Dollar little changed, closes around ¥109.70 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was almost unchanged around ¥109.70 in Tokyo trading late Friday after cutting earlier gains. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥109.75-76, slightly up from ¥109.71-75 at the same time Thursday. The euro was at $1.1323-1323, down from $1.1367-1368, and at ¥124.28-28, down from ¥124.74-74. After moving around ¥109.50-60 in early trading, the dollar firmed above ¥109.70 later in the morning thanks to the 225-issue Nikkei average’s advance and buying by Japanese importers, traders said. In afternoon trading, the greenback gained further ground and climbed above ¥109.80, backed by a rise in long-term U.S. interest rates in off-hours trading and firm stock prices elsewhere in Asia, traders said. But it fell below the threshold in late hours due to a wait-and-see mood ahead of the weekend. A foreign exchange broker said the dollar “had no momentum to test its upside at ¥110” as market players retreated to the sidelines to see closely watched events next week. They include a vote on an alternative plan for Britain’s exit from the European Union proposed by British Prime Minister Theresa May and ministerial-level trade talks between the United States and China.


Japan's embattled Pioneer wins shareholder approval for capital injection from new Hong Kong owners

Abstract: Shareholders of auto electronics-maker Pioneer Corp. approved Friday a capital injection of around ¥102 billion ($930 million) from a Hong Kong-based private equity fund. The struggling company will become fully owned by Baring Private Equity Asia as early as March, with its shares likely to be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section. Pioneer hopes to turn its fortunes around by cutting around 3,000 employees, or about 15 percent of the group’s total workforce, while realigning its plants to cut costs. Five directors will resign from its board but President Koichi Moriya and the outside directors will retain their posts. BPEA will send two executives to the board. The Tokyo-based firm, whose predecessor was founded in 1938, posted group net losses for fiscal 2016 and 2017 on a slump in its car navigation business, which accounts for some 80 percent of the company’s overall sales. The sector has faced intense competition from smartphones, which are increasingly being used as route finders. It has shifted its focus to the autonomous driving sector with enhanced development of advanced sensors and geographic software.

pioneer
hong kong
baring private equity asia
electronics
investments


Nissan president pledges cooperation with new Renault chairman; Saikawa hints he may step down within months

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co. President Hiroto Saikawa said Friday he had spoken to Renault’s new chairman on the phone for the first time and that the pair pledged to work together in managing the auto alliance, while also indicating that he may step down from his own post at Nissan in coming months. Renault picked Jean-Dominique Senard on Thursday to replace Carlos Ghosn, who has been detained in Japan for alleged financial misconduct, as chairman. Nissan ousted Ghosn, who has denied all accusations against him, as its chairman following his arrest in November. Saikawa declined to comment on the details discussed in the phone call Thursday, but told reporters that as the alliance between the Japanese and French carmakers “will turn a new page, I would like to have sufficient communication” with the new Renault management. He didn’t set a timetable for his departure, signaling that he intended first to bring the company back on track from the scandal and only saying that there were “many problems to solve” by June, when the Japanese company holds its annual meeting. Revising corporate governance at Nissan would be his highest priority, Saikawa told the news conference. “I think I should pass the baton after getting the company back on track, and I don’t think I should spend too much time to reach that goal,” said Saikawa. “June isn’t the deadline and I will try to fulfill my responsibility as soon as possible, so that I can pass it on.” Senard, who is also CEO of French tire company Michelin, told reporters following his appointment that one of his top priorities was bolstering the alliance, which includes Mitsubishi Motors Corp.. He said he will ensure that the link and framework between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi “remains strong, will be strengthened and will go forward very positively in the future.” “I can tell you that I will bring all my energy to do so,” Senard said. Renault promoted deputy CEO Thierry Bollore, who has overseen day-to-day operations since Ghosn was detained, to CEO. The automakers’ alliance began in 1999, with Renault taking a major stake in Nissan to save it from bankruptcy. Mitsubishi Motors joined the group in 2016. But Nissan is now more profitable than Renault, contributing about half of its French partner’s net income. Renault currently owns 43.4 percent of Nissan, which in turn holds a 15 percent stake in Renault. Nissan also owns 34 percent of Mitsubishi Motors. The shift in the balance of power has been a source of friction, with some within Nissan wanting more independence, while the French government, Renault’s largest stakeholder, has pushed for a full merger. French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday that he is confident Renault’s new leadership will serve to strengthen the alliance. “The first task of the new chairman of Renault will be to reinforce the alliance, because this is in the interest of both France and Japan,” the minister said. The group of automakers, one of the world’s largest, has a “huge responsibility” to “gather our forces, to have more funding for innovation, for disruptive innovation, for electric cars, for autonomous cars,” Le Maire said in an interview with TV network France 24 in Davos, Switzerland.

nissan
renault
hiroto saikawa
jean-dominique senard
carlos ghosn
carmakers


Subaru death-from-overwork probe finds 3,400 staff were not paid overtime for two years

Abstract: Subaru Corp. on Friday said it did not pay overtime wages over a two-year period to some 3,400 employees who underreported their hours, a revelation that surfaced in an internal probe following the 2016 suicide of an overworked employee. The automaker, known for its Legacy and Forester cars, said the outstanding wages — from mid-2015 to mid-2017 and totalling ¥776 million ($7.08 million) — were paid retroactively to 3,421 workers last March. The news was first reported by Japanese media on Friday after representatives of the deceased worker’s family disclosed some of the findings this week. In 2016, a 46-year-old white-collar worker jumped to his death from the roof of a Subaru factory in what authorities ruled was a case of karōshi (death from overwork). At the time, Subaru was enjoying bumper sales and profit due to the popularity of its cars in the United States, its main market. In its probe, Subaru found the majority of workers it surveyed said they underreported overtime hours “so as not to exceed the limit for the budget for overtime work.” It said it has since taken steps to make sure workers are unable to falsely report their actual working hours. The automaker also said it owed the deceased worker ¥4.08 million in overtime pay and that it remained in settlement talks with his family. The pay issue comes after the revelation of governance lapses at the automaker since 2017 involving flawed vehicle inspections. That has led to the recall of hundreds of thousands of cars, pulling down Subaru’s profit.

subaru
overtime
jobs
carmakers
black companies
karoshi


Taiwanese supplier for Japan's new regional passenger jet plans to deliver essential parts in second quarter

Abstract: TAICHUNG, TAIWAN - A Taiwanese supplier of components for Japan’s new regional passenger jet said Thursday it plans to complete essential work in the second quarter of this year, hoping to bring the aircraft closer to production configuration before its projected entry into service in 2020. A specialist at the Taichung plant of the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. said workers have been toiling around the clock to redesign and manufacture the slat and belly fairing of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. “We hope to complete the job in the second quarter,” he said on condition of anonymity. AIDC is the single-source designer and manufacturer of those two components, as well as five others, all of which are made of a substantial amount of composite materials. The MRJ program is the company’s first original design manufacturer project for a regional jet involving the design and manufacture of composite materials. Chairman Anson Liao said his company is proud to be the sole foreign provider of the aircraft’s structural components. The MRJ program was undertaken by Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. in 2008 to produce Japan’s first passenger jet. The MRJ family of fuel-efficient regional jets includes the 90-seat MRJ90 and the 70-seat MRJ70. After a number of delays, the MRJ90 prototype finally made its maiden test flight in November 2015. The goal is to deliver the first plane to All Nippon Airways Co. in mid-2020. The original target was 2013. The regional jet market is estimated to be worth $120 billion (¥13 trillion) over the next 20 years, with 40 percent of the value coming from planes seating 70 to 76 in the North American market, according to FlightGlobal’s 2018 Flight Fleet Forecast. Also manufactured at the same AIDC plant is the prototype of Taiwan’s first indigenous attack trainer, which will replace its air force’s aging AT-3 Tzu Chung attacker trainers and F-5E/F Tigers. Liao said half the work has been completed. The company plans to roll out the finished product in September this year and conduct the first test flight the following June, while the air force expects mass production to start in 2023. Taiwan’s legislature has approved a construction project worth 68.6 billion New Taiwan dollars (¥244 billion; $2.1 billion) involving 66 indigenous advanced attack trainers. The aircraft is part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s policy of developing and producing military equipment and weapons at home as it is difficult to acquire certain items it desires from abroad, while the self-ruled island seeks ways to protect itself from an increasingly belligerent China


Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warns migrant rescue ship not to approach

Abstract: ROME - Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday insisted the country’s ports were closed to migrants, as a ship carrying 47 people rescued at sea headed for Sicily in deteriorating weather. “Umpteenth provocation: having stayed for days in Maltese waters, Sea Watch 3 with 47 on board is heading for our shores. No one will disembark in Italy,” he tweeted. “Ready to send medicine, food and whatever is necessary, but Italian ports are and will remain closed.” The Dutch-flagged vessel, which is operated by the German charity Sea Watch, picked up the migrants and asylum-seekers — including eight minors — six days ago off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing. Since then Malta and Italy, the nearest European Union countries, have refused to let them dock, despite an encroaching storm. “We’re facing a Mediterranean cyclone, a rather rare weather phenomenon with waves of 7 meters (23 foot), rain and icy wind,” the NGO tweeted on Thursday. “#SeaWatch is sailing in this storm and looking for shelter, on board are 47 people rescued out of distress last Saturday.” The boat is currently headed for waters off eastern Sicily, according to maritime tracking sites, to seek shelter from the weather. Salvini’s coalition partner, Luigi di Maio, head of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), echoed his words, saying those on board would have medical assistance from Italy if necessary. “After which, I invite them to head for Marseille and disembark its passengers on French soil, rather than waiting uselessly in Italian waters for days,” he said on Facebook. Twenty organizations including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Save the Children reminded Italy and Europe they were legally obliged to provide a safe port for the migrants under international maritime law. “These people, especially the most vulnerable such as women and children, must not suffer further and must be guaranteed the humanitarian assistance to which they are entitled and the care they need,” they said in a statement.

