Australian security adviser told writer and Communist Party critic not to fly to China ahead of detainment

Abstract: CANBERRA/SYDNEY - A security adviser to an Australian prime minister said he warned a Chinese-Australian writer not to travel to China before the blogger and critic of China’s Communist Party was detained on arrival at a Chinese airport in January. John Garnaut was commissioned in 2016 by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to write a classified report on Chinese influence on Australian politics, leading to sweeping laws in 2018 banning covert foreign political interference and a diplomatic rift between Australia and China, its biggest trading partner. Garnaut told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview broadcast on Monday that he advised spy novelist and friend Yang Hengjun not to travel to China after Yang revealed he had been questioned by a Chinese government official in Sydney in 2018 about Garnaut’s investigation. “He was asked about me, what was the nature of our relationship, what was I doing. What was I working on,” Garnaut said. Yang, a 53-year-old visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York and a former Chinese diplomat, did not take Garnaut’s advice and flew to China with his wife, Xiaoliang Yuan, and his 14-year-old stepdaughter. Yuan said she had not seen her husband since they were separated by Chinese officials when they landed at Guangzhou Airport on Jan. 19. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in January that Yang was “suspected of engaging in criminal activities endangering China’s national security.” He is being held in Beijing, where the Australian Embassy has been allowed consular access to him. ABC reported that Yang had yet to be formally charged. The Australian government has urged China to treat Yang transparently and fairly. Yuan is living in Shanghai. She said she is not allowed to leave China and her husband has not seen a lawyer. “I have absolutely no idea whether he is well or even if he is alive or not,” she said through an interpreter. “It gets harder as time passes, mainly because I can’t see him. I would have felt better if the lawyers could see him and verify that he is all right,” she added. A friend of Yang, University of Technology Sydney academic Feng Chongyi, was detained for two weeks in 2017 while visiting China to research human rights lawyers. Feng told ABC that he had been questioned for an entire day in detention about Garnaut’s investigation. Feng said his interrogators had known Garnaut was working for the prime minister. “They knew a lot about him. During the interrogation, they did not hide that they were angry with him,” Feng said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he had not seen the ABC report. But Lu said the Chinese government had always opposed any interference in the internal affairs of other countries. “As for activities carried out by Chinese embassies and consulates in other countries, these activities aim at promoting mutual understanding between China and the regions or countries where the diplomatic mission are based, and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship among the people, including serving as the bridge of cooperation between the business community of each other,” Lu said. “I did not see any difference between the activities carried out by Chinese embassies and consulates in other countries and those conducted by foreign diplomatic missions in China,” he added. Elsewhere, Australia’s hard-line immigration minister has been swept up in the deepening saga over alleged Chinese meddling in the nation’s domestic politics Tuesday, delivering another blow to a government facing defeat in next month’s election. An investigation by national broadcaster ABC revealed that Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton met privately in 2016 with Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo to discuss obtaining Australian citizenship. Huang has been at the center of a series of scandals including accusations he bought influence in Canberra with millions in donations to major political parties. He has long denied any wrongdoing. ABC alleged Huang paid a lobbyist thousands of dollars for private access to Dutton, throwing Australia’s governing coalition into the foreign interference saga even as it trails in polls ahead of an expected May 18 election. Huang was eventually denied citizenship on the advice of Australian spy agencies and barred last month from the country on suspicions he is part of a Communist Party influence campaign. Dutton on Tuesday dismissed allegations of interference as “nonsense.” “I have never received a dollar from this individual. I had one meeting with him over lunch. I have never seen him since,” he told reporters. Former opposition Labor Party Sen. Sam Dastyari, who was forced to quit politics because of his ties to Huang, told the ABC that Dutton in 2015 fast-tracked a request for the billionaire’s family to hold a citizenship ceremony. Dastyari said it “blew him away” when Dutton took a few weeks to approve a fast-track request that would typically take months to rubber stamp. Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his government Tuesday, labelling Dastyari a “disgrace” for “betraying” his country. But former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who last year introduced sweeping reforms to Australia’s espionage and foreign interference laws, said the ABC report was “very concerning.” Turnbull, who was ousted in a party coup late last year by a hard-right faction led by Dutton, likened the latest revelations to the Dastyari case. “Peter Dutton has a lot to explain about this,” he told reporters Tuesday. “He is supposed to be the minister responsible for the domestic security of Australia,” said Turnbull, calling on Morrison to do more. Canberra banned foreign donations as part of its reforms, with China called out as its primary concern. Beijing has dismissed the claims of meddling as hysteria and paranoia.

australia
china
yang hengjun
columbia university
rights
espionage
censorship
ccp


Divers who rescued Thai soccer team make fresh discovery in Vietnam cave

Abstract: HANOI - Three divers who helped rescue a Thai soccer team last year have made a fresh discovery in Vietnam, where they explored a tunnel that could expand the footprint of the world’s largest cave. The team was invited to descend into a waterlogged pit in the Son Doong cave in central Vietnam that has never been explored and is believed to connect to nearby chambers. They were forced back at 77 meters (252 feet) because they did not have enough oxygen to push further, but they think the tunnels could be 120 meters deep. If the tunnel connects to another cave, it would make Son Doong “easily the largest cave in the world and it would never be overtaken,” British cave expert Howard Limbert, who helped organize the dive, said Tuesday at a news conference announcing the find. The three divers — Rick Stanton, Jason Mallinson and Chris Jewell — were part of the daring rescue to save 12 Thai soccer players and their coach who were trapped in a cave for eighteen days last year. Stanton — who found the boys on a ledge — said the painstaking task of safely leading the group out of the tunnel alive helped to prepare for the mission in Vietnam. “Our planning and preparation is without parallel,” he said. The team plans to return to Vietnam next year to try to link the tunnel to another cave near Son Doong, which is so big that it has its own ecosystem and weather patterns. The cave in central Quang Binh province was first found by a local forager in 1991, but was not re-discovered for another 19 years because its entrance was hidden by thick surrounding jungle. Only 30 percent of Vietnam’s Phong Nha national park — where Son Doong and a network of adjacent caves are located — has so far been explored. Son Doong is the world’s largest cave by volume, big enough to house a New York city block — including 40-storey skyscrapers — according to Oxalis, which runs tours into the caves. Proposed plans to build a cable car in the area have sparked anger among the Vietnamese public who fear it will harm the area’s wildlife and pristine views. An official said Tuesday there were no plans to move ahead with the project despite offers from several companies. “That is only in theory, in truth, to build a cable car there is no such project yet,” the vice chairman of Quang Binh province Tran Thien Dung said Tuesday. Vietnam’s tourism industry is booming among domestic and foreign travelers alike, but the communist country has come under fire for failing to preserve landscapes as it rapidly expands the sector.

discoveries vietnam caves accidents thailand


Radar images prove Pakistan F-16 shot down, says Indian Air Force

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India’s Air Force presented what it called “irrefutable evidence” Monday that it downed a Pakistan fighter jet in February, as the regional foes offer competing narratives over what happened in the dogfight. Pakistan has repeatedly denied that it lost an F-16 over the skies in Kashmir while a U.S. magazine, citing top defense officials, has also cast doubt on India’s assertion that a jet was shot down. India lost an MiG-21 Bison in the aerial skirmish and its pilot was captured by Pakistan and later returned, cooling one of the most serious military confrontations between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades. But India has long maintained that its pilot first fired on an F-16, sending the damaged jet crashing into Pakistan-administered Kashmir — something Islamabad says never happened. In a news conference Air Vice Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor repeated this assertion, reading out the evidence gathered by India and displaying radar images he said proved the Pakistan jet was struck and crashed. “There is no doubt that two aircraft went down in the aerial engagement on 27 February 2019,” Kapoor said Monday, reading from a prepared statement. India’s Air Force “has irrefutable evidence of not only the fact that F-16 was used” on the day of the dogfight, but that it was shot down by the Indian jet, he added. Kapoor said further “credible information and evidence” backed this version of events but could not be released due to confidentiality concerns. It comes just days after Foreign Policy magazine cited two unnamed senior U.S. defense officials who said that U.S. personnel recently conducted a count of Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing. The magazine quoted one of the officials as saying that Pakistan invited the U.S. to physically count its F-16 fleet. The dogfight happened after Pakistani aircraft entered Indian airspace a day after Indian aircraft carried out an airstrike on what it said was a “terrorist training camp” in Pakistan. That in turn was in response to a suicide bombing on February 14 in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and which was claimed by a militant group based in Pakistan. Doubt has also been cast over the success of India’s airstrike, which Amit Shah, president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has claimed killed 250. Pakistan denied that there was any damage or casualties. Independent reporting by multiple local and international outlets who visited the site also found no evidence of a major terrorist training camp — or of any infrastructure damage at all. Pakistan said it shot down two Indian planes and lost none of its own, but India said that it lost only one aircraft. Initially Pakistan said it had captured two Indian pilots but the military later clarified it had just one pilot in custody.

