25 years after Rwanda massacre, remains of nearly 85,000 genocide victims finally laid to rest

Abstract: KIGALI - The remains of nearly 85,000 people murdered in Rwanda’s genocide were laid to rest Saturday in a somber ceremony in Kigali a quarter of a century after the slaughter. Mourners sobbed as 81 white coffins containing the remains of 84,437 victims of the 1994 mass killings were buried at the Nyanza Genocide Memorial in the capital. They were among more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, massacred over 100 days by Hutu extremists and militia forces determined to eradicate the Tutsi minority in Rwanda. Rwanda begins 100 days of mourning every April 7 — the day the genocide began. But this year has witnessed particular commemorations to mark the 25th anniversary. “Commemorating the genocide against the Tutsi is every Rwandan’s responsibility — and so is giving them a decent burial,” Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said at the mass burial. Some mourners broke down wailing as survivors spoke of the pain of losing their loved ones so brutally. A number were escorted from the funeral by ushers. Emanuel Nduwayezu said the discovery meant he finally had somewhere to come each April 7 and lay a wreath in memory of his murdered family. “Right now I am very happy because I have buried my dad, my sister and her children, and my in-law. Twenty-five years have passed and I had not known where they were,” he said. “Everyday I was thinking and getting confused (about) where my dad was but now I found him and I have a buried him.” The remains of those interred on Saturday were only found early last year, when 143 pits containing thousands of bone and clothing fragments were discovered beneath homes on the outskirts of Kigali. Those exhumed for burial on Saturday came from just 43 such pits — leaving 100 more to go. A painstaking effort was undertaken so that family members could identify their loved ones by their teeth, clothing and other markings. They join 11,000 other victims already laid to rest at the Nyanza Genocide Memorial. Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu, who heads Ibuka, an umbrella organization for genocide survivors, said a landlord from the area revealed the location of the graves only after he was threatened with arrest. More pits were later found when a man, tasked in 1994 with dumping corpses, came forward with new information. Dusingizemungu said it was likely those living on the graves knew what lay beneath their homes. “It is unfortunate that … these perpetrators, now free, never bothered to reveal to bereaved families the location of these grave sites, so they could get closure,” he said. Clementine Ingabire was the only person from her extended family of 23 to survive the massacre. Seven of her relatives were identified from the pits, their remains scattered among the coffins. But at least they were granted a dignified burial, she said. Just seven at the time, Ingabire remains incredulous she made it out alive. “Despite the fact that most people were very cruel, there were those who took risks to save others,” the 32-year-old said. “I was saved by a Hutu woman who was a good friend to my mother. She saw me running and grabbed me … that’s how I survived.” The ethnic bloodshed ended on July 4 when mainly Tutsi rebels entered Kigali, chasing the genocidal killers out of Rwanda. The rebel general was Paul Kagame, who became Rwanda’s president and has remained in power ever since.

africa history ethnicity genocide rwanda


Despite data scandals, Australian parties get free rein to gather personal info on voters

Abstract: SYDNEY/SAN FRANCISCO - Australian political parties are using voter email addresses to find matching social media profiles and combining them with the country’s compulsory electoral roll data, illustrating how privacy scandals have done little to slow the march of data-driven campaigning. While the use of data and public profiles from Facebook, Twitter and other social media for political campaigning has become widespread globally, Australia is one of the countries most open to online information gathering by political operatives. “Most Australians have little idea about how many data points organizations like political parties, let alone Facebook, have on each of them,” said Glenn Kefford, a political scientist at Macquarie University who has written extensively about data-driven campaigning. “They would be shocked and probably disgusted.” Australia, which goes to the polls on May 18, is one of the few Western democracies where voting is compulsory. What is more, Australian political parties and candidates are exempt from privacy laws covering access to the electoral roll data — full names and addresses — that all 16 million voters are required to provide. In the United States, just 60 percent of adults are registered to vote, limiting the number of voters whose electoral roll information can be dragged into a data profile. Last year, Europe introduced sweeping laws requiring political organizations to get specific permission before scraping a person’s data from another website. Australia’s government, however, rejected calls for a review of its exemption from privacy laws. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said it has been asking the government for over a decade to overturn that exemption and “continues to hold the view that this exemption should be re-examined in light of the changing digital environment and data collection practices.” Branches of the left-leaning Labor and Greens parties, the conservative Liberals and the rural-focused Nationals have all hired consultants to run the U.S.-owned campaigning software NationBuilder, a Reuters analysis of party websites shows. Privately held NationBuilder, which counted several senior Facebook personnel among its early investors and markets itself as politically neutral, launched its social media “match” function in 2013 but stopped automatically offering it in Europe in 2018 due to new digital privacy laws. NationBuilder’s vice president of strategic partnerships, Toni Cowan-Brown, said the company was looking at spreading its “model of privacy by default and consent” beyond Europe but it had not stopped offering its “match” function by default in Australia. “It’s a very delicate line between innovation and privacy,” Cowan-Brown said. “The way customers are innovating is very cool and we don’t want to stifle that.” In 2018, amid a political data harvesting scandal involving now defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, Facebook made it more difficult for third party apps like NationBuilder to harvest some user data, although it still lets them import people’s profile photo and name based on an email address match. NationBuilder is trying to regain access to Facebook event RSVPs, the only data it uses that is affected by the new policy, said Cowan-Brown. Unlike Cambridge Analytica, the firm does not pull data on a person’s emotions or habits, Cowan-Brown added. NationBuilder customers can also collect the names of people who “like” or comment on their Facebook posts. Facebook declined to comment on interactions with NationBuilder specifically, but said third-party apps could no longer ask for access to personal information such as religious or political views, relationship status, education or work history. The company has also limited access to information in its groups, pages and events features, a spokeswoman said. With Twitter, NationBuilder customers can under certain circumstances import a person’s written profile bio, location, personal website, as well as their name and photo and tweets when a customer is mentioned, Cowan-Brown said. Twitter said its data reflected information that users choose to share publicly. “Our API (application programming interface) provides broad access to public Twitter data that users have chosen to share with the world,” Twitter said in an emailed response to Reuters. The major parties also prospect for email addresses with social media “petitions” about hot-button topics, some collecting emails addresses without a person typing it, thanks to other software linked to the person’s Facebook account. “It is a wet dream for marketers,” said Curtis Harrison, a NationBuilder consultant who has worked on Australian political campaigns for five years. “You start off with an email address, and once you get that email address you get a name. And once you get a name you get a phone number. Once you get that phone number you get more and more and more.” Attorney-General Christian Porter said in an email the exemption was “designed to encourage freedom of political communication and support the operation of the electoral and political process.” He did not respond to a question about whether politicians had access to too much voter data. A spokesman for the Labor Party’s shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the political exemption was “put in place to facilitate political engagement, which is a foundation of our system of representative democracy.” When the Australian Labor Party posted on Facebook a video of two of its leaders bantering on a campaign bus last month, artist Jaymie Faber was one of 1,600 people who clicked “like,” automatically sending the party’s NationBuilder database her name and Facebook photo. From there, the party could manually enter her public profile information, which included her employment situation and home city, to match with electoral roll information. “While I never intended for the information to be collected into a database, I also accept that I had the knowledge that it could be a possibility,” Faber said. “I don’t believe that it should be allowed or legal to be collected in such a matter, but unfortunately it is.”

internet
australia
privacy
elections
social media
personal information


Trump shrugs off North Korean weapon firings after South revises 'missiles' to 'projectiles'

