Japanese author and economist Taichi Sakaiya dies at 83

Abstract: Taichi Sakaiya, a bestselling author and an economist who served in key government posts, died of multiple organ failure Friday at a Tokyo hospital, his office said. He was 83. Sakaiya, whose real name was Kotaro Ikeguchi, left the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in October 1978 to become a full-time writer. But between July 1998 and December 2000 he headed the Economic Planning Agency, now the Cabinet Office, under two former prime ministers, Keizo Obuchi and Yoshiro Mori. During the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he served as a special adviser to the Cabinet. Sakaiya made his debut as a writer in 1975 with his novel “Yudan!” which depicted the dire consequences Japan could face in the event of an oil crisis. In the following year, he wrote a novel called “Dankai no Sedai,” which predicted the impact the first baby boomer generation could have on society. Due to his book, the term dankai no sedai now usually refers to those born several years after the end of World War II and has become central to discussions of generations and the aging society in Japan. His book “Chika Kakumei” (“The Knowledge-Value Revolution or a History of the Future”) was translated into eight languages. Sakaiya also provided easy-to-understand explanations of difficult themes while serving as head of the Economic Planning Agency. The government’s monthly “economy watchers” survey, based on views from workers with jobs sensitive to economic trends such as taxi drivers and restaurant employees, was the brainchild of Sakaiya. The survey was proposed to collect first-hand assessments of the economy from consumers, which are difficult to derive from general statistics. Sakaiya, who was critical of the negative effects of bureaucracy, was also an advocate of decentralization. After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a degree in economics, he joined now-defunct MITI in 1960. And later during his tenure he started publishing novels that predicted the future of Japan. He played a key role in organizing the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, as well as the 1975 Okinawa Ocean Expo. The Osaka native also wrote many historical novels, including “Toge no Gunzo” and “Hideyoshi,” which were dramatized and aired on NHK.


Man held in connection with Tokyo student's death re-arrested on murder charge

Abstract: A 35-year-old man being held in connection with the death of a female university student whose body was found buried last month in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, was formally arrested Sunday on suspicion of her murder. Koichi Hirose, who was initially arrested on Jan. 31 for allegedly dumping the body of 18-year-old student Natsumi Kikuchi, admitted to choking her to death but remained silent about his motive, investigative sources said. On the day Hirose was taken into custody, Kikuchi’s body was found in a field about 12 kilometers from his apartment. Kikuchi, a native of Tochigi Prefecture who had resided in Tokyo, went missing after visiting the city on Nov. 20. Hirose told investigators he and the student came to know each other through an internet bulletin board.


Japanese man shot to death trying to save father in Belize robbery

Abstract: SAO PAULO - A Japanese man has been shot to death and his father critically wounded by two armed men in Belize, according to the Japanese Embassy in Belmopan. The incident happened in Belize City, nation’s largest city, at around 6 p.m. Thursday, embassy officials said. Local media identified the man who was killed as Masaki Yanai, 19. His father, Takayuki, 53, runs a Japanese restaurant in Belize City. The two men attacked the father when he returned home from shopping and was unloading his car. He tried to prevent his bag containing cash revenue from his restaurant from being stolen. The son came out of the house in an attempt to help his father, but they were both shot several times. The family immigrated to Belize about 15 years ago. Masaki Yanai was studying engineering at the University of Belize. The head of the university said he was a smart and promising student. Local police are searching for the suspects and have offered a reward for information leading to their capture. Belize, located in the Yucatan Peninsula and facing the Caribbean Sea, borders Mexico and Guatemala, and has a population of about 375,000. As of October 2017, 45 Japanese lived in the country, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.


Struggling Norwegian Air sets big discount for share sale after U.K. carrier drops bid

Abstract: OSLO - Norwegian Air will sell new shares at just a third of the current market price when the loss-making airline seeks to raise money from its owners in the next few weeks, it said on Monday. Norwegian Air said on Jan. 29 it planned to raise 3 billion Norwegian crowns ($348 million) in a share sale to bolster its finances, just days after British Airways owner IAG ruled out a bid for the budget airline. Norwegian is trying to replicate on transatlantic flights the low-cost model that dominates the short-haul market via companies such as Ryanair and easyJet, but is struggling to make the business profitable. The European airline sector is struggling with over-capacity and high fuel costs, with several companies going out of business, the latest being British budget airline Flybmi, which filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. In the rights issue, Norwegian’s shareholders will get two subscription rights to buy shares for every share they currently own, and new shares will be sold at 33 crowns each, compared with Friday’s closing price of 97.34 crowns. By selling new shares far below the current market price, Norwegian will boost the value of each of the purchasing rights, which can in turn be bought and sold. The company’s shares fell as much as 15 percent to a six-and-a-half year low of 83 crowns on Monday, before paring losses to trade down 8.8 percent at 88.8 crowns by 1300 GMT, valuing the business at about 4 billion crowns. “Based on the (Friday) closing price, the theoretical value of each subscription right is NOK 21.45 and the theoretical value of the two subscription rights received per existing share is NOK 42.90,” Norwegian said in a statement. “Shareholders must decide whether to exercise or sell their subscription rights, or a combination thereof, to maintain the full value of the shareholding,” it added. Earlier on Monday, Norwegian’s chief executive and the board chairman said they would sell some of their subscription rights to other investors, in a move that would reduce the 24.66 percent stake they currently hold in the airline. “HBK has agreed to sell the subscription rights at a price of 70 percent of the theoretical value of the subscription rights at the time of pricing of the rights issue,” HBK — the vehicle through which the chairman, CEO and their families own their stake — said in a statement. It did not say who would buy those rights. Norwegian said last month that billionaire investor John Fredriksen was among those who had agreed to take part in its share issue.


Ethiopian coffee farmers are betting on blockchain to make trade fairer and boost business

Abstract: ADDIS ABABA - On a bustling street near the shiny new international airport in Ethiopia’s capital is a small coffee roastery with big dreams. Nearly 40 Ethiopians — a third of them women — sift, roast and package prized Arabica beans for export to Europe under the Moyee brand, founded by a Dutch social entrepreneur. The roastery, together with the innovative use of blockchain technology to ensure the supply chain is transparent, represents an attempt to keep as much of the profits as possible in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries. “It’s the world’s favorite drink. We drink over 2 billion cups a day,” said Killian Stokes, who set up the Irish branch of Moyee. “The industry’s worth $100 billion and yet 90 percent of coffee farmers in Ethiopia live on less than $2 a day.” That is partly because most exporters process the beans elsewhere, but price fluctuations and other factors also make coffee-growing a precarious business. To make things fairer, Moyee has created unique digital identities for the 350 farmers it currently works with — meaning buyers can see exactly how much each individual grower is paid, with prices set at 20 percent above the market rate. Now the brand, whose slogan is “radically good coffee,” wants to use blockchain to take that to the next level — allowing buyers to tip farmers, or fund projects such as a new planting program, through a mobile app. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a recent report that blockchain had huge potential to address challenges smallholder farmers faced by “reducing uncertainty and enabling trust among market players.” The technology, used to underpin cyber-currencies like bitcoin, allows shared access to data that is maintained by a network of computers and can quickly trace the hundreds of parties involved in the production and distribution of food. Once entered, any information cannot be altered or tampered with. Siobhan Kelly, an advisor to the Food Systems Program at the FAO, said blockchain would ultimately be “much bigger than the internet.” “Within 10 years — it’ll take probably 10 years — it’s going to be a major revolution, for everything,” said Kelly. Fruit farmers in Caribbean nations are also looking at using blockchain to attract better-paying customers, bring traceability and build a credit trail. “It’s an innovation that is poised to empower local farmers in the Caribbean region,” said Pamela Thomas, executive director of the Agriculture Alliance of the Caribbean (AACARI), a regional network of nearly 100,000 farmers. AACARI’s project has two components: auditing by accredited professionals to ensure farmers adhere to the Global GAP (good agricultural practices) standards, and a digital marketplace where buyers can find detailed information about the produce. Global GAP is a voluntary standard required by many European and U.S. supermarket chains. Vijay Kandy, whose company is building the blockchain platform, said the auditing process would allow farmers to deal directly with buyers — bypassing the middlemen that many currently rely on — and make access to credit easier. “One reason why buyers from faraway places or different countries go through middlemen is because they rely on them to make sure farmers are following these good practices,” he said. One such buyer is London-based Union Hand-Roasted Coffee. The company sources its coffee directly from growers’ cooperatives to ensure higher quality, pays farmers more than minimum price set by the global Fairtrade organization, and works with more than 40 producer groups in 14 countries. “We currently undertake direct interviews to verify farmers have been paid, but it’s very time- and labor-intensive to do that and to record all that data,” said Steven Macatonia, who co-founded Union in 2001. “So to have a much more simple system where we can get a confirmation that payment has been received and how much that is, that could be hugely beneficial,” he said. Price fluctuations and the impact of climate change make coffee a particularly challenging crop to grow. “Large companies’ profits usually increase when prices are low, but the profit for farmers does not, and in some cases it may cost them money to produce coffee,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Davis’s latest research shows climate change and deforestation are putting more than half of the world’s wild coffee species at risk of extinction. Ethiopia — the birthplace of Arabica, the world’s most popular coffee — is of particular concern. Up to 60 percent of the land used to grow coffee could become unsuitable by the end of the century, Davis found. “The more a farmer is paid, the more resources he will be able to devote to climate resilience,” he said. Both Davis and the FAO’s Kelly however cautioned that blockchain technology was not going to be a “quick fix,” with farmers around the world facing multiple challenges. “Farmers need access to affordable seeds, to affordable finance and credit when they need it … and these things are not going to be given by blockchain,” said Kelly.