pakistan india kashmir conflict terrorism


Rohingya arrive in Malaysia but hundreds more believed trapped at sea

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - Forty-one Rohingya were found in northern Malaysia Monday, police said, the second group of the Muslim minority to arrive in the country within weeks, while about 200 more are feared trapped at sea. Many Rohingya have been seeking in recent weeks to leave by sea from Bangladesh — where they live in squalid refugee camps after fleeing their mostly Buddhist homeland Myanmar — before the monsoon season starts in earnest. Security forces have prevented hundreds from departing for Malaysia with people smugglers on fishing boats. But last month 34 Rohingya arrived in the northern Malaysian state of Perlis, the first group believed to have landed in the country in almost year. On Monday police detained 41 Rohingya men — aged 14 to 30 — who arrived by sea in the same area the last boatload landed, and are hunting for another six believed to have come ashore, local police chief Noor Mushar Mohamad told AFP. About 200 more are thought to be trapped at sea in Thai waters, said the police chief, citing testimony from migrants. “This is definitely the work of human smuggling syndicates working with local syndicates,” he said. “I fear there could be more Rohingya arrivals unless maritime enforcement agencies step up patrols urgently.” Noor Mushar said initial investigations indicated those who came ashore traveled in a large boat before being transferred to smaller craft by local criminal gangs and ferried ashore. According to testimony from one migrant, the Rohingya paid 4,000 ringgit ($975) each, and were dropped off a short distance from the coast and walked to shore, he said. The 41 detained have been handed over to immigration authorities, he said. It was not clear whether they had departed from Bangladesh or Myanmar, or when they had arrived. About 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following a brutal military clampdown in their home country in August 2017, joining hundreds of thousands already living in crowded camps. The traditional route to Malaysia is by boat from Myanmar or Bangladesh. Refugees arrive either in Thailand and head overland to Malaysia, or arrive directly in Malaysia. But arrivals have fallen markedly since 2015 when Thailand launched a crackdown, which disrupted the lucrative trade and led to smugglers abandoning huge numbers of refugees at sea. Relatively affluent, Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been a favorite destination for Rohingya, where they are a source of labor in low-paying industries such as agriculture and construction.

rohingya malaysia bangladesh refugees myanmar


As 'Brexodus' gap leaves U.K. short of nurses, Filipino candidates struggle with IELTS English test

Abstract: MANILA - Bracing for life after Brexit, U.K. hospitals badly need more nurses like Filipino Jobie Escalona. But she twice flunked the English language test that is required to get there, in which she was asked to write about topics such as the merits of immigration and computer education in school. With three years experience in a private hospital in Manila, 23-year-old Escalona lost almost 3 months’ salary paying nearly $600 to sit the International English Language Test System (IELTS) tests. Fed up, she was ready to give up on the U.K. and try Canada — one of several other countries short of nurses — until her father persuaded her to take the test a third time. “I was already losing hope,” she said. Finally, in January last year, she passed, having at last got a subject she felt comfortable writing about in the tough written section of the test. Asked to compare team and individual sports, Escalona had little trouble: “I was able to relate to it because I am a swimmer.” But, her tortuous experience doesn’t bode well for the U.K.’s chances of adequately filling the alarming staffing gaps in its health care services. With Brexit looming, the supply of nurses from European Union countries has almost dried up, with lots going home. And of the many foreign nationalities employed in the U.K., Filipinos make up a significant number. As of June last year, 16 percent of nursing jobs in hospitals and community health services were held by foreigners — nearly a quarter of whom were Filipinos. The U.K. is already facing a shortage of 40,000 nurses, and once it leaves the EU, if that ever happens, the gap could widen to 50,000 — enough to staff more than 40 small to medium-sized hospitals — according to a report commissioned by the Cavendish Coalition, a group of health and social care organizations. The staffing crisis is increasing the U.K.’s dependency on hiring from low-cost countries like India and the Philippines, where English is widely spoken, yet the language test has proved to be a major obstacle. Philippine recruitment firm Louis International Manpower Services has received 1,000 job orders for nurses since 2015. It has filled only a quarter of them. “It is not because of the lack of applications, but the English test,” said Lilibeth Villas, documentation officer at the firm. “We have applicants who were interviewed in 2015, but they have not passed the test yet.” Run by the British Council, IDP Education and Cambridge Assessment, the IELTS test gauges applicants’ ability to speak, listen, read and write, and is used by employers around the world. Questions in the academic written section asks candidates to write short essays on diverse subjects. Examples given on the IELTS website included interpreting graphs on changes in radio and television audiences, and gender variations between full and part-time students, and discussing the pros and cons of nuclear technology or of regulating car ownership. Many candidates clearly find the weighty topics too daunting. Febin Cyriac, a business development manager at Envertiz Consultancy, a U.K. health care recruitment firm that specializes in bringing in nurses from overseas, started a petition on Change.org in 2014 that asked U.K. regulators to relax their IELTS scores. Working as a nurse himself, Cyriac said there are a good number of Indian or Filipino nurses with many years of experience working in the U.K., but who are only working as assistant nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) and nursing homes. “IELTS is the only barrier for them to practice as a nurse in the UK,” said Cyriac, himself a nurse working in the U.K. Still, the number of Filipinos in the NHS has risen by almost a third in the last two years, according to government figures. Late last year, the pass mark for the writing section was lowered, but there are no immediate plans to make further changes to the test standards, said Andrea Sutcliffe, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Chief Executive and Registrar. “We will continue to carefully monitor the impact of the recent changes. This change is part of a wider review of our overseas registration processes aimed at making it more straightforward and user-friendly for people with the right skills and knowledge to join our register in a timely way,” Sutcliffe said. There is an Occupational English Test (OET), more suited to medical professionals, that foreign nurses can take. If they pass that test they would still have to sit the IELTS, but they would be eligible for a lower pass mark. The OET is more expensive, however, making it unattractive for low paid nurses. A London-based recruitment agency visited Manila recently to find nurses for Cambridge University, East Surrey and Royal Cornwall Hospitals, while there have also been recent hiring drives for hospital trusts in Oxford, Hull and Dudley. Germany, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the other countries hiring Filipino nurses, said Bernard Olalia, head of the government’s Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. In January alone, Olalia’s office received 1,000 job orders for nurses from Saudi Arabia. “There are a lot of markets for our Filipino nurses,” Olalia said, adding that it was understandable if they took jobs in places where the requirements were easier to fulfill. Filipino nurses who were recruited in the 1990s did not have to take the language tests, yet they are still in the NHS and providing good service, said Reydeluz Conferido, who was until recently the labor attache to the Philippine Embassy in London. While there, Conferido called on U.K. officials to review the requirements placed on overseas nurses to see whether they were serving the correct purpose or creating an artificial barrier. “If you really want these nurses, you would do something about your standards,” he said.

nursing
ielts
english
brexit
philippines
u.k .


U.S. sails massive, F-35-laden warship in disputed South China Sea

Abstract: In the latest show of military muscle in the South China Sea, the U.S. has apparently sailed its USS Wasp amphibious assault ship near a strategic reef claimed by Beijing and Manila that lies just 230 km (140 miles) from the Philippine coast. Filipino fishermen near the site known as the Scarborough Shoal initially spotted what appeared to be the massive U.S. vessel on Tuesday, according to ABS-CBN News. It said planes were seen landing and taking off from the ship, some 5 km (3 miles) away from the fishermen’s boat. A video clip shown by the news network appeared to corroborate their account. Contacted by The Japan Times, a U.S. military spokeswoman would not confirm or deny the Wasp’s presence near the collection of outcroppings that barely jut out above water at high tide, citing “force protection and security.” However, the spokeswoman did confirm that the Wasp “has been training with Philippine Navy ships in Subic Bay and in international waters of the South China Sea … for several days.” Scarborough Shoal, which is also claimed by Taiwan, is regarded as a potential powder keg in the strategic waterway. It was seized by Beijing in 2012 after an extended standoff with Manila. China later effectively blockaded the lagoon, which is rich in fish stocks, and routinely dispatches scores of fishing vessels and government-backed “maritime militia” ships to the area to continue its de facto blockade. The Wasp was taking part in the annual Balikatan U.S.-Philippine military training exercise “that focuses on maritime security and amphibious capabilities, as well as multinational interoperability through military exchanges,” said U.S. Marine Corps Second Lt. Tori Sharpe, a spokeswoman for the exercises, adding that the exercises were “unrelated to current events.” Still, beyond the location of the exercises, the Wasp’s presence alone in the South China Sea was likely to draw Beijing’s attention since this year’s Balikatan exercise was the first to incorporate the Wasp paired with the U.S. Marines Corps’ cutting-edge F-35B Lightning II stealth aircraft. The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the aircraft. “Together they represent an increase in military capability committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Sharpe said. China covets Scarborough Shoal for its strategic significance, experts say, as it would be the crowning jewel in a bid to solidify Beijing’s iron grip over the South China Sea. They say building at Scarborough would create a large “strategic triangle” comprising Woody Island in the Paracel Islands to the northwest and its Spratly islet outposts to the south, giving Beijing the ability to police an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea. The impact of such a strategic triangle — which would bring the entire region under Chinese radar, missile and air coverage — would be tremendous for both the United States’ and Japan’s strategic planning, some experts say, and could be a game-changer in regional power relations. But any decision by China to forcefully take over the collection of outcroppings for land-reclamation purposes would likely be met with resistance by the U.S., the Philippines and others. In an effort to push back against China’s behavior near Scarborough, the U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of the site in January last year as part of its larger “freedom of navigation operations” (FONOPs) program in the South China Sea and across the globe. Washington has lambasted Beijing for its moves in the South China Sea, including the construction of man-made islands, some of which are home to military-grade airfields and advanced weaponry. The U.S. fears the outposts could be used to restrict free movement in the waterway — which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year — and regularly conducts FONOPs in the area.