Abstract: HONG KONG - President Donald Trump brushed off news of a possible weapons test by North Korea, vowing that leader Kim Jong Un “will do nothing to interfere” and that a denuclearization deal with the U.S. “will happen.” Saturday’s tweet, posted while Trump was in a motorcade to the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, was the president’s first response to news overnight that Pyongyang had fired numerous short-range projectiles off its eastern coast on Saturday, according to South Korean authorities. The move was seen as Kim’s latest and most provocative signal of frustration over talks with Trump following the pair’s failed summit in Vietnam in February. The significance of the test was difficult to assess. South Korea revised its account of the nature and scale of the weapons discharged from the eastern port of Wonsan just after 9 a.m. Saturday. After first calling them “missiles,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later changed its description to “projectiles,” saying greater clarity would require more analysis. Seoul’s defense ministry said Sunday that an analysis of the launch indicated Pyongyang had tested “240-mm and 300-mm multiple rocket launchers and a new type of tactical guided weapons with a range of around 70 to 240 kilometers” (45 to 150 miles). North Korean state media said Sunday that Kim had overseen a test of rockets and tactical guided weapons. Trump has cited Kim’s self-imposed freeze on missile and nuclear weapons tests to support his decision to continue negotiations with the North Korean leader. South Korea’s descriptions of the incident suggested shorter-range rockets or artillery, which would be less likely for the U.S. to interpret as a violation of Kim’s pledge to refrain from testing. “We are aware of North Korea’s actions tonight. We will continue to monitor as necessary,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. National security adviser John Bolton briefed the president about the launch, according to a senior administration official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the matter. The weapons were fired from the Hodo Peninsula, which has been the site of past live-fire artillery exercises, and traveled 70 to 200 km (45 to 125 miles), the joint chiefs said Saturday. The Yonhap news agency later reported that the weapons fired were “not missiles,” citing unidentified lawmakers briefed by intelligence officials. “Missiles are projectiles, but South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff might be using ‘projectile’ to imply an unguided rocket, like one of North Korea’s older rocket artillery systems,” said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists. “This could also be a politicized attempt to make the word ‘missile’ not so prominent, in case that creates the kind of news cycle that Trump doesn’t want.” The weapons test was nonetheless Kim’s most significant provocation since he launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017, declared his nuclear weapons program “complete” and opened talks. South Korea President Moon Jae-in’s spokeswoman condemned the incident, saying in a statement that the launches “go against” a military agreement the two Koreas reached in September to halt “hostile activities.” Kim has expressed increasing frustration since Trump refused his demands for sanctions relief and walked out of their second summit in Hanoi in February. After a year of talks, Kim has made only a pledge to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” without defining the phrase. The North Korean leader accused the U.S. of “bad faith” during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok the previous week. He had earlier told North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly that he would wait “with patience till the end of this year” for the U.S. to make a better offer. A shorter-range test could also signal displeasure with South Korea’s participation in joint military drills with the U.S., despite Trump’s decision to scale down those exercises. North Korean state media has repeatedly complained about the drills in recent weeks and Kim pledged “corresponding acts” during his speech last month to the rubber-stamp parliament. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed Saturday’s incident with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo by phone, the ministry said in a statement. Nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon made a separate call to U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun, who is slated to visit Japan and South Korea this week. “This is an expected move from North Korea — not too provoking, but urging the U.S. to take a slightly stronger stance than their initial one,” said Kim Hyun-wook, of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy. “This seems like a message for Stephen Biegun’s planned trip to the peninsula.” Japan’s defense ministry said Saturday that it did not detect any missiles entering Japan’s exclusive economic zone and thus there was no immediate impact to its national security. Although Saturday’s launch was the most significant since Kim’s detente with Trump, North Korea has announced more limited weapons tests in recent months. Kim personally oversaw the test-firing of a “new-type tactical guided weapon” last month, which South Korea later said appeared to be a system intended for ground combat and not a ballistic missile. Descriptions of the current incident suggested weapons ranging from rocket-propelled artillery to multiple rockets fired from launchers, analysts said. Firing such a weapon could serve a range of goals from pushing back against South Korea, to reassuring Kim’s domestic audience of his leadership. “The range they have would only be really good for hitting targets across the border in South Korea,” said Nathan Hunt, an independent defense researcher. “It could be seen that this was a signal to the ROK that the DPRK is losing patience,” he said, using the acronyms for the two Korea’s formal names.

north korea
military
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis
donald trump
kim-trump summit


Newly crowned Thai king carried through Bangkok in elaborate royal procession

Abstract: BANGKOK - Thailand’s newly crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn was carried by soldiers on a gilded palanquin through the streets of Bangkok Sunday, in front of crowds who craned to witness the historic event. The king, Rama X of the Chakri dynasty, wore a bejewelled robe and broad-brimmed hat with a feather on the second of three days of pageantry and royal splendor. The 7-kilometre procession brings the public into close proximity with the 66-year-old monarch for the first time, two years after he ascended the throne in an increasingly assertive reign. It started around 5 p.m. at the grand palace in Bangkok’s old quarter as trumpets blared, soldiers shouted commands and cannons fired a 21-gun salute. Thais wearing yellow shirts — the royal color — and carrying hats and umbrellas to protect against temperatures reaching 36 C filled the streets outside with many clutching portraits of Vajiralongkorn and shouting “Long live the King!” “It may be my first and last chance to see this,” 57-year-old Nattriya Siripattana said ahead of the first ceremony of its kind in 69 years. The three-day coronation, which started Saturday, is the first since Vajiralongkorn’s adored and revered father was crowned in 1950. The highlight of Saturday’s sombre ceremonies was the King’s anointment with holy water, before he placed the 7.3 kilogram (16 pound) golden tiered crown on his head. Early Sunday, the king bestowed royal titles on family members who crawled to his throne in a striking show of deference to the monarch. He was joined by his new Queen Suthida. The queen, 40, was deputy commander of the king’s royal guard before her marriage to Vajiralongkorn, which was announced days before the coronation. During the procession, she marched in red and black uniform next to the palanquin. Thailand’s monarchy is swaddled in ritual, protocol and hierarchy all orbiting around the king, who is viewed as a demigod. During the hourslong procession Thais will have the opportunity to “pay homage” to the king who will also stop at several major temples to pray before large gilded Buddha images. On the ground, authorities sprayed mists of water over the crowds whose numbers were bolstered by droves of “Jit Arsa” — or “Spirit Volunteers” — intended to project a show of devotion and fealty to the monarchy. But soaring temperatures threatened to thin out the numbers. Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in 2016 after the death of his father Bhumibol Adulyadej. The elaborate coronation ceremonies have been broadcast on live television and include a network of the powerful and influential in Thailand. Junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a 2014 coup, took part in many of the key rituals, including the procession. The king and queen stayed the previous night in the royal residence, where a Siamese cat and a white rooster were placed on a pillow as part of housewarming rituals intended to bring good tidings. One of the family members to receive royal titles was 14-year-old Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, who knelt and prostrated in front of his father as he was anointed with water. The teenager is the king’s son from his third marriage. He has six other children, including four sons from two previous wives. Criticism or in-depth discussion of the royal family in Thailand is guarded by harsh lese-majeste rules that carry up to 15 years in prison. All media must self-censor and the country’s lively social media platforms have been subdued. But the dazzling display of the primacy of the monarchy in Thai life belies a simmering political crisis held over from elections in March. The junta that seized power in 2014 and has vowed to defend the monarchy is aiming to return to power through the ballot box. Its proxy party has claimed the popular vote. But a coalition of anti-military parties says it has shored up a majority in the lower house. Full results are not expected until May 9, a delay that has frustrated many Thais. “When the event (coronation) is finished we will have to focus on politics,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a lecturer at Ubon Ratchathani University. Since ascending the throne the king has taken several assertive moves, including bringing the assets of the Crown Property Bureau under his direct control. Though the royal family is nominally above politics, the king issued an election-eve message calling on Thais to vote for “good people” against those who create “chaos.” And in February, he scuttled the prime ministerial bid of his older sister, Princess Ubolratana, with an anti-junta party.

thailand
bangkok
rama x
king maha vajiralongkorn
enthronement


India's rapid response to devastating Cyclone Fani wins praise

Abstract: NEW DELHI - U.N. and other experts have praised India for its early warning systems and rapid evacuation of more than 1 million people, which they said helped minimize loss of life from a deadly cyclone that battered its eastern coast. Cyclone Fani, one of the biggest to hit India in years, tore into Odisha on Friday, leaving a trail of devastation across the coastal state of 46 million people before swinging towards Bangladesh. In 1999 the same state was hit by a devastating 30-hour supercyclone that saw a storm surge sweep 20 kilometers inland. Unprepared for the scale of the diaster, authorities struggled to evacuate the stricken population and some 10,000 people were killed. This time, improved forecasting models, public awareness campaigns and well-drilled evacuation plans — backed up by an army of responders and volunteers — has seen Odisha’s inhabitants spared the worst of Fani’s fury. Only 12 people have been killed by the cyclone in India — which escaped being hit by a major storm surge — and at least 160 injured, local media reported. As soon as it became clear this week that Fani was on course to hit Odisha, emergency teams began the mammoth task of evacuating those living in low-lying regions, moving 1.2 million residents away from danger areas and in to temporary shelters. Alerts asking residents to stay indoors and follow the dos and don’ts were issued repeatedly on TV and radio, and broadcast through loudspeakers in public places. The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) praised the government’s “effective” evacuation, saying it had “saved many lives.” The state government in Odisha along with national disaster response teams and volunteers have worked in tandem to carry out evacuations and set up safe shelters. Workers have been equipped with satellite phones and inflatable boats along with food and medicines to distribute in the storm’s aftermath. Some 7,000 kitchens catering to 9,000 shelters have been set up, thanks to an army of 45,000 volunteers. Emergency workers are now focussing on restoring damaged infrastructure, including power and telecom lines, and clearing roads. Mahesh Palawat, the vice president of meteorology at private forecaster Skymet, said the early warnings had been vital in allowing authorities to plan in advance. “From April 25 onwards we (the Indian Meteorological Department and Skymet) had been monitoring the track and intensity of the cyclone continuously, what time it would make landfall and the probable points of landfall,” Palawat told AFP. Numerical models, adopted by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in 2014 to supplement the more traditional statistical modeling, allowed forecasters to track Fani’s progress and wind profiles in the upper atmosphere. Denis McClean, a spokesperson for UNISDR, said “the almost pinpoint accuracy” of the early warnings from the IMD had enabled the authorities to “conduct a well-targeted evacuation plan.” Social media users also lauded the Indian authorities for averting a mass human disaster, despite the fact that a densely populated region was in the eye of the storm. “Credit goes to #India authorities for their aggressive pre-impact response, including massive evacuations,” wrote Josh Morgerman, a U.S.-based cyclone expert.

