corporal punishment and child abuse issues, said. But a ban without a penalty clause won’t provide enough deterrence to stop the most persistent abusers from harming children, Masao Maruyama, a professor of criminal law studies and child abuse at Nanzan University, points out. The amendment “has no effect on parents capable of some of the most extreme child abuse instances we’ve seen in recent months. It is instead meant to dissuade more typical parents with no such proclivity from ever crossing the line,” Maruyama said, adding abusive parents can face imprisonment or a fine under existing laws for offenses such as assault, parental abandonment and murder. The amendment approved Tuesday doesn’t spell out what parental conduct will be recognized as corporal punishment, with the government reportedly planning to put together a guideline setting out more details. Nambu from Nippon Sport Science University, for one, says outlawing parents from physically restraining children who are about to put their lives in jeopardy — such as toppling a child on a tricycle in a desperate bid to stop them from wheeling toward a street — would be unreasonable. The likeliest scenario, she said, is for the government to settle for the adoption of “case-by-case” judgments that leave room for the justification of physical force under critical circumstances. In Japan, where “causing trouble for others” is considered a taboo, corporal punishment has long been portrayed as a defensible measure to “thoroughly discipline” children, Nambu says. A 2017 survey by the international nongovernmental organization Save the Children, for example, showed nearly 60 percent of Japanese adults maintain a tolerant attitude toward physical punishment, although the majority of those who responded so also said they only condone it when “there is no other option.” While school officials are already forbidden from physically punishing pupils per the school education law, the ban on such punishment at home is likely to elicit much stronger resistance from the public, Nambu said. “Not all kids are innocent — some of them are really difficult and dead set against following adult instructions. … Unlike teachers, who merely oversee the kids temporarily, parents are in a position to bear ultimate responsibility for their discipline and often have no one to seek help from,” Nambu said. “Now, they are essentially being deprived of the last-ditch resort that is physical punishment and still asked to discipline kids properly. I could certainly understand if some parents are upset.” The key, then, is for the government to establish more infrastructure designed to reduce the burden on parents, such as stepping up child-rearing consultation systems for them, she said. The days when physical punishment was justified as a necessary evil are gone, the associate professor said. “Times have changed and the human rights of children are very much cherished today. In an age like this, children who suffer from violence when no other kids around them do will only grow less confident in themselves and possibly be more rebellious toward parents who inflict such harm. It’s a vicious cycle.”

child abuse
law revision
physical punishment


Auschwitz museum rebuts Holocaust denial tweet by Japanese celebrity doctor Katsuya Takasu

Abstract: BERLIN - The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland recently responded to a high-profile Japanese plastic surgeon’s 3-year-old Twitter post denying the Holocaust by issuing a tweet in Japanese describing it as a “historic fact.” Katsuya Takasu, a well-known media personality in Japan, posted the tweet Oct. 18, 2015. “I think Nanjing and Auschwitz are fabricated,” he wrote, apparently referring to the Holocaust along with the 1937 Nanking Massacre, in which China claims the Imperial Japanese Army slaughtered more than 300,000 people. Japanese historians have put the death toll from tens of thousands to 200,000. The official Twitter account of the museum replied to Takasu’s tweet on Friday, saying in Japanese: “Auschwitz is a historic fact that continues to warn the hearts of people around the world. The remains of the concentration and extermination camp created by Nazi Germany represent the greatest tragedy in human history.” アウシュビッツは世界中の人々の心に絶えず忠告する史実です。 ナチス・ドイツによって造られたその強制・絶滅収容所の史跡は、 人類史上最大の悲劇を象徴しています。 https://t.co/a5BRf0PbjE — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 15, 2019 The museum’s Twitter account regularly tweets in multiple languages but rarely in Japanese. Takasu reacted with a fresh post Sunday, saying he “mistrusts a post on an old topic being brought up.” The Auschwitz concentration camp was established in 1940 in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city annexed by Nazi Germany. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were systematically killed at the camp before it was liberated by Soviet troops in January 1945. It is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

nanjing
twitter
holocaust
auschwitz
katsuya takasu


Japan to invite guests from 195 nations for events marking enthronement of new Emperor