south china sea
china
military
philippines
u.s .
vietnam
disputed islands
south china sea ruling


New Zealand defense attache on trial for Washington embassy toilet camera

Abstract: WELLINGTON - One of New Zealand’s most senior naval officers has gone on trial for placing a secret camera in the unisex toilet of the country’s Washington, D.C., embassy. Commodore Alfred Keating has been charged with attempting to make “an intimate visual recording” and is currently on trial in Auckland, local media reported. According to court documents, Keating is alleged to have installed a small camera “in a unisex bathroom on Level 3 of the New Zealand Embassy” in the U.S. capital in 2017. “It had been purposely mounted inside a heating duct unit in the bathroom,” and was only discovered when the panel fell to the floor. The embassy employed around 60 people at the time. “A thick layer of dust on the homemade platform the camera was mounted on indicated the device had been in place for many months.” The camera’s media card had traces of Keating’s DNA and his computer contained the camera’s driver and related software. Ahead of the trial, Keating tried to prevent the public from knowing his identity, arguing it could make it “difficult to obtain future employment” and sully the military’s image. A judge rejected that application. Keating has pleaded not guilty.

new zealand
washington
toilets
alfred keating
courts
u.s .
spycams


Indian police confirm deadly Maoist attack on election convoy

Abstract: NEW DELHI - Indian police said Maoist rebels launched a deadly attack on a ruling party campaign convoy in a restive central state Tuesday, just two days before voting starts in the country’s general election. “At the moment we are ascertaining the number of dead,” said Girdhari Nayak, a senior officer from Chhattisgarh state, where the attack occurred. Nayak said the rebels, who have been waging an armed insurgency against the state for decades, detonated a roadside bomb before firing on the convoy of Bharatiya Janata Party officials. The rebels often call for a boycott of elections as part of their campaign against the Indian state. “It was a massive blast … The vehicle was blown apart,” he said. “Immediately after the blast, the Maoists opened indiscriminate firing. One bullet hit the local lawmaker. Firing is underway. Bodies are mutilated.” The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 other Indian states, but most active in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Their insurgency has left tens of thousands dead. The Maoists struck in the last national election in 2014, killing seven police in a landmine attack. The year before, in regional polls, 25 Congress party politicians were murdered in an ambush on their convoy by Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh.


Shaming and humiliation: South Korean women hope for change to law that bans most abortions

Abstract: INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - More than a quarter of a century after the first of her three abortions — illegal in South Korea — Lim is still haunted by her sense of shame. She was 24 and had a boyfriend, but neither was ready to wed. And it was 1993, when sex before marriage was still very much a taboo in the conservative country. Keeping the baby would have meant living with stigma, even if the couple married after the birth, so she chose an illegal abortion. The country’s constitutional court is due to rule Thursday on the legality of the ban, which campaigners say is unfairly applied and targets mostly young, unwed women. “I still remember the disgusted look on the doctor’s face — he kept on clicking his tongue and shook his head,” Lim said. “When I told him it hurt when he inserted a medication, he said it shouldn’t hurt me because I was a woman who had already ‘done everything’. It was humiliating.” Fast forward 26 years, and South Korea remains one of the few developed economies that still bans abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s health is in danger. Women who undergo the procedure can be jailed for a year and fined, while doctors who carry out terminations can be given two years in prison. The law is widely flouted and rarely results in prosecutions, but campaigners say it leaves young women facing being unable to pay for terminations, unsafe procedures, and social isolation. When Lim had her second and third abortions — as a married woman with two children — she says her experience was dramatically different, with pleasant medical staff and her mother even accompanying her to the clinic. “All I had to say was that my husband and I already had two kids,” she said. “The doctor was suddenly very caring — he said to me: ‘Of course, we totally understand.'” Statistics show that as recently as 2011, most South Korean women who had abortions were married, but rights groups say the majority of those charged for undergoing the procedure have been unmarried, including teenagers. They also say many women whose relationships are breaking up fear their husbands or partners could report their past terminations to authorities. In 2017, a high school student told a rally in Seoul she had been forced to halt her education after having an abortion. “My teacher told me if I don’t leave school, he’d report me to the legal authorities,” she said. “He said I’d committed a sin because I fell pregnant as a student.” South Korea comes near the bottom of many OECD gender equality tables and Ryu Min-hee, the lead counsel on the constitutional court case, said that as long as women cannot make their own choices about pregnancy and parenthood, the country “won’t be able to establish an equal society in its true sense.” The day she had her abortion in 1993, Lim — who asked for her full name not to be used to protect her anonymity — stayed in a cheap motel room by herself. She rested there as long as she could and then headed home to her parents, acting as if nothing had ever happened. To this day, aside from her husband, no one in Lim’s life knows about it. “I didn’t dare to share it with anyone,” she said. “My parents would have been very ashamed of me. “This was an era where people would count the (pregnancy) months when a baby was born to figure out whether the baby was conceived before or after the wedding — and call the mother promiscuous if the child was born too fast.” Religious belief is widespread in South Korea, and some of its evangelical mega-churches are among those leading the charge against overturning the ban. “There is nothing in the world that comes before the life of a human being,” a group of mostly Catholic professors said in a statement last year. But Lim says her own experience demonstrates how South Korea’s pro-lifers have been selective about which lives matter. “If the goal of this abortion law is really to protect all lives, then I should have been shamed for undergoing my second and third abortions, as well as my first,” she said. “I just hope no one has to go through what I had to go through in that motel room.”


Japan debuts safety steps for foreign drivers amid rise in accidents

Abstract: FUKUOKA - With an increasing number of foreign motorists taking the wheel while visiting Japan, numerous traffic safety measures have been introduced to assist them amid a rise in serious accidents. Warning signs in multiple languages and a driver-assistance system catering to foreign tourists are just some of the methods to support visitors who rent cars and travel around the country. Many of the foreign tourists who rent cars come from South Korea and Taiwan, where people drive on the right-hand side of the road, as opposed to the left in Japan. Foreign drivers can also be confused by Japanese road signs that are often different from those at home. With the number of foreign visitors topping 30 million in 2018, their use of rental cars has jumped in recent years. About 1.41 million foreign visitors rented cars at airports in 2017, eight times more than in 2011, when the figure stood at 179,000, the transport ministry said. The sudden leap in the number of international drivers has been linked to a rise in accidents resulting in death or injury, with collisions primarily caused by foreign visitors up from 25 in 2011 to 123 in 2017, according to the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis. Last September, a yellow warning sign in Chinese and another in Korean, both saying “Slow Down,” were installed ahead of a long downward slope on an expressway in southwestern Japan — a section where many foreign visitors tend to brake hard. In Okinawa, the National Institute of Technology Okinawa College has developed a driver-assistance system that instantaneously translates Japanese road signs into other languages. The system is connected to a camera placed on a side mirror of the vehicle and automatically shows the road sign translations on a screen on the dashboard. It can also provide voice warnings in English, Chinese and Korean when the car approaches intersections known for accidents. “I hope the use of this driver-assistance system leads to safer driving,” said Sumika Uehara, a 16-year-old student at the college. “I’d like visitors to bring home only happy memories from their trip.” The school is aiming to put the system into commercial use. The Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau has been distributing free booklets online in seven languages, including English and German, with explanations about Japan’s road regulations. For example, there are illustrations on how to view traffic signals and rules explaining that vehicles going straight or turning left have the right of way. In Tokyo, the All Japan Rent-A-Car Association is planning to develop a smartphone app covering driving etiquette. The Kyushu District Transport Bureau has been handing out magnetic stickers for international drivers that can be placed on the rear of their car to alert other motorists that the driver is not Japanese. “We’re asking local Japanese drivers to take precautions, including keeping a safe distance between cars,” a bureau official said of the stickers.


Exhibition in Fukuoka Prefecture explores origins of Reiwa, name of Japan's next era

Abstract: FUKUOKA - An exhibition exploring the origins of Reiwa, the name selected for the forthcoming era, opened Tuesday at a museum in Fukuoka Prefecture, where poems about plum blossom viewing that inspired the era name are said to have been written. The event, which runs through June 9 at the Kyushu Historical Museum in the city of Ogori, showcases numerous artifacts and poetry that connect Reiwa with the city of Dazaifu in Fukuoka, where a plum blossom viewing party was organized in the year 730 by court noble and poet Otomo no Tabito (665-731). Reiwa, which means “beautiful harmony” and is set to begin on May 1 following an Imperial succession, originates from a line about a pleasant breeze and plum blossoms in “Manyoshu,” Japan’s oldest poetry anthology, which dates back more than 1,200 years. The line, written by an unnamed individual, was taken from the introduction to 32 poems, including a piece by Otomo no Tabito composed at the party held at his residence in Dazaifu. The items on display at the museum include clay pots and accessories used to adorn obi — the sash for kimono — that were unearthed from the site where Otomo no Tabito’s residence is thought to have been located. Replicas of the fifth volume of “Manyoshu” containing the poems that inspired Reiwa are showcased together with commentary, as well as volumes 17 and 19, which include works composed by Tabito’s eldest son, Otomo no Yakamochi, a representative poet of the anthology that he is said to have compiled. On April 29, the museum will organize a lecture on the lives of Otomo no Tabito and Yakamochi in Dazaifu through the lens of “Manyoshu” poems. “I would like visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Manyoshu and feel familiar with the new era name,” said curator Hirokazu Matsukawa.

