Hitachi chief's remarks on nuclear industry spark debate

Abstract: On Jan. 1, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), held press interviews on the outlook of the business community and, at one point, the discussion turned to nuclear energy. Nakanishi is also the chairman of Hitachi Ltd., a major supplier of nuclear technology, and he said that the commercial possibilities for nuclear energy in Japan, for both “clients,” meaning power companies, and “vendors,” meaning plant manufacturers such as Hitachi, were increasingly limited. If clients can’t make a profit, then neither can vendors, and that will continue to be the case as long as the public is opposed to nuclear energy. The industry can’t force nuclear power on the citizens of a democracy. Major media were presumably represented at the interviews, but only one outlet, All-Nippon News Network (ANN), reported Nakanishi’s nuclear-related comments . Jan. 1 was a newspaper holiday, which means that no newspapers were published on Jan. 2, but there was still no other mention of his remarks on Jan. 3. On Jan. 5, journalist Hajime Takano commented on this lack of interest to former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the latter’s web channel for his East Asian Community Institute. The head of Hitachi, a key company in nuclear technology, had said that the business of nuclear energy is impossible without public support. Since nuclear energy is national policy, the ramifications are huge, Takano said, and yet no other major media had covered the remarks or ANN’s report. Were they afraid of upsetting the government? As Takano pointed out, the Tokyo Shimbun, which as a regional newspaper doesn’t qualify as “major media” and tends to question the government’s nuclear policy, did mention Nakanishi’s remarks on its front page on Jan. 5, suggesting that the Hitachi chairman was no longer aligned with the administration on nuclear energy. Almost eight years after the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, no nuclear plants in eastern Japan have resumed operation and, without an economic rationale for nuclear power, the policy is pointless. But the Tokyo Shimbun also reported that Nakanishi said Japan does not have the right environment for renewable energy . This qualification seemed to imply that nuclear power was still preferable, but only if the public could be persuaded to accept it. So while part of Nakanishi’s remarks might give the impression that Japan’s nuclear power industry is throwing in the towel, they need to be contextualized within the larger picture of Hitachi’s business. A report in the Dec. 19 issue of the tabloid Nikkan Gendai indicated that Hitachi had hit a wall with regard to its project to build a nuclear reactor on the coast of Wales. Nakanishi had given a news conference saying that Hitachi was having difficulty finding additional investment for the project and, therefore, the company had reached its limit, suggesting they might abandon it. The original cost estimate of ¥1.5 trillion has since doubled. The problem with the Wales project is that Hitachi only wanted to build the plant, but it cannot find anyone to run the reactor afterward, so Hitachi would have to assume operations itself to get approval for construction. In that regard it needs financial help from the British government, which couldn’t be guaranteed in the wake of the Brexit fiasco. Similar problems were faced by two other Japanese companies: Toshiba Corp. in the United States and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Turkey, both of which ended up pulling out of respective foreign nuclear construction projects. Ever since Japanese nuclear plant expansion ground to a halt after the Fukushima disaster, the government has promoted overseas nuclear development as a growth strategy, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the lead international salesman. However, proposed projects in Vietnam, Taiwan and other places have stalled one after another. The collapse of the British project, which was formally announced Thursday, may be the final nail in the coffin. In that light, Nakanishi’s new year remarks sound fatalistic, but pundits hear something different. Nikkan Gendai interviewed former trade ministry official Shigeaki Koga, who pointed out that Japan’s nuclear energy players are dependent on the government . Without support, there was no way private power companies or vendors could have made money on nuclear energy. They essentially stuck with it because it was national policy. Nakanishi’s remarks, Koga said, were really veiled threats directed at the government: If you don’t help us financially and legally, then we will have no choice but to get out of the nuclear business. If you want us to continue, he added, it’s your job to convince the public that nuclear energy is worth it. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ recent foray into wind power, which the Yomiuri Shimbun, a staunch backer of official policy, covered in detail on Jan. 1, is really, according to Koga, just a means of getting the government’s attention. Understanding that renewable energy such as wind power is probably the future, Tepco needs to enter the field, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting out of the nuclear business. In response to these kinds of comments, Nakanishi clarified on Jan. 15 that Keidanren still supports nuclear energy. For what it’s worth, pro-nuclear advocates have always said the main obstacle to nuclear power is public opinion, which they believe is ill-informed. Nuclear energy is not as dangerous as people think it is, they say, and is much less environmentally harmful than fossil fuels, which currently supply the bulk of Japan’s electricity needs. The government, they insist, needs to sway the public. However, in the Jan. 13 issue of the Tokyo Shimbun, Chuo University professor Motoko Mekata says the people are right to reject the “mythology” of nuclear power as being “safe, clean and inexpensive,” and was disappointed with Nakanishi’s remarks. As soon as Hitachi realized that nuclear exports were economically unfeasible, they said they can’t do it without public support, wrote Mekata. The nuclear industry has not changed its position, she said, it’s just shifted the blame for its miscalculations on someone else.

hitachi
hiroaki nakanishi
nuclear energy


Japan seeks to ban global tech giants from using content contained in emails and other data

Abstract: The communications ministry plans to prohibit global information technology giants from using email content and other communications data without users’ consent, informed sources said Friday. Domestic companies are already subject to the restriction, as Japan’s telecommunications business law requires them to observe a constitutional guarantee of the secrecy of communications. Among them, however, are mounting complaints that their overseas rivals, including Google Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., freely use their data for marketing, bringing in large profits. The ministry is slated to consider specific ways to enforce Japanese law on global technology companies. Late last year, the government drew up a basic policy to regulate major global technology firms. The Fair Trade Commission plans to conduct an investigation into them for possible action under Article 40 of the antimonopoly law.


In wake of Hitachi decision, minister says Japan's strategy of promoting nuclear exports will not change

Abstract: Japan’s strategy of promoting nuclear exports will not change following Hitachi Ltd.’s decision to suspend a nuclear power plant construction project in Britain, industry minister Hiroshige Seko said Friday. “There is no change in our commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear power globally and fighting climate change,” Seko told a news conference, indicating the government’s continued support to nuclear exports by domestic firms. “There are many countries hoping to use nuclear power,” Seko said. “There is a possibility that the nuclear safety technologies of Japan, which experienced the March 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, will make global contributions.” There are no promising deals on nuclear exports by Japanese firms following Hitachi’s decision. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is considering dropping its nuclear plant construction project in Turkey. Asked about the view that Japanese makers of nuclear plants will face a major realignment, Seko said that any decisions will be made by the companies concerned themselves. Seko said the government plans to consider measures to maintain human resources and technologies in the domestic nuclear industry.