Abstract: The government said Tuesday it will send invitations to 195 nations for events in the fall to mark Crown Prince Naruhito’s enthronement, following Emperor Akihito’s abdication next month. The abdication ceremony, set to begin at 5 p.m. on April 30, is expected to be attended by about 300 guests, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet members. Abe will offer words of gratitude before the 85-year-old Emperor speaks to the representatives of the people, the government said. All 195 nations are recognized by Japan as states. A banquet to be hosted by Abe and his wife Akie on Oct. 23 for the new Emperor will stage Japanese cultural performances, which will be overseen by kyogen actor Mansai Nomura, a supervisor of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics opening and closing ceremonies, the government added. Nomura, 52, is a leading performer of the traditional style of comic drama. The previous banquet, held in November 1990 to celebrate the current Emperor’s enthronement, also featured kabuki and noh performances. “We will make thorough preparations so that we can observe our country’s historic turning point without any difficulties,” Abe said at a government meeting on Tuesday. Regarding the appointment of Nomura as general adviser for the banquet, a senior government official said the actor is “the most suitable person from the standpoint of entertaining foreign guests with Japanese traditional culture.” The event is expected to draw around 900 guests from home and abroad. The Emperor expressed his desire to step down in a rare video message in August 2016, citing concerns that he might not be able to fulfill official duties due to his advanced age. In June 2017, Japan enacted one-off legislation enabling him to abdicate, which will make him the first monarch to do so in the nation in around 200 years, and be succeeded by his 59-year-old elder son. On the morning of May 1, the new Emperor will inherit traditional Imperial regalia, such as the Sacred Sword and Curved Jewels, as proof of ascension to the throne, in the Kenji to Shokei no Gi ceremony. Later in the day, he will meet the representatives of the public for the first time in the Sokui go Choken no Gi rite. Male guests at both rituals are supposed to wear tailcoats, but in the Taiirei Seiden no Gi farewell ceremony to mark the Emperor’s abdication, set for April 30, the dress code for them will be morning coats, while female guests will be asked to wear long dresses, the government said. Attendees can also wear formal kimono, it added.

royalty
emperor akihito
abdication
mansai nomura
2020 tokyo olympics
emperor naruhito


Leopalace21 probe finds ex-president issued directive to use unsuitable wall materials

Abstract: Rental apartment operator Leopalace21 Corp. said Monday that its founder and former president issued the directive to change materials used in the walls of its apartments before they were built, contributing to defective construction work nationwide that later meant over 14,000 residents had to temporarily move out. With no division to monitor overall construction operations, the company failed to detect the order by the former president, Yusuke Miyama, to change materials from those initially planned in the designs, the interim report of its investigation said. Leopalace21 launched a probe into possible defects in its nearly 40,000 apartments nationwide after 38 defects were found last May in apartments built between 1996 and 2009. The company said last month it had found more than 1,300 apartments built with external walls not meeting fire-protection requirements or interior walls using substandard materials for sound insulation. Ceilings at some of the affected apartments used inadequate or inappropriate fire-resistant materials. The company said at that time a total of 14,443 residents would need to move out of their homes in Tokyo and 32 prefectures in order to repair the defects. “We take it seriously and are prioritizing progress in the investigation and remedial measures,” Executive Officer Shigeru Ashida said at a news conference. The rental apartment operator will continue its investigation to determine whether the direction by the former president to use substandard materials was intentional. Ashida said he did not know whether the former president was involved in any wrongdoing and that he will await the final report of the investigation. Miyama, who established the company in 1973, resigned in 2006 to take responsibility for misusing company funds for private purposes. According to the probe, the company had been seeking ways to build apartments more quickly in order to increase the number of residents and used those materials to shorten the construction periods. “It is likely that adequate checks on quality and legality were not conducted at any point in the process,” at the design, construction or final checking stages, the report read. The product development division, which was operating directly under the former president, was believed to have a “background of making light of laws and quality,” the report said. Leopalace21 did not have a division exclusively in charge of legal matters when it was planning to build the affected apartments. It also had no specific rules on how to check legal issues, according to the report. The probe committee plans to compile a final report by the end of May and will outline measures that the company should take in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.