italy
matteo salvini
libya
mediterranean
amnesty international
doctors without borders
france
accidents
eu
refugees


U.S. to begin returning asylum seekers to Mexico on Friday to wait for processing

Abstract: MEXICO CITY - The United States will return the first group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, a spokesman for Mexico’s president said on Thursday. In a major policy change, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said on Dec. 20 it would send non-Mexican migrants who cross the U.S. southern border back to wait in Mexico while their U.S. asylum requests are processed. The spokesman for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s office did not specify the nationalities of those to be returned to Mexico, although the policy was aimed at helping cope with rising numbers of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States. The two countries have held two meetings to work out details of the plan to return migrants seeking U.S. asylum across the shared border. Mexico has said it will not accept anybody facing a credible threat in Mexican territory. Serious doubts exist over whether Mexico can keep Central American asylum seekers who are fleeing poverty and crime safe, especially in border towns that are often more violent than the cities they left. It is unclear how Mexico plans to house what could be thousands of asylum seekers for the months — or years — it takes U.S. immigration cases to be heard. A backlog of more than 800,000 cases is pending in immigration courts.


U.S. Embassy threatened with power cut in Venezuela showdown after Caracas cuts ties

Abstract: SAO PAULO/CARACAS - A standoff is developing at the U.S. Embassy in the Venezuelan capital after a top Socialist Party official threatened to shut off electricity to the complex amid a growing power dispute in the oil-rich nation. President Nicolas Maduro quickly severed diplomatic ties with the U.S. on Wednesday after Donald Trump publicly backed the opposition’s Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave the country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to Maduro by saying the U.S. doesn’t recognize his authority and therefore won’t pull its staff, prompting Diosdado Cabello, a close Maduro ally, to make the threatening comments. “They say they don’t recognize Nicolas,” Cabello said late Wednesday on state television. “OK. Maybe the electricity will go out in that neighborhood, or the gas won’t arrive. If there are no diplomatic relations, no problems.” The deadline Maduro gave for the U.S. to remove its staff would expire in the afternoon on Saturday. A refusal to evacuate would test Maduro’s reaction and whether he’d be willing to use force to try to expel them from the country that could in turn trigger a strong reaction from the U.S. including tougher sanctions. The U.S. has been preparing possible oil sanctions, and Trump said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t even rule out military options. The friction over the hilltop embassy compound punctuated a dramatic week in what was once South America’s richest nation. Guaido, president of the opposition-dominated and powerless National Assembly, said that the nation’s constitution made him president in the absence of a legitimate chief executive. The U.S. publicly backed his claim and opposition supporters filled the streets in the biggest demonstrations since 2017. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, one of the key brokers to resolve the power struggle going forward, publicly backed Maduro Thursday while welcoming dialogue with other governments to find solutions. During a press conference, he called the latest developments “very dangerous” and denounced a coup attempt by the Guaido-led faction. Pompeo directly addressed the Venezuelan armed forces in his message on Wednesday. “We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as U.S. and other foreign citizens in Venezuela,” Pompeo said Wednesday night. “The United States will take appropriate actions to hold accountable anyone who endangers the safety and security of our mission and its personnel.” The embassy sits atop a lush green hill in the privileged east of the city in the Valle Arriba neighborhood. It’s visible from many parts of Caracas, as is the enormous U.S. flag that flies in the wind in front. Beyond fences and security, the complex has multiple floors underground and could act as a bunker if needed. While the embassy in Venezuela is a virtual fortress by comparison, the U.S. has a politically sensitive record in protecting more vulnerable diplomatic facilities. More than 50 Americans were held hostage inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. In 2012, four Americans were killed by terrorists at poorly guarded diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya. As a Republican lawmaker, Pompeo played a leading role in efforts to blame then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failing to provide more security. Venezuela and the U.S. haven’t exchanged ambassadors since 2010. Last year, Maduro kicked out the top diplomats after the U.S. and dozens of other countries criticized his victory in the presidential election as a fraud. The U.S. charge d’affaires is James Story. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. Thursday morning, traffic around the embassy was normal, and citizens jogged and walked their dogs nearby. Two staffers walked on the sidewalk down toward the entrance, with coffee in hands. Cars were queuing at the gate of the compound and five waited in a row before being searched by Embassy personnel. U.S. diplomats sent out an alert to citizens living in Venezuela on Wednesday evening to say that citizen services would be available on Thursday but that all U.S. visa appointments had been canceled. The statement didn’t elaborate beyond Jan. 24 but noted that staff should stay close to the Valle Arriba neighborhood and avoid protests.

caracas
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido
mike pompeo
u.s. embassy


WHO warns of deadly outbreak of rat-borne hantavirus in Argentina as fatalities reach at least 11

Abstract: NEW YORK - At least 11 people have died in Argentina after becoming infected with hantavirus, a disease carried by rats and other rodents, according to a news alert from the World Health Organization (WHO). Among 29 cases of the disease confirmed with laboratory tests between late October 2018 and Jan. 20, 2019, almost 60 percent were in women or girls, the WHO said. Around 50 percent of these confirmed cases — all of which were in Epuyen, in southern Argentina’s Chubut province — reported symptoms within the past three weeks. “Potential human-to-human transmission is currently under investigation,” the WHO said. There is no treatment, cure or vaccine for hantavirus infection, and the case-fatality rate can reach 35-50 percent. The WHO advised health authorities in the region to be vigilant and to step up efforts to detect, investigate, manage and control cases of the disease. It said particular attention should be given to travellers returning from affected areas. Hantavirus is a viral respiratory disease usually acquired through contact with infected rat droppings or saliva of infected rodents. It is characterised by headaches, dizziness, fever, nausea, diarrhoea and stomach pain, followed by the sudden onset of severe respiratory symptoms.


Odd duckbilled sea reptile thrived after ancient global calamity

Abstract: WASHINGTON - In shallow warm seas about 247 million years ago in what is now China, an oddball marine reptile flourished in the aftermath of Earth’s worst mass extinction, possessing a duckbilled snout and unusually small eyes that made it resemble a platypus. Scientists on Thursday described fossils of the 3-foot-long (meter-long) creature, called Eretmorhipis carrolldongi, which boasted a head that looks too little for its body and weak vision that indicates it relied upon a sense of touch, not sight, to forage in murky water using its cartilaginous bill. Eretmorhipis, previously known only from headless skeletons before new fossils were unearthed in Hubei province, appeared early in the Triassic Period in the wake of a mass extinction 252 million years ago, possibly caused by immense Siberian volcanic activity, that erased roughly 90 percent of species at the end of the Permian Period. “It has this very strange combination of features,” said paleontologist Ryosuke Motani of the University of California, Davis, also including four big flippers, triangular bony blades on its back and a stiff, bony body trunk. “A person seeing it would probably say, ‘Bizarre,’ or, ‘How weird.’ I think I said, ‘What?’ when I first saw it,” Motani added. Researchers have documented a quick and dynamic rebound in marine ecosystems in a time of evolutionary experimentation after the die-off as new creatures filled ecological niches vacated by extinct ones, facing little competition. “You did not have to be optimally tuned to survive. If this species was introduced to today’s ecosystem, it would not stand a chance of survival,” Motani said. Eretmorhipis, which lived roughly 17 million years before the first dinosaurs, superficially resembles a duckbilled platypus, the primitive, semi-aquatic, egg-laying mammal from Australia. The bone structure supporting the bill in both creatures is similar, as is the reduced eye size. This is an example of a phenomenon called convergent evolution in which unrelated organizms acquire similar characteristics in adapting to similar environments, often separated by many millions of years, Motani said. Another example is birds, bats and the extinct flying reptiles called pterosaurs all evolving wings for flight. A slow-moving predator, Eretmorhipis probably foraged at dusk or night for soft invertebrates like worms and shrimp. It was closely related to ichthyosaurs, a marine reptile group that arose about 249 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago. Eretmorhipis is the oldest creature and only marine reptile known to have had a bill. While its bill also superficially resembles that of a duck, its underlying structure is considerably different. The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.