ethiopia
coffee
blockchain
farming
fair trade


Bank of Japan considers gathering price survey data online

Abstract: The Bank of Japan is considering collecting data from businesses for its monthly price statistics online, to streamline its operations, it was learned Tuesday. Currently, the central bank sends and receives survey slips by mail. The BOJ aims to introduce the online procedures around fiscal 2022, as it is expected to take a few years to make the computer system preparations necessary for the shift, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The new method is expected to be used for the BOJ’s producer price and service producer price surveys. For the surveys, BOJ employees currently enter some 12,000 items of price data manually for goods and services traded between businesses. The BOJ has already introduced online procedures for parts of work to compile its closely followed tankan quarterly business sentiment survey. If the price statistics go online, the BOJ will be able to improve the efficiency of its counting and other statistics-related operations. Businesses responding to the surveys have called for the introduction of online procedures to reduce the time and costs involved. Among Japanese price statistics, the consumer price index, released by the internal affairs ministry, covers a wide range of goods and services. Meanwhile, the BOJ statistics track prices for goods and services at wholesale and other stages of business transactions. The BOJ uses the data to assess the state of the economy and the supply-demand balance for goods, and to make monetary policy judgments. Calls for streamlining work related to statistics have been mounting since government labor survey irregularities came to light. Some pundits attribute the irregularities to shortages of human and financial resources available for statistics-related tasks.


U.S. auto industry lines up against possible Trump tariffs on imports and slams secret report

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. auto industry urged President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday not to saddle imported cars and auto parts with steep tariffs, after the U.S. Commerce Department sent a confidential report to the White House late on Sunday with its recommendations for how to proceed. Some trade organizations also blasted the Commerce Department for keeping the details of its “Section 232” national security report shrouded in secrecy, which will make it much harder for the industry to react during the next 90 days Trump will have to review it. “Secrecy around the report only increases the uncertainty and concern across the industry created by the threat of tariffs,” the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association said in a statement, adding that it was “alarmed and dismayed.” “It is critical that our industry have the opportunity to review the recommendations and advise the White House on how proposed tariffs, if they are recommended, will put jobs at risk, impact consumers, and trigger a reduction in U.S. investments that could set us back decades.” Representatives from the White House and the Commerce Department could not immediately be reached. The industry has warned that possible tariffs of up to 25 percent on millions of imported cars and parts would add thousands of dollars to vehicle costs and potentially devastate the U.S economy by slashing jobs. Administration officials have said tariff threats on autos are a way to win concessions from Japan and the EU. Last year, Trump agreed not to impose tariffs as long as talks with the two trading partners were proceeding in a productive manner. “We believe the imposition of higher import tariffs on automotive products under Section 232 and the likely retaliatory tariffs against U.S. auto exports would undermine — and not help — the economic and employment contributions that FCA, U.S., Ford Motor Company and General Motors make to the U.S. economy,” said former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, the president of the American Automotive Policy Council. Some Republican lawmakers have also said they share the industry’s concerns. In a statement issued on Monday, Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski said she fears the Commerce Department’s report could “set the stage for costly tariffs on cars and auto parts.” “President Trump is right to seek a level playing field for American businesses and workers, but the best way to do that is with a scalpel, not an axe,” she added.

tariffs
donald trump
jobs
eu
u.s .
carmakers
trade war


Carlos Ghosn readies trial counterpunch with new legal dream team

Abstract: Can Carlos Ghosn beat the rap? With a trial looming this year on charges of aggravated breach of trust and filing false statements to regulators regarding ¥9 billion in deferred income, the former chairman of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA needs a new strategy. He’s lost two requests for bail and faces as many as 10 years in prison if convicted. Confronting a legal system with a 99 percent conviction rate, Ghosn overhauled his legal team last week. He replaced a group led by former local prosecutor Motonari Otsuru with one overseen by Junichiro Hironaka, who is known for aggressive tactics defending high-profile clients such as a former senior bureaucrat accused of corruption. Hironaka will hold his first news conference as Ghosn’s lawyer on Wednesday. By hiring a lead lawyer nicknamed “The Razor,” Ghosn is betting that an attorney with a history of challenging the insular Japanese legal world can make him a free man again. “Otsuru was miscast because he’s not the type of lawyer that will take a combative stance against the prosecutors and likely couldn’t maintain a relationship of trust with Ghosn,” said Nobuo Gohara, a lawyer and former prosecutor in Japan. “Hironaka is the type of lawyer who will thoroughly fight the prosecutors’ charge.” Ghosn’s defense team includes Takashi Takano, who represented a member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult behind the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo. “This might be the first time Takano and Hironaka are on a criminal case together,” said Nobuko Otsuki, a Tokyo-based defense lawyer. “They’re all-stars.” Ghosn’s new defense team may explore several legal arguments to discredit the government’s case both in court and in the media, according to legal experts in Japan. Unlike in the U.S., hiring ex-prosecutors as your defense attorneys isn’t a good strategy in Japan because they’re accustomed to nearly all defendants either confessing or being convicted, and they usually maintain social relationships with their former colleagues, said Stephen Givens, a law professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. “Once you are a prosecutor, you never change your spots,” Givens said. “You remain loyal and sympathetic to the prosecution side.” Hironaka successfully defended Atsuko Muraki, a former senior bureaucrat charged in 2009 with falsely certifying an organization as representing people with disabilities so it could use cheaper postage rates. A third member of Ghosn’s new team, Hiroshi Kawatsu, was part of the defense. Muraki won ¥37.7 million in compensation from the government. Hironaka also helped win acquittal for longtime politician Ichiro Ozawa, who was indicted in 2011 for allegedly being involved in a campaign finance scandal. Otsuru was one of the leading prosecutors in that case. “Ghosn really wants vindication,” Givens said. “Probably Ghosn is thinking, ‘I have nothing to lose and I’m going to be aggressive as hell.'” The defense team will strike at the heart of the government’s argument by contending that Ghosn is a victim of corporate intrigue, said former criminal defense lawyer Keiichi Muraoka, a professor at Hakuoh University in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture. With this strategy, he said, Ghosn’s team will present him as a victim of Nissan executives eager to grab power away from Renault and short-circuit a possible merger with the French automaker. In his defense, the fallen titan said in court last month he had been wrongly accused and unfairly detained, terming the accusations “meritless and unsubstantiated.” “The new defense team will create a ‘case theory’ that Ghosn’s case is not a crime causing any damage to Nissan but a fabrication by the Nissan headquarters under the struggle for power between Nissan and Renault,” Muraoka said in an email. Prosecutors also have accused Ghosn of “aggravated breach of trust” for acts related to payments — from a pool of money that only he had the authority to use — to a company controlled by the automaker’s Saudi Arabian business partner, Khaled Juffali. Ghosn’s team likely will argue that Nissan approved the $14.7 million in payments. The payments over four years “were for legitimate business purposes in order to support and promote Nissan’s business strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and included reimbursement for business expenses,” said a statement issued last month on behalf of Khaled Juffali Co. by its New York-based public relations representative, Terry Rooney, founder and CEO of RooneyPartners. Nissan also approved arrangements for the purchase of several homes, including those in Brazil and Lebanon, Ghosn said in an interview last month with the Nikkei financial newspaper. The automaker last week tried to end any debate over whether Ghosn hid millions of dollars in deferred income, booking an $83 million charge against the payments due to him. It also slashed its forecast. And beyond the boardroom, lawyers could take on the courtroom by arguing that Ghosn’s monthslong detention is arbitrary, Muraoka said. “The world needs to know that our criminal justice system is unfair.” A critical part of the prosecutors’ case is the allegation that Ghosn transferred personal investment losses to Nissan in 2008. His lawyers may argue that the statute of limitations requires the government to file charges within seven years of the alleged crime, Givens said. A key element could be how to calculate that period of time. Prosecutors may contend that the years stopped accumulating whenever Ghosn left the country, meaning he can be charged for alleged crimes in 2008. Hironaka’s team could challenge that by saying the clock on the statute stops with the issuance of a warrant. In Ghosn’s case, that was shortly before his arrest in November — 11 years after the alleged crimes. “There’s a very strong statute-of-limitations case to be made for the transactions that took place back in 2008,” Givens said.