With April dispatch to Egypt, Japan eyes first overseas SDF mission not under U.N. command

Abstract: Japan will send two Self-Defense Force members to a multinational peacekeeping force in Egypt in mid-April, their first dispatch to an overseas mission that is not under the command of the United Nations, the government said Tuesday. The government is accelerating its preparation for Cabinet approval in late March for the dispatch of the SDF members to the command of the Multinational Force and Observers on the Sinai Peninsula. If the dispatch through November is realized, it will mark the first application of new security legislation that has expanded the scope of the SDF’s international activities. The multinational mission, initiated by the United States, has been supervising the implementation of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel following the Arab-Israeli War. The new security law that came into effect in 2016 allows SDF participation in overseas peacekeeping operations even if they are not under the control of the United Nations. The government sent Defense Ministry officials to assess the situation on the Sinai Peninsula earlier this month and they apparently judged that the dispatch will not run counter to five legal requirements governing participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations. The so-called five principles will be applied when Japan sends SDF members abroad for peacekeeping operations, whether or not the mission is under U.N. control. The requirements include the existence of a cease-fire agreement among warring parties.

military
egypt
u.n .
self defense forces


GSDF chief Koji Yamazaki to become Japan's top uniformed officer

Abstract: The Cabinet approved a plan Tuesday to make the chief of staff of the Ground Self-Defense Force, Koji Yamazaki, the top uniformed officer of the country’s armed forces on April 1. The 58-year-old will replace Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, the longest-serving chief of the Self-Defense Forces’ Joint Staff. Yamazaki joined the GSDF in 1983 after graduating from the National Defense Academy. He previously served posts including the chief of the Northern Army. Kawano, 64, became the fifth chief of staff at the SDF Joint Staff in October 2014. He commanded the SDF’s responses to North Korea’s missile launches. As a trusted hand of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his aides, Kawano extended his retirement three times, having already become the longest-serving chief of the SDF’s Joint Staff.

ground self-defense force
katsutoshi kawano
koji yamazaki


Japanese government panel proposes making ancient tomb's mural paintings a national treasure

Abstract: A government panel on Monday recommended the mural paintings of the ancient Kitora tomb in western Japan be recognized as a national treasure in a bid to enhance their preservation following more than a decade of restoration work. The recommendation by the advisory council for the education minister comes only five months after the richly colored paintings in the tomb, which was built sometime between the late seventh century to the early eighth century, were designated an important cultural asset. The unusually quick move to raise the status of the paintings apparently underscores the government’s sense of urgency. The mural paintings, which include those of four deities in Chinese mythology that each represent a cardinal direction, were removed from the walls of the tomb in the village of Asuka, Nara Prefecture, in 2004 so repair work could be carried out to combat mold that had developed. After repairs were finished in 2016, the murals, which were discovered in 1983, have since been preserved and exhibited on a limited basis to the public in a museum adjacent to the tomb. The Kitora paintings, which also include a star chart on the ceiling that is said to be the oldest in East Asia, offer a rare glimpse into ancient art. The only other example of a colored mural in an old Japanese tomb is at the Takamatsuzuka tomb in Asuka. On Monday, the council also proposed to designate as national treasures a set of six statues from a Nara temple said to be inspired by Chinese art, as well as a group of five statues from a temple in Kyoto that are emblematic of the early days of sculptures associated with esoteric Buddhist teachings. The recommendations will bring the total number of national treasures in Japan to 893.

archaeology
national treasure
paintings
kitora tomb


Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki requests month of talks with Abe in bid to halt U.S. base transfer

Abstract: Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to engage in a one-month dialogue in his latest bid to halt the ongoing construction work to build a replacement facility for a key U.S. air base within the prefecture. Tamaki made the request after winning renewed backing from locals in his fight to stop the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma through a recent prefectural referendum. He also told Abe that the Okinawa Prefectural Government will withdraw an appeal filed with the top court over a lawsuit seeking suspension of the work. “I want to create an environment for dialogue, rather than continuing legal battles,” the governor told reporters after a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo. According to Tamaki, Abe did not clearly indicate whether he will agree to launch talks on the issue as requested and only said that the central government is moving ahead with the relocation work based on “various talks and confirmations.” Tamaki was meeting Abe for the second time since March 1, when he reported the outcome of the prefectural referendum in February that showed over 70 percent of voters were opposed to the plan to transfer the Futenma base from the crowded city of Ginowan to the less populated coastal area of Henoko. The plebiscite was nonbinding on the central government, which has maintained the current relocation plan is the “only solution” to eliminate the dangers posed by the Futenma base without undermining the deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S. security alliance. The government has also continued to pour massive amounts of soil and sand into the Henoko coastal area for the purpose of land reclamation since December. The prefectural government has sought to stop the construction work by taking the issue to courts, but the attempts have not been successful. In December, the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court upheld a lower court ruling, dismissing an appeal by the Okinawa Prefectural Government to suspend the relocation on the grounds that the central government is destroying reefs on the seabed without permission. Although the prefectural government appealed the high court ruling in the same month, Tamaki said Tuesday he has ordered prefectural government officials to withdraw the appeal. Tamaki, meanwhile, said he has not yet decided whether to file a fresh lawsuit aimed at nullifying the prefectural government’s approval for the landfill work given in 2013. The local government retracted its permission in August last year, but the move has been overridden by the central government. Many Okinawa residents have long hoped the Futenma base will be moved out of the prefecture, as they are frustrated with noise, crimes and accidents linked to the U.S. military presence. Opponents of the relocation plan have also said the replacement facility will destroy the marine ecosystem off the Henoko coast — home to an endangered species of dugong.