india
weather
storms
bangladesh
typhoons
cyclone fani


Number of children in Japan declined by a third during Heisei Era

Abstract: The number of children in Japan fell by a third during the 30 years of the Heisei Era, which ended in April, internal affairs ministry data showed Saturday. The number aged under 15 was estimated at 15.33 million as of April 1, down 180,000 from a year before and the lowest since comparable data became available in 1950. The total, which marked the 38th straight year of decrease since 1982, was about two-thirds of the 23.2 million in 1989, the first year of the Heisei Era. In the new era of Reiwa, an easy solution to the problem is not expected to be found soon to halt the declining numbers, analysts said. The nation’s birthrate has also remained low amid a lack of support for working women, many of whom continue to face the burden of homemaking and other traditional roles while having to work long hours. According to the data, released before Children’s Day on Sunday, those aged under 15 accounted for 12.1 percent of the nation’s total population, down 0.2 percentage point year on year and falling for the 45th straight year since 1975. Japan ranks lowest among countries with a population exceeding 40 million, followed by South Korea at 12.9% and Italy and Germany at 13.4%, according to the Statistics Bureau figures. The share for Japan was down 6.7 points from the 18.8 percent in 1989. Of all children, boys accounted for 7.85 million and girls totaled 7.48 million. By three-year age brackets, the numbers fell as the ages become lower. Those aged 12 to 14 stood at 3.22 million, 9 to 11 at 3.21 million, 6 to 8 at 3.09 million, 3 to 5 at 2.95 million and 0 to 2 at 2.86 million. As of Oct. 1, 2018, the number of children increased by 8,000 to 1.55 million in Tokyo, the only local government that posted growth. The number remained unchanged at 247,000 in Okinawa Prefecture and decreased in all 45 of the other prefectures. The share of children in the total prefectural population was highest in Okinawa Prefecture, at 17.0 percent, followed by Shiga Prefecture, at 14.0 percent, and Saga Prefecture, at 13.6 percent. The share was lowest in Akita Prefecture, at 10.0 percent, followed by Aomori Prefecture, at 10.8 percent, and Hokkaido Prefecture, at 10.9 percent.


Japanese health ministry to urge hospitals to enhance disaster preparedness

Abstract: The health ministry will urge all of the nation’s hospitals designated as disaster response medical centers to stock enough fuel to run their power generators for at least three days by March 2021, people close to the matter said Sunday. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will also ask those 736 hospitals across the country to store enough water to sustain their treatment for three days without external supply or access to ground water, they said. The decision comes after the ministry’s survey following the deadly torrential rains in western Japan and the earthquake that caused a complete blackout in Hokkaido last year found that more than 100 of the hospitals do not meet either of the criteria. Of the 736 hospitals, 114 said their power generator fuel reserve is not enough to keep their operations running for three days, meaning they could be vulnerable if power and gas lines get severed during an earthquake or other disasters. Among the 114, 62 facilities planned to receive fossil fuel from regional supplies, while 12 said they would rely on city gas to run their generators. The current guidelines only require hospitals to find ways to secure fuel to keep their generators running on their own for three days or so, but not necessarily in the form of fuel reserves. In the case of the powerful earthquake that caused a blackout in Hokkaido in September, most of the prefecture’s 34 designated hospitals were forced to scale down their operations. Some of them went without power for over 40 hours. “It is hard to know how much fuel reserves we need (to survive a blackout) until a disaster actually hits,” one hospital official said. Other hospital operators said they do not have enough space or funding to set up additional fuel storage facilities. The hospitals are required to have three days’ worth of drinking water, but there is no specific requirement for water needed in treatment such as dialysis. The survey showed 177 facilities do not have water tanks large enough to store the required amount of drinking water. None of them has access to ground water.


Japan and Vietnam agree to promote defense cooperation

Abstract: HANOI - Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met in Hanoi on Saturday and agreed to strengthen their countries’ defense cooperation. The two nations will promote exchange programs for their defense industries while Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels will make port calls in Vietnam, Japanese officials said. “Drawing on the results of this visit, Japan would like to strengthen ties with Vietnam and contribute to regional stability and peace,” Iwaya told reporters after the meeting held on the last day of his three-day visit to Vietnam. Thursday, Iwaya and his Vietnamese counterpart, Ngo Xuan Lich, held talks where they agreed to seek a peaceful resolution for territorial issues in the South China Sea. China lays claim to almost the entire sea, which has raised tensions with Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, all of whom make claims to parts of the region. The disputed waters are rich fishing grounds and possibly hold large oil and natural gas deposits. Japan is promoting bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation with Southeast Asian countries under its defense guidelines to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

vietnam-japan relations
nguyen xuan phuc
takeshi iwaya


Long traffic jams and packed bullet trains: Travelers return to Tokyo after Golden Week

Abstract: The rush of travelers returning to Tokyo from the extra-long Golden Week holiday grew Sunday, with traffic jams over 30 km long seen on some parts of expressways, and major airports and railway stations reporting massive crowds. With people returning to work on Tuesday after the unprecedented 10-day national holiday, bullet trains were full of passengers. Masafumi Mori, 38, a high school teacher in Kawasaki, arrived at Tokyo Station after volunteering in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit by major tsunami in March, 2011. He helped local workers pack seaweed. “Shopping streets were full of people,” he said. “I can take another day off this time, although I was exhausted after working” as a volunteer in the Tohoku region, he said. Junta Ogata, 24, arrived at Narita airport after a trip to Europe with his girlfriend. “I feel blue because I need to start working tomorrow,” he said with a wry smile. Japan Road Traffic Information Center reported traffic jams of more than 30 km around the Takasaka rest area in Saitama Prefecture, and 20 km around Joban Kashiwa interchange in Chiba Prefecture. “I refreshed myself by playing golf, but I immediately got exhausted after I was caught in a traffic jam,” said Osamu Oide, 55, of Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. This year’s holiday was specially extended to 10 days to celebrate the imperial succession. Emperor Naruhito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, a day after his 85-year-old father became the first Japanese monarch in 202 years to abdicate.


Education ministry draws up reference guide on gambling addiction for Japan's schoolteachers

Abstract: The education ministry has come up with reference documents for high school teachers to guide them in preventing addiction to gambling and other activities and substances. The documents, which are in line with new guidelines on the school curriculum to be used from fiscal 2022, are intended to improve teachers’ understanding of addictions by detailing the factors that cause them. Under the curriculum guidelines, physical education classes will address prevention of and recovery from mental diseases. The instruction manual for the guidelines cites addiction as a mental disease. It calls for teaching students that, in addition to addictions to substances including alcohol and drugs, excessive participation in gambling and other activities is at risk of becoming an addiction behavior and adversely affecting people’s daily lives. The reference documents say the repeated use of drugs and other substances tends to lead to increases in the amounts and frequencies of such use, causing problems with health and daily living. Behavioral addicts, such as gambling addicts, cannot abandon their habitual practices at will, the documentation warns. With the help of illustrations, the documents explain the mechanisms of the brain, such as how the secretion of dopamine excites the central nervous system and causes pleasing sensations and euphoria. The documents also emphasize that addictions must be treated at specialist medical institutions. The creation of the reference documentation was called for in the government’s basic policy on measures to address gambling addictions, which was adopted in April. Later in fiscal 2019, the education ministry plans to draw up educational documents for children that correspond to their development stages, in an effort to provide better education, officials said.

teachers
education
gambling
schools
addiction
mental health
mext


The week ahead for May 6 to May 12

Abstract: Monday Substitute holiday for Children’s Day. Classic car parade “The Ginza Run” to be held in central district of Tokyo. Tuesday New town offices of Okuma, hit by 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, to start operation. Automaker industry body to release Japan’s new car sales in April. Restaurant chain operator Kisoji Co. to close all restaurants through Wednesday to give employees holidays as part of improvement to labor conditions. Wednesday Toyota Motor Corp. to release earnings report for business year ended March 31. Japanese auto giant is expected to report record sales due to robust global demand. 49th session of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be held in Kyoto through May 12. Emperor Naruhito to attend Kijitsu Houkoku no Gi ceremony at Imperial Palace and report dates of Sokuirei Seiden no Gi ritual in October to proclaim his enthronement and the Daijosai offering ceremony in November. Thursday Tokyo Olympic organizing committee to start accepting applications for 2020 Games ticket lottery from residents in Japan. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga to visit United States to seek cooperation in settling issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals. As minister in charge of abduction issue, Suga plans to meet with high-ranking U.S. officials including Vice President Mike Pence. Friday Earnings reports by Japanese companies for business year ended in March to peak with around 500 firms listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange releasing results. Focus will be earnings outlook for current year amid slowdown in China’s economic growth. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to announce household spending in March and fiscal 2018. Foreign Minister Taro Kono to hold talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on territorial dispute over islands called Northern Territories in Japan and Southern Kurils in Russia. Saturday Two-day Group of 20 agriculture ministers’ meeting to be held in city of Niigata. Season for traditional cormorant fishing in Nagara River in Gifu Prefecture to begin. Sunday 15-day Summer Grand Sumo Tournament to begin at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan


Boycott of Brunei-owned businesses over gay sex death penalty expected to expand

Abstract: LONDON - Businesses will likely continue to shun companies owned by Brunei, activists and consultants said, as they come under pressure to honor commitments to LGBT+ rights after the sultanate imposed the death penalty for gay sex and adultery. Meanwhile, global oil company Shell, which has a joint venture with the Brunei government, is being urged by investors to protect LGBT+ staff working in the Muslim-majority former British protectorate. The small Southeast Asian country sparked a global outcry when it rolled out its interpretation of Islamic laws, or sharia, on April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with death, including by stoning, and theft with amputation. The move, which was condemned by the United Nations and the European Parliament, led actor George Clooney and singer Elton John to call for a boycott of nine hotels owned by the sultanate. Banks, including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Nomura, have banned staff from using the hotels, which include the Dorchester in London and the Beverley Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, while numerous organizations have canceled events. Transport for London (TfL), which is responsible for London’s transport system, removed adverts promoting Brunei as a tourism destination from the city’s public transport network last month. STA Travel, a global travel agency, stopped selling flights on Royal Brunei Airlines, while Virgin Australia Airlines ended an agreement that offered staff discounted tickets on the national carrier. “A lot of businesses have just looked on in horror with what’s happened,” Iain Anderson, the chairman of Cicero, a communications consultancy, and an LGBT+ activist, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “As long as Brunei continues to be unbending on the issue, then I think that you’re going to see more and more companies coming out to not use Dorchester Collection hotels, or indeed other companies within the Brunei government’s ownership.” In a letter to the United Nations last month Brunei defended the imposition of strict sharia laws, which it began introducing in 2014 but halted after a backlash, as more for “prevention than to punish. “This particular boycott is likely to have longevity,” said Ian Johnson, head of consultancy OutNow, which works with companies on LGBT+ issues. “You’ve got very high profile voices driving mainstream opinion.” He pointed out that since the first boycott of Dorchester Collection hotels in 2014 LGBT+ rights such as same-sex marriage have become more widespread globally, spurring more businesses to declare support for gay and trans people. “Inclusion, diversity and equality are the foundation of Dorchester Collection,” the hotel group said in a statement last month. “Our values are far removed from the politics of ownership.” A spokeswoman for the group declined comment further. Anderson said there had been a huge growth in “quiet diplomacy” by companies on gay and trans issues in the last 10-15 years. Brunei’s sharia laws have prompted more public action from companies, though. “This is so off-the-scale egregious … that they need to be seen to act,” Anderson said. But Shell, which touts its support for its LGBT+ employees on its website, has largely stayed quiet. “Our core value of respect for people means that we respect all people, irrespective of gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation and all the things that make people different,” a spokeswoman said. The oil major would never discuss sharia law with Brunei’s government, a Shell employee who used to work in the country said. “It’s a directive from the sultan,” the employee said. “It’s not something you try to challenge or criticise.” Shell, which achieved a perfect score of 100 from advocacy group Human Rights Campaign on an index that rates companies on their LGBT+ policies, is nonetheless coming under pressure from investors to ensure its gay and trans staff are protected. “It is expected from the company that they live up to their policies on inclusion and LGBT-equality, wherever they have operations,” said a spokesman for Eumedion, a Dutch group that represents investors. “Considering the recent developments in Brunei, this issue may be put on the dialogue-agenda during our regular conversations with Shell,” he said in an emailed statement. The spokesman emphasized that the focus of any meeting would be on protecting Shell’s workers rather than advocating for legal change in Brunei. Robeco, a Dutch asset manager that leads Eumedion’s discussions with Shell, declined to comment.

rights
lgbt
nomura
brunei
shell
sharia
george clooney
elton john
boycotts


U.S. and China reported near deal to end some tariffs amid 'productive' talks

Abstract: BEIJING - The United States and China are nearing a trade deal that would roll back a portion of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Politico reported on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two countries completed “productive” talks in Beijing. Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, held a day of discussions with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, aimed at ending a trade war. The talks are to resume next week in Washington, where some observers say a deal announcement is possible. “Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China’s Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, D.C. next week,” Mnuchin wrote on his Twitter account. He gave no details. The three appeared before cameras at the end of talks at a state guest house in Beijing, chatting amiably among themselves without speaking to reporters. “The discussions remain focused toward making substantial progress on important structural issues and rebalancing the U.S.-China trade relationship,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told pool reporters, adding only scheduling details. Politico quoted two people close to the talks as saying the sides have reached an understanding on how to enforce the agreement, but details need to be worked out. It would track closely to a framework described by Lighthizer to members of Congress: a series of meetings to address complaints about China’s compliance with the accord, ending in unilateral U.S. tariff actions if the dispute cannot be resolved. A USTR spokesman declined comment on the Politico story. Lighthizer has insisted on a strong enforcement mechanism to hold China to any promises to address U.S. demands for reforms of Beijing’s policies governing intellectual property rights, technology transfers and cyber-theft of trade secrets. In written replies to questions on the Senate Finance Committee website on Wednesday, Lighthizer said: “To the extent that there are issues that cannot be resolved at the vice-premier level, then the United States would have the right to act unilaterally to enforce. This mechanism I described did not exist in past dialogues.” A deal would involve immediate removal of 10 percent tariffs on a portion of $200 billion in Chinese goods affected by that duty, with a phased removal of tariffs on remaining goods “quickly,” Politico said. The United States has imposed tariffs on about $250 billion in Chinese goods, with a 25 percent duty on $50 billion worth of machinery, semiconductors, electronic and industrial components and autos. U.S. officials have said privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points. China’s official Xinhua news agency, in a brief report, noted that the latest talks had taken place and said the next rounds would take place in Washington next week as planned. Beijing and Washington have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost both sides billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets. Chinese officials have acknowledged that they view the enforcement mechanism as crucial, but said it must work two ways and cannot put restraints only on China. In Washington, people familiar with the talks say the question of how and when any U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods will be removed will probably be among the last issues to be resolved. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he may keep some tariffs on Chinese goods for a “substantial period.” The United States has also been pressing China to further open its market to U.S. firms. China has repeatedly pledged to continue reforms and make it easier for foreign companies to operate in the country. In comments published in Wednesday, China’s top banking and insurance regulator said the government would further open up its banking and insurance sectors.

china
u.s .
tariffs
donald trump
robert lighthizer
steve mnuchin
trade war


Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day with solemn ceremony as Netanyahu hit surge in anti-Semitism

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Israel on Wednesday began commemorating its Holocaust Remembrance Day in honor of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, as leaders voiced concerns about a rising wave of anti-Semitism around the world. In emotional addresses to an opening ceremony at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, the country’s ceremonial president warned the government against getting too close to far right parties in Europe, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that last weekend’s deadly synagogue shooting in San Diego was the latest reminder of growing anti-Semitic hatred. The 24-hour remembrance period began at sundown with the main ceremony at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and came just hours after Israeli researchers reported that violent attacks against Jews rose significantly last year. This spike, highlighted by the San Diego attack, was most dramatic in western Europe. President Reuven Rivlin warned of anti-Semitism in Europe, which he said “is once again raising its head, fueled by waves of immigration, by economic crises, and by disillusionment with the political establishment.” In veiled criticism of Netanyahu, he urged the government to be cautious about forging alliances with the far-right parties in Europe. “Every country and society has the legitimate right and even the duty to choose its policy and to protect its identity. Not every right-wing party in Europe that believes in controlling immigration or in protecting its unique character is anti-Semitic or xenophobic,” Rivlin said. “But political forces where anti-Semitism and racism are part of their language, their legacy or their ideology can never be our allies. “No interest and no consideration of realpolitik can justify a dishonorable alliance with racist groups or elements who do not acknowledge their past and their responsibility for the crimes of the Holocaust,” he added. Rivlin did not identify any particular countries. But Netanyahu has come under criticism for embracing a string of Eastern European leaders who have offered strong political support to Israel while promoting a distorted image of the Holocaust. A slew of former communist nations whose leaders recently visited Israel and paid their respects at Yad Vashem, such as Hungary, Lithuania and Poland, are swept up in a wave of World War II-era revisionism that seeks to diminish their culpability in the Holocaust while making heroes out of anti-Soviet nationalists involved in the mass killing of Jews. In Israel, established in the wake of the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews, many say Netanyahu is cynically betraying the victims’ memory. Netanyahu, meanwhile, warned of rising anti-Semitic extremism as well. He said that the extreme right, extreme left and radical Islam agree on “one thing: their hatred of Jews.” He noted the deadly synagogue shootings in San Diego last weekend and in Pittsburgh last October as well as vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. He also took aim at a recent political cartoon in the New York Times’ international edition, saying that even “respected newspapers” have gotten swept up in the trend. “We’re not talking about legitimate criticism of Israel,” he said, “but of systematic, poisonous and shallow hatred.” Holocaust Remembrance day is one of the most melancholy days on Israel’s calendar. Places of entertainment and cafes are closed. TV and radio stations broadcast Holocaust documentaries and interviews with survivors or somber music until sundown the next day. Israelis come to a mournful, two-minute standstill to remember the dead Thursday morning when sirens wail across the country. Pedestrians stop in their tracks. Cars pull over on roads and many people exit their vehicles to stand still in contemplation. The names of Holocaust victims are read out in parliament.

israel
hungary
poland
benjamin netanyahu
anti-semitism
judaism
holocaust
reuven rivlin


Escalation of violence in Syria's Idlib displaces nearly 140,000: U.N.