Ukraine sentences ex-leader Viktor Yanukovych in absentia for treason

Abstract: KIEV - A Ukrainian court on Thursday found ex-President Viktor Yanukovych guilty of high treason and sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison for asking Russia’s Vladimir Putin to send troops to Ukraine. In 2014, Yanukovych was ousted as a result of a bloody uprising after his attempts to quell it failed. He fled the country and asked Putin to send troops to Ukraine to help restore his control over the country. “Yanukovych committed a crime against the foundation of Ukraine’s national security,” Judge Vladyslav Devyatko said in Kiev’s Obolon district court. Yanukovych was also found guilty of “complicity in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine,” Devyatko said, adding his prison term would begin “the moment he is detained.” The 68-year-old former Ukrainian president did not attend the trial and is believed to be living in Russia. Earlier in the day authorities had beefed up security around the court as judges took turns reading out their ruling. The court in Kiev has held hearings on the case since 2017. Yanukovych faces a number of other criminal probes, including over usurpation of power and using force against demonstrators. In late 2013, the Moscow-backed president sparked massive protests when he refused at the last minute to sign an association accord forging closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union. More than 100 people were killed in the violence when riot police cracked down on protesters in Kiev’s iconic Maidan square in 2014. After Yanukovych fled the country, Putin revealed a special operation organized by Moscow that exfiltrated the Ukrainian leader. Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and supported Russian-speaking insurgents in the east of the ex-Soviet country. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 10,000 lives despite repeated international efforts to forge a lasting ceasefire. Russia views the chain of events that led to Yanukovych’s ouster as a coup orchestrated by Washington. Yanukovych has all but vanished from view since his violent suppression of street protests and little is known about how Ukraine’s former strongman passes his day. Yanukovych was born in the now conflict-torn Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. For two decades he served as a transport manager in Donetsk before moving into politics in the late 1990s. He became the region’s governor in 1997, with close ties to local oligarchs, and eventually prime minister under president Leonid Kuchma in 2002. In 2004, he was initially proclaimed the winner of a presidential election amid allegations of vote-rigging and charges of interference from Moscow. The election triggered the pro-democracy Orange Revolution and was eventually declared fraudulent. Six years later Yanukovych returned to beat Orange Revolution co-leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a bitter presidential contest. In the years that followed, he became deeply unpopular for his corrupt, lavish lifestyle.

ukraine
viktor yanukovych
treason
russia
vladimir putin
crimea
u.s .


Senate forces ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to testify after he balks, citing threats against family by Trump

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Cohen intends to comply with the interview demand next month, his attorney said Thursday. The development comes one day after Cohen postponed his public testimony to a House committee. Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, disclosed the subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee in a one-sentence statement. He later said the two sides had agreed on a Feb. 12 interview. Cohen, the president’s onetime fixer, is set to begin a three-year prison sentence in March. The Senate committee did not immediately confirm the subpoena, but any interview with Cohen would almost certainly take place in private, in keeping with how the panel generally conducts Russia-related hearings. Cohen earlier this week delayed his Feb. 7 appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on the advice of his legal team, citing ongoing cooperation in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and threats against his family. Trump, along with his attorney Rudy Giuliani, has publicly urged the Justice Department to investigate Cohen’s father-in-law , insinuating that Cohen’s relative was part of some unspecified criminal activity. “If he wants to criticize Cohen, he can,” Davis said. “Obviously, picking on his family publicly is a way of silencing him or intimidating him. And certainly he has engendered great fear in his extended family, which is why we postponed it.” In an interview Thursday, Davis said the House should take an immediate vote on censuring Trump “as a step before an impeachment investigation,” and he pushed for a criminal investigation of Giuliani involving allegations of obstruction, witness intimidation and witness tampering. The decision to postpone the House interview pushed back the chance of a public airing on additional details of Cohen’s relationship with Trump, including hush-money payments that Cohen has admitted helping arrange for two women who say they had sex with the president. Trump has denied the allegation. Democrats have suggested they may subpoena Cohen to compel his testimony and the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said Cohen could be brought from prison to appear before Congress. “We will get his testimony,” Cummings said. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the Senate intelligence committee about his role in a Trump business proposal in Moscow, acknowledging that he misled lawmakers by saying he had abandoned the project in January 2016 when he actually continued pursuing it for months after that and deep into the presidential campaign. He has also pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for his involvement in payments to a former Playboy model and porn actress who had alleged affairs with Trump. CNN was first to report the existence of the subpoena.

michael cohen
donald trump
robert mueller
congress
russia probe


2019 and all's well: After 600 years, night watchman still keeps vigil over Swiss city of Lausanne

Abstract: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - Every evening, the night watchman clambers to the top of the Lausanne Cathedral’s bell tower and shouts out the time each hour, keeping a six-century-old tradition alive. The night watchman, one of the last in Europe, no longer alerts this Swiss city to fires, but he does help residents to keep track of the time. “This is the watchman! The bell has tolled 10. The bell has tolled 10.” On a cold night in December, Marco Carrara, who takes on the job on the permanent watchman’s days off, repeats the message hourly, only changing the number of chimes that have rung. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he allows his voice to carry across the rooftops, just as his predecessors have done every evening since 1405. All year round, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., the night watchman, wearing a big black hat and carrying a lantern, steps out to the bell tower railing to serve as a living clock for the people of this picturesque city on the shores of Lake Geneva. The night watchman used to play a far more vital role. Back when fire constituted a permanent threat to medieval towns and cities built of wood, he was an essential part of a network of watchmen, most of whom patrolled the streets. From his perch, the cathedral watchman was tasked with sounding the alarm at the first whiff of smoke. Across Europe, there were “thousands, if not tens of thousands” of watchmen protecting urban spaces from fire, said Renato Haeusler, who holds the permanent watchman position in Lausanne. But as technology advanced, the once-ubiquitous position became largely obsolete and the watchmen all but disappeared. Today, Lausanne is one of just seven European towns or cities to have maintained the tradition of a year-round watchman, alongside Annaberg, Celle and Noerdlingen in Germany, Ripon in Britain, Krakow in Poland and Ystad in Sweden. In Lausanne, the watchman used to be entrusted with manually ringing the bell on the hour, but in 1950, the task fell to automation. Haeusler acknowledged that his position no longer served a true practical purpose. But “the city is very attached to maintaining this tradition,” stressed the 60-year-old, who served as replacement watchman for 14 years before taking on the permanent position in 2002. David Payot, a member of Lausanne’s municipal council, agreed. “This is a way of making history come alive,” he said. In the early 1960s, an announcement that the night watchman’s hours would be reduced — he used to call out the time from 9 p.m. until dawn — was interpreted by many as a precursor to scrapping the post altogether. The city was flooded with letters demanding that it maintain the job, Payot said. Haeusler says he likes the “out-of-sync” nature of his work — a profession serving little purpose at a time when today’s reality demands that everything be “profitable and efficient.” Haeusler climbs the 153 worn stone steps to the top of the bell tower to announce the time about four evenings a week, for a salary he says is “well below” the going rate for nighttime work. But he has a second job too, lighting events and soirees in the region using wax candles. He sometimes spends his hours as a watchman dipping a wick into hot wax to make the candles. On the evenings that he doesn’t work, a replacement steps in. “The evenings can be quiet and quite lonely,” Carrara said during one of his shifts last month. Although sometimes they can be more animated, he said, such as when “Lausanne residents, people from the region, and even tourists have the possibility to visit the watchman.” “We are both at the heart of the city and outside of it,” he said, adding that he had been drawn to the “nobility of this task,” which runs “counter to utilitarianism.” Between 600 and 700 people visit the tower during the evening watch each year, according to Haeusler. From his viewpoint more than 40 meters (130 feet) above the city, the watchman can observe it change with the seasons. “In the summer, it is magnificent. Swifts nest in the upper walkway. They are there in the evening, flying around,” Haeusler said. He said he felt privileged to be “the last link in a chain of men (doing this job) dating back to the 15th century.” The watchman’s permanent presence provides a kind of landmark for the residents of the city, he said. “In a completely chaotic world, I think that it is reassuring to have activities continue for a very long time, becoming traditions, and allowing us to rediscover a few of our roots.”


Russian lawmakers back proposal to ban spread of fake news and insulting authorities online

Abstract: MOSCOW - In measures the opposition says are aimed at stifling dissent, Russian lawmakers on Thursday backed a proposal mandating jail terms of up to 15 days for insulting authorities online and another prohibiting the spread of fake news. The two bills passed their first of three readings in the 450-seat lower house of parliament with 332 and 336 votes respectively, TASS news agency reported. One bill proposed introducing fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($76) or a 15-day jail sentence on people who express crude and blatant disrespect toward government agencies, the state, the public, the Russian flag or the constitution. A second bill proposes imposing fines of up to 5,000 rubles on individuals who circulate certain kinds of fake news and up to 1 million rubles on companies that do so. The legislation, if passed, will target “inaccurate socially significant information” circulated as if it were true that creates a risk to people’s wellbeing or the risk of a widespread violation of social order or security, the parliament said on its website. Russia has introduced tougher internet laws in the last five years, requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store users’ personal data on servers within the country. “These are crazy bills. How can they prohibit people from criticizing the authorities?” Ilya Yashin, an opposition politician, said, adding that he expected the bills to pass into law. The bills can still be amended and must be approved at two further readings in the lower house before they are approved by the upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.