okinawa
u.s .
military
futenma
henoko
referendum
denny tamaki


Schools reopen, but student numbers fail to rebound in disaster-hit Fukushima municipalities

Abstract: FUKUSHIMA - Eight years after the March 2011 disasters, elementary and junior high schools have reopened in 10 Fukushima Prefecture municipalities after the lifting of nuclear evacuation advisories. Student numbers have not rebounded. According to statistics released last May, the number of students stood at only about 10 percent of the level before 3/11. During the protracted evacuations, many families rebuilt their lives in new locations, leading to the sharp fall in students in Fukushima. As a result, local governments are facing difficulties keeping schools operating. In the Yamakiya district in the town of Kawamata, the evacuation advisory was lifted in March 2017, six years after the reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Elementary and junior high schools reopened in the town in April 2018, but five students in the sixth grade are the only elementary school children. With no newcomers joining this spring, the elementary school plans to suspend operations in April. About 40 percent of the residents have returned to the district, but three-quarters of them are aged 60 or older. “Child-rearing families have shifted their living bases to the locations where they took shelter, after their children made friends at school and they built new homes,” an official of the town’s board of education said. A man in his 60s who is a member of a neighborhood community association in the district is disappointed by the steep decrease in the number of children. “The disappearance of children’s voices is like the lights going out,” the man, who did not want his name published, said. Before the March 2011 disasters, Sanbiki Shishimai, a traditional local event in which elementary school children perform dances for the health of local people, was held every year. The event resumed in 2017, but the organizers plan to enlist the help of children from outside the district this year. Although the event is not in the original form, “we want to continue our tradition one way or another,” the man said. In the village of Iitate, the number of elementary and junior high school students has fallen to 79. The local government currently pays all education-related expenses, including for education materials and school lunches. The village operates 12 school buses, including some for students commuting from neighboring municipalities, at an annual cost of about ¥65 million. Schools in the village devote a lot of time to education aimed at nurturing children’s affection for their hometown. “If they grow up in this village, they will hopefully make some form of contributions (to the village) in the future,” an official of the village board of education said. The central government is working to improve small-class education in depopulated areas through the use of information and communications technology. In February, four elementary schools in the Fukushima village of Katsurao and the towns of Tomioka and Namie conducted a joint ethics class by linking up in a teleconference system. Via screens, students exchanged opinions on the theme of having a big heart. “It gives valuable experience to students, as they usually have few opportunities to hear a range of views,” said Dai Nagaki, a 31-year-old teacher at a school in Katsurao.