Toyotomi Hideyoshi: The brutality of victory

Abstract: Japan, at last, was one — unified, united; no longer a splintered welter of “warring states” but an embryonic nation. The year, if it is to be pinned down to one, is 1590; the unifier, if one alone is to be named, is Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98). The beginning of the end of the frenzied, bloody, to modern eyes scarcely sane dance with death known as the Sengoku (Warring States) period (c. 1467-1603) was Hideyoshi’s seizure of Odawara Castle in Sagami Province, today’s Kanagawa Prefecture. Resistance crumbled. Hideyoshi was irresistible. He had subdued the “home provinces” around Kyoto, the capital; he had subdued Kyushu; the northeast, too, was his. He was as generous in victory as ruthless in combat. He slaughtered when he had to, but negotiated when he could, investing former enemies with land and authority, securing thereby their submission and loyalty. What next? Peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of peace? Generations would pass before that came naturally. Japan was his. Peasant-born, he broke the mold. He was a great man. In Hideyoshi’s day, greatness had one goal and one validation: conquest. Japan was conquered. What next? Korea, China. Why should they too not be his? His low birth, shrunken physique and facial ugliness — “bald rat” is one contemporary description of him — were counterbalanced by boundless pride and limitless confidence. His letters demanding submission or tribute from Asian powers — the Ryukyu Kingdom, Taiwan, the Philippines — include this boast: “At the time my mother conceived me she had an auspicious dream. That night, a ray of the sun filled the room as if it were noontime. All were overcome with astonishment and fright, and when the diviners had gathered, they interpreted the event, saying: ‘When he reaches the prime of life, his virtue will illuminate the four seas, his authority will emanate to the myriad peoples.'” The siege of Odawara had been a cake-walk, the feudal opposition’s last gasp. It “took on the atmosphere of a carnival,” writes historian Mary Elizabeth Berry in “Hideyoshi” (1982). “Hideyoshi gathered his concubines and his tea men about him. His generals summoned their women and their entertainers as well. Merchants hawked their wares, burlesque players were abundant, musicians and dancers relieved the tedium of summer evenings.” That was in the sixth month of 1590. Five months later he wrote the King of Korea, “My object is to enter China, to spread the customs of our country to the 400 and more provinces of that nation.” He demanded the right of passage through Korea. “My wish,” he wrote, “is nothing other than that my name be known throughout the three countries” — Japan, India and China. Korea, under Chinese suzerainty, did not say no, it did not say anything, its contemptuous silence adding insult to annoyance. China had long been in Hideyoshi’s sights. As early as 1586, the wars in Japan far from over, he remarked to a confederate, “I shall extend my conquest to China.” In 1590, a month before Odawara, he wrote his nephew, “Our sovereign (the Emperor) shall move to the Ming capital. … Both Korea and China will be taken without trouble.” In his mind, it was all settled. Japan invaded Korea in 1592. Busan fell immediately, Seoul three weeks later. The Koreans were no match for the battle-toughened Japanese. The Japanese had been at war among themselves for 130 years. They had firearms. The Koreans had none. It was no contest. Korea was defeated. Couldn’t she see that? Oddly enough, she could not. The war dragged on. The standing army retreated but guerrillas filled the vacuum, burning crops and cities, depriving the conquerors of the fruits of conquest. Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River — a new headache for the Japanese. Then there was the Korean Navy. Well-led, well-manned and well-equipped, it did what the army could not — drove the Japanese back. Historian Jurgis Elisonas writes in “The Cambridge History of Japan” (1991), “The Korean war was a complete failure for the Japanese, who won most of their battles but gained none of their objectives; having suffered grievous losses, they withdrew ignominiously from the peninsula.” It was Hideyoshi’s first defeat. He sued for peace, seeking, absurdly, a victor’s terms — Korean hostages, Korean territory, a Chinese imperial daughter as a consort for the Japanese Emperor. China stalled, Hideyoshi waited. His patience exhausted at last, he launched, in 1597, a second invasion. “The war was fought with terrible cruelty,” Elisonas writes, “and its history is marked with atrocities that are amply attested in the contemporary records of the Japanese themselves.” He elaborates: “In the manhunts conducted by the Japanese, … many thousands of Koreans were killed or mutilated. No distinction was made among combatants and noncombatants, men, women and children.” Instead of collecting the heads of the slain — trophies sanctioned by tradition — they collected noses. “A running account was kept, as the noses formed a sort of capital: Their number represented the quantification of that intangible quality, martial valor, and could be used as the basis for calculating future rewards.” A Japanese Buddhist priest, accompanying the Japanese Army as a physician, recorded his horror in his diary, which Elisonas summarizes: “People being led away in chains and tight bamboo collars through burning fields and hillsides that resounded with the wild voices of a soldiery intoxicated with their own arson; parents being killed before the eyes of their wailing children, who will be led away into captivity … the dreadful punishments meted out for the slightest remissness.” Koreans captured and sold as slaves in Japan are estimated to have numbered some 50,000. Among them were the highly skilled potters to whose advanced techniques the beautiful Japanese ceramics of the 17th century owe so much.

toyotomi hideyoshi
warring states
siege of odawara
mary elizabeth berry
jurgis elisonas
sengoku period


Amid diplomatic row, U.S. Navy chief calls on Japan and South Korea to hold constructive talks

Abstract: U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson has called for constructive discussions between Japan and South Korea to improve relations, with a view toward promoting freedom of navigation, as the two countries continue to be at loggerheads over an alleged radar lock-on incident last month. “We continue to encourage all parties to work together” in order to resolve differences, Richardson told media organizations Friday, referring to the relationship among the United States, South Korea and Japan. He expressed hopes for dialogue that will put the three countries “in a unity of effort to promote freedom on the seas.” Such dialogue should be held “to promote long-term healing and reconciliation” and “in an atmosphere of mutual trust so that we could have a long-term benefit,” he added. Japan’s relations with South Korea are deteriorating following a string of events. Among them is an incident in which a South Korean destroyer allegedly directed a fire-control radar at a Japanese patrol plane in the Sea of Japan on Dec. 20, an act that Seoul denies. On the situation in the Taiwan Strait, where China has been increasing pressure on Taiwan, Richardson said, “We remain opposed to any kind of unilateral action from either side of the strait that’d change the status quo.” “We don’t see really any kind of limitation on whatever type of ships could pass those waters,” he said, indicating that a U.S. aircraft carrier could sail through the strait.

u.s .
military
south korea-japan relations


Governor promotes Fukushima food in Hong Kong amid post-disaster import restrictions

Abstract: HONG KONG - Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori, on a visit to Hong Kong which kicked off Thursday, has worked to promote the safety of food from his prefecture, home to the heavily damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Hong Kong introduced restrictions on food imports from the prefecture after a triple meltdown occurred at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station, which was inundated by tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Uchibori is the first Fukushima governor to visit Hong Kong after the disasters for the promotion of local food products. During his stay, Uchibori met with officials of an industry association related to Japanese food. He also paid a courtesy call on a senior Hong Kong government official in charge of import regulations. The official said that Hong Kong will consider whether to relax the restrictions on Fukushima food while closely watching the pace of recovery in food imports from four nearby prefectures —Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba — according to Uchibori. Hong Kong eased its restrictions on food from the four prefectures last year. At a seminar for Hong Kong journalists on Friday, Uchibori stressed that he will redouble efforts to ease concerns over Fukushima food as much as possible, noting that more than 80 percent of all exports of Fukushima-made agricultural, forestry and fishery products had been shipped to Hong Kong before the disasters.

