China orders airlines to ground Boeing 737 Max planes after model's second fatal crash in months

Abstract: SHANGHAI - China’s aviation regulator said Monday it had ordered Chinese airlines to suspend their Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft operations by 6 p.m. following a deadly crash of a 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines. An Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second crash of the 737 Max, the latest version of Boeing’s workhorse narrow-body jet that first entered service in 2017. In October, a 737 Max flown by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air flying from Jakarta on a domestic flight crashed 13 minutes after take-off, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a statement it would notify airlines as to when they could resume flying the jets after contacting Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to ensure flight safety. “Given that two accidents both involved newly delivered Boeing 737-8 planes and happened during take-off phase, they have some degree of similarity,” the CAAC said, adding that the order was in line with its principle of zero-tolerance on safety hazards. The cause of the Indonesian crash is still being investigated. A preliminary report issued in November, before the cockpit voice recorder was recovered, focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor but did not give a reason for the crash. Chinese airlines have 96 737 Max jets in service, the state company regulator said on Weibo. Caijing, a Chinese state-run news outlet that covers finance and economics, said many flights scheduled to use 737 Max planes would instead use the 737-800 models. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment. A U.S. official told Reuters the United States was unsure of what information China was acting on. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said there were no plans to follow suit given the 737 Max had a stellar safety record in the United States and there was a lack of information about the cause of the Ethiopian crash. According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24 there were no Boeing 737 Max 8 planes flying over China as of 0043 GMT on Monday. Most of Air China Ltd.’s 737 Max fleet of 15 jets landed on Sunday evening, with the exception of two that landed on Monday morning from international destinations, according to data on FlightRadar24. It did not list any upcoming scheduled flights for the planes and neither did China Southern Airlines Co., which also has its fleet on the ground. Four 737 Max jets operated by China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. landed on Sunday evening and no further flights were scheduled until Tuesday, FlightRadar24 data showed. Cayman Airways has grounded both of its new 737 Max 8 jets until more information is received, the Cayman Islands airline said in a statement on its website. Fiji Airways said it had followed a comprehensive induction process for its new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and that it had full confidence in the airworthiness of its fleet. “We continue to ensure that our maintenance and training program for pilots and engineers meets the highest safety standards,” the airline said. Singapore Airlines Ltd, whose regional arm SilkAir operates the 737 Max, said it was monitoring the situation closely, but that its planes continued to operate as scheduled. Indonesia said it would continue to monitor its airlines operating the 737 Max, which include Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia, but did not mention any plan to ground the planes.

china
boeing
ethiopian airlines
737 max
air accidents


Italy wants to sign 'Belt and Road' deal to help exports, says deputy PM

Abstract: MILAN, ITALY - Italy wants to join China’s giant “Belt and Road” infrastructure plan to boost Italian exports, not to strengthen political ties with the Asian giant, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday. Di Maio was responding to U.S. concerns at the prospect of a key ally supporting the Chinese initiative. A spokesman for the White House’s group of national security advisers, Garrett Marquis, on Saturday called the Chinese venture a “vanity project” that Italy should steer clear of. The “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, aims to link China by sea and land with southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, through an infrastructure network on the lines of the ancient Silk Road. Aside from boosting trade and investment, Xi aims to advance exchanges in areas such as science, technology and culture. “I have heard the alarm being raised from the United States yesterday about this deal on the Silk Road that Italy wants to sign with China,” Di Maio said at an event organized by supporters of his ruling 5-Star Movement. “Let it be clear that, if we are looking at the Silk Road towards China for our exports, it is not to strike a political deal with China but only to help our companies,” he said. He added that Italy was an ally of the United States and respected its concerns, but that the Chinese market was hungry for “made in Italy” products and know-how. On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that he might sign a framework deal on the venture when Xi visits Italy from March 22-24. A number of European Union states have signed memorandums on the BRI with China, including Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Malta, Poland and Portugal. If Italy signs, it would be the first members of the Group of Seven industrial powers to do so. Washington argues that China is saddling poor nations with unsustainable debt through large-scale infrastructure projects that are not economically viable, and is using the project to further its political and strategic ambitions. Italy fell into recession at the end of 2018 for the third time in a decade and the government is eager to find ways to boost the economy and revive the stalled construction sector.

china
u.s .
italy
trade
xi jinping
belt and road


Japan's workforce can expect smaller raises this year as companies push back against Abe

Abstract: Japan Inc. is pushing back after years of pressure to give bigger pay raises that has been a key part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to restore stable economic growth. While wages have never reached the level sought by Abe, the results from annual wage talks to be released later this week are expected to show even smaller gains after the chief of Keidanren, the nation’s largest business lobby, suggested the government mind its own business. Higher pay that can drive a cycle of stronger consumption and price growth has been viewed as key to the success of Abenomics. That’s particularly critical this year, with a demand-sapping sales-tax increase scheduled for October. Facing public pressure from Abe and a labor shortage, companies have increased wage hikes in past years, but the gains have never reached the level economists see as necessary to boost inflation to 2 percent. Overall wage gains from spring negotiations reached a 17-year peak of 2.2 percent in 2015, according to data from Rengo, one of Japan’s largest union federations, but base pay only rose 0.7 percent. Things are looking different this year after Keidanren chief Hiroaki Nakanishi said the government had overstepped the mark by putting a number on what raises companies should give their employees. Nakanishi, who took the helm of Keidanren last year, said it is nonsensical for the government to take a leading role in wage negotiations that should center on talks between management and labor. That’s a stark contrast from his predecessor, Sadayuki Sakakibara, who asked members in January 2018 to consider “positively” a 3 percent figure floated by Abe. This year Abe didn’t suggest a figure for pay increases. Even the main union of Japan’s biggest company, Toyota Motor Corp., declined to give a public figure for their base wage demands, as talks entered a black box that doesn’t bode well for wage growth, the economy or the Bank of Japan’s efforts to boost inflation. Still, Rengo and most unions continued to call for specific base pay hikes, demanding a 2 percent base salary increase for a fourth consecutive year. Last year its members averaged a 0.54 percent gain in base pay as part of overall pay increases worth 2.1 percent. Economists say base pay needs to increase by at least 3 percent to fuel the 2 percent inflation targeted by the BOJ. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month estimated that base pay will be hiked 0.5 percent in this year’s negotiations, with 86 percent of them saying the gain won’t be strong enough to boost consumer spending. Rengo is expected to release the results of the negotiations Friday. “Thanks to risks from China’s slowdown and rising uncertainties, companies are going to be even more cautious about raising wages,” said Hiroshi Shiraishi, a senior economist at BNP Paribas SA. “The BOJ is likely to say gains are positive as long as there is an increase in base wages even by a small amount.”

shinzo abe
toyota
keidanren
rengo
wages
union
japan inc .


Neutralizing VPNs: Bill to route internet through Russian servers spurs protests

Abstract: MOSCOW - Several thousand people have rallied in Moscow to protest legislation they fear could lead to widespread internet censorship for Russian users. The sanctioned rally on Sunday was organized in response to a bill in parliament that would route all internet traffic through servers in Russia, making virtual private networks (VPNs) ineffective. The proposed measure also would create a division in Russia’s agency that regulates communications to oversee traffic control and routing. The bill has passed the first of three readings in the Duma, the lower house of parliament. Advocates say the bill is intended to address concerns that Russia could be cut off if the United States applies a new cybersecurity doctrine in an offensive maneuver. Critics say the bill would create an internet firewall similar to China’s.


Stocks snap four-session losing streak on bargain-hunting

Abstract: Stocks on Monday snapped a four-session losing streak as investors moved to buy issues that had fallen sharply. The Nikkei 225 average gained 99.53 points, or 0.47 percent, to end at 21,125.09. On Friday, the Nikkei tumbled 430.45 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 9.00 points, or 0.57 percent, higher at 1,581.44 after falling 29.22 points Friday. After opening firmer, the market came under selling pressure stemming from the yen’s strengthening against the dollar. But a halt to the yen’s rise later in the morning prompted investors to “buy the dips” in view of Friday’s sell-off, markets sources said. Shanghai shares’ brisk performances also helped buoy Tokyo stocks, they added. “The Nikkei’s drop below 21,000 in the morning fueled bargain-hunting,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., pointed out that the market “attracted small-lot buying” mainly by individual investors amid a dearth of market-moving news. “The market’s topside was heavy” as investors shied away from purchasing stocks actively due to uncertainties over Brexit and worries about a global economic slowdown, said Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,335 to 730 in the first section, while 69 issues were unchanged. Volume dropped to 1.045 billion shares from Friday’s 1.672 billion. Omron surged 14.83 percent with a maximum allowable single-day point gain, after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Friday that the industry automation firm will replace Pioneer, set to be delisted, as a Nikkei 225 component on March 18. Other major winners included clothing store chain Fast Retailing and technology conglomerate SoftBank Group. By contrast, yakitori chain Torikizoku plunged 4.64 percent on its profit warning for the year ending in July. Also on the negative side were optical equipment maker Olympus and electronic parts supplier Murata Manufacturing.

stocks
nikkei
tokyo stock exchange
topix


Dollar turns firmer around ¥111.30 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar shrugged off its early weakness to move around ¥111.30 in late Tokyo trading Monday, supported by higher Chinese stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.27-28, up from ¥110.98-98 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1248-1249, up from $1.1209-1210, and at ¥125.16-16, up from ¥124.41-42. The dollar fell below ¥110.90 around the midmorning in line with the sluggish movements of the Nikkei 225 stock average. But the greenback retook ¥111.10 toward noon, aided by the key stock gauge’s upturn and rises in U.S. long-term interest rates in off-hours trading, traders said. The U.S. currency accelerated its upswing in late afternoon trading as buying was enhanced by brisk performances of Chinese stocks, they added. A risk-off mood seen since last week receded thanks to Asian equity markets’ firmness, an official at a major securities firm said. But if U.S. retail sales results for January, to be released later Monday, turn out to be weak, the dollar may take a dive, a life insurance firm official said. Amid growing concerns over a global economic slowdown, the dollar-yen pair has been easily affected by each economic indicator, an asset management company official pointed out.