Abstract: BEIRUT - Fighting in northwestern Syria has displaced nearly 140,000 people since February, the UN said on Wednesday, as the regime and its ally Russia have stepped up their bombardment. “Since February, over 138,500 women, children and men have been displaced from northern Hama and southern Idlib,” said David Swanson of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA. “Between 1 and 28 April, its estimated more than 32,500 individuals have moved to different communities in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama governorates,” he told AFP. Idlib has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a September deal inked by Damascus ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey. But the region of some 3 million people has come under increasing bombardment since former the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group took full control of it in January. The escalation has killed more than 200 civilians since February, the U.N. said last week. A new wave of shelling and airstrikes this week targeted schools and medical centers, according to Swanson. “The U.N. is deeply concerned over the recent escalation,” he said. The attacks targeted parts of Hama and southern Idlib, including the village of al-Qasabiyah. “The majority of the Al-Qasabiyah village residents reportedly displaced to safer villages due to hostilities in the area,” Swanson said. AFP correspondents saw intense bombardment of Al-Qasabiyah Wednesday, with bombs dropped by warplanes sending huge plumes of gray smoke billowing into the sky. Vehicles loaded with mattresses, carpets and even household appliances like refrigerators and washing machines could be seen leaving villages in southern Idlib. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said that regime shelling over the past two days has been the most intense since the agreement between Moscow and Ankara. The monitor said at least seven civilians were killed in the bombardment on Wednesday. The United States on Tuesday urged Russia to abide by its commitments and stop an “escalation” in Idlib. “The violence must end,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. An estimated 3 million people live in Idlib and adjacent rebel-held territory, 1.7 million of whom were already displaced from other parts of Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011. The figure for those displaced there since February is more than double the number of people forced to move during battles against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria between December and March. OCHA on Wednesday said more than 63,000 people were displaced from territory held by IS in southeastern Deir Ezzor between December and March as a U.S.-backed force snuffed out its self-declared “caliphate. The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began.


No Cuban troops in Venezuela, diplomat from Havana tells AP

Abstract: WASHINGTON/HAVANA - Cuba has no troops in Venezuela and engages in no security operations there but maintains the right to military and intelligence cooperation with its ally, a top Cuban diplomat said Wednesday. Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba’s director-general of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press in Washington that the U.S. is falsely accusing his country of having more than 20,000 troops and intelligence agents in Venezuela. De Cossio said there are roughly 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela but virtually all are medical workers. “There are no troops,” he said in English. “Cuba does not participate in military operations nor in security operations in Venezuela.” In Cuba’s most detailed public remarks yet on the U.S. accusations, de Cossio said that despite the lack of Cuban boots on the ground, he could not deny intelligence cooperation because “I don’t have that information.” Broader intelligence or military cooperation would be “totally legitimate,” he added. “The United States has over 800,000 Americans stationed around the world with over 600-700 military bases anywhere in the world. Any two countries in our region have military or intelligence cooperation and we have it with many countries. So it is totally legitimate, it is a sovereign right of Cuba and Venezuela to do so,” de Cossio said. “But what I am saying is that in spite of having that right, there are no military personnel of Cuba or troops, nor do we participate in any military or security operation as is constantly alleged,” he added. Cuba and Venezuela have had an extraordinarily tight alliance over the last two decades. That relationship has centered on Venezuela sending an estimated $30 billion worth of oil since 2003, in exchange for Cuba dispatching tens of thousands of medical workers and other civilian government employees. Cuba also has a large and highly professional security and intelligence apparatus, which includes thousands of operatives who would not be considered military troops. Venezuelan defectors have reported the presence of Cubans in key positions among the Venezuelan armed forces and intelligence services, but to date there has been no public proof. The Trump administration has nonetheless repeatedly insisted that there are more than 20,000 Cuban security operatives in Venezuela tasked with directly supporting embattled President Nicolas Maduro. “If this afternoon 20-25,000 Cubans left Venezuela, I think Maduro would fall by midnight,” U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said at the White House on Tuesday. “It’s this foreign presence that sits on top of the military, sits on top of the government, that makes it impossible for the people’s voice to be heard.”

conflict
u.s .
venezuela
cuba
coups
donald trump
carlos fernández de cossío


160,000-year-old Chinese fossil sheds light on Denisovans, the mysterious kin of Neanderthals

Abstract: NEW YORK - Nearly 40 years after it was found by a monk in a Chinese cave, a fossilized chunk of jawbone has been revealed as coming from a mysterious relative of the Neanderthals. Contemporaries of the Neanderthals — and like them, possibly wiped out by anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens — the Denisovans first came to light a decade ago. Their existence was determined through a piece of finger bone and two molars unearthed at the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia’s Altai Mountains and dated to some 80,000 years ago. Until now, the only known remains of these Denisovans were the few scraps of bone and teeth recovered in the Siberian cave. DNA from those fossils showed kinship with Neanderthals. But the remains disclosed little else. The new discovery was made roughly 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) to the southeast in China’s Gansu province. The right half of a jawbone with teeth is at least 160,000 years old, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. No DNA could be found, but scientists recovered protein fragments that they compared to the Siberian DNA. That showed the fossil came from a Denisovan. The find addresses several mysteries. One was why the Siberian DNA indicated Denisovans were adapted to living at high altitudes when the Siberian cave is relatively close to sea level. The Chinese cave, by contrast, is on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, about 3,280 meters (10,800 feet) high. In 2015 researchers found that ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese living at altitude had buried in their genetic code an unusual variant of a gene, EPAS1, that regulates hemoglobin, the molecule that hauls oxygen around the blood. At high altitude, common variants of the gene overproduce hemoglobin and red blood cells, causing the blood to become thick and sludgy — a cause of hypertension, low birth weight and infant mortality. But the variant found in Tibetans increases production by much less, thus averting the hypoxia problems experienced by many people who relocate to places above 4,000 meters in altitude. The mutation is nearly identical to that found in the DNA of Denisovans discovered in Siberia — at an altitude of less than 700 meters. “Now we have an explanation,” said Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, one of the paper’s authors. In fact, “it’s a big surprise” that any human relative could live in the cold climate and thin air of the plateau at that time, more than 100,000 years before our species showed up there, he told reporters. Previous research had indicated that Denisovans must have lived somewhere other than Siberia, because traces of their DNA can be found in several present-day populations of Asia and Australia whose ancestors probably didn’t pass through that region. The new finding expands their known range, although Hublin said it is still not clear where Denisovans first appeared. The new work was a long time in coming. The monk who found the fossil in 1980 gave it to a Buddhist leader, who passed it along to Lanzhou University in China. Study of it began in 2010. The discovery also provides new anatomical details that can be compared to other fossils from China, some of which are “good candidates for being Chinese Denisovans,” Hublin said. Experts unconnected to the research agreed the fossil could help identify other remains as Denisovan. “We always assumed … that Denisovans were distributed all across Asia,” said Bence Viola of the University of Toronto. The Nature paper points out similarities to a fossil jaw reported in 2015 that had been dredged by a fishing net off the coast of Taiwan. So maybe the Denisovan range can be extended that far south, he said. Such linking of fossils might eventually reveal Denisovan body shape and size, he said. From the scant known remains “I assume they were large guys, but it’s kind of hard to prove,” Viola said. In addition to the anatomy, the study’s approach of using protein from the bone or teeth could also be used on fossils to look for evidence of Denisovan identity, said Eric Delson of Lehman College in New York. Even if a fossil is found not to be Denisovan, the analysis could reveal details of how it fits on the evolutionary tree, he said. “The method potentially tells us a whole new way of looking at fossils,” he said. Katerina Harvati of the University of Tuebingen in Germany said the ability of Denisovans to adapt to the inhospitable climate of the Tibetan Plateau is remarkable. It adds to growing evidence that our ancient relatives were more capable than scientists had thought, she said.

evolution archaeology neanderthals denisovans


Aluminum fraud caused satellite failures that cost $700 million, NASA says

Abstract: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Faulty materials supplied by a unit of Norsk Hydro ASA, one of the world’s top aluminum producers, led to more than $700 million of losses in two failed NASA satellite launch missions, according to an investigation by the space agency. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission in 2009 and Glory mission in 2011 didn’t reach orbit and broke up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere after payloads failed to separate from Taurus XL rockets. Aluminum producer Sapa Profiles Inc. had altered test results and provided false certifications to the rocket’s manufacturer relating to extrusions used in a key component for the payload delivery system, NASA said in a statement. “When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail,” wrote Jim Norman, director for launch services, in the statement. “The Taurus XLs that failed for the OCO and Glory missions resulted in the loss of more than $700 million, and years of people’s scientific work.” Both missions were intended to launch monitoring instruments related to climate. Norsk Hydro confirmed in March that it had agreed to resolve Department of Justice investigations related to the unit. Norsk Hydro agreed to pay $46 million to NASA, the Department of Defense and others to resolve criminal charges and civil claims related to a 19-year fraud, the DOJ said in an April 23 statement. Sapa, now known as Hydro Extrusion Portland Inc., is currently excluded from U.S. federal government contracting, NASA said in its statement.