carlos ghosn
nissan
renault
courts
carmakers


JR East to end sales aboard Yamabiko bullet trains

Abstract: East Japan Railway Co. says starting March 15 it will no longer sell food and other goods aboard Yamabiko bullet trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line. Such sales will be completely terminated on the Yamabiko service, which mainly links Tokyo Station with either Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture or Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture, JR East said Monday. Onboard sales will also no longer be available starting March 16 on Komachi trains on the Akita Shinkansen Line for the section between Morioka and Akita stations and on some limited express trains, including the Odoriko and the Kusatsu, JR East said. Sales on trains are declining as a variety of goods are now available at shops at stations and vending machines, JR East officials explained, adding that the decision also reflects labor shortages. Also on Monday, Hokkaido Railway Co. said March 15 will be the final day that onboard sales are available on Hayabusa and Hayate trains running on the Hokkaido Shinkansen Line between Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hokkaido Prefecture. With JR Hokkaido slated to also halt sales on its Super Hokuto limited express trains at the end of this month, onboard sales will fully end on regular trains operated in the company’s service area. For the section between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori for Hayabusa and Hayate services, and the Tokyo-Morioka section for Komachi trains, the product lineups for onboard sales will be scaled back starting March 16, with sales of bento, sandwiches, souvenirs and other items set to cease, JR East said. Items such as hot coffee and soft drinks will remain available. In fiscal 2017, sales aboard trains were down 5 percent from the previous year, according to JR East. Kyushu Railway Co. has already announced that its Mizuho and Sakura bullet trains will not offer onboard sales starting March 16.

bullet trains
shinkansen
tokohu shinkansen line


U.S. sanctions force Russia to delay MC-21 jetliner roll-out, says Rostec CEO

Abstract: MOSCOW - Production of the MC-21 plane, which Russia hoped could revive its civil aviation industry, has been delayed for a year due to U.S. sanctions, the head of the Rostec conglomerate said Monday. “Due to the fact that the Americans have stopped supplying composite materials, we are switching to our own,” Sergey Chemezov told Russian news agencies in Abu Dhabi. “The date of the beginning of mass production is slightly shifting” and is now expected by the end of 2020, he said. Sanctions came into force last September against Russian companies involved in the creation of the plane, which Washington said were acting “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Both Rostec and Chemezov have been specifically targeted in separate rounds of sanctions. Russia unveiled the prototype of the MC-21 in 2016, originally announcing plans for it to come into service in late 2018. The plane, produced by the Irkut aircraft manufacturer, was designed to challenge industry giants Airbus and Boeing. The MC-21 can carry up to 211 passengers and is designed for the mass-market travel industry. It can fly up to 6,000 km (3,700 miles), according to the makers. The makers have promised a “new level of comfort” for passengers thanks to the largest fuselage in the plane’s class and large windows. Irkut says it has signed contracts with a number of airlines, including Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot, UTair and the Kyrgyzstan Air Company. The delayed launch would come nine years after Russia’s short-haul Sukhoi Superjet aircraft came into service in 2011. It has since suffered serious technical issues that have forced the plane’s grounding. A Superjet performing at an Indonesian air show in 2012 slammed into a volcano, killing all 45 on board, in a crash Indonesia blamed on pilot error. Washington first imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. The United States and European Union have since imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia and Russian individuals. Chemezov told AFP in an interview late last year that state-owned Rostec, which oversees Russian arms production, was doing a brisk trade in weapons systems despite the trade restrictions. Chemezov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, has nonetheless announced plans to increase sales of Rostec’s nonmilitary products.

sanctions
russia
mc-21
rostec
airlines
u.s .
crimea


Dollar slightly firmer above ¥110.60 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar gained modest ground to top ¥110.60 in Tokyo trading Tuesday, buoyed by Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda’s remark suggesting the possibility of fresh easing. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.65-66, up from ¥110.55-56 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1299-1299, down from $1.1306-1306, and at ¥125.04-04, up from 124.99-¥125.00. In early trading, the dollar moved around ¥110.50-60. But it fell below ¥110.50 later in the morning in line with the Nikkei 225’s sluggish movements. The British pound’s drop against the yen following a media report that Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. plans to shut down its British plant also weighed on the dollar’s topside, traders said. The U.S. currency climbed close to ¥110.70 at one point in the afternoon following Kuroda’s comment at a news conference that the BOJ will consider further easing if necessary to stabilize prices. But the greenback struggled for direction later. “Players retreated to the sidelines ahead of the start of post-holiday U.S.-hour trading,” a currency broker said. Expectations for progress in U.S.-China trade talks have been supporting the dollar-yen pair, an official at a major Japanese bank said. But a trust bank official called for vigilance, saying the March 1 deadline for settling the trade dispute between the two economic superpowers is coming closer. A lawsuit filed by 16 U.S. states against President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration may affect adversary equities, whose brisk performances have been backing the dollar recently, a brokerage firm official said.


Tokyo stocks see a moderate rise

Abstract: Stocks closed moderately higher Tuesday after repeated minor ups and downs amid a lack of major trading incentives. The Nikkei 225 average gained 20.80 points, or 0.10 percent, to end at 21,302.65. On Monday, the key market gauge surged 381.22 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was up 4.56 points, or 0.28 percent, at 1,606.52. It climbed 24.67 points Monday. Both the Nikkei and Topix struggled for direction in the morning as the closure of the U.S. market Monday for a holiday provided few trading incentives, market sources said. In the afternoon, however, the market became somewhat buoyant thanks to the yen weakening against the dollar, the sources said. Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., attributed Tuesday’s rise to futures-linked buying by foreign players spurred by the yen’s drop. But the market’s topside was heavy due to “selling by individual investors to cash in gains,” Ichikawa added. Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., pointed out that a wait-and-see mood prevailed ahead of the start of trading in New York on Tuesday and a new round of high-level U.S.-China trade negotiations in Washington later this week to be joined by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Rising issues slightly outnumbered falling ones 1,049 to 976 in the first section, while 104 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.066 billion shares from 1.190 billion Monday. Rental apartment operator Leopalace21 shot up 12.44 percent, although the gain by the scandal-battered company fell far short of recouping losses in its six-session collapse. Chemical company Asahi Kasei, advertising agency Dentsu and convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny were among other major gainers. On the other hand, technology conglomerate Softbank Group was weighed down by profit-taking following a recent surge. Also on the down side were clothing store chain operator Fast Retailing and cosmetics maker Shiseido.

stocks
nikkei
topix
tokyo stock exchange


Honda to shut sole U.K. plant in Swindon, imperiling 3,500 jobs just weeks ahead of Brexit

Abstract: LONDON - In the latest blow to the U.K. car industry as Brexit approaches, Honda Motor Co. announced Tuesday it will end production at its only car plant in the country by the end of 2021 — a move that would eliminate 3,500 jobs. “As we need to boost the product lineup of electric vehicles in Europe, we’ve come to think that it will be difficult to manufacture such vehicles there due to competitiveness and other factors,” Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo told a news conference at the firm’s headquarters in Tokyo. As environmental regulations are set to be strengthened in China, where the automaker has several production bases, Hachigo said more environmentally friendly models will be manufactured in China and exported to Europe in the future. Although the possibility of a “no-deal” Brexit still looms, Hachigo said the company’s decision is not related to that possibility, stressing that it is instead part of a streamlining of production sites and capability. The timing also coincided with the decision to change its Civic production base. Honda also said it will cease production at its plant in Turkey in 2021, which will result in the loss of 1,100 jobs in that country. “We will continue our business in the U.K. and Turkey, so we hope to keep building good relationships with both governments,” Hachigo said. Asked what will happen to the 3,500 workers at its Swindon plant in southern England, Hachigo said Honda will do what it can and that talks between management and employees began Tuesday. The Swindon decision is the second such move that Honda is planning for 2022. The automaker announced more than a year ago that it will close one of its Japanese plants in an effort to consolidate production as it focuses on new vehicle technologies. Honda built 160,000 vehicles at the Swindon factory last year, accounting for just over 10 percent of Britain’s total output of 1.52 million cars. But it has struggled in Europe in recent years, and the industry faces a number of challenges, including declining diesel demand and tougher regulations alongside the uncertainty over the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, due next month. Justin Tomlinson, a Conservative lawmaker for Swindon who voted for Brexit in 2016, said he had met with the business minister and representatives from Honda who had confirmed the plans. Honda announced in October 2017 it would stop making vehicles at its Sayama plant in Saitama Prefecture by 2022 as it grapples with a shrinking domestic market. Like many of its global rivals, Honda is trying to streamline its operations as it invests heavily to develop electric vehicles and self-driving cars, transforming itself from simply a manufacturer of cars into a mobility company. Japan has repeatedly warned it could pull investments in the U.K., which it had seen as a gateway into Europe, if London does not secure a Brexit deal favorable for trade. The recently enacted EU-Japan trade agreement means tariffs on cars from Japan to the continent will be eliminated, while the U.K. is struggling to make progress on talks over post-Brexit trade relations with Tokyo. Honda’s announcement would come just over two weeks after rival Nissan Motor Co. canceled plans to build its X-Trail sport utility vehicle in the U.K. In January, Britain’s biggest automaker, Jaguar Land Rover, said it would cut 10 percent of its workforce, mainly at home, due to sluggish sales to China and a slump in European diesel demand. “The car industry in the U.K. over the last two decades has been the jewel in the crown for the manufacturing sector — and now it has been brought low by the chaotic Brexit uncertainty,” said Des Quinn, national officer for the automotive sector at the U.K.’s biggest trade union, Unite. Honda said last month it would shut its U.K. operations for six days in April to help counter any border disruption from Brexit. It was also preparing to front-load some production at its plant to ship overseas or build up inventories. Nissan, Honda and Toyota together account for roughly half of the cars built in the U.K. Honda, which has been building more cars for sale outside of Europe in recent years, had already said earlier this month that its production volumes at Swindon would be reduced to 570 cars per day and that it would make job cuts. “This reduction in volume will not have any impact on our permanent resource levels, and is in line with our current production plans,” the company had said.