fukushima no . 1
children
education
disasters
schools
students


Japan's government adopts bill to prevent padding of disabled employment figures

Abstract: Lawmakers at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday adopted a bill intended to prevent government ministries, agencies and other public organizations from overstating the employment of disabled people. Under the bill, which amends the law on promoting the employment of people with disabilities and will now move to the Diet, public organizations will be required to preserve documents used to determine whether a job candidate is recognized as having disabilities. Also, the labor ministry will be granted review and advisory powers to check whether such agencies are employing disabled people according to the rules. The bill also includes further measures to promote the employment of people with disabilities. The government will set up a benefits system for private-sector companies that employ disabled people working between 10 and 20 hours a week. Through the system, the government hopes to encourage firms to employ people with mental disabilities who struggle to work long hours. It will also create a system to accredit smaller businesses that are proactive about employing disabled people. Public institutions will be obliged to draw up and announce plans on employing disabled people. The bill calls on them to make efforts to improve their work environment by appointing officials to oversee such matters, as well as counselors. In addition to the measures approved at the Cabinet meeting, the government has decided to introduce penalties for central government ministries and agencies, such as reducing their personnel budgets, if they fail to meet the legally required employment rate for people with disabilities. That plan was decided at a meeting of related ministers, held before the Cabinet meeting. “The government must work as one to handle the matter properly,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the meeting. Last year, central government ministries and agencies were found to have overstated the number of employees with disabilities by a total of 3,700 as of June 2017. A number of missteps by ministries and agencies were revealed, such as concluding that a person was disabled from the results of medical examinations without checking disability certificates or other necessary documents.


METI tells convenience store operators to come up with plans to cope with Japan's labor crunch

Abstract: Operators of Japan’s major convenience store chains need to formulate plans to address the severe labor shortage that is creating growing discontent among their struggling franchisees, the industry minister said Tuesday. Hiroshige Seko, minister of economy, trade and industry, said he will meet in early April with the heads of the four dominant convenience store chains. One of them, Seven-Eleven Japan Co., saw a franchise owner recently make news by going against the company’s 24-hour operating policy when he cut business hours at his store. Franchise owners of the other three — FamilyMart Co., Lawson Inc. and Ministop Co. — have also experienced issues in recent months caused by the country’s tight labor market. The lack of workers is proving to be a huge challenge to convenience stores, which have become important cogs in Japan’s social infrastructure due to the wide range of products and services they provide at all times of the day and night. According to a ministry survey released Tuesday, 61 percent of convenience store owners say labor is in short supply, up 39 percentage points from the previous survey in fiscal 2014. The survey also found that some 39 percent are not satisfied with business conditions under their franchise agreement, up 22 points, due to such reasons as their stores’ lower than expected profitability and the long work hours required to run them. “It is problematic, thinking in terms of the sustainability of convenience stores that have become infrastructure for people’s lives,” Seko said. The survey was conducted online from December to March and targeted around 11,300 franchise owners across eight convenience store chains, according to the ministry. In February, a Seven-Eleven store owner in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, began closing his store overnight due to a lack of staff. Seven-Eleven, however, reprimanded the owner for violating his contract. Seven-Eleven has said it does not intend in principle to change the 24 hours per day, seven days per week policy it established in 1975, but it did begin a trial of shorter operating hours at some outlets to gauge the impact on sales and consumer traffic. FamilyMart has also tested reduced hours. The impact of the labor shortage is not limited to convenience stores, which have been increasingly turning to foreign part-time workers to fill shifts. Japanese companies across the board have been struggling to secure labor amid the graying of the population and the country’s modest economic growth. Restaurant chain operators have been moving toward shorter hours, including Royal Holdings Co., which ended around-the-clock operation at all its outlets in January 2017. The job availability ratio stood at 1.63 in January, meaning there were 163 openings for every 100 job seekers, according to the most recent government data.

jobs
meti
convenience stores
lawson
familymart
ministop


'Safety on the cheap': Standard-bearers of the sky FAA and Boeing face intense scrutiny after crashes