nasa
rockets
fraud
satellites
norsk hydro


Who's a good boy? Wolves, not dogs, apparently

Abstract: WASHINGTON - If you are looking for a word to describe your adorable pet pup, “selfish” might not top the list. But a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE suggests Fido’s reputation for being caring is all a ruse — at least if you are a fellow dog. A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Center in Vienna found that wolves make for more selfless pack mates than dogs that were also raised in groups. The study’s authors say the findings suggest domestic dogs inherited their cooperative tendencies from their fierce wolf ancestors, rather than through their contact with human beings, a competing hypothesis. Researchers trained the animals to use their snouts to press a “giving” symbol on a screen that delivered food to an adjacent enclosure where a fellow animal may or may not be present. Over multiple trials, wolves opted to deliver food to members of their own pack, knowing they would not get anything in return — but lost interest if they were shown an unfamiliar wolf. Dogs, on the other hand, showed no inclination to feed other dogs when no personal payoff was involved, regardless of whether they knew them or not. “This study shows that domestication did not necessarily make dogs more pro-social,” said lead author Rachel Dale. “Rather, it seems that tolerance and generosity towards group members help to produce high levels of cooperation, as seen in wolves.” But don’t write off your pooch just yet. The authors cautioned against applying the results of an experiment carried out on pack dogs to pet dogs, which have been found to have pro-social tendencies in past studies. The researchers believe those behaviors could be the result of training or encouragement, and say more research is needed to determine what accounts for the differences.

nature evolution animals pets dogs wolves


Australian scientists find antidote for deadly box jellyfish sting

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australian researchers believe they have found an antidote to a sting from the world’s most venomous creature, the much-feared box jellyfish. Researchers at the University of Sydney had been investigating how the venom is so deadly that one box jellyfish can kill as many as 60 people. The team noticed the venom needs cholesterol to kill human cells, and decided to test whether existing drugs could stop it. “Since there are lots of drugs available that target cholesterol,” said lead author Raymond Lau, the team tried one out. “It worked,” he said. “It’s a molecular antidote.” Running tests using human cells and mice, the team found it could stop the tissue scarring and pain that are associated with the sting — as long as the medicine was injected within 15 minutes. Stings from box jellyfish — which can be smaller than a fingernail or up to 3 meters long, depending on the species — can cause acute muscular pain, violent vomiting, feelings of “impending doom,” hair that stands on end, strokes, heart failure and death within minutes. There are at least 50 species of box jellyfish but only a few have been confirmed to be involved in human deaths, and some pose no serious threat at all. So far the researchers have only tested the sting from the larger, deadlier species. “We know the drug will stop the necrosis, skin scarring and the pain completely when applied to the skin,” said Neely, an associate professor. “We don’t know yet if it will stop a heart attack. That will need more research, and we are applying for funding to continue this work.” The team hopes that eventually a topical cream or spray can be developed to prevent stings that are thought to kill dozens of people each year and hospitalize thousands more.

medicine oceans australia biology pests jellyfish


One giant bid: First moon landing manual could fetch $9 million at auction

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - The detailed manual used by U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon in 1969 is going up for auction in July and could fetch up to $9 million, New York auctioneers Christie’s said on Wednesday. The 44-page ring-bound Apollo 11 lunar module timeline book details every procedure that was needed to undock, land and rendezvous the Eagle with its Columbia command module when Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. “These are step-by-step instructions that cover the entire portion of the Eagle flight. It is a series of instructions on everything from ‘don your helmets’ to ‘check your power system,’ ” Christina Geiger, head of books and manuscripts at Christie’s, told Reuters. Along with technical data, the book, which was carried aboard the Eagle, contains drawings and almost 150 check marks and annotations written in real time by Armstrong and Aldrin. Since there was no audio or video recording of what happened in the cockpit of the Eagle, the manual is regarded as a unique witness to space history. It also marks the first writing by a human being on another celestial body. It is being sold by a private collector who purchased it previously from Aldrin, Christie’s said. Collectors pay huge sums for space exploration artifacts. In 2017, Sotheby’s sold a zippered bag used by Armstrong and laced with moondust for $1.8 million. “Everybody wants something that has flown to space or to the moon. It’s so cool to be able to gaze up at the moon and think: ‘I’ve got an object in my pocket that was there,’ ” said Geiger. The last manned mission to the moon took place in 1972. Christie’s has placed a $7 million to $9 million estimate on the timeline book, which will go on public view in New York from May 3 to 17 ahead of a global tour before the auction on July 18. The book is the star item in a 150-lot auction marking the 50th anniversary of the moon landing called One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 years after Apollo 11.

space
auctions
moon
christie 's
neil armstrong
buzz aldrin


U.S. missile contracts have surged since decision to exit arms treaty, study shows

Abstract: GENEVA - Washington has signed more than $1 billion in new missile contracts in the three months since it announced plans to withdraw from a key Cold War-era arms treaty, campaigners said Thursday. “The withdrawal from the INF treaty has fired the starting pistol on a new Cold War,” warned Beatrice Fihn, who heads the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). U.S. President Donald Trump announced last October that his country would leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement concluded between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in 1987. Washington, which accused Russia of violating the treaty through a new missile system, began the official process of withdrawing from the pact in February. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Moscow would also leave the INF treaty, which is considered the cornerstone of global arms control. In the three months following the October announcement, the U.S. government “proceeded to arrange no less than $1 billion in new missile contracts,” according to a report by ICAN and another anti-nuclear campaign group, PAX. The report detailed over $1.1 billion in new contracts with six mainly U.S. companies. U.S. defense contractor Raytheon saw the biggest windfall, tallying 44 new contracts worth some $537 million. Lockheed Martin meanwhile scooped up 36 new contracts, worth $268 million, while Boeing grabbed four new contracts totalling $245 million, the report found. “Congress should investigate the lobbying roles of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon who took the lion’s share of these contracts,” Fihn said in a statement. The report authors acknowledged that it was unclear if all of the new contracts awarded between Oct. 22, 2018, and Jan. 21, 2019, were for new nuclear weapon production. “What is clear is that there is a new rush towards building more missiles that benefit a handful of U.S. companies and intend to flood the market with missiles regardless of their range,” they said. At a global level, the report found that governments are currently contracting at least $116 billion (€102 billion) to private companies in France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and the U.S. for the production, development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. At the same time, it stressed that the private sector involvement in the arsenals of China, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia remain largely hidden, with little insight into how much is being contracted and which companies are getting the deals. Many of the outstanding contracts identified in the report were granted around 2015 and are set to expire in 2020, but some of the contracts have far longer time frames. For example, one contract for a key component necessary to launch U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles runs until at least 2075, the report showed. “President Trump is heralding the need for global denuclearization, but U.S. deeds, and those of nuclear-armed allies do not match those words,” said Susi Snyder, PAX nuclear disarmament program manager and the lead author of the report. “We see the U.S. and other states planning for a nuclear-armed century, with contracts to maintain weapons through at least 2075, despite growing domestic and global calls to reverse course,” she lamented.

military
weapons
nuclear weapons
missiles
donald trump
arms-makers
defense procurement
inf


Thousands protest Maduro regime as Venezuela standoff sparks U.S.-Russian tensions