exhibitions
fukuoka
reiwa
kyushu historical museum
ogori
poetry
dazaifu
otomo no tabito
manyoshu
history


Japan's 10-year cancer survival rate rises slightly to 56.3%, survey shows

Abstract: The 10-year survival rate for patients who were diagnosed with cancer between 2002 and 2005 was 56.3 percent, a survey by the National Cancer Center Japan showed Tuesday, up 0.8 percentage point from the previous survey. The five-year survival rate, covering those who received the diagnosis between 2008 and 2010, rose to 67.9 percent from 67.6 percent in the previous survey, which covered 2007 to 2009, the institute said. The survival rates have been steadily rising since the late 1990s, the survey showed, apparently reflecting improvements in early detection technology and cancer treatments. The 10-year survival rate was calculated based on data of 70,285 people who were diagnosed with cancer and received treatment at 20 medical facilities across Japan. The five-year survival rate covered 140,675 patients at 32 facilities. By type of cancer, the 10-year survival rate for prostate cancer was the highest, at 95.7 percent, followed by thyroid cancer at 84.3 percent and breast cancer at 83.9 percent. Among the worst, pancreatic cancer had a 10-year survival rate of 5.4 percent, liver cancer at 14.6 percent and gallbladder or bile duct cancer at 16.2 percent. As for the five-year survival rate, the figure for prostate cancer was 100 percent, while breast cancer and thyroid cancer saw survival rates of 93.9 percent and 92.8 percent, respectively. Pancreatic cancer had the lowest five-year survival rate at 9.2 percent. When examined according to disease stage, with cases grouped into four categories, six of the 18 types of cancer studied in the 10-year cohort saw a survival rate for the period of over 90 percent for stage 1, or early stage cancer. They included breast, colon and colorectal cancer. But in stage 4, in which the disease had spread to other organs or other parts of the body, the survival rate for breast cancer was 15.9 percent and for colon cancer it dropped to 10.7 percent. The 10-year stage 1 survival rate for liver cancer was 26.3 percent, and for pancreatic cancer it was 29 percent. The survival rates are expected to further improve due to the development of new cancer drugs such as Opdivo, a drug that causes the immune system to attack cancer cells. Such new drugs “will change the way medical treatments are selected and may have a great impact on the survival rates, too,” said Nobuhiro Saruki, head of Gunma Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences. An official with the survey team at the institute said it was necessary to create an early detection system to further improve the survival rate, as retired people tend to skip cancer screenings.

cancer
surveys
national cancer center japan
medicine


Japan-U.K. ties get boost with gift of thousands of cherry trees for British schools and parks

Abstract: LONDON - Thousands of cherry trees will be planted across Britain to celebrate its relationship with Japan, with a high school becoming the first site to get one. The initiative is being organized by Japanese individuals and companies in both countries as a symbol of friendship, and fundraising began in Japan almost a year ago. They’re aiming to plant 4,000 cherry trees across Britain over the next two years. The trees will be distributed to more than 70 parks and public sites, including several of London’s biggest parks and Conwy Castle in north Wales, which was recently twinned with Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture. Following the initial fundraising, the project’s aims were expanded to include giving trees to schools with links to Japan. Since last autumn, more than 250 British schools have applied to receive one. Among them was Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School, near Bristol in southwest England, which recently became the first to receive a donated Taihaku (great white cherry). The school has run an annual exchange program to Japan since 1998, with around 20 students taking part every year. The planting was held March 18 to coincide with the yearly visit by students from Hikawa High School in Yamanashi Prefecture. “The program provides tremendous opportunities for Japanese and English students to understand each other’s cultures and to find out how much we have in common,” said Andrew Harris, head teacher at the British school. “The cherry tree is symbolic of Japan. I think it will be a symbol for our students, to remind them of their experiences on the exchange and learning about Japan,” he said. Miho Obi, a teacher at Hikawa High School accompanying the exchange, said it was a “very memorable day” and she hopes the tree will be a sign of friendship. Heidi Potter, chief executive of the Japan Society, which is helping to coordinate the venture, said organizers wanted to involve schools as a way of connecting with communities. “I think it brings the trees very close to people. It’s not just the children but also the families and the local community that will be part of the tree at each school,” she said. Keisaku Sano, head of the project and chairman of the Japan Association, said his hope is that young people will come to have a positive image of Japan after seeing the trees at school. Sano said that due to Brexit, it is now more important than ever to emphasize Japan’s ongoing support for the country. “We want to show Japanese people are here, working and living together with British people,” he said. “We get on very well so we want this project to be a symbol of our friendship and support.” The majority of the trees are due to be planted in 2020, with plans to hold a commemorative ceremony in the spring. The initiative was welcomed by the prime ministers of both countries at a summit in 2017, when Shinzo Abe and Theresa May announced the bilateral Japan-U.K. Season of Culture. The season will last throughout 2019 and 2020 and will feature events promoting cultural ties between Britain and Japan.

trees
schools
parks
yamanashi
u.k .
sakura
cherry blossoms
u.k.-japan relations


Abe tells outgoing South Korean ambassador about concerns over bilateral ties

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday expressed his worries about soured relations between Tokyo and Seoul in a meeting with the outgoing South Korean ambassador to Japan. During a courtesy call from the ambassador, Lee Su-hoon, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Abe expressed his concerns about bilateral ties and asked that they be passed along to South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Abe was referring to rulings by South Korea’s top court in favor of Korean plaintiffs in damages lawsuits against Japanese companies over forced wartime labor and recent developments related to surviving former “comfort women.” The term refers to women who provided sex — including those against their will — to Japanese troops before and during World War II. Lee, who is set to be replaced by Nam Gwan-pyo, a former second deputy chief of the National Security Office, told Abe that he will convey the message to the Moon government. Regarding the wartime labor lawsuits, Tokyo has urged Seoul to abide by a 1965 bilateral treaty, which Japan says fully settled all compensation claims. In January, the Japanese government proposed bilateral talks in line with the accord, but the Moon administration has yet to reply to the proposal. In South Korea, there have been moves aimed at undermining a 2015 bilateral agreement meant to resolve the comfort women issue “finally and irreversibly,” including repeated remarks by a top lawmaker demanding an apology from Emperor Akihito.

shinzo abe
lee su-hoon
wartime labor
comfort women
south korea-japan relations


Russia deploys surveillance drone to Japan-claimed isles off Hokkaido, report says

Abstract: MOSCOW - The Russian Defense Ministry has deployed a surveillance drone to an artillery division stationed on a group of islands controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan, a Russian newspaper reported Monday. The drone will be used for patrolling coastal areas and surrounding waters, as well as for rescue operations, according to the newspaper, Izvestia. The artillery unit is stationed on two of the four Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido, known in Japan as Etorofu and Kunashiri. The Orlan-10 drone, the same type as those sent by Russia to Syria, is able to operate within a 120-kilometer radius for up to 14 hours while transmitting images from a mounted camera, the Russian paper said.


LDP battling pro-merger and anti-base headwinds in Osaka and Okinawa by-election campaigns

Abstract: Official campaigning began Tuesday for key Lower House by-elections in Osaka and Okinawa prefectures in what is seen as a prelude to the Upper House election this summer. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is competing with opposition candidates seeking to streamline administrations in Osaka and block a controversial government plan to relocate a U.S. military base within Okinawa. The April 21 by-elections coincide with the second batch of local elections to be held simultaneously across the country. In the first round on Sunday, the LDP garnered broad voter support by winning a key gubernatorial race in Hokkaido and a majority of prefectural assembly seats, but party divisions were revealed in some regional areas. The LDP is seeking to contain the impact of the abrupt resignation of a deputy land minister who caused a stir by saying he gave a road project special treatment so as to please Abe and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. After winning both the gubernatorial and mayoral elections Sunday in Osaka, political group Osaka Ishin no Kai aims to maintain its momentum in the by-election in the Osaka No. 12 district, where the seat has been left vacant following the death last year of former Deputy Environment Minister Tomokatsu Kitagawa. Four candidates are vying for the seat, including his nephew Shinpei Kitakawa, 32, fielded by the LDP with support from its coalition partner Komeito, and Fumitake Fujita, 38, of Nippon Ishin no Kai, which is supported by the Osaka Ishin group. The two other candidates are unaffiliated: Shinji Tarutoko, 59, a former communications minister under the government led by the then-Democratic Party of Japan, and Takeshi Miyamoto, 59, a former Lower House member of the Japanese Communist Party. Okinawa, home to the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, will see a battle between pro- and anti-base relocation candidates. The by-election in the Okinawa No. 3 district, which includes the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was called to fill a vacancy left by Denny Tamaki, who now serves as Okinawa governor and wants to reduce base-hosting burdens on the island prefecture. One of the two candidates is the LDP’s Aiko Shimajiri, 54, a former state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs who has also gained support from Komeito. She has accepted the base transfer within the prefecture. Another contender, 56-year-old freelance journalist Tomohiro Yara, aligns with Tamaki’s position, arguing that the central government should respect the outcome of a prefectural referendum in February in which more than 70 percent voted no to the Futenma relocation plan. Many Okinawa people are seeking to move the base outside the prefecture. Multiple opposition parties are planning to back Yara, including the Liberal Party, the JCP and the Social Democratic Party.

osaka
okinawa
elections
futenma
u.s. bases
nago
henoko


Japan extends sanctions on North Korea by two years over abductions and nuclear weapons