2,850 Fujitsu workers apply for voluntary retirement amid IT-focused restructuring

Abstract: Fujitsu Ltd. said Tuesday that 2,850 workers have applied for voluntary retirement offered as part of restructuring efforts to strengthen its information technology services and streamline its back-office operations. The retirement date is March 31. The company will book ¥46.1 billion in related costs, including additional retirement allowances, for the year ending in March. No changes have been made to its earnings forecasts. In October last year, Fujitsu announced plans to transfer some 5,000 workers from its back-office sections, including the human resources, general affairs and accounting departments, to jobs related to IT services, which the company sees as an area of growth. Fujitsu solicited an unlimited number of voluntary retirement applicants mainly from permanent employees in the back-office sections aged 45 or older.


Facebook behaving like 'digital gangsters' who spread fake news, say British lawmakers

Abstract: LONDON - A scathing British parliamentary report on Monday branded Facebook “digital gangsters” who failed to fight the spread of fake news and violated data privacy. Lawmakers’ 18-month investigation into technology companies and disinformation also accused the world’s largest social media platform of trying to hide the extent of Russian interference in foreign elections. Facebook is coming under attack over its response to Russia’s suspected use of misleading stories and targeted ads to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a series of European votes. Its executives have further been accused of trying to either hide or suppress emerging evidence of foreign meddling flagged by its engineers. Parliamentary committee chair Damian Collins said Facebook “deliberately sought to frustrate our work by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions. Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg turned down three requests to appear before the committee. “Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like ‘digital gangsters’ in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law,” the 108-page report said. The committee urged a compulsory code of ethics for all tech companies that would be overseen by an independent U.K. regulator. Collins told AFP he hoped “that before the end of the year, there could be a firm proposal for legislation” establishing how such an oversight body would work. “This ends the idea that tech companies are just platforms, that they are independent and that the responsibility for the content lies solely on the person who posted it,” Collins said in a phone interview. “They have limited liability for the content that has been posted there. They are not neutral. They curate the space, they promote content toward users.” Facebook spokesman Karim Palant said executives at the California-based company “share the committee’s concerns about false news and election integrity.” “We are open to meaningful regulation and support the committee’s recommendation for electoral law reform,” Palant said in a statement. But Collins said Facebook has only adopted incremental policy changes that were mostly aimed at fending off regulation making it liable for the spread of malicious stories. “They have taken a step, largely I think, to offset legislation,” said Collins. “It shouldn’t be down to Mark Zuckerberg to determine what the code is for election advertising in the U.K. through Facebook.” The committee earlier found that Facebook’s engineers had flagged potentially malicious Russian activity as early as 2014 — long before it became public. Monday’s report said the two Facebook officials who did testify “deliberately misled the committee or they were deliberately not briefed by senior executives at Facebook about the extent of Russian interference in foreign elections.” U.K. officials have been probing the role Russian misinformation campaigns may have played in swaying Britons toward voting in favor of leaving the European Union in 2016. Russia has denied either backing Britain’s decision or covertly backing pro-Brexit leaders during the divisive campaign. The committee further accused Facebook of offering Netflix and other popular apps preferential access to people’s data even after it had tightened its privacy rules. “They are acting in an aggressive way against other companies that could be considered a commercial threat to Facebook,” Collins told AFP. The British government has eight weeks to respond to the parliamentary report. Britain is coming under pressure to follow the example set by Germany and France of introducing rules governing how Facebook collects user data and fights fake news. Germany’s competition authority said this month it will impose limits to how Facebook hoovers up data from its WhatsApp and Instagram subsidiaries. And France has introduced laws requiring social media giants to take down malicious stories during election campaigns. Collins said it would be up to parliament to determine what rules and punishments to impose. “We feel that it’s no longer good enough just to ask the tech companies to get better,” he said.

facebook
russia
u.k .
personal information
u.k. parliament
2020 u.s. presidential election


India says mastermind of Kashmir bombing killed in clash along with five of its troops, as tensions with Pakistan soar

Abstract: SRINAGAR, INDIA - Indian forces on Monday killed three militants, including the suspected organizer of a suicide bombing in the disputed region of Kashmir that fueled tension between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, police said, with five troops also killed in the clash. The suicide bomb attack on a paramilitary police convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir last Thursday killed at least 40 men, the deadliest single assault on Indian forces in 30 years of insurgency in the Muslim-majority region. The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. India accuses Pakistan for harboring the group. Pakistan denies that. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, facing an election that must be held by May, is under domestic pressure for decisive action against Pakistan. Modi has promised a strong response and says he has given the military a free hand to tackle cross-border militancy. The three militants killed in the clash on Monday were all Pakistani nationals and members of JeM, two security sources said. “The encounter is still in progress and the security forces are on the job,” police said in a statement. But the 17-hour engagement, that ended shortly before 1330 GMT, came at a cost for India’s security services. Four Indian soldiers and a policeman were killed, while nine troops were wounded, including a brigadier, one of the army’s top roles, and a deputy inspector general of police. A civilian was also killed. “They have protection. Our officers and men are exposed, whereas they’re in the built up area, hiding,” said K. Rajendra Kumar, a former director general of police in Jammu and Kashmir. Security force sources told Reuters one of the dead militants had been identified as Abdul Rashid Gazi, who went by the alias Kamran Bhai and is suspected of playing a leading role in organising Thursday’s attack. Indian troops had earlier cordoned off Pinglan village in Kashmir’s Pulwama district, where the attack took place on Thursday. An indefinite curfew has been imposed and police have asked people to stay indoors. Mohammad Yunis, a journalist in Pulwama, said troops were searching the village and civilians trapped in houses were being evacuated. On Sunday, police said Indian forces had detained 23 men suspected of links to the militants who carried out the Thursday bombing. Kashmir is at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. They both claim it in full but rule it in part. India withdrew trade privileges offered to Pakistan after the bomb attack and has warned of further action. The United States had told India it supported its right to defend itself against cross-border attacks, India said on Saturday. With tension mounting, Pakistan withdrew its envoy to India for consultations, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Twitter on Monday. The Thursday bomb attack has sparked outrage in India with calls for revenge circulating on social media, and rising animosity towards Kashmiri Muslims in other parts of the Hindu-majority country, to the alarm of rights groups. “We are at a dangerous moment, and authorities must do everything they can to uphold the rule of law,” said Aakar Patel, head of Amnesty India. “Ordinary Kashmiris across India who are only seeking to improve their lives should not be singled out for violence simply because of where they come from.” The anger has also spread to India’s two big obsessions: cricket and its Bollywood film industry. Several cricket fans and a sport official have called on India to boycott a World Cup match against Pakistan in June, while the Cricket Club of India has covered up a portrait of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan — himself a former cricketer — at its Mumbai office. The All India Cine Workers Association called for a “total ban” on Pakistanis working in India’s film industry, though they have been largely blacklisted from Bollywood since a similar attack in Kashmir in 2016 in which 19 soldiers died. The Confederation of All India Traders called for a nationwide strike to protest against the attack, and footage from Reuters partner ANI showed shuttered shops in several states on Monday.

india
kashmir
pakistan
narendra modi
conflict
terrorism


Israel's first lunar mission to launch this week

Abstract: TEL AVIV - Israel will launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA, organizers said Monday. The 585-kg Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and technology NGO SpaceIL announced the date at a news conference. Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv. “We are entering history and are proud to belong to a group that has dreamed and fulfilled the vision shared by many countries in the world but that so far only three of them have accomplished,” SpaceIL president Morris Kahn said. So far only Russia, the United States and China have sent spacecraft to the moon. The Chinese craft made the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3. NASA, which has installed equipment on Genesis to upload its signals from the moon, said last week it aims to land an unmanned vehicle there by 2024, and it is inviting private sector bids to build the U.S. probe. NASA plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the moon’s orbit by 2026. It will serve as a way-station for trips to and from the lunar surface, but will not be permanently crewed. Genesis will make its 6.5-million km (one million-mile) journey at a maximum speed of 10 kilometers per second (36,000 kph), according to an IAI statement. It will carry a “time capsule” loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children’s drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag. The $100-million project will measure the lunar magnetic field to help understanding of the moon’s formation. “This is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft on the moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding,” the IAI statement said. “Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the moon as a result of a private initiative, rather than a government.” The project started as a potential entry for the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered a $30-million reward to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive lunar missions. The contest closed without a winner in March 2018 but SpaceIL decided to keep working on the challenge.