Abstract: CARACAS - Thousands of marchers protested in Venezuela on Wednesday to try to force socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power as tension grew between Russia and the United States over the political standoff in the OPEC-member nation. Opposition leader Juan Guaido had called for the “largest march” in Venezuela’s history and on Tuesday asked the military for their backing, but the armed forces leadership has so far remained loyal to Maduro, who has been in power since 2013. “If the regime thought we had reached maximum pressure, they cannot even imagine,” Guaido told thousands of cheering supporters in eastern Caracas. “We have to remain in the streets.” Under a scorching sun, supporters banged drums and carried Venezuelan flags and banners proclaiming “freedom.” At a different site in Caracas some protesters, their faces covered in shirts, threw projectiles from an overpass at National Guard officers below, who responded by firing tear gas canisters. The Venezuelan opposition has often staged huge street protests against Maduro but has failed to dislodge him despite deep economic recession and hyperinflation. Guaido — who heads the opposition-run National Assembly — is recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president by the United States, Europe and others, but Maduro is backed by countries including Russia, China, and Cuba. The fault lines are increasingly putting Venezuela at the heart of global geopolitical tensions, with the United States and Russia accusing each other of intervention in Venezuela’s affairs. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions on the Maduro government and refused to rule out military intervention, although it says it prefers a peaceful transition. “Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox Business Network. The Pentagon appeared to downplay any active preparations to directly intervene in Venezuela, but acknowledged detailed contingency planning. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Pompeo by phone on Wednesday that further “aggressive steps” in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. Lavrov also condemned U.S. “interference” in Venezuela’s internal affairs as a breach of international law. In turn, the United States has also accused Moscow of interfering in the South American country, an ally of Russia since the time of Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez. Pompeo said on Tuesday that Maduro had recently been prepared to leave Venezuela but changed his plan after Russia intervened. A spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry denied that. White House national security adviser John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk, said Moscow’s interference was not welcome. “This is our hemisphere,” he told reporters outside the White House. “It’s not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It’s not going to lead to an improvement of relations.” Maduro retains control of state institutions and the loyalty of the armed forces, frustrating Guaido’s bid to assume the day-to-day functions of government on an interim basis — which he says would be a prelude to calling new elections. Guaido faces a challenge to maintain momentum, amid frustration among some supporters that Maduro remains in office more than three months after the opposition leader invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Seeking to appeal to Maduro’s traditional base among the working class, Guaido said on Wednesday in Caracas he would consider a proposal from public workers to call for a series of stoppages leading up to a general strike. Carlos Alberto, a 70-year-old small-business owner, draped in a Venezuelan flag, said: “We are tired of this regime, that has brutally impoverished us. My children and almost all my family have already left Venezuela. … We know that if it’s not today, it will be tomorrow, because this has to end.” Venezuelan living standards have declined even further in the first several months of the year, with blackouts and water shortages adding to hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine that have prompted millions to emigrate. Triple the usual daily number of Venezuelans fled across the border to Brazil on Tuesday, Brazilian government data showed. Maduro, who says Guaido is a puppet of the United States seeking to orchestrate a coup, called a march of his own supporters on Wednesday. “We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history,” he said on Tuesday. Several thousand Maduro supporters, wearing red shirts, headed toward the Miraflores presidential palace. Educator Mercedes Martinez called Guaido a “lapdog” and said: “The empire wants to smother us, cut off our head and colonize us. … The people of Venezuela are defending Venezuela.” Elsewhere in Latin America, millions of Cubans took to the streets to protest new sanctions imposed on the Caribbean island by the Trump administration and U.S. efforts to topple Maduro.

u.s .
russia
venezuela
nicolas maduro
juan guaido


Russia denies U.S. claim it told Venezuela's Maduro not to flee

Abstract: MOSCOW - Russia on Wednesday rejected a U.S. allegation it had persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to flee the country the previous day, calling the assertion a calculated attempt to demoralize the army and escalate the crisis there. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told broadcaster CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was prepared to leave the country that morning in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido, but reversed his plan after Russia intervened. Pompeo suggested Maduro had been planning to fly to Cuba, which Maduro himself has since dismissed. Russia, which has acted as a lender of last resort to Venezuela and supplied it with weapons, has accused the United States of trying to foment a coup against Maduro, someone Moscow counts as one of its closest allies in Latin America. Asked to comment on Pompeo’s comments, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said they were part of an “information war.” “This was absolute disinformation and fake news,” she said. Washington realised that the army’s continued support was crucial for Maduro which was why it was focusing its efforts on trying to sow doubt in it ranks, she added. Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday, a day after Guaido called for the military to oust Maduro. Zakharova said the United States had in the past waged a similar disinformation campaign about Syrian President Bashar-al Assad, another close Russian ally, which had flopped. Russia has accused Venezuela’s opposition of resorting to violence, and President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation there with his Security Council on Tuesday. Russia has sent nearly 100 military personnel to Caracas, a contingent the Kremlin has described as military specialists. Pompeo was scheduled to discuss Venezuela with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov later on Wednesday, White House national security adviser John Bolton said. “This is our hemisphere,” Bolton told reporters. “It’s not where the Russians ought to be interfering.”

u.s .
russia
venezuela
nicolas maduro
sergey lavrov
mike pompeo
john bolton
juan guaido


Venezuelan clashes leave one dead and 46 hurt in struggle between Maduro and Guaido

Abstract: CARACAS - May Day clashes between opposition supporters and Venezuela’s armed forces in Caracas left a woman dead and 46 people injured on Wednesday, with opposition leader Juan Guaido attempting to rally demonstrators against President Nicolas Maduro. Jurubith Rausseo, 27, died at a clinic after being hit by a “bullet in the head during (a) demonstration,” the non-governmental Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on Twitter, condemning her “murder.” Human rights organizations and health services reported 46 people injured in Wednesday’s clashes, including one person with a gunshot wound. Tensions in Venezuela have soared since Guaido, who heads the National Assembly legislature, invoked the constitution to declare himself acting president on January 23, claiming Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate. National Guard troops fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters attempting to block a highway close to the air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had tried on Tuesday to spark a military uprising. A second day of confrontations between opposition supporters and Maduro’s security services came as the United States said it was prepared to take military action, if necessary, to stem the crisis in the South American nation. At least one journalist was injured when National Guard soldiers fired rubber bullets at a group of reporters covering the clashes. Miguel Ramirez, 17, told AFP at one medical center that he had been shot in the foot while protesting on the highway near the La Carlota air base. “I didn’t manage to run and hide,” he said. Guaido rallied his supporters in Caracas in the Labor Day demonstrations, urging them to stay in the streets. His appeal came despite the apparent failure the day before of a revolt by some soldiers and members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined his side. In Tuesday’s clashes, one person was killed and dozens injured, according to human rights monitors. More than 150 people were arrested, the government and human rights organizations said. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Venezuela’s authorities not to use deadly force against demonstrators, while the U.S. and Russia accused each other of making the crisis worse, evoking Cold War confrontations of the past. In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of “destabilizing” Venezuela. Lavrov, in turn, charged that U.S. interference was “destructive” and “in flagrant violation of international law.” “There is nothing for workers to celebrate,” Guaido told supporters in the oil-rich country suffering from hyperinflation and food and medicine shortages that have driven millions to flee. “We’re going to remain in the streets until we achieve freedom for the Venezuelan people. “The regime will try to increase the repression. It will try to persecute me, to stage a coup d’etat,” said Guaido, recognized by more than 50 countries as the country’s interim president. He said staggered industrial action would begin on Thursday, leading to a general strike. Before thousands of his own supporters in front of Miraflores palace on May Day, Maduro declared he will have “no hesitation” to lock up those responsible for this “criminal coup d’etat,” threats recalling those he made the previous day. In his Wednesday address, Maduro alleged that the “so-called coup d’etat” had been organized “from the White House” by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. • ‘Serious crimes’- Hours after the revolt by military members appeared to have fizzled out, Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia — a claim Maduro later refuted as “a joke.” A senior Brazilian official said at least 25 Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy. Venezuela’s security forces number around 365,000 including military and police, as well as 1.6 million civilian reservists. Pompeo said on Wednesday that Washington wants a peaceful transfer of power but warned that U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to take military action if necessary. “The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do,” Pompeo told Fox Business Network. Venezuela has suffered five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities as well as failing public services, including water, electricity and transport. “We’re living through hell,” a resident of western Caracas, Evelinda Villalobos, 58, told AFP. “I believe the people in the streets will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Another demonstrator, Patricia Requena, 40, said that “yesterday we saw soldiers recognizing our interim president. We have to stay in the streets.” She vowed: “I’ll keep demonstrating as long as God allows me to.” Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP the U.S. approach to Venezuela was “unhelpful and often counterproductive.” “The U.S. is right to back Guaido in his battle against Maduro,” said Shifter. “But beyond being on the right side, the administration is making it harder, not easier, to achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela.”

venezuela
protests
nicolas maduro
juan guaido


Putin fast-tracks Russian citizenship for more Ukrainians in move seen as further destabilization

Abstract: MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for more Ukrainians, a controversial new move expected to deepen the crisis between the two countries. The latest move comes during a hugely sensitive transitional period in Ukraine where a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in a presidential election last month. Some analysts see it as a Kremlin test for the new administration in Kiev. Putin had already signed a decree on April 24 allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport. The Russian president said last weekend he was “thinking” about providing citizenship to “all citizens of Ukraine,” sparking fury in Kiev. The new Kremlin decree published Wednesday said several categories of Ukrainian nationals will have the right to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one. Those categories include Ukrainians who already have Russian residence permits and Ukrainian citizens who were born in Crimea but left the peninsula before Russia annexed it in March, 2014. Around 3 million Ukrainians reside in Russia. The fast-track procedure is implemented to protect “rights and human and civil freedoms,” said the decree which Putin signed on Monday. There were hopes bilateral ties might improve under a Zelensky presidency but that is now looking unlikely, analysts say. The Kremlin has not congratulated Zelensky and said it was too early to say if it can work with the 41-year-old political novice. Zelensky is due to take office by early June. Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow’s offer of citizenship to Ukrainians would give the Kremlin a justification to freely move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian nationals. The West has condemned the Kremlin, accusing Putin of seeking to further destabilize Ukraine, while critics at home say the move would be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy. The EU has called the passport scheme a fresh assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty, while Kiev appealed to the UN Security Council to take action. President-elect Zelensky has called for more sanctions against Russia but also pledged to grant Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who “suffer” under Kremlin rule. After a pro-Western uprising in Kiev ousted a Kremlin- backed regime in 2014 Moscow annexed Crimea and extended support to Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine. On Wednesday, Ganna Gopko, head of the international affairs committee in Ukrainian parliament, said the latest Kremlin decree showed Putin pressed ahead with his efforts to divide the ex-Soviet country. “It is a flagrant interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs, especially during a transitional period,” Gopko told AFP. “Such Russians actions are an attempt at escalation.” Zelensky has said he doubted many Ukrainians would take Moscow up on its offer because a Russian passport means “the right to be arrested” and “the right not to have free and competitive elections.” Timothy Ash, a strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, suggested that Putin might be testing the new administration in Kiev as well as U.S. President Donald Trump’s support for him. On election night Zelensky appeared to taunt Putin when he told people in fellow post-Soviet countries that “everything is possible.” Ash said Putin “probably did not appreciate Zelensky’s comments.” “His nightmare is a truly democratic, open (and) free election, where the people actually get to chose between a range of candidates,” he told AFP. Critics led by departing President Petro Poroshenko doubt Zelensky will be able to stand up to Putin. Nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria who were born in the Soviet Union can also apply for Russian citizenship, the Kremlin decree said.