fukushima
hong kong
fukushima no . 1
radiation
3.11


N700S shinkansen to debut just before 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Abstract: Central Japan Railway Co. has said that its N700S bullet train model will go into service on the Tokaido Shinkansen in early July 2020, just before the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The railway operator plans to introduce a total of 40 N700S trains over three years to fiscal 2022, which ends in March 2023, with total investment estimated at ¥240 billion, according to the firm’s announcement on Friday. Each train will have 16 cars. The new model, which is now undergoing test runs, is equipped with a lithium-ion battery system enabling it to travel a certain distance in case of power outages, the first such feature for a shinkansen. Power outlets for passengers will be available at every seat, and the model has more security cameras than the trains now in service. “We’ll step up preparations to offer our newest and best shinkansen,” Shin Kaneko, the firm’s president, told a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will take place from July 24 through Aug. 9., and the Paralympic Games will follow from Aug. 25 through Sept. 6.

shinkansen
2020 tokyo olympics
rail
jr tokai


Abe and Macron call for smooth Nissan-Renault cooperation

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed hope that a management change at Renault SA will work to facilitate cooperation between the French automaker and its Japanese partner, Nissan Motor Co. During 20-minute telephone talks Friday, Abe told Macron that the Nissan-Renault alliance is a symbol of industrial cooperation between Japan and France and that he wants the two companies to maintain and strengthen their stable partnership. Specific ways to fortify the partnership should be discussed by the firms themselves, Abe added. At a board meeting Thursday, Renault accepted the resignation of Carlos Ghosn, who has been indicted in Japan for alleged financial misconduct, from the posts of chairman and chief executive officer. The board appointed Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of French tire giant Michelin, as chairman and Thierry Bollore, deputy CEO of Renault, as CEO. Nissan dismissed Ghosn as its chairman days after his first arrest by Tokyo prosecutors on Nov. 19. Ghosn was removed from the post of chairman at Mitsubishi Motors Corp., also a member of the alliance, after his first arrest as well. In the phone talks, Abe told Macron that Japan, as the chair of this year’s summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies, will aim to promote economic growth and address economic disparities. They agreed to work closely together at the G20 summit, which is scheduled to take place in Osaka in June. The phone talks were held at the request of France.

nissan
renault
shinzo abe
emmanuel macron
carlos ghosn
carmakers
france-japan relations


Japan-U.S. talks on bilateral trade deal likely to face delay

Abstract: Japan and the United States are unlikely to open negotiations on a proposed bilateral trade pact before the end of this month, due chiefly to the prolonged partial U.S. government shutdown, sources have said. In addition, it will become difficult for economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who will represent Japan in the new trade talks, to arrange his schedule for the negotiations with the United States, as Japan’s Diet will be convened for a 150-day regular session on Monday, the sources said Friday. The negotiations may not begin before early spring, people familiar with the situation said. At their meeting in September last year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to launch negotiations on concluding a trade pact. In a joint statement adopted at the bilateral summit, Abe and Trump said the negotiations will cover goods and services. On Dec. 21, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced the purpose of the trade talks, paving the way for the bilateral negotiations to be launched late this month. But the U.S. International Trade Commission has yet to compile a report on its analysis of economic impacts of the envisaged U.S.-Japan trade pact, which would be reported to the USTR before the opening of the negotiations. The expected delay in the launch of the talks is also because the U.S. government is putting priority on its trade talks with China, sources said, adding that the U.S. government shutdown is believed to have affected operations at the Office of the USTR. When they meet first in the trade negotiations, Japan and the United States are expected to discuss how to proceed with the talks. But a Japanese official said that the talks may not be held until April depending on the situation. With Washington highly likely to make tough demands in the agriculture and automobile sectors, Tokyo is concerned about impacts the trade talks could have on an election in the summer for the House of Councilors if the negotiations kick into full gear just before the triennial vote, some sources said.

trade
shinzo abe
donald trump
u.s.-japan relations


Nintendo scraps development of 'Metroid Prime 4' for Switch, hits reset button

Abstract: Nintendo Co. said its highly anticipated “Metroid Prime 4” game for Switch has not met internal standards and it will scrap development and start again with a new team. The game was initially announced in 2017 and expected to be released between 2019 and 2020. Shinya Takahashi, head of development, said in a video message on YouTube that Nintendo would cooperate with U.S.-based Retro Studios and restart development from the beginning. Takahashi didn’t say when the title would be completed. Nintendo is keeping its forecast for 20 million Switch shipments in the fiscal year through March, President Shuntaro Furukawa told the Sankei Shimbun newspaper this week, a bullish forecast for a game console that appeared to be losing momentum.


YouTube demotes flat-earthers, conspiracy theorists

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - YouTube said Friday it will stop recommending specious videos such as those claiming the Earth is flat or promoting bogus theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The global video streaming service planned to modify its viewing recommendation system gradually, starting in the United States and later expanding to other countries. Google-owned YouTube, part of the Alphabet holding, said it is scrutinizing how to reduce the spread of content that comes close to but doesn’t quite cross the line of violating its community guidelines. “To that end, we’ll begin reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways,” YouTube said in a blog post. “Such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11.” YouTube estimated the change would affect less than 1 percent of content at the service but would improve the experience for users. Videos deemed to be just shy of violating community guidelines will remain accessible and come up in search results, they just won’t be suggested as worth watching, according to YouTube. “We think this change strikes a balance between maintaining a platform for free speech and living up to our responsibility to users,” YouTube said. Both human review and machine learning will be used to train the recommendation system on questionable videos, the company said. YouTube routinely updates features such as it recommendation engine. Several years ago, it modified the system to downplay videos with misleading descriptions intended to bait people into clicking, such as “You won’t believe what happens next.” “In the last year alone, we’ve made hundreds of changes to improve the quality of recommendations for users on YouTube,” the California-based video group said.