Venezuela begins crucial week in humanitarian aid standoff as 600,000 volunteers register

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela’s crisis was deepening Monday as opposition leader Juan Guaido’s deadline to let in desperately needed humanitarian aid loomed, and President Nicolas Maduro showed no sign of backing down on blocking the shipments. Opposition officials hit out at state internet provider CANTV on Monday for blocking the website where volunteers are signing up to help bring in the aid, mostly supplied by the United States but stockpiled in Colombia just over the border from Venezuela. Bringing in humanitarian aid is crucial to Guaido, who has given Maduro’s government until Saturday to let the shipments into the country. Guaido is recognized as interim president by 50 countries in his challenge to socialist leader Maduro’s authority. Venezuela is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis due to shortages of food and medicine exacerbated by hyperinflation. “On Feb. 23 we have the opportunity to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans,” Guaido said on Sunday. The 35-year-old, who caused a sensation last month by declaring himself the country’s acting president, has set a target of signing up a million volunteers to help bring in the aid, with 600,000 already registered. Last week, CANTV had also redirected traffic from the volunteer website to an almost identical-looking page in another bid to slow down the mobilization. On Monday a second aid collection center is due to begin operations in Brazil’s northeastern state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela. A third center is due to open this week in the Dutch island of Curacao, off Venezuela’s north coast. “We are committed to achieving change in Venezuela,” said Guaido on Twitter. He also paid tribute to his predecessor as leader of the opposition Voluntud Popular party Leopoldo Lopez, who was imprisoned five years ago — although he is currently serving his sentence under house arrest. “The freedom we are about to reach will be a testament to the sacrifice of many,” said Guaido. Tensions mounted on Sunday with Guaido branding the government “irrational” for expelling five visiting European lawmakers. The members of the European Parliament were being tossed out with no explanation, said Spanish MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons, who led a group including fellow Spaniards Jose Ignacio Salafranca and Gabriel Mato Adrover, as well as Esther de Lange of the Netherlands and Paulo Rangel of Portugal. Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the Europeans had “conspiratorial aims” and were sent back from the country’s main Maiquetia airport. The humanitarian aid standoff is due to come to a head on Saturday. Caravans of buses are due to carry volunteers to border entry points to meet and transport arriving cargo. Guaido has kept to himself how he plans to overcome the border barriers put up by the Venezuelan military, on Maduro’s orders. Volunteer groups have begun meeting in “humanitarian camps” in several Venezuelan states to organize and prepare for the aid arrival. An imploding economy has driven an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans to migrate from the oil-rich country. Maduro, who denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis, dismisses the opposition moves as a “political show” and a cover for a U.S. invasion. “Venezuela is preparing for the humanitarian avalanche,” Guaido told about 4,000 supporters clad in white T-shirts and green scarves who gathered Saturday to sign up as volunteers. He says Maduro is illegitimate due to his reelection last year in polls widely condemned as fraudulent. “Whoever prevents the entry of humanitarian aid is condemned to spend the rest of their lives fleeing international justice, because that is an international crime,” said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio when visiting the Colombian collection center in Cucuta on Sunday. Three U.S. military cargo planes delivered several dozen more tons (tonnes) of food assistance to Cucuta on Saturday. Another U.S. aircraft is due in Curacao from Miami on Tuesday. Venezuelans based in Miami held their own drive, putting together 1,000 crates of food to send to their homeland. On Friday, Maduro instructed his army to prepare a “special deployment plan” for the 2,200-km (1,370-mile) border with Colombia. Guaido has ordered the armed forces to let the aid pass, but they remain loyal to Maduro’s regime. Maduro has dismissed the humanitarian assistance as “crumbs” and “rotten and contaminated food” while blaming shortages of food and medicine on U.S. sanctions. For analyst Benigno Alarcon, “as the regime closes the door on humanitarian aid, it closes it to a peaceful solution to the political situation in the country.” Guaido announced that British billionaire Richard Branson was organizing a concert for Friday in Cucuta with renowned international artists to raise money for the relief effort.

venezuela
humanitarian aid
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
colombia
marco rubio
u.s .


Twin bombings kill 17 in Syria's Idlib, war monitor group says

Abstract: BEIRUT - A double bomb attack in Syria’s jihadi-held city of Idlib on Monday killed 17 people, including four children, a war monitor said. The first blast was caused by a bomb planted under a car in the main city of the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. After ambulances arrived at the site, a motorcycle bomb then detonated, the Britain-based monitoring group said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which the Observatory said also wounded at least 51, updating an earlier casualty toll. Idlib, the last major part of Syria still outside the control of President Bashar Assad’s regime, is held by an alliance led by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. HTS took administrative control of the whole of the region last month, after overpowering smaller Turkey-backed factions. The Islamic State group also has sleeper cells in the area. A local office of the “Salvation Government,” an administrative body created by HTS, is located on the street targeted by Monday’s attack. Idlib has been protected from a massive regime offensive since September by a buffer zone deal agreed by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey. But it has been hit by sporadic government shelling. Eight years into the conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people, the government controls nearly two-thirds of the country.


British boat rescues some 20 migrants trying to cross English Channel from France in small craft

Abstract: PARIS - A British boat rescued between 18 and 20 migrants crossing the Channel aboard a small motorized boat Monday, French maritime authorities said. “A fishing boat gave the alarm shortly after 8:00 a.m. (0700 GMT)” after spotting the boat off the tip of northern France, authorities said. French navy, police and customs launched a helicopter, a tug boat and three fast vessels, while sea rescue services also tried to rescue the migrants, believed to include children. By the time they reached the migrants’ location however, “they had crossed over to the English side” of the Channel, where they were picked up by a British vessel, said the regional authority in northern France. British media reports said a lifeboat from the southern English coast and a Royal Navy cutter were involved in the rescue. Some 500 people — most of them over the last two months of the year — attempted to cross the Channel to Britain in 2018, compared to just 13 known attempts the previous year. French interior ministry figures show 276 people successfully reached British waters last year. London in December dispatched a navy ship to help coastguard boats watch over the 21 miles (33 km) of sea that separate France and Britain at its narrowest point. France also responded by announcing broader surveillance measures in early January. The number of Channel crossings was just a tiny fraction of the 55,756 successful attempts made across Mediterranean to Spain that were recorded by the U.N.’s refugee agency in 2018.

english channel
france
refugees
immigration
u.n .
eu
u.k .


The real 'Jaws': Great white shark's genetic secrets revealed

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The great white shark, one of the most fearsome predators in the world’s oceans in both fact and fiction, is a formidable creature — right down to its genes. Scientists on Monday said they have decoded the genome of Earth’s largest predatory fish, detecting numerous genetic traits that help explain its remarkable evolutionary success, including molecular adaptations to enhance wound healing as well as genomic stability such as DNA repair and DNA damage tolerance. The great white shark, whose scientific name is Carcharodon carcharias, boasts a very large genome, 1½ times bigger than the human genome. In theory, large genomes with a lot of repeated DNA, like this shark possesses, and its large body size should promote a high incidence of genome instability, with much more DNA and many more cells seemingly vulnerable as targets for damage through an accumulation of routine mutations. Just the opposite seems to be the case for this shark, thanks to adaptations in genes involved in preserving genome integrity. “This knowledge, in addition to providing understanding into how sharks work at their most fundamental level — their genes — may also be useful in downstream applications to human medicine to combat cancers and age-related diseases that result from genome instability,” said Mahmood Shivji, director of the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center and Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. This species, star of the 1975 Hollywood blockbuster “Jaws” and its multiple sequels, roams the world’s oceans, primarily in cool coastal waters. Gray with a white underbelly and torpedo-shaped body, it can reach 20 feet (6 meters) long, weigh 7,000 pounds (3.18 tons) and dive to nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) deep. It uses its mouthful of large, serrated teeth to rip into prey, including fish, seals and dolphins, swallowing mouth-sized chunks of flesh whole. Sharks are an evolutionary success story, thriving for more than 400 million years. Our species appeared roughly 300,000 years ago. The great white shark also displayed genetic adaptations in several genes that play fundamental roles in wound healing. For example, a key gene involved in producing a major component of blood clots was found to have undergone adaptations. “These adaptations and enrichments of essential wound-healing genes may underlie the ability of sharks to heal from wounds so efficiently,” said Cornell University’s Michael Stanhope, co-leader of the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

great white sharks
sharks
genetics
fish
dna
medicine
animals
gene analysis


'Killer T cells' raise hope of universal flu vaccine

Abstract: PARIS - Scientists said Monday they had discovered immune cells that can fight all known flu viruses in what was hailed as an “extraordinary breakthrough” that could lead to a universal, one-shot vaccine against the killer disease. Influenza epidemics, largely seasonal, kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Due to its mutating strains, vaccine formulas must be regularly updated and only offer limited protection currently. Researchers in Australia said that “killer T cells” — found in over half the world’s population — had shown in testing to be effective in fighting all common flu varieties. This means the cells could potentially be used to develop an all-encompassing flu shot that did not need to be changed annually, and even be effective in people who don’t naturally possess them. “Influenza viruses continuously mutate to evade recognition by our immune system, and they are vastly diverse, making it nearly impossible to predict and vaccinate against the strain that will cause the next influenza pandemic,” said Marios Koutsakos, a researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Doherty Institute. T cells are a type of white blood cell that roams the body scanning for abnormalities and infections. They are essential for human immunity against a host of invading bacteria and viruses. “Killer” T cells are unique in that they can directly target and kill other infected cells. Koutsakos and his colleagues used mass spectrometry — a scanning technique that helps separate molecules based on their mass — to identify parts of the virus that are shared across all flu strains, and realized that killer T cells could effectively fight variations of influenza A, B and C. Flu is especially dangerous for elderly people, children and those with compromised immune systems, as well as certain ethnic groups who never developed immune responses to the disease. The team behind the research has patented their discovery, and researchers said they hoped it would enable them to develop a universal influenza vaccine “to reduce the impact of pandemic and seasonal influenza around the world.”