Japan's last surviving coal railroad to end operations this month in Hokkaido

Abstract: KUSHIRO, HOKKAIDO - The only dedicated coal-carrying railroad still running in Japan will cease operations at the end of this month, ending its 94-year mission to support the country’s industrial development. The railroad, operated these days by Taiheiyo Coal Services & Transportation Co., runs entirely within the city of Kushiro, Hokkaido, connecting a loading point and a storage yard. In Japan’s past, many railroads were established to transport coal, mainly in Hokkaido and Kyushu, where there were abundant coal deposits. But all have been scrapped except the Taiheiyo Coal Line, nicknamed the Rinko-sen (Harbor Line), reflecting the domestic coal industry’s decline brought on by cheap imports and a shift in the government’s energy policy. Coal trains have been running on the 4-km-long line since 1925. During peak production at the Taiheiyo mine, a diesel locomotive pulled hopper cars hauling a total of 720 tons of coal from the loading point six times a day. After the mine was shut down in 2002, the mining business was taken over by another local company, while Taiheiyo Coal continued the train operation. But since coal output has shrunk to one-fifth the peak level of 2.6 million tons a year, there are days when no trains run at all. Ahead of the abolition of the railroad, many local people and rail fans are calling for its preservation as a legacy of Japan’s once-booming coal mining industry. “The railroad made us feel that the coal industry was still alive here in Kushiro,” said Takaori Ishikawa, a coal industry researcher and curator at the Kushiro City Museum. “Records and memories of the railroad should be preserved,” he stressed.

transportation
rail
coal
hokkaido
kushiro
taiheiyo coal services & transportation


Nissan and Renault weigh closure of Dutch joint venture that reportedly funded Ghosn's parties

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA are considering closing their joint venture in the Netherlands, sources said Monday, with the Japanese-French auto alliance aiming to establish a new management structure after the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. As the alliance looks to strengthen joint operations, Nissan, Renault and their third partner, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said their top executives will hold a joint news conference Tuesday at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama. The Amsterdam-based joint venture, Renault-Nissan B.V., which oversees the partnership’s operations, had been led by Ghosn until he was detained in Tokyo on Nov. 19 for alleged financial misconduct. The venture, set up in 2002, had become nonfunctional in recent years, and the alliance including Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has decided on key strategies at other meetings, according to the sources. The joint venture funded a dinner party held at the Palace of Versailles on the former chairman’s birthday and parties with his friends at Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival, French media reports have said. The two automakers last month launched a joint investigation into whether the venture is involved in any potential financial misconduct. Ghosn was replaced as chairman and CEO of Renault by Jean-Dominique Senard and Thierry Bollore, respectively, and Nissan removed Ghosn as chairman and appointed Senard as a new director subject to approval at a shareholders meeting April. 8. Bollore also succeeded Ghosn as chairman of the joint venture. Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors are looking to strengthen their joint operations under their new management teams. In a similar move, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors are considering dissolving their joint venture, Nissan-Mitsubishi B.V., which was established in June 2017 in the Netherlands. Mitsubishi Motors said in January that an internal investigation had found Ghosn “illegally” received around €7.82 million (¥977 million) in remuneration from the venture. In the meantime, the Tokyo District Court has rejected Ghosn’s request to attend a Nissan board meeting Tuesday, sources said Monday. Ghosn was released on bail Wednesday after making his third request, more than three months after he was arrested for alleged financial misconduct. Nissan removed Ghosn from his post afterward, but he still remains a director. The company plans to propose dismissing him as director at an extraordinary shareholders meeting April 8. Ghosn, who denies the allegations against him, believes he is obligated as a director to attend the board meeting, his lawyers said. His release is conditional on restrictions that address concerns he could tamper with evidence. Attending a board meeting requires court approval as the bail conditions include a ban on contact with Nissan executives and other people potentially linked to the allegations. Ghosn is accused of underreporting his remuneration in Nissan’s securities reports by around ¥9 billion over eight years. He is also charged with aggravated breach of trust for allegedly transferring personal losses of ¥1.85 billion ($16.6 million), linked to derivatives contracts, to Nissan, and having the automaker pay $14.7 million to a Saudi businessman who extended credit to him. Greg Kelly, a close aide of Ghosn who was also arrested and indicted for conspiring to understate Ghosn’s remuneration in the securities reports, does not intend to attend the board meeting, sources close to the matter said. Kelly, who was released on bail in late December, was dismissed as representative director after his arrest but also remains a Nissan director. He likewise denies the allegations against him.

corruption
netherlands
scandals
nissan
carmakers
mitsubishi motors
renault
carlos ghosn


Court blocks ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn from attending board meeting

Abstract: A Tokyo court on Monday denied ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn’s request to attend a board meeting this week, blocking what would have been a dramatic faceoff with the colleagues he has accused of fomenting a coup. Ghosn, released last week on a $9 million bail after spending more than 100 days in detention, had applied to the Tokyo District Court for permission to attend Tuesday’s board meeting, as per bail conditions, his lawyer Junichiro Hironaka told reporters earlier. Attendance would have offered Ghosn the first opportunity to speak with colleagues since his arrest in November. He faces charges of under-reporting his salary by about $82 million over nearly a decade — charges he has called “meritless.” The board meeting coincides with a plan by Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to set up a joint board meeting structure, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Some at Nissan had been unhappy with Ghosn’s push for a deeper tie-up, including possibly a full merger. One of the world’s best-known auto executives, Ghosn was sacked as chairman of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and resigned as chief executive of Renault. However, he remains on the boards of all three, given a shareholder vote is required to remove a board member. If his request had been approved, he would have been expected to dial into the meeting via teleconference, given the conditions of his bail, according to a person familiar with Nissan’s thinking.


Japan Tobacco's Canada unit gets court protection after potentially crushing legal defeat in Quebec

Abstract: Japan Tobacco Inc.’s Canadian unit was granted creditor protection by the Ontario Superior Court after a legal defeat over the risks of smoking threatens the existence of tobacco companies in the country. The court extended protection in favor of JTI-Macdonald Corp. after the company argued that the damages award in the case of up to 1.77 billion Canadian dollars ($1.32 billion) exceeded its capacity to pay, Japan Tobacco said in a statement. JTI-Macdonald filed for protection from its creditors on March 8. The Canadian units of British American Tobacco PLC, Philip Morris International Inc. and Japan Tobacco were ordered earlier this month to pay damages initially estimated at about CA$17 billion after losing an appeal over class actions filed by Quebec smokers. The total industry liability was later estimated at CA$13.5 billion. British American Tobacco said the ruling will hit its profit and set aside CA$758 million to cover damages, while Philip Morris cut its 2019 outlook. The legal defeat in Quebec was the latest blow to global tobacco companies, which have been undergoing a major shift as they try to lower their reliance on traditional cigarettes. They are seeking a future with alternative products as smoking demand wanes and countries tighten regulations. Analysts had warned that if Big Tobacco loses the Quebec cases, it could bankrupt the industry in Canada. The case stems from lawsuits originally filed in 1998 and involved the first damages against the industry in Canada. The lawsuits were in favor of smokers seeking damages for addiction and smoking-related diseases, who argued they were never warned of the risks. JTI-Macdonald said the protection against creditors was its best option allowing it to continue doing business. The company said it will also proceed with an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. While this case poses a risk, the industry faces even bigger headaches in Canada, where the country’s provinces are also suing the tobacco industry to recover health care costs. Ontario alone is claiming damages of CA$50 billion. The federal government may eventually need to step in to negotiate a settlement, because if legal cigarette manufacturers go under, the country would face the risk of a boom in illicit tobacco, according to Citigroup analyst Adam Spielman. The decision came a week after the U.S. Supreme Court turned away the tobacco industry’s effort to derail lawsuits by thousands of Florida smokers. In that case, the tobacco companies said they face another 2,300 pending suits.

courts
health
smoking
canada
cancer
japan tobacco


Two Belgian women, renouncing Islamic State, fear they will never go home with their six kids