Prominent gay congressman flees Brazil, citing death threats

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A prominent gay congressman in Brazil announced on Thursday that he was leaving his job and fleeing the country because of increased death threats made against him. Jean Wyllys, the country’s first openly gay congressman, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that he had left Brazil and was going to work in academia, with no plans to return home. “Preserving a life under threat is also a strategy to fight for better days,” Wyllys wrote on Twitter with a link to the article. “We have done much for the common good. And we will do much more when the new era arrives, and it doesn’t matter that we do it by other means! Thank you to all of you with all my heart.” Wyllys, who was re-elected to a third term in parliament last October, had received numerous death threats in the past, but according to the report in Folha, these had intensified significantly since the killing last March of Wyllys’ close friend, Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman. A representative from Wyllys’ communication team told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the congressman would not be giving interviews for safety reasons, and would not reveal Wyllys’ current location. The news provoked dismay among Brazilian LGBT+ rights activists, many of whom saw Wyllys as a leader in the fight for gay rights, particularly under President Jair Bolsonaro, who has become well known for his homophobic comments. “I understand his decision, but I am very sorry that we are going through this situation,” Luis Arruda, a prominent LGBT+ activist told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “It’s regrettable that an elected parliamentarian felt so pressured, and so emotionally hurt, that he had to leave his country. It’s really sad.” Wyllys was an outspoken critic of the president prior to Bolsonaro’s election win last year, and had clashed with him numerous times in parliament. The most notable incident occurred during the heated impeachment hearings of former President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, when Wyllys spit on then-congressman Bolsonaro. With Bolsonaro’s presidential victory in October, Wyllys said he no longer felt comfortable living in Brazil. “The president who always slandered me, who always openly insulted me, who always used homophobia against me,” Wyllys said in the interview with Folha. “This environment is not safe for me.” Wyllys is set to be replaced in parliament by David Miranda, another openly gay politician who is currently serving as a member of the Rio de Janeiro city council and belongs to Wyllys’ Socialism and Liberty Party. Miranda, another outspoken critic of Bolsonaro, has promised to defend LGBT+ rights in Brazil under the current administration. “The LGBT community is always struggling — in every country in this world,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “With this government it’s not going to be any different. We’re going to have to learn to hold the rights we were able to obtain over the years. But at the same time, we have to struggle to sustain our survival.”

brazil
jean wyllys
lgbt
jair bolsonaro
congress


Former Scottish leader Salmond, top figure in independence movement, charged with attempted rape

Abstract: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, a figurehead of Scotland’s independence movement, denied committing any crimes on Thursday after he appeared in court charged with multiple sex offenses including two counts of attempted rape. Scottish prosecutors said Salmond, 64, had also been charged with nine counts of sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault and one of breach of the peace. “I am innocent of any criminality whatsoever,” Salmond, widely credited with helping push support for secession to record levels, told reporters outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court following a five-minute hearing that the media and public were not allowed to attend. “I refute absolutely these allegations of criminality and I will defend myself to the utmost in court,” he added. “I would love to say a great deal more but I’ve got to observe the rules of the court and in court is where I will state my case.” Salmond was released on bail and it was not disclosed when further hearings would take place. The combative politician led the devolved Scottish government for seven years until 2014. As leader of the Scottish National Party, he helped drive growing support for Scottish independence, but Scotland ultimately voted to stay part of the United Kingdom in a 2014 referendum. Last year, Salmond took legal action against the Scottish devolved government now led by his successor and protege Nicola Sturgeon over how it handled a complaints process against him in a sexual harassment case. Salmond, who denied any wrongdoing, won a judicial review earlier this month on how that case was handled by the Scottish government when it conceded it had acted unlawfully in probing the harassment claims. The case pitted the two most popular figures in the Scottish independence movement against one another, and some commentators believe it could weaken Sturgeon’s leadership just as she seeks to start a new drive for secession amid the chaos of Britain’s exit from the European Union. A dispute has continued to simmer between two factions in the SNP around what Sturgeon knew about the case and when. An inquiry by the Scottish legislature is under way to discover more. Sturgeon said the news of Salmond’s charges would come as a shock to many, but that tight judicial requirements and the sensitivity of the case meant she could not comment further.


Stakes are high as Donald Trump intervenes unusually forcefully in Venezuelan political crisis

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has intervened in an unusually forceful way in Venezuela’s political crisis, but whether the United States can force a change of power remains to be seen. Trump — who has largely shunned democracy promotion overseas and is pulling troops from Syria and Afghanistan as part of an “American First” worldview — on Wednesday recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. Backed by most, but not all, Latin American powers, Trump said that leftist firebrand Nicolas Maduro was illegitimate, even as the military leadership continues to support him as Venezuela’s rightful leader. “Venezuela is in our hemisphere, I think we have a special responsibility here, and I think the president feels very strongly about it,” Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Thursday. Bolton’s remark came in response to a question about why Trump had abandoned Maduro, when he has embraced other authoritarian leaders. Trump has shown no reluctance in allying the United States with countries whose human rights records are questionable such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has eagerly negotiated with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, has relished poking his finger in the eye of the United States and regularly rails against U.S. imperialism in Latin America. A Trump administration official justified the recognition of Guaido by saying that Venezuela, whose elections last year were widely criticized as flawed, was bound by a commitment to democracy made in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter. Mariano de Alba, a Venezuelan lawyer and international affairs expert based in Washington, however, suggested that Trump was under pressure from Florida’s large and mostly anti-Maduro Venezuelan community, which includes naturalized U.S. citizens. The Venezuela crisis also gives Trump a way “to highlight the effects of socialism and the importance of capitalism,” said de Alba, who works for the analytical news site Prodavinci. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has taken a lead on Latin America policy in Trump’s Republican Party and has pushed for a hard line both on Venezuela and Cuba. Bolton, of course, is a longtime hawk. “His administration doesn’t pick and choose friends based on whether they’re authoritarians,” Stephen Pomper, director of the U.S. program at the International Crisis Group and an adviser on human rights to former U.S. President Barack Obama, said of Trump. “It picks and chooses which authoritarians to criticize based on whether or not they’re friends.” Bolton said that the key focus for the United States was “disconnecting the illegitimate Maduro regime from the source of its revenues.” Venezuela is Latin America’s largest producer of oil, whose declining price has worsened the spiraling economic crisis in the country, where many residents lack basic foods and medicine. Bolton said the United States is looking at ways for the United States to direct revenues to the “legitimate” government of Venezuela, although he acknowledged that the process is complicated. Washington is also pushing for more countries to break with Maduro. Britain said Thursday that Maduro is “not the legitimate leader of Venezuela,” although other European allies have been less explicit and Maduro enjoys Russia’s support. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States is preparing $20 million in emergency humanitarian aid which it will direct through the opposition-led National Assembly once it is “logistically feasible.” The United States could also boost punitive sanctions, which have so far targeted Maduro rather than the broader economy. Geoff Ramsey of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said it is critical that sanctions do not worsen the economic toll on ordinary people, saying that an oil embargo could be counterproductive. Ramsey also cautioned against “saber-rattling,” which he warned could divide Venezuela’s newly united opposition. Trump has openly mused of military intervention and said that “all options are on the table.” Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue group, said that the Trump administration’s actions intensify pressure on Maduro — but also carry risks if the government clamps down. The United States has ignored Maduro’s orders for its diplomats to leave within 72 hours, saying he is no longer president — presenting an early test on whether Washington can sustain its policy. “The endgame is which entity is able to gather the strongest support to impose its statements and power in Venezuela,” de Alba said. “As long as the Maduro regime has the control of the territory and cohesive support of the military, it will have the advantage,” he said.

donald trump
venezuela
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
u.s .


Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel quits after 2005 blackface photos emerge

Abstract: MIAMI - Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel has resigned after photos emerged Thursday that reportedly show him at a Halloween party masquerading in blackface as a victim of Hurricane Katrina. Ertel’s resignation is effective immediately, spokeswoman Sarah Revell said in an email. The governor’s office confirmed that it had accepted the resignation. The Tallahassee Democrat said it obtained the photos of Ertel, now 49, from 2005 posing in blackface at a gathering a few months after the storm devastated New Orleans. He is pictured wearing lipstick, fake breasts under a blue T-shirt and dangling earrings. The newspaper said the resignation came after it shared the photographs with the office of the governor, who appointed him to the position. The photos were reportedly taken after Ertel had been named Seminole County supervisor of elections. The news cast a pall on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new administration after a quick start that had begun to win him bipartisan plaudits, including for steps taken on the environment and medical marijuana. Asked if Ertel had anything to say on his own behalf, his office simply confirmed the resignation. He told the Democrat: “There’s nothing I can say.” In its response, the governor’s office enclosed a copy of a two-sentence resignation email that Ertel apparently sent to DeSantis at 1:59 p.m. “I am submitting my resignation as Florida Secretary of State effective immediately. It has been an honor to serve you and the voters of Florida.” The job includes oversight of elections, a critical responsibility in America’s largest swing state, where the most recent midterm voting prompted a massive and closely scrutinized recount.

florida
michael ertel
hurricane katrina
ethnicity
discrimination


U.S. Senate leaders on both sides rekindle talks on ending shutdown

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate leaders from both parties met Thursday in a renewed bid to end a month-long shutdown, as the White House signaled its openness to a three-week government funding bill to allow negotiations over border security to proceed. After dueling Senate measures to end the shutdown failed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer entered into talks about passing a continuing resolution that would fund government for three weeks, and includes money for a border barrier. “The three-week CR would only work if there is a large down payment on the wall,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, after Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham briefed the president on the Capitol Hill discussions. Any funding for a physical barrier would represent a marked shift for Democrats, who had vowed until now to not pay for the wall along the Mexico border. Earlier in the month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joked she would be willing to give Trump $1 for it.