conflict
vladimir putin
russia
ukraine
volodymyr zelenskiy


After protests, U.K. Parliament becomes first legislature to declare 'climate change emergency'

Abstract: LONDON - The U.K. Parliament declared a symbolic climate change emergency on Wednesday, backing a call by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for “rapid and dramatic action” to protect the environment for generations to come. The measure was passed as an opposition motion, using a procedure typically ignored by the ruling party, and has no direct consequences for policy. But it is a nod to an increasing vocal activist movement particularly among young people in Europe, who have staged school strikes and civil disobedience campaigns to demand action. Eleven days of protests by the Extinction Rebellion activist group caused major disruptions in central London in recent weeks, and Swedish schoolgirl campaigner Greta Thunberg addressed lawmakers on a high-profile visit. The group set up camps that blocked off major roads in the capital, disrupted transport and targeted major institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Shell. Corbyn told lawmakers Wednesday that they should listen to those “who have the most to lose” from climate change, noting that the younger generation is “ahead of the politicians on this, the most important issue of our time.” “We have no time to waste. We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now,” Corbyn told Parliament. “Today, we have the opportunity to say, ‘We hear you.’ … By becoming the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency, we could, and I hope we do, set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments all around the world.” Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who met activists this week, disappointed the campaigners by avoiding the word “emergency” and referring instead to the situation as “grave.” Extinction Rebellion welcomed Wednesday’s motion in a tweet: “This has seen (lawmakers) start to #TellTheTruth about the climate & ecological crisis. They must now halt biodiversity loss, go net #ZeroCarbon2025 & create a #CitizensAssembly.” Separately, Thunberg tweeted: “Historic and very hopeful news. Now other nations must follow. And words must turn into immediate action.” Rebecca Newsom, the head of politics for Greenpeace U.K., said in a statement that tackling climate change has long been delayed. “The best time to declare a climate emergency was 30 years ago; the second-best time is now,” she said According to a poll taken after the week-and-a-half long high-profile protests by activists, a majority of Britons now believe that climate change could end the human race. Following the protests 54 percent of adults agreed that climate change threatens our extinction as a species, the poll released Wednesday by market research company ComRes found, compared to just a quarter who disagreed. However, only 22 percent of the 2,037 people surveyed said they supported the aims and tactics of Extinction Rebellion, with 32 percent in disagreement. “While most of the public are agreed on the problem and its cause, the poll finds the public less enthusiastic about how Extinction Rebellion is bringing its message to the country,” ComRes Chairman Andrew Hawkins said. “Its aims and tactics are far more likely to appeal to people under 25, so it is little surprise that the Group’s warning message of human extinction has less resonance with older age groups.” Extinction Rebellion wants non-violent civil disobedience to force governments to cut carbon emissions and avert a climate crisis it says will bring starvation and social collapse. The group has demanded the government declare a climate emergency and allocate resources to tackling the issue. A majority of those surveyed said that they would forego at least one overseas trip a year for the sake of the climate, while fewer people agreed that they would be more willing to protest about higher fuel prices than climate change. ComRes conducted the survey between April 26 and 28.

u.k .
emergency
climate change
environment
labour party
jeremy corbyn
parliament


Modi's bulging war chest leaves India election rivals in the dust

Abstract: MUMBAI/DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is flush with cash, giving his Hindu nationalist bloc a massive advantage over the main opposition Congress party as he seeks to win a second term in India’s general election. Opaque campaign financing in the world’s largest democracy makes it tricky to get a full picture of money in politics here. But current and former BJP supporters, opposition politicians, businessmen and activists interviewed say Modi has an unprecedented advantage, thanks to support from businesses and expectations he will be the winner. Staggered voting in the general election is currently in progress across India, with results to be declared on May 23. The BJP war chest has allowed it to unleash a massive amount of advertising on social media and send Modi and party officials crisscrossing India to campaign. The ruling party has showered money on Facebook and Google advertisements, spending six times more than Congress since February, according to data from the two firms. Modi merchandise abounds, as do Modi marketing sites. The money puts the BJP in an extraordinarily powerful position, even over logistical issues like how to get its leaders to election rallies. A Congress official said the BJP had the funds to reserve most of India’s fleet of helicopters for hire for 90 days, making it difficult for opponents to get hold of them. “We have never ever seen an election with such disparity. Financially, we cannot compete with them,” said another veteran Congress politician, who asked to remain anonymous. He and another high-ranking Congress official said they expected the BJP to outspend them by a factor of ten. A third Congress source estimated the disparity at twice that. Two BJP officials declined to provide an estimate of spending, but one said the “BJP definitely has a big war chest and has more funds at its disposal than the Congress.” Congress has received far fewer funds because of a perception it is unlikely to win the election, political strategists said. The opposition party has been hampered by its inability to forge a national alliance to take on Modi and has struggled to capitalize on discontent against the BJP over a lack of jobs and distressed farm incomes. Modi has been topping polls as India’s most popular politician, well ahead of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Money has become critical in elections given the country’s 1.3 billion population, its voting over 39 days and the sheer complexity of the electorate, in terms of region, religion, language and caste. A tradition of doling out freebies to sway voters only adds to costs. Authorities say they have seized goods and cash worth about $456 million since March 26. “This war chest gives the BJP significant advantages,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s South Asia program. “Money is useful for wooing voters but also for keeping networks of party workers and influencers well lubricated.” Parliamentary candidates’ expenditure is capped at up to 7 million Indian rupees (about $100,000), but the limit is widely flouted and political parties are allowed to spend freely. The New Delhi-based Center for Media Studies estimates almost $8.6 billion will be spent on this year’s vote, roughly twice the 2014 election. The figure would surpass OpenSecrets.org ‘s estimate that $6.5 billion was spent in the 2016 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. Recent reforms under Modi may have fueled the spending spree: Companies can fund parties anonymously through new ‘electoral bonds’ and they no longer face a donations cap. Activists say that gives corporations too much sway and obscures ties between politicians and businessmen. About 95 percent of electoral bonds snapped up in a first tranche offering last year went to the BJP, according to data reviewed through a freedom of information request and BJP filings. When asked whether the BJP had a financial advantage, party spokesman Anil Baluni said “it is not an unfair advantage.” “I guess maybe the BJP does believe in taking maximum donations by cheque or through bonds. … We are the largest political party in the country,” Baluni added. He said he did not have information on the provenance of funds or the uses. Pawan Khera, a Congress spokesman, said this was “turning out to be the most unequal election,” but did not provide specifics. Modi was elected in 2014 as a darling of the business community. His star has dimmed somewhat, in part due to fallout from a shock 2016 decision to scrap then-circulating high-value bank notes, but with some businesses wary of a fragile opposition coalition coming to power, Modi retains backers. “Modi has made business easier,” said businessman Sunil Alagh, who heads consulting firm SKA Advisors and sits on several boards. Still, business titans tend to give to several parties to hedge their bets, politicians and executives say. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man and the boss of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, hails from Modi’s home state of Gujarat and his family has praised the prime minister publicly. Ambani even splashed Modi’s face on advertisements for the Reliance Jio telecoms launch in 2016. But last month, Mumbai-based Ambani endorsed Congress candidate Milind Deora, appearing in a video saying “Milind is the man for South Bombay.” Deora’s politician father was a close friend of the Ambanis. Under the electoral bond scheme announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last year, individuals and companies can anonymously buy as many bonds as they wish in denominations ranging from 1,000 rupees to 10 million rupees and deposit them in a party account at the State Bank of India. “The electoral bond scheme … envisages total clean money and substantial transparency,” Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Activists say the opposite is true. “If you do not know the donor and you do not know who the money is given to, where is the transparency? Dubious donations are now legitimized,” said Jagdeep Chhokar, a founder of the Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms. When Reuters reporters visited SBI branches during bond sales in Delhi and Mumbai this year, a handful of men who described themselves as politicians or company representatives were waiting to open bank accounts or buy bonds. SBI officials declined to provide details on the sales.

india
corruption
elections
narendra modi
political funds
bjp