Abstract: AIN ISSA, SYRIA - Two Belgian women who joined Islamic State in Syria said on Sunday they were losing hope they will ever go home after a Belgian court overturned a ruling to repatriate them with their six children. Tatiana Wielandt and Bouchra Abouallal, each 26, said that as much as it pains them, they would send the children to Belgium for a better life and stay behind if it came to that. “What do I wish to receive? A ticket home,” Abouallal said at the sprawling Ain Issa camp enclosed by wire fences in northern Syria. “I understand people are afraid. … They are judging us but they don’t know us.” European nations are wrestling with how to handle militants and their families seeking to return as Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate crumbles. The prospect of repatriation has sparked a fierce public debate in Brussels and other European capitals, where there is little sympathy for the families of jihadis with the trauma of attacks still fresh. Few governments want to take back their citizens, who may be hard to prosecute. Last year, a judge ordered Belgium to return the two women and the children they had with militants. But the state fought the case, fearing it would set a precedent, and won an appeal in February. “These children can’t live. They have no education. They have nothing,” Wielandt told Reuters in the women’s first interview since the Belgian state won the appeal. Her youngest son, blond and barefoot, clung to her clothes. The government sought to make a distinction between the mothers — sisters-in-law who were convicted in absentia of being Islamic State militants — and the children who officials say cannot be guilty of their parent’s actions. Like other parents across Europe, the grandmother of the six children, aged from 10 months to 7 years, has tried to bring them back for over a year. Belgium says it will stick by a 2017 decision to allow back all children under 10 from Iraq and Syria, but it is no longer under pressure from its judiciary to act in the case of the six. U.S.-backed forces in Syria, holding thousands of foreign jihadis along with their wives and children, say they cannot keep them forever. Wielandt and her school friend said they turned against Islamic State as they saw its militants brutally murder people, including foreigners who had joined its cause. They got smuggled out of Islamic State territory and surrendered to the Kurdish forces in Ain Issa in late 2017 after the jihadis lost their base in Syria’s Raqqa city, where they lived. They said they spent two months in prison before being sent to a camp in the northeast. The sisters-in-law are among 17 Belgian women and 32 children in Syria, security sources say. Wielandt converted to Islam to marry Abouallal’s brother when they were still teens. Soon after, they left with their husbands for Syria — each with a baby — like more than 400 Belgians who headed to the conflict zone. Their husbands died within a year. Each pregnant with a second child, the two widows returned to Belgium in 2014. When Abouallal’s mother, Fatiha, was away on vacation a few months later, they fled again — leaving her heartbroken with an empty house full of toys near Antwerp. Abouallal said they went to Syria in 2015 after feeling under “pressure” when police questioned them in Belgium or people blamed them for Islamic State attacks in Europe. “I was thinking I’m going to live my whole life like this,” she added. “And we still had a little bit this ideology.” The second time they joined Islamic State, both married again and had children: Wielandt to a Dutch militant, who was killed, and Abouallal to a man from Trinidad, who surrendered with them. The sisters-in-law said they stood ready to face jail time and get help. Abouallal said she burst into tears the last time she heard a plane flying overhead. “I don’t even fight this. I made a mistake and I need to get punished for it,” she added. “If I ever go back to Belgium, I hope they give me an injection or whatever to forget this whole part of our lives.” Nearly a month ago, they were moved to the Ain Issa camp, where the children live among scores of tarpaulin tents in the dirt. They said they received threats from more extremist women for showing their faces or not wearing black. “I don’t have a lot of hope anymore,” Abouallal said, her eyes filling with tears. “I know my mother did everything for us after everything we did to her.”

conflict
terrorism
syria
belgium
kurds
islamic state
raqqa
ain issa


To get to the truth, Robert Mueller must put Trump under oath, says U.S. House intel panel chief

Abstract: COLUMBUS, OHIO - It would be a mistake for special counsel Robert Mueller not to subpoena President Donald Trump to appear before a grand jury in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. Mueller is constrained by time pressure to conclude his work and also faces a White House that would likely fight a subpoena, Schiff said. Even so, he shouldn’t rely just on written answers from Trump because lawyers help craft them and there’s no chance for follow-up questions, the California Democratic lawmaker said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Probably the best way to get the truth would be to put the president under oath,” Schiff said. “Because as he’s made plain in the past, he feels it’s perfectly fine to lie to the public. After all, he has said, ‘It’s not like I’m talking before a magistrate.’ Well, maybe he should talk before a magistrate.” Trump’s lawyers have suggested that the president won’t be sitting down with Mueller to answer questions beyond written responses to some queries that were submitted in November. The attorneys have said the answers only cover events before Trump became president and Russian-related topics, not whether he tried to obstruct justice. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and collusion between his campaign and Russia, and derided Mueller’s investigation as a witch hunt. There are expectations in Washington that Mueller will wrap up his investigation and send his findings to U.S. Attorney General William Barr within days or weeks. “I’ve said all along that I don’t think Bob Mueller should rely on written answers,” Schiff said.

u.s .
robert mueller
donald trump
adam schiff
russia probe


Once an ally, Trump now tells 'Wacky Nut Job' Ann Coulter he's stopping 'invasion' at Mexico border

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said he’s “stopping an invasion” of the U.S. in a pair of tweets directed at conservative commentator Ann Coulter, whose criticism reportedly helped crystallize his decision to forge ahead with a record long federal government shutdown in December. Addressing “Wacky Nut Job” Coulter, a former ally, Trump said he’s “winning on the Border” and that major sections of the U.S.-Mexico border wall are being built and renovated with more to come. He also tweaked “certain Republicans” for being “sadly unable to fight.” “With another president, millions would be pouring in” to the U.S. through Mexico, Trump said. “I am stopping an invasion” with the effort to use executive action to renovate and construct a new wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, he told Coulter and his 59 million Twitter followers. Just two years after the right-wing pundit published a laudatory book called “In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome,” the pair have fallen out over his border wall tactics, failure to secure billions of dollars from Congress for construction, and subsequent move to declare a national emergency. In December the Senate easily passed a temporary spending measure without any money for the border wall after getting signals from the White House that Trump wouldn’t press the issue. But an outcry from conservatives, including Coulter and talk show host Rush Limbaugh, saw the White House do an about-face that resulted in the lengthy and damaging shutdown. The pair have swapped barbs since then. Trump dismissed Coulter’s role in December’s decision-making during the press conference in which he announced he would declare a national emergency at the border, saying he didn’t have time to speak to the commentator. “I hardly know her. I haven’t spoken to her in way over a year,” Trump said, adding that Coulter was “off the reservation.” Coulter publicly dismissed Trump’s plan as overreach, and said in a radio interview that the president was “fooling the rubes with a national emergency.” “Forget the fact that he’s digging his own grave,” Coulter said at the time. “The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.” The president is staying this weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and spent part of Saturday golfing with LPGA pro Lexi Thompson, the White House said.

immigration
donald trump
border wall
ann coulter


Popularity sky-high, Mexico's president runs a one-man show

Abstract: MEXICO CITY - Three months into his presidency, Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has already spent more time facing the press corps than his predecessor did in his entire six-year term. And the people love it. Standing at the center of a stage for his news conferences at 7 a.m. every weekday, Lopez Obrador has used the platform to swat at initial skepticism from financial markets and cement his hold on Mexico after a landslide election win last summer. The president’s approval rates are soaring. But if in time things go wrong, he will still be out in front on his own. Dictating debate much as U.S. President Donald Trump has via Twitter, the news conferences have muscled aside breakfast news programming and reduced other political leaders, including his own Cabinet, to bystanders at Lopez Obrador’s parade. “There’s nothing between him and the people, not even oxygen,” said Jesus Ortega, an erstwhile ally who ran the 2006 presidential campaign that Lopez Obrador lost by a whisker. As promised, the veteran leftist has slashed public-sector pay, given up presidential perks and launched one welfare program after another at rallies around the country, replacing existing social security schemes with more direct transfers. Throughout, he has kept a steady stream of verbal fire trained on dissenting voices or checks on his power, including critical media, civil society groups or independent regulatory bodies — while reaffirming his belief in free speech and transparency. Relentlessly hammering home his commitment to end Mexico’s chronic inequality, he has often used his media gatherings to denounce previous “neo-liberal” administrations he accuses of ruining Mexico, such as that of his predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto, who very rarely faced reporters at live news conferences. Voters have lapped it up. “He’s doing well,” said Joel Carrillo, a 52-year-old car valet in Mexico City who supports Lopez Obrador. “He’s taking away lots of privileges from the politicians.” In his July election, Lopez Obrador triumphed with 53 percent of the vote. Now, as his administration reaches the 100-day mark on Sunday, the president has the support of almost four out of five Mexicans, according to one recent opinion poll. “For the moment, he is completely invulnerable and completely indestructible,” said Agustin Barrios Gomez, a former lawmaker and board member of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI). “He owns the country.” Financial markets are not impressed. Rating agencies have issued a series of warnings that Mexico’s creditworthiness may be downgraded if Lopez Obrador cannot turn around state oil firm Pemex, which ended 2018 with more than $100 billion of financial debt. Lopez Obrador said the agencies were punishing Mexico for failed policies from the “neo-liberal” era. Still, a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president was more concerned than he let on about the agencies’ views. If economic problems do arise, Lopez Obrador would struggle to evade blame, said car valet Carrillo. “He’s not taking help from his ministers,” he said. “He’s taking all the responsibility on himself.” Diplomats, politicians and members of his own government tend to agree the economy is Lopez Obrador’s Achilles’ heel. The president has pushed consumer confidence to its highest level since at least 2001. But that has yet to translate into tangible gains for the economy. Forecasters are paring back their growth expectations for 2019. Car sales dropped in February by over 5 percent. By Friday, Mexico’s main share index had fallen for 10 consecutive days. Meanwhile, the latest data for Mexican retail sales and fixed capital investment showed significant declines in December. Business leaders were furious when Lopez Obrador scrapped a part-built, $13 billion new Mexico City airport and triggered billions of dollars of losses on Mexican markets. His steps to undo measures by Pena Nieto aimed at luring private capital to the oil and gas industry further soured sentiment. Lopez Obrador argued the airport was tainted by corruption. And he has long espoused the belief Mexico must keep its own oil — even if he has yet to entirely rule out continuing the auctions of oil and gas fields that Pena Nieto started. The problem for Mexico, said Barrios Gomez at COMEXI, is that the rhetoric of Lopez Obrador and his more ideological allies have almost made investment a dirty word. “When somebody says investment, in their minds they translate it as bourgeoisie getting rich,” he said. And the more moderate aides were unlikely to pick a fight with Lopez Obrador over the economy because they owed him their jobs, noted Ortega, his former campaign chief. For now, the president would continue to blame previous governments for economic difficulties, he added. But in due course, others would pay the price. “When something goes wrong, he won’t hesitate to make heads roll,” said Ortega.