Americans among group arrested in Haiti with arsenal, drones and satellite phones: media

Abstract: PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian police arrested a group of foreign nationals, including Americans, armed with semi-automatic weapons, Haitian newspapers reported on Monday, adding to uncertainty in the poor Caribbean country after more than a week of anti-government protests. The U.S. State Department was aware that Haitian police arrested a group that included U.S. citizens, an official at the department said on Monday. Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that seven foreigners and a Haitian were in the group picked up by police on Sunday night. Police found rifles, pistols, drones and satellite phones in their vehicle, the paper said. Other media said several of the men were U.S. citizens, one was Serbian and another from Russia. Since Feb. 7, thousands of demonstrators have called for President Jovenel Moise to resign and for an independent probe into the whereabouts of funds from the PetroCaribe agreement, an alliance between Caribbean countries and OPEC member Venezuela.


Trump calls discussions about removing him 'treasonous'

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday a top Justice official’s reported discussions about invoking the Constitution to remove him from office were part of an “illegal and treasonous” push against him. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the possibility of removing the president in 2017 after Trump fired FBI director James Comey, according to Andrew McCabe, who replaced Comey as the bureau’s acting director. McCabe and Rosenstein “look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught…..,” Trump said in a series of tweets. “This was the illegal and treasonous ‘insurance policy’ in full action!” Trump has often attacked the federal investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia as a “witch hunt” aimed at sabotaging his presidency. The “insurance policy” he cited refers to an ambiguous text message a top FBI investigator sent to his lover in August 2016 that alludes to their concerns about then candidate Trump, which the president often points to as evidence of a “deep state” conspiracy against him. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” the investigator, Peter Strzok, wrote. “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.” Trump abruptly fired Comey May 9, 2017, as pressure rose over the Russia investigation, setting off alarm bells in the FBI and Justice Department. According to McCabe, in a lengthy interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Rosenstein brought up the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the removal of a sitting president for incapacity. “Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort,” said McCabe, who has a book coming out, “The Threat.” Rosenstein even pondered wearing a wire to secretly record his conversations with the president, he said. The deputy attorney general, who remains in office but no longer supervises the Russia investigation, appears never to have acted on those ideas. “But what I can say is the deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time,” McCabe said. McCabe himself was fired in March 2018 for “lack of candor” in an internal investigation into the FBI’s handling of a 2016 probe into Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. In the interview, McCabe also touched on Trump’s inclination to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin over what his own intelligence services are telling him. He recounts a meeting he did not attend but was witnessed by another FBI agent, in which Trump reportedly said he did not believe North Korea had missiles capable of reaching the United States because Putin had told him that. “Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses,” McCabe said. “To which the president replied, ‘I don’t care. I believe Putin.’ “

donald trump
rod rosenstein
andrew mccabe
u.s .


Spain and Gibraltar offer differing accounts of 'quixotic' warship incident

Abstract: LONDON/MADRID - Authorities in Madrid and Gibraltar gave differing versions on Monday of an incident in which a Spanish warship told commercial ships to leave anchorages near Gibraltar, the latest example of tension over the strategic port as Brexit approaches. In toughly worded statements, Gibraltar said a Spanish warship ordered commercial ships to leave anchorages in British waters near Gibraltar, adding it was challenged by the British navy and sailed away, while the commercial ships stayed put. The Spanish government said the commercial ships were in Spanish waters and they left the area after being contacted by the Spanish warship. Neither side mentioned the nationality of the commercial ships. “Anyone who believes in the rules-based international legal order will have been shocked by the cavalier and quixotic actions of the Spanish military vessel at the weekend,” Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s chief minister, said in a statement. “This childish behavior is unsatisfactory whether it is errant or directed from above,” Picardo said. “The people of Gibraltar won’t be bullied now or after the 29th of March,” he added, referring to the date when Britain is set to leave the European Union. Tensions over territorial waters often erupt between Spanish and British vessels around Gibraltar, a peninsula on the southern tip of Spain overlooking the strait between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea that has been ruled by Britain since 1713. The status of Gibraltar and its 30,000 residents have been gaining attention amid the uncertainty around Britain’s exit from the EU, whether with a deal or without, with questions over free movement across its land and sea borders with Spain. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said a Spanish navy ship named the Tornado was policing the area on Sunday in what he said was a standard procedure. “The Tornado called three commercial ships that were breaking maritime security law in Spanish territorial waters by standing still …” Borrell told reporters in Brussels. “Those ships responded to the requests of the Tornado and abandoned the area,” he added. The British government said Britain would always defend its sovereign interests in Gibraltar. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said there was no incursion by Spanish naval forces during the incident. “We are certain of our sovereignty over the whole of Gibraltar, including British-Gibraltar territory waters, and any incursions are a violation of sovereignty, but not a threat to it,” the spokesman said. Spain has already secured a right of veto over whether future Brexit arrangements can apply to Gibraltar. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez held up an agreement on Britain’s withdrawal treaty in November over the issue and said Spain would seek joint sovereignty after Britain leaves the EU. This also takes place as Spain gears up for an early general election on April 28.


Presidents Day protests decry Trump's emergency declaration as power grab

Abstract: CHICAGO - Activists in Washington, Chicago and dozens of other U.S. cities protested on Monday’s Presidents Day holiday against President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Calling Trump’s declaration an abuse of power and usurpation of Congress, organizers with the nonprofit advocacy group MoveOn.org and other participants said it was important to let the outrage over the move be heard. “We disagree with the state of emergency declared by the president and stand with our immigrant colleagues and friends,” said Darcy Regan, executive director of Indivisible Chicago, which co-hosted the protest there. Trump invoked the emergency powers on Friday after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise. His move aims to let him spend money appropriated by Congress for other purposes. The Republican president says a wall is needed to curb illegal immigrants and illicit drugs coming across the border. Democrats and opponents of the wall say it is unnecessary. The protests in Chicago and Washington each drew a few hundred people on Monday afternoon. Protesters gathered in Chicago’s Federal Plaza carried signs that read “Dump Trump” and “Fake Emergency” and chanted “No wall, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” Cheryl Krugel-Lee, a 32-year-old student, said she brought her 4-year-old daughter to the protest in freezing weather to set an example for her. “This was a power grab by the Trump administration, and it’s immoral and illegal,” Krugel-Lee said. Organizers said 250 events were planned, including in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Democrats have vowed to challenge the national emergency declaration as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. California state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in television interviews that his state and others would sue the Trump administration on Monday.

donald trump
border wall
congress
u.s. immigration


No need for Abe — Trump is already nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Abstract: OSLO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not saying whether or not he nominated Donald Trump for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, but the question may be moot: the U.S. president has been put forward by others for the prestigious award. During a White House news conference on Friday, Trump said the Japanese leader had given him “the most beautiful copy” of a five-page nomination letter to the Nobel committee. Since then Abe has declined to say whether he had done so. Regardless, Trump has already been nominated by two Norwegian lawmakers. “We have nominated him of course for the positive developments on the Korean Peninsula,” said Per-Willy Amundsen, who was Justice Minister in Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s Cabinet in 2016-2018. “It has been a very difficult situation and the tensions have since lowered and a lot of it is due to Trump’s unconventional diplomatic style,” he added. Amundsen, who is a member of the right-wing Progress Party, wrote a letter to the award committee together with his parliamentary colleague Christian Tybring-Gjedde, he said. The letter was submitted in June, immediately after a summit Trump held in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un aimed at easing tensions and tackling Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Tybring-Gjedde, who sits on the Norwegian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, also confirmed the joint nomination of Trump. “A possible award would of course depend on the talks leading to a credible disarmament deal,” he said. A wide range of people can nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize, including members of parliaments and governments, heads of state, university professors of history, social sciences or law and past Nobel Peace Prize laureates, among others. The deadline for nominations for the 2019 prize, which will be announced on Oct. 11., was Jan. 31. The five-strong Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees. Still, it did say earlier this month that 304 candidates were nominated for this year’s prize, of which 219 are individuals and 85 are organizations. Last year’s prize was jointly awarded to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad.