Japan's Asahi to buy London Pride brewery for $330 million

Abstract: GENEVA - Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC’s brewing business for $330 million, showing that despite business angst about Brexit, there’s still international demand for the most British of products — ale and cider. Fuller shares surged as much as 25 percent, the most ever, on a £250 million deal that includes its London Pride brand, soft-drink production assets and wine wholesaling. The British company will focus on its pub and hotel operations. Asahi’s push to expand in the U.K. runs counter to the trend among some other Japanese companies like Panasonic Corp. or Toyota Motor Corp., which have been shifting operations out of the U.K. or threatening to scale back if the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal. Alarm about a messy exit is spreading in industries ranging from aerospace to fashion to craft brewing. Airbus SE Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders this week labeled the U.K. government’s handling of Brexit a “disgrace,” while Burberry Group PLC warned of snags in its supply chain and BrewDog PLC described a no-deal divorce as a “doomsday” scenario. In Asahi’s case, any concerns about Brexit were overridden by the need to expand internationally. Like Japanese rivals Kirin Holdings Co., Suntory Holdings Ltd. and Sapporo Holdings Ltd., the company faces a stagnant domestic market. Asahi’s purchase builds on its 2016 acquisition of Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell lagers from Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch InBev NV in two takeovers worth more than $10 billion combined. The global giant inherited those labels via its deal for SABMiller PLC. The overseas ventures have produced mixed results. Since the Pilsner acquisition, Asahi has backed away from some of its investments elsewhere in Asia, last year selling most of its nearly 20 percent holding in China’s Tsingtao Brewery Co. to Fosun International Inc. for $847 million. Asahi also divested its stake in Indonesian beverage ventures. London Pride, which is Fuller, Smith & Turner’s flagship ale, has been produced in the U.K. capital since the late 1950s at the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick and has been the official beer sponsor of the London Marathon, beginning in 2007. Asahi could capitalize on the heritage of Fuller’s brands through exports, Mintel analyst Jonny Forsyth said. That’s probably a bigger driver of the deal than any desire to expand in the U.K., he said. “Tradition, heritage and craft are all factors which play very well in Asia,” Forsyth said. “Brexit could actually play to Asahi’s advantage because it is putting pressure on the value of the pound, which makes exports cheaper.” Consolidation in the brewing industry has reached a frenetic pace, with the world’s largest beer-makers seeking an edge over competitors through alliances in fast-growing segments such as craft beer or emerging markets where consumption is growing in line with rising incomes. This week, through its recently formed merchant banking arm, Japanese brokerage Nomura Holdings Inc. and U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group LP made a joint ¥52.2 billion ($476 million) tender offer for Okinawa-based Orion Breweries Ltd. Last year, Heineken NV took a $3.1 billion stake in China’s top brewer in a bid to challenge AB InBev’s position as the largest foreign beer-maker in the world’s biggest market, while Carlsberg A/S increased the stakes it owns in some joint ventures in Asia. In the deal with Fuller, Asahi is paying 23.6 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the year through last March. The U.K. company’s shares were boosted by plans to return 55 million to 69 million pounds to shareholders after the sale. Rothschild & Co. advised Fuller’s on the deal, which should be completed in the first half. Nomura advised Asahi.


Another dam owned by Vale bursts at Brazil mine; 200 missing

Abstract: BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian rescuers were searching for some 200 missing people after a tailings dam burst on Friday at an iron ore mine owned by Vale SA, the second major dam disaster involving the company in just over three years. Seven bodies had been recovered by nightfall, said Avimar de Melo Barcelos, the mayor of the town of Brumadinho where the dam burst in the mining-heavy state of Minas Gerais. The toll was expected to rise sharply. Vale Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman said only one-third of the roughly 300 workers at the site had been accounted for. He said a torrent of sludge tore through the mine’s offices, including a cafeteria during lunchtime. Minas Gerais is still recovering from the collapse in November 2015 of a larger dam that killed 19 people in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster. That dam, owned by the Samarco Mineracao SA joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, buried a village and poured toxic waste into a major river. Schvartsman said the dam that burst on Friday at the Feijao iron mine was being decommissioned and had a capacity of 12 million cubic meters — a fraction of the roughly 60 million cubic meters of toxic waste released by the Samarco dam break. “The environmental impact should be much less, but the human tragedy is horrible,” he told journalists at Vale’s offices in Rio de Janeiro. He said equipment had shown the dam was stable on Jan. 10 and it was too soon to say why it collapsed. Television footage showed a vast swathe of thick red mud scarring the verdant hills below the mine, cutting through farms and residential areas and leveling everything in its wake. Fire brigade spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Aihara said the torrent of mud stopped just short of the Paraopeba River, a tributary of Brazil’s longest river, the Sao Francisco. “Our main worry now is to quickly find out where the missing people are,” Aihara said on GloboNews cable television channel. Scores of people were trapped in nearby areas flooded by the river of sludge released by the dam failure. Helicopters plucked people covered in mud from the disaster area, including a woman with a fractured hip who was among eight injured people taken to hospital, officials said. The Inhotim Institute, a world-famous outdoor contemporary art museum a few miles from downtown Brumadinho, evacuated visitors and closed its doors out of precaution. The Feijao mine is one of four in Vale’s Paraoeba complex, which includes two processing plants and produced 26 million tons of iron ore in 2017, or about 7 percent of Vale’s total output, according to information on the company’s website. Feijao alone produced 7.8 million tons of ore in 2017. Brazil’s recently inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro dispatched three ministers to survey the disaster area and will visit himself on Saturday, his chief spokesman said. Former environmental minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva said Brazilian authorities and private miners had not learned anything from the 2015 Samarco disaster near the city of Mariana and called it unacceptable. Operations at Samarco remain halted over new licensing, while the companies have worked to pay damages out of court, including an agreement that quashed a 20 billion reals ($5.31 billion) civil lawsuit last year. Federal prosecutors suspended but have still not closed an even larger lawsuit. “Three years after the serious environmental crime in Mariana, with investigations still ongoing and no one punished, history repeats itself as tragedy in Brumadinho,” Silva said on Twitter. Iron ore prices are likely to rise in the wake of the disaster as there may be less supply on the market for the short term, said Chris LaFemina, a Jefferies mining industry analyst. That could boost the share price of rivals Rio Tinto PLC and Anglo American PLC, while weighing on Vale, he said. U.S.-listed shares of Vale closed 8 percent lower on Friday. “While we hope the reports of fatalities are inaccurate, we do believe this is a material negative for Vale,” LaFemina said. “The full extent of the damage and the potential impact on iron ore markets are not clear.” Schvartsman declined to comment on how output would be affected.


Ukraine sees surge in cyberattacks targeting election, suspects Russia

Abstract: KIEV - Hackers likely controlled by Russia are stepping up efforts to disrupt Ukraine’s presidential election in March with cyberattacks on electoral servers and personal computers of election staff, the head of Ukraine’s cyberpolice said on Friday. Serhiy Demedyuk told Reuters the attackers were using virus-infected greeting cards, shopping invitations, offers for software updates and other malicious “phishing” material intended to steal passwords and personal information. Ten weeks before the elections, hackers were also buying personal details of election officials, Demedyuk said, paying in cryptocurrency on the dark web, part of the internet accessible only through certain software and typically used anonymously. “There are constant attacks — they go from simple (software) to applications that one or another employee uses,” he said, adding they were reminiscent of cyberattacks on the country’s energy, transport and banking systems seen since 2014. “Payment occurs in cryptocurrency in most cases … and from the same wallets that were used to finance the previous attacks. This indicates that the same hacker organizations that are under the control of Russian special agencies are engaged in this,” Demedyuk said. Asked about Demedyuk’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russian state structures have never interfered, and are not interfering, in the internal affairs of other countries.” Relations between Ukraine and Russia plunged following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Kiev has accused Russia of orchestrating large-scale cyberattacks as part of a “hybrid war” against Ukraine, which Moscow repeatedly denies. In one of the attacks the “NotPetya” malware in 2017 hit thousands of computers not only in Ukraine but also around the world, disrupting shipping and businesses. “OVERWHELMING” Ukraine imposed martial law in November, citing the threat of a full-scale invasion after Russia captured three of its vessels in the Kerch Strait. Pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko, likely to stand in the elections, said this month that the Kremlin had developed a huge arsenal of methods for interference in the elections. “This is not just our take. The Russian meddling to influence Ukraine’s elections is well under way,” Petro Poroshenko told foreign diplomats. His main opponent in the polls is opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, also pro-Western and with a following among Ukrainian nationalists. According to the cyberpolice, no infiltration into the electoral system has been recorded yet, but they expect even larger attacks a month before the elections when the commission’s regional offices will start working. The hackers buying personal details of election officials were concentrating on civil servants and employees who keep the commission’s equipment running, he said. On phishing attacks, Demedyuk said “virus-laden New Year’s greetings on behalf of government bodies or the governments have become so widespread that they are just overwhelming.” “Such mailing lists, spam letters are sent to them and their relatives, which contains malware to control their computer equipment. This is the easiest way, but it is effective.” The cyberpolice worry that critical infrastructure in sectors such as energy and banking may again become the object of cyberattacks during or before the elections using malware to create so-called back doors for a large coordinated attack.