Abstract: NEW YORK - The relationship between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, which has set the global standard in aviation safety for decades, will come under unprecedented scrutiny this week after two deadly airline crashes. Both accidents involved a Boeing jet green-lighted by the U.S. regulator, which relied heavily on safety assessments made by Boeing employees. In a startling break from the past, other nations and airlines grounded the Boeing 737 Max en masse after the second fatal crash this month while the same model of plane continued to carry tens of thousands of passengers a day in the United States. This week, Congress joins the investigation into Boeing and the FAA. On Wednesday, the Senate aviation subcommittee will examine how the FAA oversees safety in the commercial aviation industry. The acting FAA chief is scheduled to testify. So is the Transportation Department’s inspector general, who is conducting a separate probe of the FAA’s decision to approve the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the type of plane that crashed in Indonesia in October, and then in Ethiopia two weeks ago. The U.S. House plans to hold its own hearings and The Associated Press has reported that the Justice Department is also investigating. At the very least, it looks like Boeing and the FAA are going to be under more intense scrutiny for some time. Here are some questions that lawmakers are almost certain to ask: Can FAA effectively regulate Boeing? For decades, the FAA has relied heavily on safety certifications performed by employees of aircraft manufacturers, whose work is overseen by the FAA. The FAA defends this delegation of work, saying it improves safety by involving more skilled professionals into the review of what companies do. Agency officials stress that the last fatal crash of a U.S. airliner took place a decade ago. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the FAA arrangement with manufacturers “safety on the cheap,” and said he wants to know more about the role that Boeing employees played in the FAA’s decision to certify the Max. Should FAA’s budget be increased? The agency concedes that it doesn’t have resources to keep pace with growth in the aviation industry. Outside experts say the FAA is overmatched — it can’t pay enough to attract and keep people with the technical expertise to regulate such a complex industry. “It’s a money thing, and they don’t have the money to do all the kinds of oversight,” said Todd Curtis, a former Boeing Co. safety engineer and creator of airsafe.com , a website that focuses on airline safety. What did the FAA know about the flight system? With the Max, Boeing created an automated flight-control system that has never been used before; it can direct the nose of the plane down if sensor readings indicate the plane may be about to stall, or lose aerodynamic lift from the wings. The interaction between pilots and that automated system is now at the center of the investigation into both crashes. According to published reports, high-ranking FAA officials were unaware of a Boeing’s stall-protection system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS. Lawmakers are likely to ask who within FAA knew about the software and whether they failed to grasp its significance. Why did the FAA act in grounding the plane? Flight safety regulators worldwide have followed the lead of the FAA for decades, but not this time. China, whose airlines have more Max jets than any other country, grounded the plane one day after the crash in Ethiopia. Others including the European Union and Canada followed quickly, citing a need for caution. That left the U.S. standing alone in allowing passengers to keep flying on the Max. President Donald Trump announced the grounding of the Boeing plane on the afternoon of March 13, three days after the crash in Ethiopia. The FAA said the planes were being parked because of “newly refined satellite data” and evidence collected at the crash site. Satellite information showed the planes that crashed had similar flight paths — erratic rates of alternately climbing and descending almost immediately after takeoff. Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell said the agency grounded the plane as soon as it had data to support the decision. Lawmakers will want to know whether the FAA’s delay exposed tens of thousands of passengers to unnecessary risk. Is pilot training good enough, especially at foreign airlines? New airline pilots can fly sooner overseas than their American counterparts. After a 2009 crash that killed 50 people near Buffalo, New York, Congress raised the minimum experience for starting airline pilots from 250 flight hours, to 1,500 hours in many cases, and 1,000 hours for graduates of an accredited aviation school. U.S. airlines once got most of their pilots from the military. Brent Bowen, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said most now get a college degree and flight training from an aviation school, then work another couple years as a flight instructor before joining an airline. Other countries follow training standards updated in 2006 by the United Nations’ aviation organization, which require far less flying time and emphasize simulator training and being part of a flight crew. “Most of the world’s airlines are using training academies where they can hire people off the street without any higher education, give them 250 hours of flight training in small aircraft, and in as little as 12 to 14 months they put them in the (co-pilot’s) seat of a full-size airliner,” Bowen said.

u.s .
congress
airlines
boeing
faa
ethiopian airlines
lion air
air accidents
mcas


Netflix and Roku shares surge ahead of Apple's video-streaming event

Abstract: NEW YORK - Roku Inc. and Netflix Inc. rose ahead of a highly anticipated event Monday afternoon where Apple Inc. is expected to unveil a video-streaming service. Analysts have speculated that Roku, a platform for streaming services, could be a beneficiary from Apple’s entry into the space. Meanwhile, Raymond James kept its strong buy rating on Netflix, saying media reports about Apple’s service suggest it “does not appear that different than others, and thus is unlikely to change the competitive landscape.” Netflix rose 0.8 percent at 11:46 a.m. in New York, while Roku jumped as much as 5.2 percent. Apple pared declines after earlier falling as much as 2 percent. BTIG wrote earlier that Apple’s event could “trigger a sell-off in the stock,” as there is little that Apple could say “that will satisfy media skeptics.” Despite that, it raised its price target to $220 from $189 and suggested the company has “a pretty good start” entering the highly competitive streaming space, given the amount of cash it has on hand, along with the huge user base of iPhone users.