Abstract: Japan decided Tuesday to extend its sanctions against North Korea for two years, maintaining pressure on Pyongyang to denuclearize and resolve its past abductions of Japanese nationals. The sanctions approved for extension by the Cabinet before they expire on Saturday impose a total ban on bilateral exports and imports, and forbid the entry into Japan of North Korean-registered ships, as well as vessels that have stopped at a North Korean port. The two-year extension is designed to prod North Korea to take specific steps toward achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as pledged, as well as resolving the abduction issue, a priority for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. As the United States continues its dialogue with North Korea over denuclearization, Japan has also made some conciliatory gestures. Abe has expressed willingness to engage with North Korea through direct talks with leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the abduction issue. In March, Japan did not sponsor a resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights abuses at a U.N. panel for the first time since 2007. Following missile tests by Pyongyang in 2006, Japan adopted a set of unilateral sanctions, including a ban on imports from North Korea. Tokyo has expanded and extended them several times, in addition to sanctions imposed in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions. Japan officially lists 17 nationals as abduction victims and also suspects North Korea’s involvement in more disappearances of Japanese citizens. The abduction issue has prevented the normalization of diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

sanctions
north korea
abductions
nuclear weapons
missiles
north korea nuclear crisis


Japan's Lower House approves free preschool education bill

Abstract: The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved legislation to expand child care support by offering free preschool education from October, with the move coming as Japan struggles to reverse its falling birthrate. The free education program, expected to cost ¥776 billion a year, is a key pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative to widen the scope of social security services. It will be funded by revenue from the planned sales tax hike in October from 8 percent to 10 percent. Following Tuesday’s approval, the government hopes to have the bill passed through the House of Councilors before the regular Diet session ends in June. Under the program, the government will make preschool education free for all children age between 3 and 5 starting in October. Day care services will be also made free for children up to 2 from low-income households. If parents send their children to preschools that are not authorized by local governments, a maximum subsidy of ¥37,000 per month will be given to parents of children age between 3 and 5, and ¥42,000 for those with children age 2 and younger. School meals will be charged separately. Reducing the financial burden of child-rearing is seen as key to boosting the country’s falling birthrate at a time of increased female participation in the workforce. The country’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime — stood at 1.43 in 2017. The Abe administration also faces the difficult task of reducing the number of children wait-listed at day care facilities. Around 20,000 children were unable to be placed in day care in 2018 due to a lack of nursery schools and teachers.


Japan announces new ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1,000 bank notes as Reiwa Era looms

Abstract: The government on Tuesday announced a redesign for ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1,000 bank notes, adding new technology to prevent counterfeits. The new designs will be introduced in the first half of fiscal 2024, Finance Minister Taro Aso said. The new ¥10,000 bill will feature Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931), a banker and business leader dubbed “the father of Japanese capitalism.” Shibusawa played a key role in modernizing the Japanese economy, Aso said. The back side of the bill will feature an illustration of the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. The ¥5,000 bill will feature Umeko Tsuda (1864-1929), the founder of Tsuda University in Tokyo, who studied in the U.S. and became a pioneer in the education of Japanese women in early 20th century. The back side will feature an illustration of wisteria flowers. The ¥1,000 bill will feature Shibasaburo Kitasato (1853-1931), a bacteriologist who helped build the foundation for modern medical science in Japan. The opposite side will feature “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” the famous woodblock print by ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai. A portrait on the new bills will be rendered as a 3D hologram, which the Finance Ministry said is a world first for currency. Aso said the government will not redesign the ¥2,000 bill because the number of bills in circulation “is extremely small.” The announcement follows Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga’s April 1 announcement that the new Imperial era, set to begin on May 1 when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne, will be called Reiwa. Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate on April 30. Some government officials welcomed the timing of the announcement to coincide with the change in era, but Aso told a news conference that the era change was not the main factor. Japan changes the designs of the three bills to prevent counterfeiting about every 20 years, Aso said. “We didn’t pay much attention to the announcement of the era name,” Aso said. The last time Japan introduced new bill designs was 2004, a change announced in 2002. In the first part of fiscal 2021, the ministry will also introduce a new ¥500 coin with the same design but using new materials. According to the Finance Ministry, about 9.97 billion ¥10,000 bank notes were in circulation in fiscal 2018, along with 660 million ¥5,000 bills, 100 million ¥2,000 bills and 4.2 billion ¥1,000 bills. Older bills will remain valid, but the ministry expects that most will be replaced in the three to four years after 2024, officials said. The current ¥10,000 bill features Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), an intellectual leader of the Meiji Era who founded Keio University in Tokyo. Fukuzawa was featured on the ¥10,000 bill introduced in 1984 and remained the face of the bill in the 2004 redesign, meaning the upcoming change will be the bill’s first in 40 years. On the front side of the current ¥5,000 bill is writer and poet Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896), and the current ¥1,000 bill features medical scientist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928). In 1984, the government decided not to feature any politicians or military leaders on bank notes to maintain political neutrality. Figures for the main portraits are chosen from among cultural figures of the Meiji Era or later.

taro aso
eiichi shibusawa
umeko tsuda
shibasaburo kitasato
finance ministry
currency
history
yen


Japan repatriated more than 400 foreign prisoners over 16-year period, Justice Ministry reveals

Abstract: Japan repatriated 423 foreign prisoners over the last 16 years under an international treaty designed to help rehabilitate and reintegrate convicted criminals, Justice Ministry officials said Tuesday. Japan is a signatory to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons along with members of the Council of Europe and the United States. A related domestic law was put into force in June 2003. It has signed separate bilateral treaties with Thailand, Brazil and Iran, which are not members of the convention, and is negotiating similar agreements with China and Vietnam. “Serving terms in home countries where there are no language or cultural differences should help the prisoners’ smooth return to society,” a ministry official said. For a prisoner to be transferred under the treaty, Japan, the prisoner and his or her home country must consent. The offense committed by the potential transferee must be a crime in both countries. The 423 prisoners were transferred to 30 countries. The U.K. topped the list with 61 prisoners, followed by the United States at 54, the Netherlands at 51, Canada with 44 and South Korea at 43, according to the ministry. Japan, for its part, has had 10 of its nationals repatriated, with five returning from the United States, three from Thailand and two from South Korea, it said. The Justice Ministry plans to continue using the transfer system as about 40 percent of the roughly 1,600 foreign prisoners in Japan are from signatory states, and 50 of the 146 Japanese serving terms abroad are also doing so in signatory countries. For those who cannot or do not wish to be sent home, some Japanese prisons offer meals, specific beds and language services catered to their needs. Japan has introduced an international office tasked with dealing with foreign prisoners at prisons in Tokyo, Tochigi, Kanagawa, Aichi and Osaka prefectures. Among them, Tokyo’s Fuchu Prison — which holds the country’s largest foreign prisoner contingent of 332, or about 20 percent of the total prison population — has a three-story building for foreign prisoners with rooms equipped with a bed, rather than a futon, for each. It also has its rules and regulations available in multiple languages. Vegetarian meals are available, while the prison moves meal times to the evening for Muslims during Ramadan when their faith prohibits them eating in daylight hours. Prisoners have access to services in 52 languages, with specialists at an international office and language assistance provided by private firms. Letters sent to prisoners are translated when necessary, while a remote interpretation service is also available through video calls, which was used about 100 times last year, according to the prison. “It is economical as there is no need for a translator to come in person,” said a senior official at the prison.

prisons
justice ministry
expats
deportations


Growing number of scams across Japan exploiting era change to Reiwa, consumer center warns

Abstract: The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (NCAC) has warned of scams capitalizing on the change of era from Heisei to Reiwa, set to take place on May 1, which are starting to be seen across the nation. In such “era change scams” scammers often send letters in the name of real organizations telling recipients that their bank cash cards need to be renewed because of the change of era, as a way to obtain the targets’ cards. In some cases, perpetrators succeed in withdrawing money with cards they obtain. In early February, a 79-year-old woman in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, received an envelope purporting to be from the Japanese Bankers Association, or Zenginkyo — a bankers’ organization that does exist in Tokyo. Enclosed were several forms presented as documents she needed to complete because of the change of era. Believing the claim, she entered the name of her bank, the PIN code for her cash card and some other information and sent the form back in the envelope provided. Early last month, she learned about era change scams from news reports and realized she’d been targeted. Fortunately, she avoided losses because she had not sent her cash card. “She told me that she put the envelope in the mailbox without any doubts,” her 43-year-old son said. “She did not notice that she was being cheated.” Last month, Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested a man who had attempted to defraud people of their cash cards by sending letters in era change scams. In Saitama Prefecture, some ¥860,000 was withdrawn in February from the bank account of a woman in her 70s. She had received a call from a person who told her she needed to renew her bank cards due to the change of era in order to get a refund. She then handed two cash cards to a man who visited her home. According to the NCAC, many consumers are seeking advice on problems related to the change of era. Many of those who fall for dubious claims are age 60 or above, according to the center. In one case, a consumer was instructed to buy an expensive book of photographs of the Imperial family, the center said. An official at the center said it is important not to give out details during calls from telemarketers. The official also said that banks will not be asking customers to renew their cards because of the era change and urged consumers not to respond to any such fake notices.