ukraine cyberattacks elections russia hacking


U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hires never-Trumper that his predecessor couldn't for Venezuela post

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Top U.S. diplomat Mike Pompeo on Friday tapped Elliot Abrams, a central figure in Ronald Reagan’s controversial anti-communist campaigns in Central America, as a new envoy to “restore democracy” in Venezuela. Pompeo announced the appointment of Abrams two days after Washington declared head of state Nicolas Maduro to be illegitimate and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of crisis-plagued Venezuela. Pompeo said that Abrams “will be a true asset to our mission to help the Venezuelan people fully restore democracy and prosperity to their country.” Abrams told reporters in brief remarks: “This crisis in Venezuela is deep and difficult and dangerous and I can’t wait to get to work on it.” The veteran Republican foreign policy hand took charge of Latin America policy under Reagan, clashing with human rights groups as he channeled generous U.S. support to anti-communist forces in Nicaragua and El Salvador. In one notorious incident, he initially dismissed the massacre of nearly 1,000 civilians by the Salvadoran Army at El Mozote in 1981. Abrams later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal, when the Reagan administration secretly funded the Contra rebels in Nicaragua through arms sales to revolutionary Iran. Abrams later returned as a senior adviser to president George W. Bush in charge of human rights and the Middle East. But when Republicans returned to the White House with President Donald Trump’s election, Abrams was initially passed over as the new administration shut out critics of the unorthodox new leader. Abrams during the 2016 election had written a piece in The Weekly Standard magazine entitled, “When You Can’t Stand Your Candidate,” in which he argued that Trump “cannot win and should not be president of the United States.” Comments and views like that were the reasons why the White House blocked Tillerson, Pompeo’s predecessor, when he tried to pick Abrams as his deputy early in 2017. Pompeo, one of Trump’s favorite Cabinet members, assured that Abrams was on board, saying the new envoy was “eager to advance President Trump’s agenda and promote the ideals and interests of the American people.” Pompeo said that Abrams would join him Saturday as the secretary of state heads to New York for a special U.N. Security Council session on Venezuela.

mike pompeo
venezuela
elliot abrams
donald trump
u.s .


Wall retreat in U.S. shutdown deal leaves Trump battered but vowing to fight on

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump, who famously vowed to negotiate big deals in the White House, came out of a government shutdown battle on Friday politically wounded and outmaneuvered by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. With Americans exasperated over the 35-day shutdown’s impact on everyday life, including air travel, Trump finally gave in and agreed to reopen the government until Feb. 15, without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded for a border wall. In a speech in the Rose Garden, he did not admit to backing down. But behind the scenes at the White House, there was a recognition that he had lost this round. “Perhaps he lost the short-term battle,” one senior administration official said. True to form for this administration, the outcome was uncertain until the last minute. On Thursday night, Vice President Mike Pence and senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, presented Trump with four options, including declaring a national emergency right away, which would let him fund the building of border a wall without congressional approval but guaranteeing a court challenge. Trump slept on it. On Friday morning, an air of uncertainty hung over the White House as Trump pondered. Aides prepared the Rose Garden event without knowing for sure what he would say. He opted to let lawmakers fully reopen the government for three weeks and try again to craft a mutually agreeable border security package, the senior administration official said. A key factor for Trump, the official said, were stories of law enforcement officials unable to adequately do their jobs because of the shutdown that had left 800,000 federal workers at home on furlough or working for no pay. “We don’t think we caved,” said another senior White House official. “We have been consistent that we want to go through the process. The president wants to give this one more shot.” Several officials said the struggle was not entirely over. They said Trump has grown increasingly confident that more Democratic lawmakers will support border security funding in weeks ahead, despite Pelosi’s flatly telling him that under no circumstances would she allow wall money to emerge from the House of Representatives that her fellow Democrats control after sweeping to a majority in the November mid-term elections. The shutdown battle left scars on Trump. His administration looked out of touch with ordinary Americans when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wondered aloud in a CNBC interview why federal workers who missed two paychecks didn’t just get loans. Trump’s job approval ratings drooped from an already anemic 40 percent down into the mid-30s, a troubling sign as he looks ahead to a 2020 re-election battle, already clouded by the prospect of more headlines from a Russian election meddling probe. That was driven home on Friday by the arrest of long-time Trump friend Roger Stone in an FBI dawn raid in Florida. With even some conservatives casting the agreement as a retreat by the president, Trump tweeted late Friday that it “was in no way a concession” on his part. Adding that the deal would take care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the shutdown, he emphasized that it was only done “with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!” Still, gaining the advantage — at least for now — was Pelosi. As House speaker, she is now Trump’s main foil in Washington. Trump earlier had been among the first to say Pelosi earned her position. “I think she deserves it,” he said then. The two leaders tangled repeatedly through the shutdown fight. Pelosi rescinded her invitation to Trump to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber on Jan. 29, citing security concerns due to the shutdown. Trump then refused to let Pelosi use a military plane for an overseas trip. The senior administration official said Pelosi, in taking on the president so directly, might have hurt some of her fellow Democrats in districts won by Trump in 2016. Some of them had wanted her to negotiate earlier, the official said. “Maybe she’s appealing to the left wing of her party, but she’s risking her majority in doing that,” the official said. Still, a Trump adviser said the president’s view of Pelosi has not changed. “She’s tough, she’s stubborn,” the adviser quoted the president as saying privately about the speaker. Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and a close Trump ally, said this of Trump’s view of Pelosi: “He has respect for her. He knows that she’s a tough operator. He does not dislike her.”

donald trump
nancy pelosi
elections
u.s .
congress
budgets
u.s. shutdown


Roger Stone indictment reveals 'senior' Trump campaign official 'directed' push for stolen emails