mexico
enrique pena nieto
pemex
manuel lopez obrador
comexi


Ailing Bouteflika, 82, returns to face Algerian demonstrations

Abstract: CAIRO - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrived home from Geneva on Sunday, as students vowed to keep up mass demonstrations against his re-election bid and the ruling party scrambled for a way out of the crisis. Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth term has triggered seismic protests in the North African OPEC member, presenting the 82-year-old leader and ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party with their most serious challenge since his election in 1999. His promises to amend the constitution and serve an abridged term if re-elected in the April 18 ballot have failed to satisfy protesters frustrated with “le pouvoir,” a cabal of military officers, veterans of Algeria’s war of independence and big businessmen who have governed the oil and gas producer for decades. In a statement released hours before Bouteflika was discharged from a Geneva hospital and rushed to the airport, the FLN said it was working with all political groups to find a way out of the crisis while preserving the national interest, hinting that the ruling elite was looking to appease the street without unsettling the political structure. In another indication authorities were preparing to respond to nationwide demonstrations, which began on Feb. 22 and have drawn in ever larger numbers, the powerful military chief of staff Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah struck a conciliatory tone on Sunday. Eschewing earlier warnings against unrest that could drive Algeria back to the ruinous days of the 1990s civil war, Salah said the military and the people “are partners in one destiny.” “Everyone is currently seeking to position themselves for the period after Bouteflika. The presidential alliance has completely crumbled,” said Louiza Ait-Hamadouche, a political analyst. “This is a good sign as it means the Bouteflika era is over but it could be a bad sign if we want to enter a real transitional period because it is the political forces currently in power who are directing future events.” Bouteflika has been largely incapacitated and rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. Swiss media reported in recent days that his health was deteriorating. The official APS news agency confirmed Bouteflika had returned after medical checks in Geneva. Live images showed the president’s plane and motorcade, but he has yet to appear in public. While Algeria largely avoided the turmoil that shook its neighbors during the Arab Spring uprisings, its citizens have struggled with rising prices, frustration over alleged corruption and deteriorating living standards since oil prices tumbled from over $100 a barrel in 2014, the last time Bouteflika ran for office. The downturn in global oil markets has since sapped half the country’s foreign reserves and sharply crimped the government’s ability to sustain a generous subsidy system that had helped to placate a youthful population crying out for jobs. The series of official comments coming from Bouteflika’s camp are reminiscent of promises made by other leaders in the heated days of the 2011 uprisings. That sequence — first ignore, then cajole and then offer minor reforms — did little to insulate the longtime leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya or Yemen. Speaking before Bouteflika’s arrival, his campaign manager Abdelghani Zalene said the president was still committed to earlier pledges of amending the constitution and holding early elections — suggesting he had no plan to back down. “The president’s arrival or lack thereof changes nothing,” Zubida Assoul, leader of the small opposition Union for Change and Progress said in live comments on Hadath television network. “What all of the Algerian people are awaiting is for the authorities to declare their response to the people.”

conflict
france
algeria
switzerland
opec
abdelaziz bouteflika


Nigeria vote tensions rise as counting is suspended in volatile opposition-held state

Abstract: PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA - Nigeria’s election authorities announced the suspension of activities in volatile opposition-held Rivers State on Sunday citing violence and threats to its staff, as tensions rise in the wake of closely watched regional elections. Counting is continuing across the country after Saturday’s elections for governors in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, all state assemblies and administrative councils in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. Results are expected in the coming days. The statement from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) halting the electoral process in oil-rich Rivers came after dozens of men in military fatigues encircled a vote counting center in the state capital Port Harcourt — sparking international concern and an army denial that its soldiers were involved. While it did not mention the incident directly, the INEC said the “safety of our staff appears to be in jeopardy all over the state and the commission is concerned about the credibility of the process. It said reports from its teams in Rivers “suggest that violence occurred in a substantial number of polling units and collation centers, staff have been taken hostage and materials including result sheets have either been seized or destroyed by unauthorized persons.” AFP reporters in Port Harcourt said men in military uniforms blocked roads around the building where INEC staff were counting votes, sparking a standoff with police who initially resisted with teargas but ultimately backed down. Nigeria’s military categorically denied that the men were among its ranks, accusing “political thugs” of dressing up in army uniforms and carrying weapons to “impersonate soldiers and perpetrate various crimes in the furtherance of the activities of their political bosses. Earlier the British High Commission in Abuja tweeted that it was “extremely concerned” about “reports of military interference in the election process in Rivers State. Regional elections are fiercely contested in Nigeria, where governors are powerful and influential figures, controlling state finances and responsible for key areas from education to health. In Lagos, meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) retained control of the governorship, according to results announced by a local INEC official. The APC’s Babajide Sanwo-Olu had faced a strong challenge from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Jimmy Agbaje for control of the commercial capital, a key prize given its sheer size and role as the main driver of the country’s economy. Saturday was the second time in a fortnight that Nigerians have cast ballots after presidential elections in February that saw Buhari clinch a second term in office — a result disputed by the PDP. Incidents of violence marred Saturday’s poll, with reports of abductions and killings as well as concerns over vote buying and a strong military presence. The opposition PDP, which criticized the INEC decision in Rivers, is hoping for victory in some of the 22 states currently run by Buhari’s APC. Adding to tensions in the southern Delta state was a court ruling barring any APC candidates from standing in the gubernatorial election because of procedural irregularities in the selection process. Incumbent PDP Gov. Nyesom Wike, considered a favorite to be reelected, responded with fury to the electoral suspension in Rivers and urged the INEC to make sure the vote is respected “to ensure peace.” “They have begun a war. They want to install a puppet. But no, it can’t stand … the will of the people of Rivers cannot be subverted, we are no cowards,” he said on Twitter. Three people were killed in Rivers on Friday, according to the country’s transport minister, following clashes between APC and PDP supporters. Violence also overshadowed the electoral process in other states, including the abduction of three INEC staff in northern Katsina state in an ambush Saturday that police said left one if its officers dead. Most domestic and international observers said last month’s presidential vote was credible, despite well-documented problems. But tensions remain high as the PDP challenges the result in court.