U.S. farmer income falls most since 2016 as Trump trade war losses mount

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Personal income for farmers fell by the most in three years in the first quarter, as losses to U.S. agriculture mount from President Donald Trump’s trade wars. The Commerce Department on Monday cited the steep decline in farm proprietors’ income as a key factor weighing on the nation’s overall personal income growth in March, even though agricultural producers represent only about 2 percent of total employed Americans. The report provided fresh evidence of the growing financial strain on U.S. farmers hit by the trade war, low commodity prices and a series of natural disasters, including spring floods in the Midwest. With rural voters a key part of Trump’s electoral coalition, it also underscores the political pressure to conclude the China trade war as U.S. negotiators begin another round of talks in Beijing this week. One-time subsidy payments from the Trump administration to compensate producers for some of their trade-war losses helped prop up farm income in the previous quarter, but earnings plunged by an annualized $11.8 billion in the January to March period, according to seasonally adjusted data. On Monday, Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser, said the White House is prepared to do more to help agriculture. Trump’s budget cuts would lower federal subsidies for crop insurance and small growers. The spending plan for 2020 he submitted for Congress would reduce subsidies for crop insurance premiums to 48 percent from 62 percent and limit current subsidies for growers who make less than $500,000 annually. Even prior to the trade disputes, U.S. producers were struggling with lower commodity prices. The financial impact has spread across rural America as farmers cut back on purchases from local tractor dealers and other suppliers. Still, the data can be volatile and factors in inventories. A spike in December income, for example, was “likely a function of gyrations in federal subsidy payments” because of the administration’s one-time aid program to compensate farmers for trade war losses, Stephen Stanley, chief economist for Amherst Pierpont Securities, said in note to clients. Trump has promised his trade wars will eventually be a boon for farmers. “We’re doing trade deals that are going to get you so much business, you’re not even going to believe it,” he told a cheering crowd at American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in New Orleans in January.

income
trade war
donald trump
floods
china
larry kudlow
u.s. farmers


Amazon kicks off recruiting and leases office for Virginia 'HQ2'

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc. on Monday said it had leased office space and posted several jobs for its second headquarters outside Washington, D.C., the start of more than a decade of investment and hiring that cities across North America had sought. In a blog post, the world’s largest online retailer said it was on track to create 400 jobs at the future Arlington, Virginia, campus this year. It said the new hires will work out of a temporary space on Crystal Drive in June, as the company aims to open its first building in the fall. These jobs had been coveted by hundreds of communities from Canada to Mexico since 2017, when Seattle-based Amazon announced it would spend more than $5 billion and create up to 50,000 positions at a second campus dubbed “HQ2.” The company ultimately split the prize between greater Washington and New York, the U.S. political and financial capitals, after more than a year of contestants’ publicity stunts and promises of tax breaks to garner Amazon’s attention. It later scrapped its New York plans after local opposition.


Sense of urgency: Facebook joins study on how social media impact elections

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Facebook announced Monday it would make its data available to academics studying the impact of social media on elections, part of an effort to prevent manipulation of social platforms. The leading social network said some 60 researchers from 30 academic institutions across 11 countries were selected under a review process by the Social Science Research Council and the independent group Social Science One. Facebook began the research initiative last year after revelations of foreign influence campaigns on the 2016 U.S. election and the Brexit vote in Britain. It began soliciting proposals last year, and on Monday unveiled its first research grants. “To assure the independence of the research and the researchers, Facebook did not play any role in the selection of the individuals or their projects and will have no role in directing the findings or conclusions of the research,” said a blog post by Facebook executives Elliot Schrage and Chaya Nayak. “We hope this initiative will deepen public understanding of the role social media has on elections and democracy and help Facebook and other companies improve their products and practices.” The researchers will be granted access to Facebook’s internal data through a “first-of-its-kind data sharing infrastructure to provide researchers access to Facebook data in a secure manner that protects people’s privacy,” Schrage and Nayak wrote. “Some of these steps include building a process to remove personally identifiable information from the data set and only allowing researcher access to the data set through a secure portal.” Gary King and Nathaniel Persily of Social Science One said in a statement the researchers will seek to move swiftly to help social networks improve their security and integrity. “The urgency of this research cannot be overstated,” they wrote. “Elections in India are already underway, the European Parliamentary elections will take place in short order, and the US presidential primary campaigns have begun in earnest. Concerns about disinformation, polarization, political advertising, and the role of platforms in the information ecosystem have not diminished. If anything, they have heightened.” Some of the research groups cited are based at Northeastern University, Ohio State University and New York University and Virginia Tech University in the United States; France’s Institute of Political Studies; National Chengchi University in Taiwan; Italy’s Universita di Urbino Carlo Bo; University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; Germany’s Technical University of Munich; the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Funding for the research will come from several organizations including the Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation and the Omidyar Network.

facebook
social media
elections
brexit
2016 u.s. presidential election


Boeing says regulators will test 737 Max software fix by next week

Abstract: CHICAGO - Boeing expects U.S. regulators will conduct a test flight of a software fix for the grounded 737 Max by the end of next week, a company spokesman said Monday. Boeing expects the certification of the software fix — a key step in returning the planes to the skies — some time after the Federal Aviation Administration meeting with international regulators on May 23, the spokesman said. The plane was grounded worldwide in mid-March following a second deadly crash, but U.S. carriers have said they expect to resume flights on the popular 737 Max over the summer.


Toyota adds new Lexus crossover line at Canadian plant

Abstract: TORONTO - Toyota Motor Corp. plans to overhaul its Canadian plant to begin manufacturing an additional Lexus SUV model, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. The automaker will produce the Lexus NX crossover, in gasoline and hybrid versions, beginning in 2022 at the plant in Cambridge, Ontario, Fred Volf, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., said Monday. “Toyota’s operations in Canada are here to stay,” said Volf, flanked by Trudeau at the plant located about 100 km (62 miles) west of Toronto. Toyota already builds the Lexus RX SUV in Canada, as well as the best-selling RAV4 crossover and the Corolla sedan. Toyota has said previously it plans to move production of the Corolla from Cambridge to a new plant under construction in Alabama, which it will run jointly with Mazda Motor Corp. The two companies plan to start output at that new factory in 2021. Toyota said a year ago that it would invest 1.4 billion Canadian dollars ($1 billion) to build gasoline and hybrid versions of the RAV4 in Cambridge. It now plans to build the hybrid version in Kentucky, creating room for the new models that have previously only been built in Japan. Monday’s news is a rare bright spot for Ontario’s auto industry, which is facing the end of production at General Motors Co.’s plant in Oshawa after this year and the cutting of a shift at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s minivan plant in Windsor this fall. Between them, those moves will cost about 4,500 jobs. Passenger-vehicle production in Canada is projected to drop 20 percent this year followed by another decline in 2020, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in December.


Scientists ponder, what if an asteroid was about to hit Earth?

Abstract: COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND - Here’s a hypothetical: A telescope detects an asteroid between 100 and 300 meters in diameter racing through our solar system at 14 kilometers per second, 57 million kilometers from Earth. Astronomers estimate a 1 percent risk the space rock will collide with our planet on April 27, 2027. What should we do? It’s this potentially catastrophic scenario that 300 astronomers, scientists, engineers and emergency experts are applying their collective minds to this week in a Washington suburb, the fourth such international effort since 2013. “We have to make sure people understand this is not about Hollywood,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as he opened the sixth International Planetary Defense Conference at the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park. Countries represented include China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia and the United States. The idea that the planet Earth may one day have to defend itself against an asteroid used to elicit what experts call a “giggle factor.” But a meteor that blew up in the atmosphere over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013, helped put an end to the sneers. On that morning, a 20-meter asteroid appear out of nowhere over the southern Urals, exploding 23 kilometers above the town of Chelyabinsk with such force that it shattered windows in thousands of buildings. A thousand people were injured by the shards. But “the positive aspect of Chelyabinsk is that it made the public aware, it made the political decision-makers aware,” said Detlef Koschny, co-manager of the Planetary Defense Office of the European Space Agency (ESA). Only those asteroids whose orbit around our sun brings them within 50 million kilometers of our planet — defined as “near Earth” — are of interest. Astronomers are finding new ones each day: more than 700 so far this year, for a total of 20,001, said Lindley Johnson of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was created in 2016. Among the most risky is a rock named 2000SG344: 50 meters in diameter, with a one in 2,096 chance in striking Earth within a hundred years, according to the ESA. The majority are very small, but 942 are more than 1 kilometer across, estimates astronomer Alan Harris. The scientist told an audience that some large ones are probably still out there: “A fair fraction of the biggest ones are hiding … basically parked behind the sun.” They are found mainly by two U.S. telescopes, one in Arizona and the other in Hawaii. The ESA has built a telescope for this purpose in Spain and is planning others in Chile and Sicily. Many astronomers are demanding a space telescope because terrestrial telescopes are unable to detect objects on the other side of the sun. This week’s exercise seeks to simulate global responses to a catastrophic meteorite. The first step is aiming telescopes at the threat to precisely calculate its speed and trajectory, following rough initial estimates. Then it boils down to two choices: try to deflect the object or evacuate. If it is less than 50 meters, the international consensus is to evacuate the threatened region. According to Koschny, it is possible to predict the country it will strike two weeks ahead. Days away from impact, it can be narrowed down to within hundreds of kilometers. What about bigger objects? Trying to nuke them to smithereens like in the movie “Armageddon” would be a bad idea, because it could just create smaller but still dangerous pieces. The plan instead is to launch a device toward the asteroid to divert its trajectory — like a cosmic bumper car. NASA plans to test this idea out on a real asteroid 150 meters across in 2022 with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. One issue that remains is politics, said Romana Kofler of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs. “Who would be the decision-making authority?” she asked. “The consensus was to leave this aspect out.” The U.N. Security Council would likely be convened, but it’s an open question as to whether rich countries would finance an operation if they themselves weren’t in the sights of 2000SG344 or another celestial rock.