mitch mcconnell
chuck schumer
u.s. shutdown
donald trump
border wall


Before Venezuela, U.S. has long history of intervention in Latin America's affairs

Abstract: NEW YORK - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accuses the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup against him. While the U.S. says it is trying to rescue Venezuela’s democracy, Washington has a long history of interventions — military and otherwise — in Latin American politics. Since the advent of the Monroe Doctrine in the early 19th century, the United States has involved itself in the daily affairs of nations across the hemisphere, often on behalf of North American commercial interests or to support right-leaning forces against leftist leaders. That military involvement petered out after the end of the Cold War, although the U.S. has been accused of granting at least tacit backing to coups in Venezuela in 2002 and Honduras in 2009. Now the U.S. has backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who on Wednesday declared himself interim president, saying it was the only way to end the Maduro “dictatorship,” in Venezuela, from where millions have fled in recent years to escape sky-high inflation and food shortages. Guaido has said he needs the backing of three critical groups: the people, the international community and the military. While Wednesday’s declaration drew tens of thousands to the streets, and over a dozen nations in the region in addition to the U.S. are pledging support, the military’s backing is far from certain because Maduro has worked to cement the support of troops with bonuses and other special benefits. The U.S., Canada and numerous Latin American and European countries have recognized Guaido’s claim to the presidency. President Donald Trump promised to use the “full weight” of U.S. economic and diplomatic power to push for the restoration of Venezuela’s democracy. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Thursday, “Venezuela is in our hemisphere, I think we have a special responsibility here, and I think the president feels very strongly about it.” A Trump administration official justified the recognition of Guaido by saying that Venezuela, whose elections last year were widely criticized as flawed, is bound by a commitment to democracy made in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter. Maduro on Thursday ordered all of Venezuela’s diplomats home from the United States and closed its embassy. Maduro warned that if U.S. officials “have any sense” they will pull their diplomats from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, rather than defying him. “They believe they have a colonial hold in Venezuela, where they decide what they want to do,” Maduro said in an address broadcast live on state TV. “You must fulfill my order from the government of Venezuela.” The Trump’s administration leading role in recognizing Guaido as interim president returns the U.S. to a more assertive role in Latin America than it has had for years. Some of the most notable U.S. interventions in Latin America: 1846 : The United States invades Mexico and captures Mexico City in 1847. A peace treaty the following year gives the U.S. more than half of Mexico’s territory — what is now most of the western United States. 1903 : The United States engineers Panamanian independence from Colombia and gains sovereign rights over the zone where the Panama Canal would connect Atlantic and Pacific shipping routes. 1903 : Cuba and the U.S. sign a treaty allowing near-total U.S. control of Cuban affairs. U.S. establishes a naval base at Guantanamo Bay. First quarter of the 20th century : U.S. Marines repeatedly intervene in Central America and the Caribbean, often to protect U.S. business interests in moments of political instability. 1914 : U.S. troops occupy the Mexican port of Veracruz for seven months in an attempt to sway developments in the Mexican Revolution. 1954 : Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz is overthrown in a CIA-backed coup. 1961 : The U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion fails to overthrow Soviet-backed Cuban leader Fidel Castro but Washington continues to launch attempts to assassinate Castro and dislodge his government. 1964 : Leftist President Joao Goulart of Brazil is overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup that installs a military government lasting until the 1980s. 1965 : U.S. forces land in the Dominican Republic to intervene in a civil war. 1970s : Argentina, Chile and allied South American nations launch a brutal campaign of repression and assassination aimed at perceived leftist threats, known as Operation Condor, often with U.S. support. 1980s : The administration of President Ronald Reagan backs anti-communist Contra forces against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and backs the Salvadoran government against leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front rebels. 1983 : U.S. forces invade the Caribbean island of Grenada after accusing the government of allying itself with communist Cuba. 1989 : U.S. invades Panama to oust strongman Manuel Noriega, who once was a valued CIA intelligence source, as well as one of the primary conduits for illicit weapons, military equipment and cash for U.S.-backed counterinsurgency forces in Latin America. 2002 : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is ousted for two days before retaking power. He and his allies accuse the U.S. of tacit support for the coup attempt. 2009 : Honduran President Manuel Zelaya overthrown by military. U.S. accused of worsening situation by insufficient condemnation of the coup.


U.N. expert to lead inquiry into murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Turkey

Abstract: GENEVA - The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said Thursday she will travel to Turkey next week to head an “independent international inquiry” into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents at its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, provoking an international outcry. Earlier on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was time for an international investigation and that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had ordered preparations to be made. “I will be heading an independent international inquiry into the killing of Saudi journalist Mr. Jamal Khashoggi, commencing with a visit to Turkey from 28 January to 3 February 2019,” independent U.N. investigator Agnes Callamard said in an email reply to Reuters in Geneva. Callamard said that she will evaluate the circumstances of the crime, and “the nature and the extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing.” “My findings and recommendations will be reported to the U.N. Human Rights Council at the June 2019 session,” she said. The inquiry will be conducted at her request and three experts will accompany her, with forensic expertise amongst other skills, she said, declining to name them for now. There was no immediate word on whether the team had sought access to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi public prosecutor’s spokesman said last year that 21 Saudis were taken into custody in relation to the case, 11 of whom have been indicted and referred to trial. Earlier this month the prosecutor said it was seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 detained suspects. Callamard, a French academic who is director of the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression initiative at Columbia University in New York, reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and has a global mandate to investigate executions.

murder
jamal khashoggi
turkey
saudi arabia
media
u.n .


Fans raise over $2,000 to name baby pudu at LA zoo after look-alike South Korean pop star Haechan of NCT

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - Fans of a South Korean pop star have raised more than $2,000 to name a baby deer at the Los Angeles Zoo after their favorite doe-eyed singer. The zoo’s new baby pudu was named Haechan after a member of K-pop group NCT and its two subgroups, NCT 127 and NCT Dream. The southern pudu made its media debut Thursday, though he has previously been on public display after he was born Dec. 19. Donors typically name animals born at the zoo. But after tweeting about the newborn pudu, the zoo realized Haechan’s fans had long thought the 18-year-old looked like the tiny deer, which is native to South America. “It was immediate,” said Katherine Spada, the zoo’s social media manager. “People started saying, ‘You’ve got to name the pudu Haechan. He looks just like Haechan.’ ” Spada said the zoo had no idea who Haechan or NCT was but started researching. “We don’t really know how the nickname started except that Haechan’s cute and pudus are cute,” she said. Taking inspiration from a Tumblr dedicated to the similarities between the singer and the fawn, the zoo then posted images of the pudu next to photos of Haechan, including two in which both human and animal similarly have one of their limbs raised, the deer its hind leg and the teen star his arm in a dance move on stage. The zoo wrote that if fans raised $2,000 to go toward conservation work, the pudu would be named Haechan. The post was retweeted and liked more than 28,000 times and the money was raised within three hours. The zoo invited Haechan to visit his namesake but the singer hasn’t indicated whether he plans to do so. Haechan has been recovering from fracturing his shin bone during practice in December. NCT, which stands for Neo Culture Technology, debuted in 2016 and is designed to have an unlimited number of members, with subgroups based in various cities. Its Seoul-based subgroup, NCT 127, released their first full-length album, Regular-Irregular, in October and performed its new single “Regular” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the same month. Native to Chile and Argentina, southern pudus are some of the smallest deer in the world and are considered near-threatened. Spada said zookeepers are enjoying all the unexpected attention being lavished on one of its lesser-known species. For his part, Haechan didn’t appear phased by the media attention Thursday, nibbling on greens and nuzzling his mother as photographers snapped his picture. “We hope the fame doesn’t go to his head,” Spada said.

zoos
haechan
nct
los angeles
k-pop
animals
music
south korea


South Korea deploys cloud-seeding planes in fight against 'Chinese' air pollution

Abstract: SEOUL - Seoul on Friday sent aircraft over the Yellow Sea to carry out cloud-seeding experiments in an effort to reduce air pollution that many South Koreans blame on China. Air quality in South Korea is generally better than in its giant neighbor, the world’s biggest polluter, which is periodically affected by choking bouts of filthy air and, according to the International Energy Agency, uses coal to generate around three-quarters of its energy. Beijing has been seeking to address the scourge, which causes widespread public anger. A recent study found that urban levels of PM2.5 — the tiny airborne particles considered most harmful to health — had been cut by almost a third on average over four years. But they remain far above World Health Organization norms, and pollution levels on the Korean Peninsula sometimes spike as the prevailing winds in China blow PM2.5 particulates — referred to as “fine dust” by Koreans — from the mainland across the Yellow Sea. Many South Koreans accused China when pollution surged for three days earlier this month, and on Friday the Korea Meteorological Administration sent an aircraft to disperse silver iodide, a compound believed to cause rain to fall, over the waters, which South Korea calls the West Sea. “The experiment is to see whether the technology works and is effective in washing away fine dust,” a spokeswoman said, adding it was the first of 15 such tests planned for this year. She said Seoul had “no evidence that fine dust on the West Sea is entirely from China.” Last year, South Korea shut down five aging coal-fired power plants in a bid to improve its air quality. But ruling party lawmaker Shin Ching-hyun pointed out that when pollution levels rose two weeks ago, they were highest on Baengnyeongdo island, 200 km west of Seoul and the closest South Korean land to China. “China’s claim — that it is not entirely to blame for South Korea’s air pollution problem — violates the rights of South Koreans to healthy environment,” he said in a statement. Earlier this month, Thailand also deployed rain-making planes to try to combat its own air pollution.