elections
nigeria
muhammadu buhari
rivers state


Ethiopian Airlines crash kills 157, spreading global grief

Abstract: ADDIS ABABA - An Ethiopian Airlines jet faltered and crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff, carving a gash in the earth and spreading global grief to 35 countries that had someone among the 157 people who were killed. There was no immediate indication why the plane went down in clear weather while on a flight to Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. The crash was strikingly similar to that of a Lion Air jet in Indonesian seas last year, which killed 189 people. Both accidents involved the Boeing 737 Max 8, and China ordered a temporarily grounding of those planes for Chinese airlines Monday. The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in African skies, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent’s largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa. “Ethiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage we cannot rule out anything,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters. He visited the crash site, standing in the gaping crater flecked with debris. Black body bags were spread out nearby while Red Cross and other workers looked for remains. As the sun set, the airline’s chief operating officer said the plane’s flight data recorder had not yet been found. Around the world, families were gripped by grief. At the Addis Ababa airport, a woman called a mobile number in vain. “Where are you, my son?” she said, in tears. Others cried as they approached the terminal. Henom Esayas, whose sister’s Nigerian husband was killed, said they were startled when a stranger picked up their frantic calls to his mobile phone, told them he had found it in the debris and promptly switched it off. Shocked leaders of the United Nations, the U.N. refugee agency and the World Food Program announced that colleagues had been on the plane. The U.N. migration agency estimated some 19 U.N.-affiliated employees were killed. Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and many people were on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference set to begin Monday in Nairobi. The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa’s two largest economic powers. Sunburned travelers and tour groups crowd the Addis Ababa airport’s waiting areas, along with businessmen from China, Gulf nations and elsewhere. A list of the dead released by Ethiopian Airlines included passengers from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India and Somalia. Kenya lost 32 citizens. Canada, 18. Several countries including the United States lost four or more people. Ethiopian officials declared Monday a day of mourning. At the Nairobi airport, hopes quickly dimmed for loved ones. “I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it,” said Agnes Muilu, who had come to pick up her brother. The crash is likely to renew questions about the 737 Max, the newest version of Boeing’s popular single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world’s most common passenger jet. China’s civil aviation authority on Monday ordered Chinese airlines to ground their 737 Max 8 aircraft for safety reasons and said it would consult with Boeing and others further. A spokesman said Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as a safety precaution. Asrat Begashaw said Monday that although it is not yet known what caused the crash on Sunday, the airline decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8 planes until further notice as “an extra safety precaution.” Ethiopian Airlines was using five new 737 Max 8 planes and was awaiting delivery of 25 more. Indonesian investigators have not determined a cause for the October crash, but days after the accident Boeing sent a notice to airlines that faulty information from a sensor could cause the plane to automatically point the nose down. The Lion Air cockpit data recorder showed that the jet’s airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights, though the airline initially said problems had been fixed. Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known about Sunday’s disaster. The Ethiopian Airlines CEO “stated there were no defects prior to the flight, so it is hard to see any parallels with the Lion Air crash yet,” said Harro Ranter, founder of the Aviation Safety Network, which compiles information about accidents worldwide. The Ethiopian plane was new, delivered to the airline in November. The Boeing 737 Max 8 was one of 30 meant for the airline, Boeing said in July. The jet’s last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours. The plane crashed six minutes after departure, plowing into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 km (31 miles) outside Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m. The jet showed unstable vertical speed after takeoff, air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said. The senior Ethiopian pilot, who joined the airline in 2010, sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport, the airline’s CEO told reporters. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration said it would join the National Transportation Safety Board in assisting Ethiopian authorities with the crash investigation. Boeing planned to send a technical team to Ethiopia. The last deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight was in 2010, when a plane went down minutes after takeoff from Beirut, killing all 90 people on board. African air travel has improved in recent years, with the International Air Transport Association in November noting “two years free of any fatalities on any aircraft type.” Sunday’s crash comes as the country’s reformist young prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has vowed to open up the airline and other sectors to foreign investment in a major transformation of the state-centered economy. Speaking at the inauguration in January of a new passenger terminal in Addis Ababa to triple capacity, the prime minister challenged the airline to build a new “Airport City” terminal in Bishoftu — where Sunday’s crash occurred.

boeing
ethiopia
ethiopian airlines
air accidents


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives in Iraq on first official visit, state TV says

Abstract: BAGHDAD - Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Iraq on Monday for his first official visit, state television said, as Baghdad is under pressure from Washington to limit ties with its neighbor. Before leaving Tehran, Rouhani hailed the “special” relations between Iran and Iraq, saying they could not be compared to Baghdad’s ties “with an aggressor country like America.” His visit to Iraq is the first since he became president in 2013. “Iran-Iraq relations are special,” Rouhani said at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport before flying to Baghdad, Iranian state television reported, adding that Tehran was always ready to help its neighbors. “America is despised in the region. The bombs that the Americans dropped on Iraqis, Syrian people and other countries cannot be forgotten,” he added. Baghdad has been under pressure from Washington to limit ties with its neighbor, particularly after the United States last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and hit Tehran with sanctions. Iraq was given limited waivers to continue buying electricity and natural gas from Iran, with Washington calling on Baghdad to partner with U.S. companies to become energy independent. After Turkey, Iran is the top supplier of imported goods to Iraq, including cars, gas, home appliances and vegetables. Iran has close but complicated relations with Iraq, with significant influence among its Shiite political groups. The two countries fought a bloody war from 1980 to 1988 and Tehran’s influence in Baghdad grew after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. Iran was the first country to respond to Iraqi calls for help after Islamic State group jihadis captured second city Mosul in 2014 and threatened to overrun Baghdad and Kirkuk. Tehran dispatched “military advisers” and equipment overnight along with the famous Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani to prevent IS jihadis from approaching its western borders. Following the defeat of IS in Iraq, Iran is trying to position itself to gain a prime role in rebuilding the war-ravaged country. During the visit, Rouhani is set to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and President Barham Saleh, as well as the country’s chief Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, according to the Iranian government’s website. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif preceded Rouhani to Iraq to prepare for the visit.


Trump adviser says third North Korea summit may be a while away, and fails to mention launch preparations

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump is open to a third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but some time may have to go by before this takes place, Trump’s national security adviser said on Sunday. Speaking on ABC, John Bolton said the United States has no illusions about North Korea’s capabilities, but Trump remains confident in his personal relationship with the North Korean leader. Bolton’s comments came after two U.S. think tanks and Seoul’s spy agency said last week that North Korea was rebuilding a rocket launch site at Sohae in the west of the country. There have also been reports from South Korea’s intelligence service of new activity at a factory at Sanumdong near Pyongyang that produced North Korea’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. Bolton declined to discuss those reports or say whether a new North Korean missile launch would scuttle engagement with the United States. He said, however, that it was a mistake to assume North Korea would “automatically” comply with its obligations. “The president’s confident in his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un. He’s invested a lot of time in trying to develop that relationship,” Bolton told ABC’s “This Week.” “He said he’s open to a third summit, none has been scheduled, and some time may have to go by. But he’s prepared to engage again because he does think that the prospects for North Korea, which he’s been trying to persuade Kim Jong Un to accept if they denuclearized, are really quite spectacular,” Bolton said. Trump told reporters Friday he would be disappointed if Pyongyang were to resume weapons testing and reiterated his belief in his good relationship with the North Korean leader, despite the recent collapse of their second summit in Hanoi. North Korea has frozen nuclear and missile testing since 2017, and Trump has pointed to this as a positive outcome from nearly a year of high-level engagement with North Korea. Bolton said he thought Kim has a “very clear idea” where Trump stands on missile tests. U.S. intelligence is constantly watching North Korea, he said. “We see exactly what they’re doing now. We see it unblinkingly, and we don’t have any illusions about what their capabilities are,” he said. Bolton said he was unaware of any recent U.S. contact with North Korea, but that he would be talking Monday with his South Korean counterpart, who may have been in touch with the North.

north korea
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
missiles
north korea nuclear crisis
donald trump
john bolton
sohae


South Korea closely monitoring North for signs of 'missile launch,' military says

Abstract: SEOUL - South Korea’s military said Monday it was closely monitoring North Korean facilities after a series of satellite images triggered international alarm that Pyongyang might be preparing a long-range missile or space launch. Analysis indicates increased activity at two key sites — the Samundong missile research facility and the Sohae rocket-testing facility. Any launch could send stuttering talks on denuclearization into disarray. South Korea is “closely tracking and looking into all activity for possible scenarios including a missile launch” across the border, in close coordination with the U.S., said Kim Joon-rak, spokesman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Satellite images of Samundong taken on February 22 showed cars and trucks at the site, as well as rail cars and cranes at a yard, U.S. news outlet NPR reported. “When you put all that together, that’s really what it looks like when the North Koreans are in the process of building a rocket,” Jeffrey Lewis, a researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, was quoted as saying. Located on the outskirts of Pyongyang, the Samundong facility was built in 2012 to support development of long-range missiles and space-launch vehicles. As well as developing the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts agree is capable of reaching the whole U.S. mainland, Samundong constructed the long-range rockets that were then transported and successfully launched from the Sohae satellite launch station in 2012 and 2016. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed last year to shutter the Sohae site at a summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang. Satellite pictures in August suggested workers were dismantling an engine test stand at the facility. But the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies suggested last week rebuilding was progressing quickly at the facility. A moving structure that had been used to carry vehicles to a launch pad on rails has been restored, said respected research website 38 North project. It added the work had started before last month’s failed meeting on denuclearization between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said Sunday the U.S. sees “exactly what they are doing” in regard to possible missile or rocket launch moves by the nuclear-armed state. “We see it unblinkingly, and we don’t have any illusions about what those are,” he warned, adding his boss would be “pretty disappointed” if a nuclear-armed state conducted a new missile test. North Korea has been banned by the U.N. Security Council from carrying out space launches, as some of its technology was similar to that used for ICBMs. Since the collapse of the Hanoi summit, Trump has been cautious in his forecasts, continuing to suggest a deal remains possible. Trump said Kim promised he would carry out no more missile or nuclear testing, adding, “I take him at his word.”

north korea
nuclear weapons
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis


YouTuber is on a quest to visit Taiwan's dwindling allies, from the Solomons to Swaziland