nobel peace prize
shinzo abe
donald trump
awards
norway


Nigerian president warns vote-riggers of 'ruthless' response

Abstract: ABUJA - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday he had ordered the police and military to be “ruthless” with vote-riggers, as preparations were made for rescheduled elections. Presidential and parliamentary elections were put off just over five hours before polls were due to open on Saturday, causing widespread anger. New polls have been rescheduled for this Saturday, while governorship and state assembly elections have been pushed back to March 9. At an emergency meeting of his ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC) in Abuja, Buhari said he intended to make sure the rescheduled ballot proceeds without a hitch. “I do not expect anybody to make any disturbance,” he told senior party members. “Anybody who decides to snatch (ballot) boxes or use thugs to disturb it (the vote), maybe this will be the last unlawful action he will take.” Buhari, 76, said he had ordered “the military and the police to be ruthless” to ensure all Nigerians can vote for their chosen candidate. “I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs or snatch (ballot) boxes or to disturb the voting system, he will do it at the expense of his life,” the president emphasized. Both the APC and the main opposition force, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have been accused of wanting to rig the result, notably by buying biometric voter identity cards. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed the last-minute delay on logistical difficulties in the distribution of election materials, as well as sabotage. Elections have been delayed before in Nigeria: In 2015, there was a six-week postponement on security grounds linked to the Boko Haram conflict in northeast Nigeria. In 2011, the election was halted after it had already begun due to problems with deliveries of ballot papers, results sheets, and other voting materials. This year’s election is the sixth in the 20 years since Nigeria returned to civilian rule after decades of military government. Some 84 million voters are registered. Buhari’s aides retweeted the speech with the hashtag #SnatchAtYourOwnRisk, while one made an explicit reference to the president’s past as an army general. In 2015, the newly elected head of state, who during the last election campaign said he was a “converted democrat,” made a point of saying he would no longer be referred to as “General Buhari. His latest comments came as the APC, PDP and international observers called for calm after the postponement and the PDP said it was a “direct call for jungle justice. “It is indeed a license to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilized nation,” said party spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan. Many Nigerians had returned to their home towns and villages to vote, prompting fears they may not return next weekend and turn-out will be low. Buhari told APC delegates there was no justification for the delay and that questions needed to be answered about “why such incompetence manifested itself. INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu has said the decision to postpone was the commission’s alone and rejected claims of any political interference. APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole, however, backed a call from his opposite number at the PDP for Yakubu to resign, and accused INEC of “mischief, collusion and double-speak.” There was a “strong suggestion” the election watchdog had colluded with “anti-democratic forces,” he said, accusing it of warning the PDP in advance about the delay. PDP challenger Atiku Abubakar’s campaign team has accused the APC of working with INEC and the security services to rig the vote in its favour. INEC officials across the country began reconfiguring the 180,000 electronic machines used to “read” voters cards to account for the new election date. In the southern city of Port Harcourt, IT personnel were changing the date and other information on about 7,000 machines before Wednesday. “We are working hard to meet the deadline,” said INEC spokesman Christian Nwokorie. “But the internet connection is a challenge … “Usually it should take no more than one minute to complete this process but if the network is bad, it can take up to five minutes.” Batteries on the machines also need to be charged but constant electricity is an issue, he said. INEC has provided generators as back-up, he added.

nigeria
muhammadu buhari
elections
boko haram
atiku abubakar
terrorism


Trump tells Venezuelan military to back Guaido or 'lose everything'

Abstract: MIAMI - US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Venezuela’s military to accept opposition leader Juan Guaido’s amnesty offer, or stand to “lose everything,” as a crisis deepened over President Nicolas Maduro’s refusal to let in desperately needed humanitarian aid. Bringing in humanitarian aid is crucial to the viability of Guaido, who has denounced Maduro’s re-election last year as fraudulent and in January declared himself interim president, a move recognized by some 50 countries. He has given the Maduro government until Saturday to let shipments of mainly U.S. aid into the country, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis due to shortages of food and medicine exacerbated by hyperinflation. Addressing supporters and Venezuelan expatriates in Miami, Trump said he had a message for officials helping keep Maduro in place. “The eyes of the entire world are upon you today, every day and every day in the future. “You cannot hide from the choice that now confronts you. You can choose to accept president Guaido’s generous offer of amnesty to live your life in peace with your families and your countrymen. “Or you can choose the second path: continuing to support Maduro. If you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything.” Guaido has set a target of signing up to a million volunteers to help bring in the aid, with 600,000 already registered. “On February 23, we have the opportunity to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans,” he said. Maduro countered with his own announcement of 300 tons of aid from Russia, which he said would reach Venezuela by Wednesday — three days ahead of a potential showdown brought about by his February 23 deadline. Speaking at an official event broadcast on TV, Maduro said the shipment contained “high-value medicine.” Maduro has previously announced the arrival of aid from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies. Earlier, opposition officials hit out at state internet provider CANTV for blocking the website where volunteers are signing up to help bring in the U.S. aid stockpiled in Colombia just over the border from Venezuela. A second aid collection center is due to begin operations in Brazil’s northeastern state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela. But there is much uncertainty over the aid in Brazil, with officials there saying they have no information at this point. Military officials in Roraima said they had yet to receive orders, although a collection center could be set up quickly, with some businesses having already provided warehouses to that effect. A third center is due to open this week on the Dutch island of Curacao, off Venezuela’s north coast. The humanitarian aid standoff is due to come to a head this weekend, when caravans of buses are set to carry volunteers to border entry points to meet and transport arriving cargo. It is unclear how Guaido will overcome the border barriers put up by the Venezuelan military, on Maduro’s orders. Volunteer groups have begun meeting in “humanitarian camps” in several Venezuelan states to organize and prepare for the arrival of the aid to alleviate hardship from an imploding economy has driven an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans to migrate from the oil-rich country. Maduro, who denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis, dismisses the opposition moves as a “political show” and a cover for a U.S. invasion. “Whoever prevents the entry of humanitarian aid is condemned to spend the rest of their lives fleeing international justice, because that is an international crime,” U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said as he toured the Colombian collection center in Cucuta on Sunday. Three U.S. military cargo planes delivered several dozen tons of food assistance to Cucuta on Saturday. Another U.S. aircraft is due in Curacao from Miami on Tuesday. Guaido has ordered the armed forces to let the aid pass, but they remain loyal to Maduro, who has instructed his army to prepare a “special deployment plan” for the 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border with Colombia. Maduro has dismissed the U.S. humanitarian assistance as “crumbs” and “rotten and contaminated food,” while blaming shortages of food and medicine on U.S. sanctions.

venezuela
donald trump
juan guaido
nicolas maduro


Venezuelan opposition says $3.2 billion in funds are being held in banks in U.S. and hopes Trump protects them

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly has identified $3.2 billion of funds being held at 20 bank accounts in the U.S. from President Nicolas Maduro’s government that it’s working to safeguard with the help of Donald Trump’s administration. The U.S. government said in late January that some Venezuelan government accounts had been frozen and could be handed over to Juan Guaido, the president of the National Assembly who says he’s the legitimate leader of the South American nation. No details about the amounts were ever given. The figures released on Monday came from Carlos Paparoni, the head of the assembly’s finance committee during a press conference in Caracas. The parliament is working globally to try to secure state resources, he said. “The National Assembly has reached out to 152 banks from the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Asia, including central and private banks, to request the freezing of government accounts,” Paparoni said. Despite not having control of courts, the military or the oil industry, Guaido’s broad international support has allowed him to lean on foreign governments to help identify and freeze some assets as Maduro tries to work around tightening sanctions designed to choke his authoritarian regime off from much-needed dollars. Venezuela’s Information Ministry and Finance Ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Lobbying efforts have prompted the Bank of England to deny Maduro’s request to repatriate some $1.2 billion of gold and Guaido has named a new board for U.S. refiner Citgo in an attempt to secure control of the Houston-based company, which is owned by the Venezuelan state. Reuters reported that Venezuelan accounts held at Gazprombank were frozen, citing a person with knowledge of the developments. The government has also been moving funds to three recently opened Bandes accounts in Uruguay, Paparoni said, without explaining how he obtained the information. Bandes, a Venezuelan state-run development bank, is the owner of Banco Bandes Uruguay.

venezuela
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido
carlos paparoni
u.s .