In tirade, Hun Sen calls on Cambodian military to 'destroy' opponents threatening government

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Cambodia’s strongman leader Hun Sen on Thursday called on his country’s military to “destroy” opponents if the government comes under threat, in a tirade in which he described himself as the “the one who steers the wheel” of the army. The 66-year-old premier has in recent weeks turned up the rhetoric against the now-dissolved opposition party, the European Union and other critics of his government. Since his ruling party swept a July election widely considered a sham, the EU has warned it may withdraw its Everything But Arms scheme, which allows Cambodia’s lucrative garment sector duty-free access to its massive market. In the wake of the move, Hun Sen, a five-star general despite his position as the country’s civilian leader, has been even more outspoken than usual. “Some people say Hun Sen is consolidating power … that is very correct,” he said in a speech to soldiers marking the 20th anniversary of the infantry — which is headed by his son, Hun Manet. Hun Sen urged the army to “destroy … revolutions that attempt to topple the legitimate government,” adding he is “not afraid to issue an order” if faced with threats. “Better to see the death of four or five people rather than the death of tens of thousands and millions,” he said, referring to the lives lost during the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge regime, which left a quarter of the population dead. He also called on the lines of soldiers in front of him to purge their ranks of any troops who oppose the government, saying “they must be destroyed.” “I am the one who steers the wheel,” he added. The wily former Khmer Rouge cadre has stayed in power for more than 30 years through a dense patronage network that analysts say largely benefits his family, the armed forces and the elite. The speech shows “exactly why under his rule political opponents and human rights defenders have been killed with total impunity,” said Andrea Giorgetta from the International Federation for Human Rights. While previously reliant on Western aid, Cambodia is now bankrolled by China. Hun Sen returned from a visit to Beijing this week with a near $600 million pledge in aid from Chinese President Xi Jinping.


Remains of Flinders, explorer who put Australia on the map, found near London train station

Abstract: SYDNEY - The remains of the first British explorer to circumnavigate the Australian continent and popularize the country’s name have been found near a busy London railway station. Archaeologists sifting through a vast burial ground near Euston Station said Friday that they had found a coffin plate identifying the last resting place of Royal Navy Capt. Matthew Flinders. Flinders was buried on July 23, 1814, but not before publishing “A Voyage to Terra Australis,” which described his circumnavigation of Australia from 1802 to 1803, a journey that proved the land was a continent. “Flinders put Australia on the map due to his tenacity and expertise as a navigator and explorer,” said Helen Wass, an archaeologist overseeing the dig for the HS2 high-speed rail project, which will directly connect London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester in phases between 2026 and 2033. With 40,000 remains at the site, archaeologists were not sure they were going to find Flinders, whose resting place was subject to much speculation. “We were very lucky” said Wass. Flinders “had a breastplate made of lead, so it would not have corroded.” “We’ll now be able to study his skeleton to see whether life at sea left its mark and what more we can learn about him.” Flinders is a hero to many Australians of European origin, with stations, streets, squares and towns across the country named after him. The discovery of his remains comes on the eve of Australia Day, a controversial national holiday that falls on the date of the arrival of the British First Fleet to Australia. Many Australians, however, view the fleet and men like Flinders as harbingers of the decimation suffered by its ancient Aboriginal societies and cultures. There is also controversy over the role played an aboriginal Australian aide to Flinders named Bungaree. The aide has been largely eclipsed by his British captain, but historians now believe he played a crucial role in the success of the voyages.


South Korea looks for nuclear dismantling pledge by Kim at second summit with Trump

Abstract: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - North Korea must make concrete pledges toward curbing its nuclear weapons program, such as dismantling its main nuclear complex and allowing international inspections to confirm the process, when leader Kim Jong Un meets U.S. President Donald Trump as soon as next month, South Korea’s foreign minister said. Kang Kyung-wha said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos that she is optimistic North Korea will agree to concrete steps toward abandoning its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, developed in violation of United Nations resolutions. “The (North Korean) leader has promised to his people many times that ‘I’m going to take this country toward economic development.’ He has to deliver that, and he’s not going to get the kind of significant assistance unless he takes concrete steps toward denuclearization and somehow eases the sanctions regime,” she said on Thursday. “Given the strong political will on the part of the top leaders of the two sides. … I think we will see concrete results.” Trump and Kim held a historic first summit in Singapore in June. The White House said last week a second summit would be held in late February but did not say where. On Thursday, North Korean state media said that Kim had ordered working-level preparations for his meeting with the American president, and that he “will believe” in Trump’s “positive way of thinking.” Kang said there was “broad agreement” between Pyongyang and Washington on the timing and that a date could be announced “very soon.” Kim pledged at the first summit to work toward “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but discussions over how to implement the vague commitments have since faltered. Washington is demanding concrete action toward denuclearization, such as a full disclosure of North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities, before agreeing to key goals of Pyongyang — easing tough international sanctions and declaring an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Kang said she had been heartened by a recent flurry of diplomacy, which included a visit to Washington by Pyongyang’s top nuclear negotiator to meet with Trump last week, and working-level talks held on the sidelines of a conference in Sweden over the weekend. “I think the Sweden meeting was very useful,” she said. “So I feel much better about the situation.” Despite the slow pace of talks since the June summit, North Korea and the United States could still reach a “comprehensive” denuclearization deal that includes Pyongyang declaring the extent of its nuclear arsenal, Kang said. “Full disclosure has to be a part of the process,” she said, while noting that the implementation of any comprehensive plan would be “step by step,” with each side making corresponding concessions. Asked about possible concrete steps North Korea could commit to in the next U.S. summit, Kang said Pyongyang for example could follow through on its earlier suggestions that it could shut its Yongbyon nuclear complex, as well as abolish key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts. During his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last September, Kim said North Korea would allow experts to watch the closure of its missile engine testing site and launch pad in the northwestern town of Tongchang-ri. Should there be corresponding action from Washington, the North suggested it could also permanently disclose the Yongbyon facility. “I think we need to take that word, and make sure that that progresses,” Kang said. She said North Korea has yet to take steps that would warrant lifting international sanctions, but that Washington could offer several incentives short of sanctions relief. “We’ve been in close consultations with the U.S. at all levels to see what these steps could be — a big part of this would be security guarantees to North Korea,” Kang said. South Korea has proposed that the United States sign a declaration formally ending the technical state of war, increase humanitarian aid, and establish U.S.-North Korea liaison offices, Kang said. “If we do see real steps that assure us that North Korea is definitely on the denuclearization track, I think we can start thinking about sanctions relief,” she said. “But before that, there are many other things that we can do.”

south korea
north korea
north korea nuclear crisis
kim-trump summit


U.S. sends warships through Taiwan Strait amid rows with China

Abstract: The United States Navy has sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Pacific Fleet told The Japan Times, as military and trade tensions continue to fester between Beijing and Washington. The guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell, which is based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl conducted “a routine Taiwan Strait Transit” on Thursday “in accordance with international law,” U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman said in a written statement. “The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Gorman said. “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry also confirmed that the two U.S. vessels did sail through the strait. Separately, the ministry said that the Chinese Air Force had on Thursday also sent military aircraft, including H-6 heavy bombers and KJ-500 early-warning aircraft, through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan’s southern tip and the Philippines, into the western Pacific. The 180-km-wide Taiwan Strait separates communist China from self-governed and democratic Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold — by force if necessary. Although the waterway is regarded as international waters, China has long been sensitive about the presence of U.S. military forces there. That presence has grown since last year, with Thursday’s operation being the fourth known transit in less than six months. The U.S. Navy also sailed two ships through the strait in October and November, operations that were shadowed by multiple Chinese warships, and conducted a similar operation in July. Prior to that, the operations were believed to occur only about once a year. The top U.S. naval officer, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, has refused to back down on the transits, discussing Taiwan with his Chinese counterparts earlier this month. At least one Chinese military officer raised the issue during the talks, state-run media reported. “If someone tries to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will do whatever it takes to safeguard national reunification, national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Gen. Li Zuocheng, a member of China’s Central Military Commission, reportedly told Richardson. Following his visit to China, Richardson telegraphed Thursday’s sailing, noting that the U.S. would continue to send warships wherever international law allows. “We see the Taiwan Straits as another (set of) international waters, and so that’s why we do the transits- through the straits,” Richardson said in Tokyo on Jan. 18. “We don’t see any kind of limitation on whatever type of ship could pass through those waters.” In a report released earlier this month, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency noted that China continues to undertake ambitious steps to modernize and better equip its military — steps that are driven primarily by “Beijing’s longstanding interest to eventually compel Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland and deter any attempt by Taiwan to declare independence.” “Beijing’s anticipation that foreign forces would intervene in a Taiwan scenario led the (People’s Liberation Army) to develop a range of systems to deter and deny foreign regional force projection,” the report added. Thursday’s transit also comes at a time when Beijing and Washington remain embroiled in a protracted trade war that could do serious damage to both economies unless negotiators from both sides can reach an agreement before a 90-day deadline called in December to resolve their differences expires on March 1.