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Focus The most important line in an indictment of Trump associate Roger Stone by special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday may be the one stating that a senior official in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign “was directed” to contact Stone to get information from the organization publishing stolen Democratic National Committee emails. Trump isn’t addressed directly in the 24-page indictment of his longtime political ally, but the detailed account of the interaction of his campaign and allies with WikiLeaks raises new questions about whether Trump or his family played a direct role in trying to communicate with the secretive foreign group, which has been linked to Russia. The key passage in the indictment relates to a set of DNC emails released on July 22, 2016. Prosecutors wrote that “a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information” might be released by WikiLeaks. The senior campaign official is likely either Paul Manafort, who was the campaign chairman, or his deputy, Rick Gates, because Manafort was the campaign figure closest to Stone at that time, according to people familiar with the campaign. Manafort and Gates were charged with tax crimes and conspiracy against the U.S. in 2017. Notably, the indictment doesn’t refer with any specificity to who issued the original directive to pursue the emails, which Mueller has said were purloined by Russian state hackers. In July 2016, there was still only a small coterie of advisers in the Trump campaign, including several members of his immediate family: Donald Trump Jr. son-in-law Jared Kushner. Mueller may well have more evidence about the origin of that order. Gates has been a cooperating witness for nearly a year. Manafort also has met with Mueller’s team after cutting a plea deal. Mueller’s indictment also describes how a “high-ranking Trump campaign official” was in touch with Stone in October 2016 ahead of the release of additional damaging information about Clinton’s campaign by WikiLeaks. An associate of that official texted Stone after the release to say, “Well done.” The high-ranking official was Stephen Bannon, who later served as Trump’s top strategist, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some people around Trump said the indictment didn’t get close to Trump or detail new examples of collusion with Russia. But other Trump aides and advisers said Stone’s arrest revived fears in the White House about what other evidence Mueller may have gathered. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said he plans to delve more deeply into the findings as well. “Our committee will be eager to learn just who directed a senior campaign official to contact Stone about additional damaging information held by Wikileaks, one of the publishing arms of Russian government hackers,” the California Democrat said in a written statement. Stone was charged by Mueller on seven counts, including several for lying to Congress. Last December, Mueller asked the House Intelligence Committee to hand over the transcript of Stone’s closed-door September 2017 interview, which the panel agreed to do. One looming concern for Trump is plans by the House Intelligence Committee to release the transcripts of closed-door questioning of dozens of witnesses in its Russia-investigation probe, including its 2017 interview of Trump Jr. That could open up Trump Jr.’s testimony to Mueller’s scrutiny. “The first order of business for the committee will be to release all remaining transcripts to the special counsel’s office, and we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Schiff said. Trump Jr. also met with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which did release a transcript of the closed-door interview. Asked whether he was aware of any communication between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, he described messages he sent and received on Twitter: “I got a few direct messages from them asking me, I believe, if I would leak his tax return. I think the only time I responded to them was, ‘Hey, when I am I going to receive the next leak.'” Trump Jr. also said he was unaware of anybody on the campaign communicating with WikiLeaks. Trump’s own remarks from July 2016 show that he was interested in the contents of the hacked emails. Five days after WikiLeaks released 20,000 DNC emails showing party officials bashing Clinton opponent Bernie Sanders, Trump addressed a news conference. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” he said, referring to a separate set of emails missing from her personal server. Around that date, Russians involved in the country’s election interference campaign sent around phishing emails to addresses associated with the Clinton campaign, according to an indictment of Russian agents issued by Mueller over the summer. They subsequently stole Democratic emails, which they gave to WikiLeaks, which posted them online. The conspirators “discussed the release of the stolen documents and the timing of those releases with Organization 1 to heighten their impact on the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” the indictment said, referring to WikiLeaks and the hacker known at Guccifer 2.0. The indictment said that in total some 50,000 documents were released. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Friday that Stone’s alleged crimes have “nothing to do with the president.” Stone, who had a decades-long relationship with Trump and was instrumental in transforming him into a presidential candidate, left the campaign in August 2015 after a dispute over strategy. But Stone stayed in Trump’s outer circle and remained in contact with Manafort, who he had spent decades working with at their firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly. “I will plead not guilty to these charges,” Stone said outside the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “I will defeat them in court. I believe this is a politically motivated investigation.”

roger stone
robert mueller
donald trump
russia
espionage
scandals
2016 u.s. presidential election
russia probe


Spain, France and Germany give Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ultimatum: Hold an election

Abstract: MADRID - Spain, France and Germany on Saturday gave embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro an ultimatum, saying they will recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s new leader unless he calls elections within eight days. The ultimatum comes as international pressure mounts on the Maduro regime to agree a new vote, with the United States, Canada and major South American players already recognizing Guaido, who proclaimed himself acting president of Venezuela during massive street rallies earlier this week. After four years of economic pain that has left Venezuelans short of food and medicine and forced more than 2 million to flee, Guaido is trying to oust Maduro following controversial elections that saw the socialist leader sworn in for a second term. “If within eight days there are no fair, free and transparent elections called in Venezuela, Spain will recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuelan president” so that he himself can call such polls, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised announcement. French President Emmanuel Macron followed suit in a tweet, saying “the Venezuelan people must be able to freely decide on their future,” as did German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz. The coordinated announcements are the most explicit yet from EU countries as the 28-member bloc struggles to draft a joint statement with regards to its position on the crisis in Venezuela. Spain had wanted the EU to take a tough line on Maduro by calling for immediate elections, failing which the bloc as a whole would recognize Guaido, the 35-year-old head of Venezuela’s National Assembly. But countries like Austria, Greece and Portugal are much more reluctant. In fact Greece’s ruling Syriza party has publicly backed Maduro, with party Secretary Panos Skourletis voicing “full support and solidarity” to what to he called “the legal president.” U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has spearheaded the international pressure on Maduro, who accuses Washington of being behind an attempted “coup” by declaring his regime “illegitimate.” On Saturday at a U.N. Security Council meeting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will urge members to recognize Guaido as interim president, the State Department said. Washington’s support for Guaido led Maduro to close the U.S. Embassy and consulates and break diplomatic ties. U.S. diplomats in Venezuela have until next Saturday to leave the country, but Washington has refused to comply fully with the exit order. Guaido is instead urging U.S. diplomats to stay and keep the embassy’s doors open. Maduro’s re-election last year was contested by the opposition and criticized internationally — but he has until now retained the loyalty of the powerful military. Spain is closely linked to Venezuela, a former colony, as some 200,000 of its nationals live there. Sanchez insisted Saturday that Spain is “not looking to impose or remove governments in Venezuela, we want democracy and free elections in Venezuela.”

spain
venezuela
nicolas maduro
juan guaido
emmanuel macron
donald trump


'Broken man': Right wing rips Trump over no-wall U.S. shutdown deal

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s deal to end the U.S. government shutdown without getting money for his border wall drew immediate scorn from some of the prominent conservative figures whose support may be crucial to his 2020 re-election bid. Throughout the monthlong standoff with congressional Democrats, Trump again and again asserted that he would not compromise on his demand for $5.7 billion to construct a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. On Friday, as federal government operations grew more disrupted, the president did just that. “Trump is a broken man,” tweeted commentator Mike Cernovich, a popular conservative personality on social media with a passionate following of Trump voters. Cernovich said Trump had been outmaneuvered by Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling her an “alpha.” Conservative provocateur Ann Coulter wrote on Twitter: “Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.” The influential conservative news website Drudge Report in a banner headline made a point of saying the deal contained “No Wall Funds.” News site Breitbart, once run by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, simply posted “Government Open. No Wall.” The Daily Caller, another conservative news website, ran the headline, “TRUMP CAVES.” Some prominent conservatives jumped to Trump’s defense, however. “If Trump fails to get a wall,” wrote Kurt Schlichter, a columnist for conservative news and opinion site Townhall, “I’ll just have to settle for only 90 percent of what I wanted.” Trump’s decision to agree to a short-term measure that funds the government through Feb. 15 came as opinion polls showed his job approval rating falling to some of the lowest levels of his tenure — and as some Democrats begin to mount candidacies to challenge his re-election. Trump’s promise of a border wall was central to his 2016 campaign, and he viewed the standoff as a way to show supporters that he was trying to follow through. Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who is in regular contact with the White House, said Trump will be able to push for wall funding over the next three weeks without the distraction of a shutdown and that his supporters should wait to judge his efforts. Trump also signaled Friday that if he doesn’t get the result he wants, he may yet declare a national emergency and re-route federal monies to build the wall on his own. “He might take a short-term hit but overall in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal as long as he is ultimately seen as committed to border security,” O’Connell said.