Abstract: TAIPEI - From battling a storm in the Solomon Islands to consulting a witch doctor in Swaziland, Ben Wu has trekked some of the world’s less-trodden paths as he embarks on a quest to visit all of Taiwan’s dwindling diplomatic allies. The list of countries he must visit is short — just 17 nations still recognize Taiwan over mainland China — a vivid illustration of the democratic island’s international isolation as Beijing uses its clout to woo Taipei’s few remaining friends. In all practical ways, Taiwan is a de facto independent country, but both Taipei and Beijing insist they are the one true China and that other nations can recognize only one of them. Most have sided with China as its political and economic might has grown. Last summer Wu, 25, was having a meeting in Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on the day El Salvador just happened to become the latest country to switch its recognition to Beijing. He watched as the country’s flag was removed from the ministry’s entrance. “I think most young people only know about our allies when there is a termination of diplomatic relations and this is not good,” Wu said at his home in Taipei. “They should know about the allies in other ways.” Using YouTube, Wu is trying to change that. He came up with the idea to visit the remaining allies while riding the Trans-Siberian Railway. Flicking through a news article about Taiwan’s allies, he realized he only recognized three — Haiti, Tuvalu and the Vatican. “I love travel and some of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are less known and more difficult to reach. I hope to explore these countries that fewer people have traveled to and be a part of ‘people diplomacy,'” he said. So far, Wu has ticked off five allies in the Pacific — Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands — as well the only ally in Africa, Swaziland. This month, he sets out for Latin America and the Caribbean to visit Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Haiti, Belize, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as St. Kitts and Nevis. He will wrap up his quest with the Vatican and Palau in the summer. Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation was not always the case. After its split from the mainland in 1949, when the communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists, it was the Republic of China that was recognized by the majority, not the People’s Republic of China. The global reversal began in earnest in 1971 when Taiwan — then in the grip of Chiang’s military dictatorship — was kicked out of the international club by the U.N. General Assembly, which recognized the PRC as “the only legitimate representative of China.” Allies began falling like dominoes, with Washington switching recognition in 1979 — although it remains a key military backer and supplies Taiwan with most of its weaponry. Those nations that remained tended to be impoverished, smaller countries in the Pacific, Africa and Latin America who have since become easy pickings as China morphed from dysfunction and poverty into the world’s second-largest economy. After the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen — who hails from an independence leaning party — Beijing has launched a campaign to further undermine the island’s sovereignty. Five allies have been poached, it blocked Taipei from attending major global gatherings and pressured a string of international companies, including airlines and hotels, to list Taiwan as part of China. J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based expert at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Studies Programme, said the remaining allies most at risk of switching are those in the Pacific. “Beijing is hard at work trying to sway those,” he said, adding that China may try to lure further defections as Tsai seeks re-election in 2020. But he added that Taiwan under Tsai had made “substantial progress strengthening ties with unofficial allies that, in the end, are far more influential, both in terms of their diplomatic weight and size of their economies, than the small states with which it has official diplomatic relations.” Wu said he wanted greater awareness of the those who have stayed loyal to Taiwan, even if somewhere like Tuvalu only boasts some 12,000 people. “These countries have a voice in international organizations. They can speak up for Taiwan and let more people know about Taiwan’s difficult diplomatic situation,” he said. Wu’s YouTube videos on his channel “ Ben’s Adventure ” have racked up tens of thousands of views and turned into a career. One shows him bashed by a storm in a rickety boat after seeing human skulls left by headhunters in the Solomon Islands. Others show him consulting a witch doctor in a dark room filled with bags of herbs in Swaziland, eating betel nuts in Kiribati and finding Taiwanese food in a Marshall Islands supermarket. Wu says he hopes other young Taiwanese might follow in his footsteps. “I hope to introduce the culture, tradition, custom and sightseeing of our allies in a relaxing way so people can get to know these countries. I am opening a window, a door and people can explore the rest.”


Kazakh cops collar activist campaigning for victims of China's Xinjiang crackdown

Abstract: ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN - Kazakh police on Sunday arrested an activist who has campaigned for victims of China’s re-education drive in Xinjiang, sealing his informal group’s office and taking its computers. Serikjan Bilash, who has led a loud awareness drive centered on ethnic Kazakh victims of China’s crackdown in the region, was arrested in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, and flown to the capital Astana, his partner told AFP. Bilash appeared on Sunday in a video filmed by Kazakh police confirming he was facing charges of inciting hatred, although it was not immediately clear what motivated the charges. He said he had not been taken “by either the Chinese or Chinese spies.” Kazakh authorities have not made an official statement on the arrest. The Central Asian country, which shares a border with Xinjiang province, has been on diplomatic tiptoes since major trade partner China began to forcibly send ethnic Kazakhs to internment camps under its anti-extremism policy. “They took my husband in the early hours of Sunday and transferred him by plane to Astana. It seems to be very serious,” Bilash’s partner, Leila Adiljan, said. Adiljan told AFP that police had set bail at the local currency equivalent of more than $3,500 and that his Ata-Jurt rights group planned to raise the money. An AFP correspondent saw a group of Kazakh law enforcement officers leave the office used by Ata-Jurt with black plastic bags on Sunday. The policemen refused to comment but office volunteers said the bags contained computers, cameras and hard drives with information about people detained in Xinjiang. “There are lots of testimonies of victims on those computers,” Gulzhan Toktaysn, a volunteer at the office told AFP. The office was later sealed. Bilash has hosted regular press conferences at the location, highlighting the plight of Kazakhs and other majority-Muslim groups in Xinjiang. Human rights groups say China has placed as many as 1 million people in internment camps, while Beijing says these are vocational education centers aimed at combatting extremism through education and job training. Bilash on Saturday said “suspicious” men in sports tracksuits had infiltrated an Ata-Jurt press-conference before being chased out, attributing them to “pressure on us from the Chinese.” “We will not retreat and will continue to do our work,” Bilash said. Oil-rich Kazakhstan’s government is a Beijing ally that positions itself as “the buckle” in China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road trade and investment agenda, a strategy for infrastructure and development projects throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry has entered into dialogue with Beijing over Kazakhs in Xinjiang, but only publicly broached the controversial facilities there in detail for the first time earlier this month. In February Bilash was fined nearly $700 by a civil court in Almaty for leading an unregistered organization but pledged to continue the group’s work. Ata-Jurt members have said that attempts to register the organization with the authorities are thwarted. The group was key in attracting international media coverage to the case of Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from China who was jailed in Kazakhstan for crossing the border illegally last year. Sauytbay went on to testify in court about the re-education system she had worked for as a state employee before fleeing China to join her family in Kazakhstan. The court freed Sauytbay but Kazakh authorities have so far refused her asylum status. A United Nations panel of experts has said that over a million people — mostly ethnic Uighurs but also members of the Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Hui Muslim minorities, are being held in camps across Xinjiang.

china
muslims
xinjiang
kazakhstan
serikjan bilash


U.S. says granting religious freedom in China could boost trust among Taiwanese

Abstract: TAIPEI - The U.S. ambassador for religious freedom again urged China on Monday to give its people religious freedom, a move he said could help gain trust from self-ruled Taiwan, an island China considers its own. Sam Brownback said in a speech Friday in Hong Kong that China was waging “war with faith” and that it needed to respect the “sacred right” of people to worship, especially Muslims locked up in internment camps in Xinjiang. On Monday, he addressed the issue of Taiwan, which China considers a wayward province and has pledged to bring back into the fold, by force if necessary. “If they want to build some confidence in Taiwan, they should give religious freedom to their own people,” he said. “If they would give religious freedom to their own people, that would be noticeable.” Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to reassure people in Taiwan in January that religious and legal freedom on the island would be respected under a peaceful “reunification.” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has in return rejected Xi’s call and instead urged China to embrace democracy. Brownback’s visit to Taipei was viewed by some in Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging that China takes the position that there is “One China” and Taiwan is part of it. But the United States is also Taiwan’s biggest ally and arms supplier and is duty-bound by legislation to help the island defend itself. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China opposes any kind of official contact between the United States and Taiwan. China os strongly opposed to the envoy’s “wrong comments” about religious freedom and has lodged “stern representations” with the United States, Lu said, adding that China protects religious freedom. China opposes the United States using the issue of religion to interfere in its internal affairs and urges it to stop, he said. China runs vocational training centers in Xinjiang to carry out de-radicalization and prevent terror, Lu said. “They are absolutely not, as the United States exaggerates, so-called re-education camps,” Lu said.

china
religion
taiwan
uighurs
sam brownback


Indonesian woman freed after Malaysian court drops murder charge in Kim Jong Nam killing