In the name of the gods: Indian girls forced into sex work despite ban on ancient ritual

Abstract: CHENNAI, INDIA - Young girls in south India continue to be “dedicated” to village temples and then forced into prostitution despite laws banning the ancient ritual, researchers say. The devadasi system, which involves putting a beaded necklace around girls and often leads to a life of sex work and slavery, goes unchecked in Karnataka state, according to two reports released this month. Laws banning the practice are poorly implemented, and the rituals are now being done undercover, said the reports, published by the National Law School of India University and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. “It is like an open secret,” said Bincy Wilson, a researcher at the law school in Bengaluru and co-author of one of the reports. “The entire community knows when a girl has been dedicated, but it is not seen as a crime — but more as a social problem that continues to accepted as part of the culture.” The practice of dedicating young girls to the service of a deity began in ancient India, but over time the custom degenerated into an excuse for their sexual exploitation by men. Karnataka banned the practice in 1982, calling it a “social evil” that led women to prostitution. Data on the current number of devadasis is difficult to find, but the government estimated a decade ago that there were 46,660 living across 14 districts in Karnataka. “We are dedicated to ending this crime and will look into the concerns raised in the two reports,” said C. Vasundhara Devi, a Karnataka official responsible for stopping the rituals. “We are running many schemes to help families of former devadasis to ensure the tradition does not continue.” There were only two cases of girls being pushed into the ritual last year, said Devi, adding that stopping secret dedications is a bigger challenge. The practice was traditionally a public event accompanied by festivities, where the girl was dressed up as a bride. A devadasi dedicated her puberty to a deity, lived in the temple and even learned classical Indian dances to perform for the gods. Since the ban, the tradition now takes place in homes, followed by a small ritual at a temple at night, said Sharon Menezes, co-author of one of the studies. The girls involved are usually from the lower-caste Dalit community, have little or no land and live in drought-prone areas, one report said. “Anybody resisting the practice immediately stands out in the community and is singled out, which is why it continues,” said Menezes. “All the women we interviewed during the research talked about being in pain and their inability to resist the dedication or abuse. It is clearly not a system they have accepted.”

india sex prostitution women tradition religion


Concerned by high cost of raising children, many South Koreans opt to dote on pets

Abstract: SEOUL - Kang Sung-il buys Sancho, his Pomeranian, a toy every business trip and will dress it up in a new $50 suit when he visits his mother this Lunar New Year holiday. Kang and his wife say children are too expensive and bring too much pressure. Instead they have opted to shower Sancho with love and gifts. They are not alone. South Korea’s pet industry is booming, fueled by the same factors — the high cost of education and housing as well as extremely long working days — that have made the country’s birth rate, at 1.05 births per woman, the lowest in the world. “Social pressures in South Korea are such that parents are required to provide resources for decades from private schooling to tutoring to art classes,” said Kang, a 39-year-old manager of a pet funeral home. He found it hard to imagine being able to afford all that but is happy to spend about 100,000 won ($90) a month on Sancho. On top of education expenses, an average South Korean household must budget roughly 12.8 years of income to buy a mid-range home, compared to 8.8 years in 2014, data from KB Kookmin Bank show. Adding to their stress, South Koreans work the third-most hours per year among OECD nations, behind only Mexico and Costa Rica. “The pet population is growing as more people choose not to have babies or even not to marry,” said Kim Soo-kyung, manager at Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute. Pet-owning households surged to 28 percent of all South Korean households in 2018, compared with 18 percent in 2012, government data show. That in turn has spurred a flourishing pet care industry whose offerings include tailored pet diets and high-priced photo shoots. Pet-related startups are also in vogue with venture capitalists. The South Korean pet-related industry was worth 2.7 trillion won ($2.4 billion) last year, and that could more than double in size by 2027, according to the Korea Rural Economic Institute. Firms seeking to profit from the boom include Pet Pick, which produces tailored food for over 10,000 animals. It is one of four pet startups to receive investments from GS Home Shopping, an online retailer that is part of the conglomerate GS Holdings Corp. “We only use high-quality ingredients, such as salmon and cranberry so our products are more than twice as expensive as regular dry pet food,” Pet Pick co-founder Park Eun-byul said at the firm’s Seoul factory. “Many of our customers are millennials, who treat pets as their babies and are willing to pay more.” Korea Investment Partners, a leading venture capital fund, invested in two pet startups in 2018: Bacon, which makes toys themed for holidays such as Christmas or Halloween, and Pet Friends, which promises to deliver pet products within one hour. The fund plans to invest in Picnic, which sells hand-made pet food, later this year. Established firms are also cashing in. Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance saw more than 6,000 customers sign up in three months with a revamped pet insurance product launched in October, compared with roughly 100 per year for its earlier insurance program. Sales of pet products at CJ ENM’s TV and online shopping division rose three times last year, with a cactus-shaped water purifier for cats priced at over $100 doing particularly well. “It’s twice as expensive as an ordinary purifier, but we sell dozens every day,” said Lee Da-woon, who procures pet products for the online mall. Pet funeral services are also increasingly popular; the home where Kang works holds more than 10 services a day, compared with three to five when it opened two years ago. In Namyangju, just outside Seoul, Lee Jae-hwan goes for a walk every day carrying an urn with the ashes of his dog Kkotgae, continuing the routine they used to share. “I’ve always introduced Kkotgae as my only son, the most loved one in the world,” the 51-year-old said in a tearful interview at home, next to a ceremonial table with photos, some food and burning incense. “He never saw the ocean. I wish we had visited together.”

children
south korea
pets
animals
cats
dogs
family planning


Chinese movie star Gao Yunxiang pleads not guilty to sexual assault in Australia

Abstract: SYDNEY - Chinese movie actor Gao Yunxiang and a producer pleaded not guilty in an Australian court on Friday to charges of sexual assault, setting the course for a trial later this year, a court official said. Gao and Chinese producer Wang Jing both entered the pleas during a short procedural hearing at the New South Wales state District Court and a judge booked the matter for a six-week trial starting in October, the court spokeswoman told Reuters. The 36-year-old star of Chinese television programs “Goddess of Mercy” and “Legend of Mi Yue” and his producer were charged with aggravated sexual assault and depriving a woman of her liberty, as well as related crimes over an incident at a Sydney hotel in March 2018, according to Australian media. The incident allegedly took place at the Shangri-La hotel after a wrap party for a television series, “Love in Aranya,” which the men had been shooting in Sydney, media said. Gao was not available for comment. The complainant’s identity has not made public, as Australian law bars media from identifying complainants in sex crimes. Gao’s bail continued on Friday. Australian media have said he paid 3 million Australian dollars ($2.1 million) as bail surety, and his bail conditions included wearing an electronic bracelet, a nightly curfew and a ban on going within 100 meters of Sydney Airport. The producer was not given bail, and remained in custody. A pretrial hearing has been set for Sept. 6, with the trial to begin on Oct. 21.

gao yunxiang
australia
sex crimes
china
celebrities


Japan's commercial whaling may have two silver linings: freeing up the IWC and sparing the Southern Ocean

Abstract: The announcement at the end of last year that Japan was going to officially resume commercial whaling generated predictable headlines and horrified reactions around the world. People love to criticize Japan for permitting the hunting and killing of whales, and in the face of international condemnation Tokyo has usually doubled down on its insistence that whaling is part of Japanese culture and that foreign countries have no right to hand out lectures on animal welfare. Two things I read in the wake of the announcement added some nuance to the usual feeling of righteous indignation, and even offered a little bit of solace. Putting aside commercial whaling, even when Japan has been carrying out its so-called scientific whaling programs — which, as has been widely reported, do not produce any scientific data worth having — there has been vocal and almost universal international opposition. A journalist colleague in the United States, Andrew Revkin, pointed me to an essay by Michiko Aramaki at Concordia University in Montreal. Aramaki makes the point, first, that it was large-scale historical whaling by the United Kingdom, U.S. and Germany that decimated whale populations in the first place, not whaling by Japan, which in historical times was very small-scale. She then suggests that anti-whaling discourse by the “Anglosphere” (referring to English-speaking countries: the U.S,. the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) serves to mask racism toward the Japanese. Perhaps she has a point. Of course, no forms of racism should be tolerated. And I do feel that it is hypocritical if people in the Anglosphere are vocally opposed to whaling but silent over the barbarism of commercial beef, pig and chicken farming, for example. I do feel, however, that while animal welfare leaves a lot to be desired in the U.K. and the U.S. (putting it mildly), the harpooning of whales causes even more suffering. That’s not even to mention the drive hunting of dolphins that takes place in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. Whatever its root cause, the condemnation of Japan became louder with the December 2018 announcement that Tokyo would leave the International Whaling Commission. The IWC is supposed to protect and conserve whale stocks in order that a whaling industry might one day be possible, but since 1982 it has imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling because population sizes of whales were not big enough to sustain hunting. Here comes the potential ray of light. Japan nows says it will quit membership of the IWC and no longer hunt in the Southern Oceans. Its pseudo-scientific hunt there will finally end. Japan will, however, hunt in Japanese territorial waters. It will develop a quota system designed to deliver a sustainable catch. What can possibly be good about that? Well, if you are a whale off the coast of Japan, nothing. But Japan has long been accused of using its financial muscle to influence members of the IWC. As Matthew Collis of the International Fund for Animal Welfare told New Scientist, without Japan around to interfere, the IWC will be able to properly work for the conservation of whales. It should go without saying that all lifeforms should be treated with respect. The rights of whales — and the plight of whales — is more of an issue for most people than the rights of cows and pigs, perhaps because whales are wild animals, perhaps because they are more overtly intelligent — they seem more like us. They have culture, they have complex behavior and communication, and some species appear to mourn their dead. I just read this week that two more whale species — belugas and narwhals — go through menopause. That means we now know of five species of mammal that experience the menopause: belugas, narwhals, killer whales and short-finned pilot whales. And humans. Why only those five? A species has to have an evolutionary reason to stop reproducing yet carry on living. For humans it is thought to be the support that grandmothers can provide and the information they can pass on. It may well be the same for whales.