asteroids space planets nasa astronomy comets


U.S. measles outbreak hits 'completely avoidable' 25-year high of 704 cases: officials

Abstract: NEW YORK - The number of measles cases in the United States has reached a 25-year peak, propelled by the spread of misinformation about the vaccine that can prevent the disease, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 704 cases as of April 26, a 1.3 percent increase since the most recent tally of 695 reported on Wednesday. The vast majority of cases have occurred in children who have not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which confers immunity to the disease, officials said. “The suffering we are seeing today is completely avoidable,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Monday. “We know vaccines are safe because they’re among some of the most studied medical products we have.” A vocal fringe of U.S. parents refuse to vaccinate their children believing, contrary to scientific evidence, that ingredients in them can cause autism or other disorders. Some 22 states have recorded cases of the extremely contagious and sometimes deadly disease. None of the victims of the recent outbreak has died, but 3 percent have contracted pneumonia and 9 percent have been hospitalized due to complications from the disease, CDC director Robert Redfield said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans last week to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of measles, changing course from remarks he made in 2014 when he expressed doubt about giving children government-recommended doses of vaccines. “The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now,” Trump said on Friday. The current outbreak has been concentrated in New York City, where officials said more than 390 cases have been recorded since October, mostly among children in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn. Most of the recently recorded cases have been in New York and Los Angeles, officials said on Monday. The national outbreak has escalated since 82 people in 2018 and more than 40 people in 2019 brought measles to the United States from other countries, most frequently Ukraine, Israel and the Philippines, federal officials said. Although the virus was eliminated from the country in 2000, meaning it was no longer continually present year round, outbreaks still happen via travelers coming from countries where measles is still common, the CDC says.

measles
new york
vaccination
cdc
donald trump
u.s .
epidemic
alez azar


Venezuela's Guaido says troops join him for coup; government says it is firmly in control

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Tuesday he had begun the “final phase” of his plan to oust President Nicolas Maduro, calling on Venezuelans and the military to back him to end Maduro’s “usurpation.” A Reuters journalist later saw security forces firing tear gas at Guaido and around 70 armed men in military uniform near the La Carlota air force base in Caracas. The government promptly dismissed any suggestion of a military insurrection. “We reject this coup movement, which aims to fill the country with violence,” said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. He said the armed forces remained “firmly in defense of the national constitution and legitimate authorities,” and that all military units across Venezuela “report normality” in their barracks and bases. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez tweeted that the government was confronting a small group of “military traitors” seeking to promote a coup. Diosdado Cabello, head of the pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly, said the opposition had not been able to take over the air base and urged Maduro’s supporters to march at the presidential palace in Caracas. Guaido, in a video posted on his Twitter account, was accompanied by men in military uniform and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who has been placed under house arrest. “The national armed forces have taken the correct decision, and they are counting on the support of the Venezuelan people,” Guaido said. Guaido, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, in January invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was illegitimate. He has been traveling outside the capital Caracas more and more in recent weeks to try to put pressure on Maduro to step down. Protests are planned for Wednesday, May 1, including what Guaido has said will be “the largest march in Venezuela’s history,” part of what he calls the “definitive phase” of his effort to take office in order to call fresh elections. Around 50 countries including the United States have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, and Washington has imposed sanctions to try to dislodge Maduro. Maduro for his part has appeared to retain control of state institutions and the loyalty of senior military officers. He calls Guaido a U.S-backed puppet who seeks to oust him in a coup. The government has arrested his top aide, stripped Guaido of his parliamentary immunity and opened multiple probes. It has also barred him from leaving the country, a ban Guaido openly violated earlier this year. Last week, Guaido said his congressional ally — opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro — had been detained, and that 11 members of his team had been summoned to appear before the Sebin intelligence agency. Lopez, seen with Guaido, appeared to have left his home for the first time since he was placed under house arrest in 2017, after three years in jail.

venezuela
coup
juan guaido
nicolas maduro


Police and FBI thwart U.S. Army veteran's plan to bomb California neo-Nazi rally

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - A U.S. Army veteran who converted to Islam and discussed launching various terror attacks throughout Southern California was arrested as he plotted to bomb a white supremacist rally as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested Friday after visiting a park in Long Beach where authorities said he planned to plant home-made explosive devices made with nail-filled pressure cookers in advance of a Nazi rally scheduled for Sunday. Domingo, 26, was arrested on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. A criminal complaint said he had been planning since March to “manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order to commit mass murder.” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna told a news conference that Domingo supported violent jihad and spoke about becoming a martyr and of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group if it established a presence in the United States. “This is a case in which law enforcement was able to identify a man consumed with hate and bent on mass murder, and stop him before he could carry out his attack,” Hanna said. “The criminal case outlines a chilling terrorism plot that developed over the past two months and targeted innocent Americans that he expected to gather this past weekend.” Investigators said Domingo posted an online message on March 3 that said “America needs another Vegas event” — an apparent reference to the 2017 mass shooting that killed 59. He allegedly said it would spark civil unrest to weaken “America by giving them a taste of the terror they gladly spread all over the world.” After Domingo began to discuss seeking revenge for the March 15 attacks that killed 50 people at New Zealand mosques, a confidential source who has worked with the FBI since 2013 began chatting with him about his plans. Domingo said he had an assault rifle, semi-automatic rifle and several magazines of ammunition. He discussed picking off Jews walking to synagogue, shooting police officers or attacking a church or military base, according to investigators. When the source asked him how he planned to carry out violence without getting caught, court records said Domingo replied: “Martyrdom, bro.” He also allegedly discussed killing a neighbor he was upset with as a prelude to broader violence and later contemplated bombing the Santa Monica Pier, where he said a summer attack on the crowded tourist spot would maximize casualties because people wouldn’t be able to escape the blast in the enclosed space. Eventually, he settled on the idea of planting an improvised explosive device that would be remotely triggered or detonated by a timer at a white supremacist event, investigators said. The confidential source connected him with a purported bomb maker who was actually an undercover police officer. Domingo bought 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of nails long enough to puncture internal organs and provided them to the bomb maker, though the resulting contraption contained only inert materials, authorities said. If he survived the planned bombing, Domingo allegedly discussed launching further attacks on the Long Beach Port or on a train. The plot was thwarted just two days ahead of the event, investigators said, when an FBI SWAT team arrested Domingo after he was given the pressure cookers and surveyed Bluff Park in Long Beach, where the rally was supposed to happen. White nationalists, however, never showed up at the park Sunday. Instead, a large group of counter protesters demonstrated for peace. Phone and email messages seeking comment from the public defender representing Domingo were not immediately returned. A voicemail left at a phone number listed for Domingo was not returned. A statement from his family asked for privacy. “We do not know what is going on at this point,” the statement said. “We are surprised by all of these events in regard with Mark.” The suspect’s younger brother told reporters outside the family’s Los Angeles home that Mark Domingo had converted to Islam in recent months. “Like anybody else, I don’t want to assume a thing when someone joins a new religion,” James Domingo said. “If anything, I thought it was a good thing. I thought maybe my brother finally found some sort of guidance in this world.” James Domingo declined to speculate on whether his brother was guilty, only saying he would “wait for the trial.” Domingo is believed to have acted alone and authorities said the public was not at risk. After Domingo was identified online by the FBI, he was under surveillance around the clock, said Ryan Young, the FBI special agent in charge of counter terrorism at the Los Angeles office. “Our biggest fear is this was a rapid what we call ‘radicalization to mobilization to violence,’ ” Young said. “Sometimes we get asked ‘What keeps you up at night?’ This is a case that keeps us up at night.” While Domingo had appeared committed to carry out the plot, court papers portray him as suddenly reluctant as the bomb plot came together. He told the others he thought were his confederates they should consider postponing so he could finish reading the Quran and experience the Muslim holy month of Ramadan beginning in May. Last Wednesday, he told the confidential source he wanted to think about it for a night. “Let’s just sleep on it,” he said, according to court papers. “If we’re still as motivated … I’ll give the go-ahead.” The next day he sent a message to the supposed bomb maker that the plan was on. The two referred to the bombs as “presents” they needed to wrap for a party. “Keep the presents somewhere safe lol,” Domingo wrote back Friday morning before making plans to meet that night.

california
neo-nazis
terrorism
new zealand mosque attacks
mark domingo


U.S. prosecutors sue feds to stop courthouse immigration arrests

Abstract: BOSTON - Prosecutors and public defenders in Massachusetts are suing to block federal authorities from arresting people in and around courthouses for civil immigration violations. The lawsuit filed Monday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says district attorneys are unable to prosecute certain cases because victims, witnesses and defendants are too afraid to come to court. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she has watched “serious criminal cases against individuals accused of violent, heinous crimes grind to a halt” because of arrests by immigration agents. The lawsuit was filed days after federal prosecutors charged a judge and former court officer with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping a man wanted by immigration authorities escape a courthouse. An email and a voicemail were left with ICE for comment.