Advertising for Japan's casinos to be limited to international arrival areas at travel hubs

Abstract: The government decided Tuesday it will allow casino advertisements to be displayed only in international arrival areas of air and sea terminals that are used by visitors from abroad. The rule is part of an enforcement order for the law enacted last year that legalized integrated resorts featuring casinos as the government aims to attract more international visitors and stimulate regional economies. Casino ads will be banned in all other areas outside the vicinity of each integrated resort. The restriction reflects the government’s aim to reduce Japanese citizens’ exposure to such ads in an effort to ward off gambling addiction. Rules set under the enforcement order, which was approved at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, will take effect one after another starting Monday. The standards adopted at the meeting for casino resorts due to be built by the mid-2020s also require operators to host hotels far larger than those that currently exist in the country, along with conference rooms and exhibition halls. With hotels required to secure more than 100,000 square meters for guest rooms, local governments aiming to bring such resorts to their municipalities will need to cooperate with business operators capable of making such massive investments. Japan will aim for casino resorts of “unprecedentedly large scale and high quality,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a government meeting on the issue prior to the Cabinet approval. The requirement for hotels was based on the size of overseas casino resorts built over the past decade. With the average-sized Japanese guest room requiring 50 square meters, such a hotel would necessitate 2,000 rooms, exceeding the average of 1,500 at three major luxury Tokyo hotels. As for the sizes of conference rooms and exhibition sites, operators will need to fulfill one of three combined numerical criteria, which include a convention center that accommodates 3,000 people with a 60,000-square-meter exhibition space. Tokyo Big Sight currently has the country’s largest exhibition floor space of 95,000 square meters, while the nation’s largest conference halls, the Tokyo International Forum in Tokyo and the Pacifico Yokohama ,hold around 5,000 people. The maximum floor space for casinos should be 3 percent of the integrated resort’s total space, according to the regulations. A recent Kyodo News survey, covering all of Japan’s 47 prefectures and 20 major cities that are eligible to host the newly legalized resorts, found that only three areas — the prefectures of Osaka, Wakayama and Nagasaki — plan to apply for the government’s screening of host sites. With the adoption of the enforcement order, local governments wanting to host casino resorts and businesses eager to operate such facilities are expected to speed up related preparations. The central government will set up a committee for supervising casinos. The tourism minister will lay out a basic policy for resort development, possibly this summer. After that, local governments will select resort operators and work with them to jointly devise and submit development plans.


Japan Post Bank to double savings cap to ¥26 million starting Monday

Abstract: Japan Post Bank will raise the cap on its yūcho postal savings Monday to ¥26 million per customer, up from ¥13 million. The cap will be set at ¥13 million each for ordinary and time savings accounts, for a total of ¥26 million. It will be the first increase in the cap since it was raised by ¥3 million in April 2016. The increase will allow customers to deposit a larger sum of money, including retirement pay, while helping reduce the bank’s burdens, such as informing clients whose savings exceed the cap. Private sector rivals have complained that the higher cap will put pressure on them as the measure is expected to lead to an outflow of deposits to the government-backed bank. The higher cap could deal a blow to collaborative moves between Japan Post Bank and regional banks, including the mutual use of ATMs and joint sales of investment funds aimed at revitalizing rural areas. A government panel called late last year for the higher savings cap as part of its proposals regarding the privatization of postal services.


Canadians question ratification of North American trade deal with Trump tariffs still intact, Ottawa official says

Abstract: OTTAWA - Many Canadians question why Ottawa should ratify a new North American free trade deal given Washington’s refusal to lift U.S. tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from its northern neighbor, a top Canadian official said on Monday. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland made her remarks to reporters in Washington after meeting U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to insist on the removal of the sanctions, which the U.S. administration announced last May, citing national security reasons. Canada is the single largest supplier of both aluminum and steel to the United States. Freeland said it made no sense to retain the tariffs, given that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement had been formally signed last November. “I have heard from a lot of Canadians that they would be really troubled by Canada moving forward with ratification while the tariffs are still in place,” she said in televised remarks. Freeland did not answer directly when asked whether she had made any progress in trying to persuade Lighthizer to lift the tariffs. Washington worries that countries could try to ship supplies through Canada and pretend the metals had been produced in Canadian facilities. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump on March 1 about the matter but well-placed sources said there was little sign of progress.

u.s .
trade
mexico
canada
tariffs
aluminum
nafta
donald trump
crystia freeland