Abstract: SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA - An Indonesian woman held two years on suspicion of killing the North Korean leader’s half brother was freed from custody Monday after a Malaysian judge discharged the murder charge against her. The judge discharged Siti Aisyah without an acquittal after prosecutors said they wanted to withdraw the charge. They did not give a reason. She was quickly ushered out of the courtroom and into a waiting car. An emotional Aisyah told reporters she had only learned Monday morning that she would be freed. “I am surprised and very happy.” The murder trial of Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong was put on hold after the surprise development. She was to have begun giving her defense in Monday’s court session, after months of delay. The trial will resume Thursday, with prosecutors expected to reply to a request by Huong’s lawyers asking the government to similarly withdraw the charges against her. Indonesia’s government said its continual high-level lobbying resulted in Aisyah’s release. The foreign ministry said in a statement that she was “deceived and did not realize at all that she was being manipulated by North Korean intelligence.” It said Aisyah, a migrant worker, believed that she was part of a reality TV show and never had any intention of killing Kim Jong Nam. The ministry said Malaysia’s attorney general used his authority under Malaysia’s criminal procedure code to not continue the prosecution following a request from Indonesia’s law and human rights minister. It said that over the past two years, Aisyah’s plight was raised in “every bilateral Indonesia-Malaysia meeting,” including at the president’s level, the vice president’s level and in regular meetings of the foreign minister and other ministers with their Malaysian counterparts. Indonesian Ambassador Rusdi Kirana said he was thankful to the Malaysian government. “We believe she is not guilty,” he said. Prosecutor Iskandar Ahmad said that the discharge not amounting to acquittal means Aisyah can be recharged, but that there are no such plans for now. The two young women were accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim’s face in an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. They have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a TV show. They were the only suspects in custody after four North Korean suspects fled the country the same morning Kim was killed. Meanwhile, Huong said she was shocked by the development. “I am in shock. My mind is blank,” a distraught Huong told reporters through a translator after Aisyah left. Huong’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said Huong felt Aisyah’s discharge was unfair to her as the judge last year had found sufficient evidence to continue the murder trial against them. “She is entitled to the same kind of consideration as Aisyah,” he said. “We are making representation to the attorney general for Doan to be taken equally.” A High Court judge last August had found there was enough evidence to infer Aisyah, Huong and the four missing North Koreans had engaged in a “well-planned conspiracy” to kill Kim. The defense phase of the trial had been scheduled to start in January but was delayed until Monday. Salim Bashir, a lawyer for Huong, said previously she was prepared to testify under oath for her defense. “She is confident and ready to give her version of the story. It is completely different from what the prosecutors had painted. She was filming a prank and had no intention to kill or injure anyone,” he said. Lawyers for the women have previously said they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and that the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill. Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law. Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea and have made it clear they don’t want the trial politicized. Kim was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea’s ruling family. He had been living abroad for years but could have been seen as a threat to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s rule. Murder carries a mandatory sentence of hanging, but Malaysia’s government plans to abolish the death penalty and has put all executions on hold until the laws are changed.

malaysia
murder
north korea
kim jong nam
siti aisyah


Four dead after fire burns down farmer's house in Aomori

Abstract: SENDAI - Four people were found dead after a fire gutted a farmer’s house Monday in Aomori Prefecture, police and firefighters said. The fire broke out at the wooden two-story home of Mitsuhiro Yashiro, 77, in Hirosaki at around midnight. The blaze was put out six hours later. Yashiro, who lived with five others, was uninjured, but his daughter, 46, and three grandchildren aged 16 to 18 remain unaccounted for. Yashiro’s wife, 69, was taken to the hospital but is not in a life-threatening condition. “Yashiro’s wife came out to alert others to the fire, but it was unmanageable by then,” a 71-year-old neighbor said. The house was located in an area dotted with residences and rice paddies some 6 km away from JR Tsurudomari Station.


Eight years after 3/11 quake and tsunami disasters, support groups for foreign residents at crossroads

Abstract: SENDAI - Eight years on, efforts among foreign residents in Japan to help one another after the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis have reached a crossroads. In many cases, foreign residents who were affected by the 2011 disaster created groups to look after one another. But some organizations are struggling to continue their activities. Experts have stressed the need for such groups to clarify their purpose, and build outside ties. In February, during a show on a local radio station in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, three Filipino women engaged in lively chatter. The 30-minute show, which airs once a month on Radio Kesennuma, is hosted by members of the Kabayan Kesennuma Filipino Community. The recording session was filled with laughter as the hosts conversed in a mixture of Japanese, English, Tagalog and Spanish. One commented that champorado , a Philippine chocolate rice pudding, seemed especially tasty on rainy days. Charito Ito, 48-year-old head of Kabayan Kesennuma, started the radio program with others mainly to deliver information useful for everyday life, such as where they had evacuated after the disaster and how they found new jobs. Now the show focuses on introducing events and highlighting cultural differences between Japan and the Philippines. Despite various hardships, including a struggle to find time to record the shows outside work hours, the three said they want to promote a good image of Filipinos and help people to learn about the Philippines in depth. While there are several communities of foreign residents established in Miyagi and neighboring Fukushima Prefecture to check people’s safety, share information and other purposes, not all groups are thriving. One organization split due to conflict over the re-election of its leader. Several groups broke up after differences of opinion among members. Meanwhile, the importance of emergency networks is growing, with a surge in the number of foreign residents, including technical interns, in the Tohoku region amid high demand driven by reconstruction activities. A community of Indonesian people and others has seen its membership rise from 18 to over 300. Iswahyudi, 44, one of the founders of the group, said the organization is doing well, as long-term residents keep an eye on other members, while interns and others take turns to play leadership roles for a year. According to Iswahyudi, the group has many Japanese members. “The challenge will be how the organizations let others know about their aims when the post-disaster situation settles down,” Takahiro Oizumi, a 49-year-old senior official of the Miyagi International Association, said. “Cooperation with the outside, such as working with local Japanese groups, will be crucial for the continuation of the foreign communities from the viewpoint of multicultural coexistence,” he added.

great east japan earthquake
charity
disasters
expats
3.11
ngos
foreign residents
filipino community


Japan's Komeito political party seeks international regulations on robotic weapons

Abstract: A project team of Komeito, the junior partner in the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, has presented to Foreign Minister Taro Kono its proposals for an international agreement to regulate robotic weapons development. Deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, cannot be overlooked in terms of international humanitarian law and ethics, according to the proposals released Monday. Komeito called for agreeing on a document, such as a political declaration or a code of conduct, within the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Kono said he will refer to the proposals. Ethical issues and military advantages of such weapons have been under discussion within the framework of the convention since 2014. Japan will present its view at meetings of governmental experts to be held later this month and in August. The Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces, suffering from personnel shortages amid falling numbers of young people, are reportedly eying more use of robotic weapons and remain cautious about excessive regulations.

ldp
weapons
robots
komeito
taro kono
robot weapons


Ex-Vice Gov. Konishi tapped by LDP to run for Osaka governor after actor Takuro Tatsumi says no

Abstract: OSAKA - Former Osaka Vice Gov. Tadakazu Konishi agreed Monday to be the Liberal Democratic Party candidate for governor in next month’s election, ending a frantic search to find a candidate. But local political and business leaders remain concerned about who will support him and what Osaka’s chaotic political situation now means not only for local politics but also the economy, as well as local preparations for major international events like June’s Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit. “I am entering the race because I’m not convinced of (the wisdom of) the public offices of governor and mayor being used to carry out an election,” Konishi said at a news conference Friday evening to announce his candidacy. He will run against Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura from Osaka Ishin no Kai. Yoshimura and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, the head of Osaka Ishin, announced their resignations Friday and will run for each other’s post in elections next month, in a bid to seek voters’ verdict on the party’s push for merging Osaka’s 24 wards. With the LDP’s choice now set, attention turns to whether Konishi will also draw support from other major parties. In the November 2015 Osaka gubernatorial and mayoral elections, the LDP candidates had the backing of all other major parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, but lost to Matsui and Yoshimura, who were also supported by many Komeito voters. How much backing Konishi gets this time from Komeito, which cooperated with Osaka Ishin to form a majority in the prefectural and municipal assemblies but fell out with the party over the Osaka merger plan, is a factor in the race. Konishi told reporters Friday that he has asked for Komeito’s formal support. How enthusiastically Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who are close to Osaka Ishin leader Matsui, respond to Konishi’s candidacy could also affect his chances. Konishi became the LDP choice less than a day after actor Takuro Tatsumi declined the party’s request to run in the April 7 election, set to be held the same day voters go to the polls for Osaka mayoral as well as prefectural and municipal assembly elections. Some in the LDP had hoped Tatsumi’s status as a local celebrity would appeal to a broad range of voters, and would be more likely to attract the support of Komeito and other political parties that have opposed efforts by Osaka Ishin to merge Osaka. Resignations by Matsui and Yoshimura over the Osaka merger, and their decisions to run for each other’s seat, have been greeted with concern — especially from those worried about a potential impact on the G20 Osaka Summit, which will bring over 30 world leaders and 30,000 people to Osaka on June 28-29. “We hope there will be no effect on the Kansai economy due to the political confusion at this important time of preparations for the 2025 World Expo and the June G20 Summit, and when there are now signs of a decline in business confidence,” said Hiroshi Ozaki, chairman of Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Friday. Foreign Minister Taro Kono, in a speech Sunday, also expressed concern about the effect on G20 efforts. “If, in a double election, the governor is no longer around, who do you consult with? The mayor? He’s gone as well, making it a problem. I don’t understand having sudden elections or a sudden merger. Isn’t it necessary to have politics that places importance on dealing with the issues right in front of you?,” Kono said at a speech in Osaka on Sunday. “Minister Kono, The Foreign Ministry, Osaka prefecture and Osaka city have already established a G20 preparation office. More than a year has passed since Osaka was selected as the G20 host and I’ve never had direct consultations with Kono about the G20,” Matsui tweeted in response. As of Monday, the LDP was still in talks with a number of potential candidates to run for the mayor’s seat. The campaign for the governor’s election kicks off on March 21 and the mayoral campaign begins March 24.

osaka
elections
ichiro matsui
osaka ishin no kai
takuro tatsumi
tadakazu konishi


'Forbearance' pays off: India International School in Japan student wins 10th Japan Times Bee