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nancy pelosi
u.s .
congress
elections
budgets
u.s. shutdown


U.S. steps up pressure on Maduro as Russia backs Venezuelan ally

Abstract: WASHINGTON/CARACAS - The United States on Friday signaled it was ready to step up economic measures to try to drive Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. Some U.S. diplomats left the embassy in Caracas, and Russia vowed to back its socialist South American ally. The U.S. Treasury Department stopped short of announcing a freeze on Venezuela’s U.S. assets and accounts but said it would take steps to ensure commercial transactions are “consistent” with its recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday was to urge members of the United Nations Security Council to recognize Guaido. Washington requested the meeting of the 15-member council after a string of countries threw their weight behind Guaido, who heads Venezuela’s congress, and urged Maduro to step down. Pompeo will be accompanied by former U.S. diplomat Elliott Abrams, whom he named on Friday to lead U.S. efforts on Venezuela. Abrams is a neoconservative who has long advocated an activist U.S. role in the world. Russia opposes the U.S. efforts and has accused Washington of backing a coup attempt, placing Venezuela at the heart of a growing geopolitical duel. Private military contractors who carry out secret missions for Russia have flown into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for Maduro, sources said. Maduro said he welcomed the U.N. debate. “Thanks, Mike,” he said, tongue-in-cheek, during a Friday news conference. “We’re going to tell the truth about the articles of the constitution, about the coup.” Maduro on Wednesday ordered U.S. diplomats out of the country within 72 hours. On Friday, some American diplomats left the U.S. Embassy in Caracas in a convoy of vehicles with a police escort en route to the airport. U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet called for an investigation into alleged excessive use of force by Venezuelan security forces against anti-Maduro protesters in recent days, adding that she was “extremely concerned” that the situation could rapidly spiral out of control. Guaido, who has galvanized Venezuela’s opposition, proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday during a march of hundreds of thousands in Caracas. He is considering making a request for funds from international institutions including the International Monetary Fund, sources said on Friday. He still has no control over the Venezuelan state and the military, which has so far remained loyal to Maduro despite a deep economic and political crisis that has sparked mass emigration, with inflation forecast to rise to 10 million percent this year. Guaido has promised future amnesties to military members if they disavow Maduro, asking soldiers on Friday to “put themselves on the side of the constitution.” Most Latin American nations have joined the United States in supporting Guaido’s claim on the presidency, although Mexico’s new leftist government has said it would not take sides. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday his administration would be willing to mediate. Guaido said he would reject any negotiations that do not include Maduro’s exit, the setting up of a transition government and free elections to pick a new president. “No one wants fake dialogue. … The only thing we want to negotiate is the end of the usurpation,” he told a crowd clustered in a plaza in Caracas’ Chacao district, an opposition stronghold. To ratchet up pressure on Maduro, who began a second term on Jan. 10 following an election widely considered to be a fraud last year, the United States is seeking to cut off funds for his government and is considering introducing fresh sanctions, including on its vital oil sector. Maduro warned off any attempt to take control of U.S. refiner Citgo, the country’s primary offshore asset. “It is the property of the Venezuelan people, and we will defend it,” he said. The Maduro-appointed board of Citgo is preparing a legal strategy to defend itself against any attempts to divert its funds or change its board, sources said. Oil prices edged higher on Friday as the political turmoil in the OPEC member threatened to tighten the global supply of crude. The U.S. has until now resisted significant oil sanctions because of the impact it would have on Venezuelan citizens already struggling with shortages. “The oil situation has been an ethical moral dilemma for us,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, in an interview. “Cutting off all trade in oil would be the last step. It would make it even worse for the average person.” The Trump administration is trying to make sure that any measures to restrict oil revenues to Maduro do not cause spikes in prices that would be felt by U.S. consumers, said Scott Modell, managing director of Rapidan Energy Group, who advises energy clients on geopolitical risks. “How do they allow Venezuelan oil to continue to flow, while cutting off the flow of money back to Maduro and the government? That’s the general playbook they have been using for Iran, and the one they are trying to adapt to Venezuela now,” Modell said.


Greece does 'mission impossible' in ratifying North Macedonia accord

Abstract: ATHENS - Greece on Friday ratified a landmark accord that changes the name of neighboring Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute with its neighbor and opening the way for the ex-Yugoslav republic to join the European Union and NATO. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who hammered out the deal with his Macedonian counterpart last year, secured enough votes to scrape the vote through a deeply divided Parliament on the third day of a debate fraught with emotion, anger and cries of betrayal. The settlement seeks to end a 28-year old dispute between Athens and Skopje over the use of the term “Macedonia” by renaming the tiny Balkan state “Republic of North Macedonia” to differentiate it from Greece’s northern province of Macedonia. Many Greeks opposing the deal view it as an attempt by their neighbors to hijack ancient Greek civilization and culture. But Tsipras, a leftist firebrand who swept to power an anti-austerity platform as Greece was deep in financial crisis in 2015, made a point of pursuing a deal. “This is a historic day for Greece, ending a pending issue which was a burden on our foreign policy,” Tsipras told journalists. Greece’s European Union allies, who once shuddered at the anti-austerity rhetoric from the 45-year old premier, welcomed the ratification. “They had imagination, they took the risk, they were ready to sacrifice their own interests for the greater good,” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted. “Mission impossible accomplished.” The dispute has been on the United Nations agenda for almost three decades, ever since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece, swept up by nationalist rage, slapped a short-lived trade embargo on the tiny landlocked state. Matthew Nimetz, a veteran U.N. diplomat who worked on the matter for years, called ratification “visionary.” “This historic agreement between two neighbors opens the door to a new relationship between them and ushers in a new era for the consolidation of peace and security in the Balkans,” he said in a statement. The dispute had stymied Macedonian attempts to join the EU and the NATO military alliance in a region where the two organizations jostle for influence with Russia. Moscow had taken a dim view of the accord; Greece had taken an unprecedented step in mid 2018 of expelling four Russians, including two with diplomat status, for perceived meddling on the matter. Opinion polls show that most Greeks oppose the settlement, a fact which may not bode well for Tsipras in an election year. A general election is due by October, and his party is trailing the main opposition party, the conservative New Democracy, by up to 12 points. The debate in Parliament was heated, with voting almost interrupted on Friday when an MP for the far-right Golden Dawn Party, asked to cast his vote, responded: “No to treason!” Protests against the deal at times turned violent earlier in the week, and on Thursday evening police fired tear gas to disperse crowds outside parliament. Smaller groups of people braved heavy rain on Friday to demonstrate outside Parliament. New Democracy slammed the agreement. “This deal should never have been signed or brought to Parliament for ratification,” party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers. “It is a national defeat … a national blunder that is an affront to the truth and history of our country.”