Birth of a new party and death of a lawmaker could shift Labour's approach to Brexit

Abstract: LONDON - Two events in 24 hours could shape the Brexit policy of the U.K.’s main opposition Labour Party and change the course of Britain’s departure from the European Union. The decision of seven members of Parliament to quit the party on Monday and set up an independent caucus will in itself do little to alter the calculus in the House of Commons — they ignored the party line on Brexit anyway — but it could lead Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to review his strategy. And if that happens, Prime Minister Theresa May could find herself fighting a strengthened campaign for a delay to the U.K.’s departure or a second referendum, which could embolden anti-Brexit rebels in her own party. Labour has stopped short of backing a repeat plebiscite on leaving the EU, a policy that prompted some of those MPs to quit on Monday. So far Corbyn’s followers are doubling down on their support for the leader and his ambiguous Brexit policy of supporting the divorce while proposing closer ties to the EU. Even so, Labour politicians who want a new referendum still hope Monday’s split might prompt Corbyn to switch policy and back a “people’s vote,” especially if supporters of the idea stay loyal. New party The seven splitters were among 41 Labour MPs who disobeyed Corbyn last week and voted in Parliament for a call to delay Brexit. The 34 remaining rebels who didn’t quit the party on Monday may provide fruitful targets for recruitment as defectors. Deputy Leader Tom Watson warned more could follow “unless we change.” And if the Independent Group, as Monday’s ex-Labour faction is known, grows further it could yet become the new movement in British politics that its founder members are hoping for. “The potential for parties that are not part of our traditional framework of two-party politics to do well is now well established,” John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, told BBC radio on Monday. “The question is whether this group can use the particular opportunity and the particular stance that they’re going for.” May’s Conservatives have their own problems, and both pro- and anti-Brexit wings of the ruling party have been linked with rumors of similar break-away groupings. Even though Chuka Umunna directly appealed to Conservative supporters of EU membership to join his new Independent Group, the fact it was launched exclusively by Labour politicians — and dominated by grievances against Corbyn — makes it less likely to attract Tories. Election test Some Tories suggested on Monday that Labour’s turmoil may help them pick up extra votes in the next election, a prediction echoed by Corbyn’s economy spokesman John McDonnell. But analysis of the last Labour breakaway, by the SDP in the 1980s, suggests that it limited Conservative majorities by taking the votes of disgruntled Labour voters who might otherwise have backed the Tories, according to Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. There’s another event that will weigh on Corbyn’s mind in the weeks ahead: the death of Paul Flynn, a veteran Welsh MP, which was announced on Sunday. There will need to be a by-election in his pro-Brexit constituency in Wales and it is exactly the kind of district to which Labour’s ambiguous policy was designed to appeal. If Labour lose that by-election, Corbyn will come under intense pressure to change course. “By-elections can play a massive role in altering people’s perceptions of political reality,” Bale said in a telephone interview. Labour don’t need to call the by-election immediately, Bale added, “but if they’re confident their strategy is the right one they should do it.”

brexit
labour party
eu
jeremy corbyn
u.k .


Bernie Sanders announces he is running for U.S. president

Abstract: NEW YORK - Once dismissed by many as a fringe candidate with wacky socialist ideas, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders campaigned to the brink of the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and has now set his sights on the White House once again. Vermont’s Sanders, 77, announced on Tuesday that he will join an already crowded field of candidates seeking to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. “I wanted to let the people of the state of Vermont know about this first,” Sanders said on Vermont Public Radio. He called Trump a national embarrassment and a pathological liar. “I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants,” Sanders said. Like Trump, Sanders was an outsider when the 2016 presidential primaries began, little known to the public at large and initially not given much of a chance against the Hillary Clinton machine. But he came close to pulling off the upset and ended up winning 23 primaries or caucuses against the better-funded Clinton. Sanders galvanized a broad coalition with his anti-Wall Street rhetoric and talk of a “political revolution.” Though the oldest candidate in the field, Sanders garnered passionate support among young liberals with his calls for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and free public university education. He made the fight against income inequality, which he has called the greatest moral, economic and political issue of our times, the centerpiece of his insurgent campaign. Four years later, Sanders’ policies remain the same but much has changed on the political landscape. Trump won the election and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young congresswoman from New York, is a rising Democratic star, embracing many of the positions held by Sanders. “We have had more success in ideologically changing the party than I would have dreamed possible,” Sanders said in an interview with GQ magazine. “The world has changed.” Bernard Sanders was born on Sept. 8, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland. He attended Brooklyn College and later the University of Chicago, where he was active in the civil rights movement, attending the 1963 “March on Washington” where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. After graduating, Sanders worked on an Israeli kibbutz and moved to Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter and filmmaker. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, the state’s largest city, by a mere 10-vote margin and went on to win another three terms. He served as mayor until 1989, winning election as an independent to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990. Sanders served in the House until 2006, when he was elected to the US Senate. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. While Sanders remains popular among many Democrats, some in the party are questioning whether their champion this time around should be a septuagenarian white man. Multiple women have already joined the race, including Kamala Harris, an African-American senator from California, seen as the early frontrunner. Some #MeToo movement activists have also come out against a Sanders candidacy after several employees on his 2016 campaign complained of sexual harassment by staffers. Sanders has issued an apology “to the women on my 2016 campaign who were harassed or mistreated.” “We can’t just talk about ending sexism and discrimination,” he said. “It must be a reality in our daily lives.” Famously short-tempered and irascible, Sanders also still displays the energy of a much younger man — he campaigned tirelessly for Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms. Sanders claims that he does not have a burning desire to occupy the White House and that the priority is defeating Trump. “If there’s somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I’ll work my ass off to elect him or her,” he told New York magazine. Sanders lives in Burlington with his second wife, Jane. Together, they have four children and seven grandchildren.

bernie sanders
donald trump
united states
2020 u.s. presidential election


Karl Lagerfeld, fashion's prolific commander-in-chief, dies at 85

Abstract: PARIS - Karl Lagerfeld enjoyed the stature of a god among mortals in the world of fashion, where he stayed on top for well over half of a century and up to his death, at an age almost nobody apart from himself knew with to-the-day precision. He died at the age of 85, his fashion label Chanel announced Tuesday. The German designer was best known for his association with the French fashion giant, dating back to 1983. The brand, the legend now goes, risked becoming the preserve of monied grannies before he arrived, slashing hemlines and adding glitz to the prim tweed suits of what is now one of the world’s most valuable couture houses. But Lagerfeld, who simultaneously churned out collections for LVMH’s Fendi and his eponymous label — an unheard of feat in fashion — was almost a brand in his own right. Sporting dark suits, white, pony-tailed hair and tinted sunglasses in his later years that made him instantly recognizable, an irreverent wit was also part of a carefully crafted persona. “I am like a caricature of myself, and I like that,” runs one legendary quote attributed to him, and often recycled to convey the person he liked to play. “It is like a mask. And for me the Carnival of Venice lasts all year long.” His artistic instincts, business acumen and commensurate ego combined to commercially triumphant effect in the rarefied world of high fashion, where he was revered and feared in similar proportions by competitors and top-models. A refusal to look to the past was one of his biggest assets, those who knew him said. The designer mingled with the young and trendy until the last, pairing up with 17-year-old catwalk darling Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, for a collaboration released by his Karl Lagerfeld brand in 2018. His cat Choupette moved with the times too: the white-haired Birman, described by her social network minders as “daughter of Karl Otto Lagerfeld,” has more than 100,000 Instagram followers and a publishing deal. Yet Lagerfeld also stood out as a craftsman. An accomplished photographer, he drew his own designs by hand, an increasingly rare phenomenon in fashion. Behind the facade, he was known for his erudition and penchant for literature, and he devoured the world’s leading newspapers daily. Though he long enjoyed befuddling interviewers by citing different years of birth, the one deemed the most reliable is Sept. 10, 1933. Lagerfeld — dubbed “Kaiser Karl” and “Fashion Meister” among a whole host of media monikers — was born in Hamburg to a German mother and a Swedish father who imported condensed milk. He spent his early childhood tucked away from war in the 1,200-acre family estate in Bavaria and had a French tutor. The big breakthrough came shortly after a move to Paris when, in 1954, he drew a wool coat that won a prize and landed him an apprenticeship with designer Pierre Balmain. Yves Saint Laurent, who went on to found his namesake label, won the dress prize. The two became fierce competitors and even rivals in love at one point, chasing the affections of late Parisian society figure Jacques de Bascher. Saint Laurent, who died in 2008, became the enfant cheri of high society and Lagerfeld leader of a wild-child younger group. He first found real success in the mid-1960s with Chloe, the fashion label now owned by Switzerland’s Richemont and to which he was connected off and on until 1997. But it was Chanel that propelled him to rock-star status, as he sexed up the brand and lifted its profile with grandiose runway shows. In the past year these have featured a full-scale beach and an enormous replica ship. Lagerfeld was as harsh with his fashion models as he was searingly critical of anyone he considered “not trendy.” He fired his closest female friend, former Chanel model Ines de la Fressange, in 1999 after she agreed to pose as Marianne, France’s national symbol, without asking him first. Occasionally his sharp tongue has stirred controversies, though he also had a flair for a good soundbite. “I’m a kind of fashion nymphomaniac who never gets an orgasm,” he said in 1984, asked about what he felt after a fashion show. In a rare climbdown, he half-apologized to Oscar-winner movie actress Meryl Streep after once suggesting she had refused to wear a dress designed by him at an awards ceremony in favour of another she wanted to be paid to wear. Lagerfeld, who moonlighted as a cartoonist in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, took a dig at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pro-refugee stance in a 2017 sketch that blamed her for helping a far-right party gain parliamentary seats. The designer was not afraid of breaking the mould within often-pompous couture circles. He teamed up with high street brand H&M in 2004 for limited edition collections, a move that raised eyebrows and was then quickly copied by others. His appearance changed over the years along with his affectations, such as a fan he at one time carried and fluttered incessantly. Known to adore Diet Coke, Lagerfeld said he shed weight in the early 2000s to fit into the razor-thin suits brought in by Christian Dior’s then menswear designer Hedi Slimane. In rare moments when he was not working, Lagerfeld retired to one of his many homes in Paris, Germany, Italy or Monaco, all of them lavish carbon copies of 18th-century interiors.

karl lagerfeld
fashion
chanel
obituaries