Abstract: The winning word was “forbearance,” meaning “patience,” and Ariya Narayanasamy may be representative of the word — going through more than two dozen rounds of unceasing demands to spell sometimes arcane words accurately and pick correct definitions without making a single mistake. Narayanasamy, a seventh-grade student at India International School in Japan, Tokyo campus, emerged victorious in The 10th Japan Times Bee competition Sunday, fending off challenges by 39 contestants. He took a trophy and various prizes back home. “I feel very happy. This moment is very surreal to me,” Narayanasamy said after the contest, basking in the glow of victory. “I’ve studied for this a lot and now it’s finally coming true.” He will be heading to National Harbor, Maryland, in late May to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be broadcast nationwide in the U.S. The Japan Times will sponsor his trip. Forty students from age 7 to 14 from 14 prefectures — including Kyoto, Aomori and Okinawa — took part in this year’s contest. The pronouncer asked the participants to spell words as easy as “blue” and as complicated as “rambunctious.” They also went through multiple “oral vocabulary” rounds in which they had to choose a correct definition of the given word. Narayanasamy, 12, was neck and neck with 13-year-old Luca Takagi of Yokohama Christian School. Despite the pressure, he appeared to stay calm and spelled out words like “predicament,” “suffuse” and “ammonia.” “When I was given the word (forbearance), I felt like I knew it,” he recalled. “And I knew you couldn’t simplify it as much as you could so I tried my best and it turned out to be correct.” He said he takes quizzes frequently and uses Quizlet, a study application, to study words and their definitions. He began getting involved in spelling bee competitions at his school as an enjoyable way to pick up new words. He became serious with the competition when he participated in The Japan Times Bee for the first time a few years ago. His bibliophilic personality also influenced him to become interested in learning new words and spelling them, said his mother, Shankari. Regardless of the outcome, the takeaway for all contestants was to be proud of themselves and their success, said Takeharu Tsutsumi, president of The Japan Times. “You have my greatest respect,” he told the nervous-looking contestants at the beginning of the tournament. “You are here to play because you are already excellent spellers.” The Scripps National Spelling Bee originated in the United States in 1925 and has been one of the most widely recognized academic competitions. Its goal is to deepen an individual’s knowledge of the English language through the study of accurate spelling and building of a diverse vocabulary. The Japan Times Bee, which started in 2010 and is hosted by the oldest English-language newspaper in the country, is the only spelling contest in the nation officially endorsed by the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Supporters of this year’s event are the U.S. Embassy, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and The New York Times. Its cosponsors are Costco Wholesale Japan Ltd., Frijoles Inc., Tokyo Global Gateway Co. and Route H by Benesse Corp. Shankari, who works at a robotics firm in Tokyo, said her son is going to start gearing up for the U.S. national spelling bee championship with hope of making his way into the top 10. “It’s going to need a lot of preparation, and I think the three months till May are going to be another fun journey for us,” Shankari said. Ariya’s father, Mathesh, quickly followed up and added: “Yeah, we’ll take a break first.”


With divorce on the rise, more Japanese taking to 'prenups' as they prepare to wed

Abstract: The prenuptial agreement, an age-old practice fairly common in many Western countries, is gaining a foothold in Japan as more and more people insist on drawing one up to ensure they will be protected if their marriage ends badly. In Japan, formalizing the do’s and don’ts of married life or how assets would be split in a breakup has largely been viewed as dooming a marriage, with any discussion of the already taboo topic of divorce a cultural no-no. But with as many as 200,000 divorces occurring each year, Japanese couples have increasingly begun to arrange “prenups” to hedge against any doubts about their partner and to ensure certain values and details are clearly stated before they take the plunge. Japanese pop singer Silva, 43, had a prenuptial agreement arranged with her current husband, a man one year her senior, in a notarized deed in 2015. The contract lists 34 conditions, including Silva’s requirement that her husband has no more than two outside drinking sessions per week. Other terms stipulate the couple must always spend their anniversary together, and that in the event of a divorce Silva be compensated with ¥1 million (about $9,000). Both have divorced once before. “Because things weren’t clearly decided (in my previous marriage), during the divorce we ended up arguing a lot,” Silva said. “If I was going to consider remarrying, I was also determined not to let it fail again.” The idea to get legal advice before remarrying came from Silva, who had spent about three years living in the United States about a decade ago. She came to know people who had arranged prenuptial agreements and learned how it helped them build secure relationships, she said. Silva said when she at first broached the topic with her partner, he was taken aback. It took about 18 months to convince him to put their terms down in writing. Their contract, however, covers a multitude of issues that also include work, the sharing of domestic and child-rearing chores, as well as rules prohibiting cheating and falling into debt. It also sets out terms regarding child custody and child support payments. One item that was inserted by Silva’s husband was that “they contact each other every day about when they will arrive home and promptly return all text messages.” Because both Silva and her husband work, the contract also states that caring for in-laws “will be done voluntarily and never by force.” “You would need a lot of nerve to break this contract,” said Silva with a laugh. “We made this together so there is no argument about, ‘I said this or didn’t say that.’ We take mutual responsibility and have become a married couple who pay each other the utmost respect,” she said. Yuriko Tada, an executive board member and notary public with the group Prenup Kyokai has, for a fee, arranged prenups for 70 couples since 2014. She said she has seen a gradual rise in people seeking such agreements, mainly women between 20 and 50. Many women worry about potential issues with unfaithfulness or debt, while men tend to want to cover their assets. A Tokyo housewife in her 30s arranged a prenup several years ago after consulting with Tada about her fiance’s money problems. “I’m not sure if my partner changed after the contract was made but it gave me a sense of security rather than doing nothing,” she said. In some cases after prenuptial negotiations, a couple may come to realize their marriage is just not meant to be because of a difference in values, Tada said. She advises such arrangements be made to make the best of marriage. “By facing the realities of marriage, they are able to create an even better relationship as a married couple,” Tada said.


Japan to require foreign workers arriving on new visas to submit medical certificates

Abstract: The Justice Ministry plans to require foreign workers entering the country using new working visas to submit medical certificates, sources with knowledge of the matter have said. Such foreign workers will be required to receive confirmation by doctors that they are capable of working in a stable and continuous manner after undergoing checks on blood pressure levels and other conditions as well as tuberculosis testing, the sources said. Forms for the medical certificates will be available on the ministry’s website in 11 languages, including Japanese, English and Vietnamese. These certificates will be required to be submitted to an immigration agency that the government is set to establish next month by upgrading the ministry’s Immigration Bureau. Japan is scheduled to introduce the new visas next month in an effort to accept more foreign workers amid serious labor shortages. The ministry is reported to have received requests to limit the foreign nationals allowed to work in Japan under the new visas to those that are healthy. The requirement for tuberculosis testing comes as the disease is spreading among foreign residents in Japan. A total of 1,530 foreign residents developed the disease in 2017, an increase of about 1.4 times over the past five years. The government plans to encourage foreign people who plan to stay in Japan in the medium or long term to undergo tuberculosis testing before coming to the country.

immigration
foreign workers
labor shortage


Tohoku residents still haunted by memories of devastating 3/11 triple disaster

Abstract: Japan on Monday marked the eighth anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan that left more than 15,000 people dead and triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis. As rain and strong winds hit coastal areas in the region, people attended memorials and offered prayers for the victims of the magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. “I can still vividly recall the harrowing scene after all these years,” said 63-year-old Seiichi Watanabe at a park on the hill where he fled in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after his home was washed away by the tsunami. The Miyagi police had been scheduled to search for remains of the missing in coastal areas, but terminated the plan due to poor weather. Officers in Fukushima and at most Iwate police stations were scheduled to go ahead with their planned searches. Ayumi Kakuhari, 33, who lost her brother Tomoyuki Kanno, 20, to the tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, prayed before his grave in the rain. “I still feel like he is going to suddenly show up one day,” she said. On Sunday, a number of lit candles were placed on the field at the J-Village national soccer training center, which straddles the towns of Naraha and Hirono in Fukushima Prefecture. On the holders of the candles were messages, including one that read, “I’ll never forget that day,” and another wishing for the reconstruction of Fukushima. The prefecture is also home to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, where an unprecedented triple meltdown occurred due to damage from the tsunami. At the “Candle Night” event, participants remembered victims of the natural disaster and prayed for further progress in post-disaster reconstruction. J-Village, once used as a base for measures to tackle the nuclear disaster, is set to be fully reopened as a training center next month. A 26-year-old woman who is a native of the city of Fukushima said, “I want the perceived association with the nuclear plant to be dispelled from Fukushima.” She said she hoped that such a terrible natural disaster and nuclear accident would never happen again. Some 1,300 people in the hardest-hit prefectures are expected to continue living in temporary housing due to delays in construction of replacement housing, financial problems and other reasons, a Kyodo News survey found. In March 2021 the government is scheduled to disband the Reconstruction Agency, established seven years ago as the central control point for efforts to rebuild from the triple disasters. But after acknowledging that affected people still need support, it has decided to effectively carry on the same work under a new entity it plans to create at the Cabinet Office. Decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., is expected to take decades. According to the decommissioning road map, the utility and the Japanese government will decide within the next fiscal year, starting this April, the method and order in which fuel will be extracted from three of the reactors that suffered core meltdowns and have extremely high radiation levels. The actual removal is expected to start in 2021. Tepco has been attempting to examine the damaged reactors, and said last month its remote-controlled probe had found that fuel debris inside one of the reactors could be lifted.

fukushima
fukushima no . 1
great east japan earthquake
tsunami
tepco
tohoku
disasters
iwate
miyagi
3.11