California synagogue mourns woman who 'took the bullet' in weekend shooting

Abstract: NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES - The woman who was killed in a deadly shooting at a Southern California synagogue will be buried on Monday after being hailed as a hero, as police continue to investigate the motive of the 19-year-old suspect. Lori Gilbert Kaye, 60, attended services at Chabad of Poway in suburban San Diego on Saturday, the last day of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover, to honor her recently deceased mother. She was one of four people shot, and the only one killed, when a gunman stormed in with an assault-style rifle, six months to the day after 11 worshippers were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack on American Jewry. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was shot in both hands during the attack and lost a finger, described seeing Kaye’s lifeless body on the floor, as her husband tried to resuscitate her before fainting. “It’s the most heart-wrenching sight I could have seen,” Goldstein told reporters on Sunday. “Lori took the bullet for all of us. … She died to protect all of us.” The gunman, identified by police as John Earnest, fled the scene and eventually called police in order to surrender. Earnest, who is being held without bail, appears to have authored an online manifesto in which he claimed responsibility for a predawn arson fire at a nearby mosque last month and drew inspiration from the mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people in March. Kaye was not the only worshipper to earn praise for bravery under fire. When the gunfire began, Oscar Stewart, 51, a veteran of both the U.S. Navy and Army who served a tour in Iraq, recognized the sound immediately. He said in a Monday interview that for a moment he began running toward the exit with other congregants before he turned around and headed toward the gunfire — for reasons he still cannot quite explain. “I was an instrument of God,” he said. “I had no conscious effort in what I was doing.” He charged the gunman, screaming, “I’m going to kill you!” The shooter, who had stopped firing, looked frightened and fled the synagogue, with Stewart in close pursuit, he said. Another worshipper, an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent named Jonathan Morales, also ran outside after the gunman. Morales, who was armed, fired several shots at the gunman’s car as he drove away. Almog Peretz, an Israeli citizen visiting his family, was hit by shrapnel but still managed to help shepherd children to safety, witnesses said. His 9-year-old niece, Noya Dahan, also was wounded by shrapnel. Her family moved to the United States from Israel in search of a safer life after their home was repeatedly shelled by Palestinian rockets. At a vigil on Sunday, Dahan rode on her father’s shoulders, wrapped in an Israeli flag, as people cheered. Kaye, one of the synagogue’s founding members, was a deeply caring member of the community, her friends said. When one congregant developed breast cancer, Kaye drove her to every appointment and helped take care of her children, Goldstein said. “She is a person of unconditional love,” Goldstein said. In a Facebook post, a friend, Audrey Jacobs, called her a “woman of valor” whose final act was to protect others. “You were always running to do a mitzvah (good deed) and gave tzedaka (charity) to everyone,” she wrote. Her funeral will take place at the synagogue on Monday afternoon. Earnest is scheduled to appear in a San Diego court on Wednesday. Authorities believe he acted alone.

synagogue
chabad
hate crime
john earnest
guns
jews
u.s. mass shooting
new zealand mosque attack


Trial for murder of Scandinavian hikers to open in Morocco

Abstract: RABAT - Two dozen suspects are set to go on trial in Morocco on Thursday for offenses linked to the gruesome murder of two young Scandinavian hikers late last year that shocked the North African country. Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland had their throats slit before they were beheaded in December at an isolated site in the High Atlas mountains. Three main defendants accused of direct involvement in the murders and who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadi group could theoretically face the death penalty. A total of 24 defendants are due to appear before a criminal court in Sale to answer charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder. A Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam is among the suspects who are due to face justice in the city near Rabat. But families of the slain hikers and their lawyers will not attend the trial, according to information obtained by AFP. Nature lovers, the two friends shared an apartment and went to Norway’s Bo University where they were studying to be guides. They had traveled together to Morocco for their Christmas holidays. Their lives were cut short in the foothills of Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the city of Marrakesh, a tourist magnet. After the bodies were discovered, the Moroccan authorities were initially cautious, referring to a “criminal act” and wounds to the victims’ necks. But that all changed when a video showing one of the victims being beheaded — filmed by one of the killers on a mobile phone — circulated on social networks. One of the killers refers to “enemies of Allah” and revenge for brothers in Syria. The video did the rounds online in Morocco, Norway and Denmark. Danish police said last month they had launched prosecutions against 14 people suspected of sharing the gruesome video. A separate video in the initial aftermath of the murder showed the alleged killers pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, under the jihadi organization’s banner. Police quickly arrested a first suspect in the suburbs of Marrakesh, and three others were arrested a few days later when they tried to leave the city by bus. Aged from 25 to 33, all had struggled to get by in poor districts of Marrakesh. They made a living from “small jobs” and were educated to a “very low” level, according to investigators. They had recently embraced Salafism, an ultraconservative branch of Sunni Islam, according to friends, neighbors and some family members. The “terrorist cell” was inspired by IS ideology, according to investigators. But Morocco’s anti-terror chief has said the accused had no contact with the jihadi group in conflict zones. And IS has never claimed responsibility for the double-murder. Abdessamad Ejjoud, a 25-year-old street vendor referred to as the emir of the group by peers, is the suspected ringleader of the operational cell and a wider group he formed in Marrakesh, according to investigators. Twenty others are due to face justice in Sale for links to the alleged killers. Among them is Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Spanish-Swiss citizen living in Morocco. Authorities allege he subscribes to “extremist ideology.” He stands accused of teaching the main suspects how to use encrypted communications and how to fire a gun, according to investigators. Suspected of being a recruiter, he denied all charges when brought in front of an anti-terror judge. Another Swiss citizen arrested after the double-murder was tried separately and sentenced in mid-April to 10 years in prison for “forming a terrorist group” and for his links to another extremist network. Until last year, Morocco had been spared jihadi attacks since 2011, when a bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh’s famed Jamaa El Fna Square killed 17 people, most of them European tourists. Attacks in the North African state’s financial capital Casablanca killed 33 people in 2003. Those attacks — carried out by 12 suicide operatives who came from one of Casablanca’s main shanty towns — greatly affected public opinion. Morocco has since improved its security and legal framework, alongside boosting supervision of religious affairs and anti-terror cooperation with other states. Petitions on the internet have called for anyone convicted of the Scandinavian hikers’ double-murder to face the death penalty. Death sentences are sometimes still handed down in Morocco, but a de facto moratorium on carrying out executions has been in place since 1993, and there is an ongoing debate over potential abolition.

morocco
louisa vesterager jespersen
maren ueland
islam
islamic state
terrorism
norway
denmark
religion


Putin floats 'common citizenship' for Russians and Ukrainians

Abstract: MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people” and will benefit from common citizenship after he angered Kiev by offering to fast-track Russian passports for Ukrainians. “I’ve said many times that Ukrainians and Russians are brotherly nations. Moreover, I believe that they are essentially one people with various cultural, linguistic and historic peculiarities,” a smiling Putin told reporters. “If Ukraine gives passports to Russians and we in Russia give passports and citizenship to Ukrainians, then sooner or later we will inevitably have a predictable outcome — everyone will have common citizenship. “This should be welcomed,” Putin said before saying “goodbye” to reporters in Ukrainian. Observers are closely watching for signs of a thaw in ties between Russia and Ukraine after a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, has just won a landslide victory in presidential elections in Ukraine. The Kremlin has not congratulated Zelensky, and in one of the first announcements after the vote Putin said Moscow was thinking of making it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship. Last week, Putin signed a decree allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one. Kiev and the West have condemned the decree, saying Putin is seeking to further destabilize Ukraine, while critics at home say the move will be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy. In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea and moved to support Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine. Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow’s offer of citizenship to Ukrainians will give the Kremlin a justification to move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian nationals. Zelensky, in response, has pledged to grant Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who “suffer” under Kremlin rule. Zelensky said he doubts many Ukrainians will take Moscow up on its offer because a Russian passport means “the right to be arrested for a peaceful protest” and “the right not to have free and competitive elections.” Putin on Monday appeared to go out of his way to show he was not offended. “We have a lot in common,” he said, referring to Zelensky. “It means we’ll find a common language.” Zelensky’s critics, led by outgoing President Petro Poroshenko, have said the 41-year-old political novice will not be able to stand up to Putin. He is due to take office by early June.

russia
ukraine
vladimir putin
volodymyr zelensky
crimea
petro poroshenko


Trump has made more 10,000 'false or misleading' claims in office, report finds

Abstract: WASHINGTON - After just over 800 days in office, U.S. President Donald Trump has made more than 10,000 “false or misleading claims,” according to a tally released Monday by the Washington Post. The count, kept by the newspaper’s “Fact Checker” database, was started in the Republican leader’s first 100 days in office in early 2017. At the time, Trump averaged just five false claims a day. In the past seven months, that total has risen to an average of nearly 23 every day, made at rallies, on Twitter, in speeches or in encounters with the media. During his “Make America Great Again” rallies, Trump has taken the most liberties with the truth, the Post said: 22 percent of his erroneous comments are made at rallies of his dedicated supporters. Another notable element of these claims is that the former reality television star — who frequently rails against the “fake news” media — has a tendency to repeat the same false formulas again and again. The Post said the president passed the 10,000-untruth mark on Friday, a day before he appeared before a crowd in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to make the claim that pro-abortion Democrats support the execution of babies who have already been born. “The baby is born,” he told his fans. “The mother meets with the doctor. They wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.” As well as denouncing the media as “enemies of the people,” Trump also lashed out at fact checkers themselves earlier this year, calling them “some of the most dishonest people in the media.”