whaling
iwc
southern ocean
oceans
animals
international fund for animal welfare
animal rights
ifaw


Seeking quieter waters, humpback whales may be breeding farther north around Tokyo's Hachijo Island

Abstract: Japanese researchers now believe it is possible that the northernmost breeding region for humpback whales has shifted far northward to around Tokyo’s Hachijo Island. Waters off the island of Kagoshima Prefecture’s Amami Oshima, some 500 kilometers south of Hachijo Island, have been known as the northernmost breeding region for humpback whales, which are popular among whale-watchers for their dynamic jumps and spouting. But since November 2015, when a Hachijo Island resident found a pod of humpback whales near the island for the first time, an increasing number of the baleen whale species have been spotted in the waters, according to Gen Nakamura, assistant professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science. In a joint research project with the Hachijo town government, Nakamura and his colleagues found that the number of humpback whales spotted off the island increased to 151 in the season between winter 2017 and spring 2018, up from 60 a year earlier. So far this season, the team has already confirmed over 100 whales. Humpback whales give birth to cubs in warm waters near Japan, including those around Okinawa and Amami Oshima, from winter to spring. The whales then spend the summer in waters near the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, where there is plenty of food. Of the whales spotted in the 2017-2018 season, six were identified from markings on their flukes as the same creatures that were in the area the previous season. The researchers also confirmed several cases of pre-mating behavior, including courtship vocalizations by males for females and males chasing after females. With waters around Okinawa getting crowded in terms of whales, some may have started looking for new breeding grounds off Hachijo Island, Nakamura said. In the seas near the main island of Okinawa, the number of the whales is estimated to have been increasing by some 10 percent every year since 1990, he noted. However, Nakamura said further research is necessary to determine if Hachijo Island is the new northernmost breeding region, because neither mating nor calves swimming with their parents have been seen yet.

humpback whales
whales
hachijo island
okinawa
animals


German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Japan in early February

Abstract: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make a two-day visit to Japan early next month for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government said Friday. During her visit from Feb. 4, Merkel is also expected to meet with Emperor Akihito, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a news conference. “We hope the chancellor’s visit will send a message that Japan and Germany will actively contribute to the rule-based prosperity of the global economy and further deepen bilateral cooperation and relations of trust,” the top government spokesman said. Merkel’s visit will be her fifth to Japan since taking office in 2005. Her last visit was in 2016 when she attended the Group of Seven summit of industrialized nations in the Ise-Shima region of Mie Prefecture.

angela merkel
shinzo abe
emperor akihito
germany
germany-japan relations


Referendum on U.S. base issue likely to be held across Okinawa Prefecture after deal to add third voting option

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - The Okinawa Prefectural Government is likely to hold a referendum on the construction of a U.S. military base across the prefecture following a deal between ruling and opposition assembly members. The assembly’s ruling camp, including the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, agreed Thursday with the opposition, including the Liberal Democratic Party, to add a third choice to the two-choice referendum planned for Feb. 24. The prefectural assembly is likely to approve a required ordinance amendment by a unanimous vote at a plenary session set for Tuesday. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki welcomed the deal. “Everyone worked very hard,” he told reporters Friday. The referendum will ask Okinawa voters about the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area in Nago. Five of the prefecture’s 41 cities, towns and villages rejected holding the vote. Following the deal, however, it is highly likely that the referendum will be held in all 41 municipalities. The five municipalities may hold the referendum later than Feb. 24, depending on progress with preparations. Deputy Gov. Kiichiro Jahana said he expects a delay of one to two weeks. Others will take the vote on Feb. 24 as scheduled. But they are expected to put off ballot-counting to wait for voting in cities where the referendum will be delayed. In the referendum, the prefectural government plans to ask whether voters are for or against the base relocation to Henoko, where a new military facility will be built. The cities of Miyakojima, Ginowan, Okinawa, Ishigaki and Uruma, where conservatives opposing Tamaki have a major presence, refused to take part in the vote. Some of the five requested the prefectural government increase options in the yes-no referendum. Tamaki responded by urging the prefectural assembly’s ruling camp to consider adding a third option. The ruling camp, therefore, decided to introduce the option of neither yes or no. Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s deal, LDP assembly member Moriyuki Teruya, head of the party’s Okinawa chapter, said the five cities will participate in the referendum if the three choices are approved unanimously at the assembly. Voters in the five cities account for 32 percent of all eligible voters in Okinawa. Without their input, the validity of the referendum is likely to be questioned. The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly approved a bill to trigger the referendum in October, after a civic group calling for the vote collected about 93,000 signatures and filed a direct petition with the prefecture in September.

referendum
okinawa
futenma
henoko
u.s. bases
gov . denny tamaki


Panel proposes Japan schoolteachers' overtime be limited to 45 hours per month

Abstract: A government panel proposed Friday that overtime work for teachers in public schools be capped, in principle, at 45 hours per month and 360 hours per year. The proposal was part of a report on public school teachers’ work-style reforms compiled by the Central Council for Education. The panel submitted the report to education minister Masahiko Shibayama. Municipal ordinances require teachers to work seven hours and 45 minutes a day. Based on the notion that teachers do the work on a voluntary basis, however, there have been no standards set for teachers’ overtime work. Teachers also do not receive overtime pay, in principle. Instead, they uniformly get 4 percent over base pay for overtime. “A growing perception that schools do not need to manage teachers’ working hours has led to the current situation where teachers work long hours,” the panel said in the report. It sought the implementation of specific measures to reduce teachers’ working hours based on the proposed ceilings on overtime. The education ministry will ask each municipality to use the proposed overtime caps as a reference to set rules on maximum working hours for teachers. It will aim to have the caps imposed from fiscal 2020. In addition, the ministry will consider placing the upper limits by decree so as to make sure they are observed. Also in the report, the panel requested the introduction of a variable work hour system for public school teachers. The system is expected to allow teachers to work long hours during busy periods while taking more days off during their students’ summer break, for example. Based on the request, the ministry plans to submit a related bill to the Diet by the end of this year at the earliest, with the aim of introducing variable work hours for teachers in fiscal 2021. “This is just the beginning of work-style reforms at schools,” Shibayama said, adding that he will head a reform task force set to be established at the ministry.

schools
teachers
education
jobs
overwork
work style reform


Incidents of fires and extreme heat from lithium-ion batteries on the rise in Japan

Abstract: The number of reported cases of laptops, smartphones and other devices with lithium-ion batteries becoming hot or igniting in the five years until fiscal 2017 has reached to 582, a survey by the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) showed Thursday. While the number of such incidents totaled just 70 in fiscal 2013, the figure had jumped to 175 by fiscal 2017. As nearly 70 percent of all incidents in the five years involved devices catching fire, NITE is urging users to be careful. Of the 582 cases, 150 involved portable chargers, 142 were laptops, 79 were smartphones and 32 were motor-assisted bicycles. Of 368 cases caused by problems with the devices, 209 involved products subject to recall. The institute noted that many incidents could have been prevented if the products had been adequately collected and exchanged. As lithium-ion batteries may overheat due to short-circuiting, shocks from being dropped or other forms of impact, NITE is calling on people to be cautious when they are carrying such devices. According to NITE, 50 people were harmed in the incidents in the five years. Of them, one person died and two suffered serious injuries. In November last year, a Shinkansen bullet train that left Tokyo Station and was bound for Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture made an emergency stop after smoke was detected in one of its cars. East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, the train’s operator, confirmed that the smoke came from a portable charger owned by a passenger. In response to the string of incidents, portable chargers using lithium will be subject to regulations under the Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act from Feb. 1. Products without a special sticker, which shows that the products passed inspections under the law, will not be made available for sale.

national institute of technology and evaluation


Sportswear-maker Asics to turn used clothing into Japan's Olympic uniforms

Abstract: Apparel-maker Asics Corp. began calling Thursday for donations of used sportswear items which it plans to turn into official uniforms for Japan’s team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company will provide apparel for athletes in competitions and at medal ceremonies, and plans to extract polyester fibers from the collected items and turn them into fabric for clothing and footwear. It aims to collect around 30,000 items for the project by the end of May via donation boxes at sports venues and sporting goods stores. Recently retired wrestler Saori Yoshida helped kick off the collection drive by donating a T-shirt she wore when she competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. “Through this project, people from around the country can feel like they’re part of the team,” said Yoshida, a three-time Olympic and 14-time world champion. “It feels nice to make a different kind of contribution to the games effort.” Asics said other recyclable materials extracted from the donated items will be turned into fuel, among other uses.

asics
2020 tokyo olympics
saori yoshida
2020 tokyo paralympics