Roger Stone: A shadowy provocateur of U.S. politics

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Roger Stone, who was arrested in Florida on Friday on charges of lying to Congress about his work for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has made a career of breaking the rules as a Republican election consultant and self-avowed dirty trickster. A dandy who sports a tattoo of his political hero Richard Nixon between his shoulder blades, the 66-year-old Stone avoided running afoul of the law over decades of helping crush Democrats with artful ruses and fake news, long before that term came in vogue. His well-cultivated image as an eccentric master manipulator earned him a documentary, the exuberant, well-regarded “Get Me Roger Stone,” released in 2017. But his alleged dealings with anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks as they published documents stolen by Russia and communications from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 have placed him into choppier, hotter water than is his custom. It could be a death blow to the career of Stone, the shadowy Machiavelli of U.S. politics who may finally have taken a step too far. Stone declared his innocence and called the charges “politically motivated” after a court appearance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was arrested by a heavily armed SWAT team in a pre-dawn raid. “They terrorized my wife, my dogs,” he declared, adding that the FBI agents were nevertheless “extraordinarily courteous.” The dapper Stone has been a colorful feature of American politics for nearly 50 years. He volunteered for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater when he was only 12. Eight years later, in 1972, he quit university to enlist in the re-election effort for Nixon. He made his mark by planting a spy on the campaign of a Nixon rival, who became the candidate’s driver and stole copies of internal documents for the Republicans. Since then, he has helped candidates from Ronald Reagan to Trump craft their messages, fend off bad news and crush foes with clever marketing and dastardly tricks. He became known for a series of political maxims, the most famous of which were: “Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack,” and “Attack, attack, attack — never defend.” He also embraced deeply a key lesson from the 1972 campaign: that Republicans had to appeal to a base of white, middle class suburban and rural voters. For Stone, politics was a game he loved more than most anyone. “Politics with me isn’t theater. It’s performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake,” he said in 2007. A forthright self-promoter and dandy, Stone keeps a massive collection of expensive suits hand-tailored for his body-builder frame, pairing them with French cuffs and perfectly knotted silk ties. His shoes always shine, as does his hair — for years dyed blonde until, more recently, ceding to a perfect white mane. He has heavily burnished his role in crucial events. His candidates have lost as often as won, and some in Washington’s tight circle of political consultants say he has been only a bit player since the 1980s. But Trump took him seriously. They met in 1979 in the offices of legendary mob lawyer Roy Cohn, who schooled Stone in New York’s hardball politics, and who also worked for Trump’s real estate-developer father. At that meeting, Stone helped Trump’s father skirt campaign donation rules to pump $200,000 illegally into Reagan’s presidential effort. A year later, Stone joined with lawyer Paul Manafort — who became Trump’s campaign chair in 2016 — to form a Republican legal and political consultancy. One of their first jobs was to help Trump negotiate serious legal problems regarding his megayacht. When Trump mulled running for the White House in 2000, he called on Stone for advice. And when he finally did run in 2015, Stone was one of the first on board. They broke in late 2015 after clashing over Trump’s gift for making outrageous statements. But Stone remained on the campaign’s fringes, offering advice and his own public relations efforts. That led to the charges Friday that he had lied in testimony about his role as a link between the campaign and WikiLeaks as it published Russian-purloined documents from the Clinton campaign. True to his politics-as-entertainment perspective, following his court appearance Friday, Stone pledged his backing for Trump and struck a Nixonian pose, arms outstretched and fingers signalling victory. “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about,” he told the scores of reporters waiting for him.

roger stone
donald trump
russia
vladimir putin
espionage
scandals
robert mueller
2016 u.s. presidential election
russia probe


Kremlin-linked contractors bolstering security for Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro: sources

Abstract: MOSCOW - Private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for President Nicolas Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests, according to two people close to them. A third source close to the Russian contractors also said there was a contingent of them in Venezuela, but could not say when they arrived or what their role was. Russia, which has backed Maduro’s socialist government to the tune of billions of dollars, this week promised to stand by him after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president with Washington’s endorsement. It was the latest international crisis to split the global superpowers, with the United States and Europe backing Guaido, and Russia and China urging noninterference. Yevgeny Shabayev, leader of a local chapter of a paramilitary group of Cossacks with ties to Russian military contractors, said he had heard the number of Russian contractors in Venezuela may be about 400. But the other sources spoke of small groups. Russia’s Defence Ministry and Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the contractors. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We have no such information.” The contractors are associated with the so-called Wagner group whose members, mostly ex-service personnel, fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, according to interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives. A person believed to work for the Wagner group did not respond to a message asking for information. Citing contacts in a Russian state security structure, Shabayev said the contingent flew to Venezuela at the start of this week, a day or two before opposition protests started. He said they set off in two chartered aircraft for Havana, Cuba, from where they transferred onto regular commercial flights to Venezuela. The Cuban government, a close ally of Venezuela’s ruling socialists for the last two decades, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The contractors’ task in Venezuela was to protect Maduro from any attempt by opposition sympathizers in his own security forces to detain him, Shabayev said. “Our people are there directly for his protection,” he said. Venezuelan authorities said they had put down an attempted revolt on Monday by rogue military officers about a kilometer from the presidential palace in Caracas. Maduro, the 56-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, only takes to the streets in carefully controlled situations, since crowds have shouted him down in the past. One of the two anonymous Russian sources, who is close to the Wagner group and fought in foreign conflicts where it was active, said the contractors first arrived in advance of the May 2018 presidential election, but another group arrived “recently.” Asked if the deployment was linked to protecting Maduro, the source said: “It’s directly connected.” The contractors flew to Venezuela not from Moscow but from third countries where they were conducting missions, he added. The third source, who is close to the private military contractors, said there was a contingent in Venezuela but he could not provide further details. “They did not arrive in a big crowd,” he said. Publicly available flight-tracking data has shown a number of Russian government aircraft landing in or near Venezuela over past weeks, though there was no evidence the flights were connected to military contractors. A Russian Ilyushin-96 flew into Havana late on Wednesday after starting its journey in Moscow and flying via Senegal and Paraguay, the data showed. The aircraft, a civilian jet, is owned by a division of the Russian presidential administration, according to a publicly available procurement contract relating to the plane. Between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14 last year, an Antonov-124 heavy cargo aircraft, and an Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft, carried out flights between Russia and Caracas, flight-tracking data showed. Another Ilyushin-76 was in Caracas from Dec. 12 to Dec. 21 last year. All three aircraft belong to the Russian air force, according to the tracking data.


Taliban's new political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar expected to join peace talks with U.S. in Qatar

Abstract: KABUL/PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - The Taliban’s new political leader is expected to join meetings with U.S. officials in Qatar imminently, Taliban sources said Saturday as the latest round of talks to find ways to end the 17-year Afghan war entered a sixth day. The peace talks, initially slated for two days, are continuing despite Taliban representatives staging a brief walkout Friday over differences with U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Two senior Taliban officials in Afghanistan who are privy to the negotiations said momentum is building following Thursday’s appointment of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as the political leader of the hard-line Islamist group. Baradar, released from a prison in Pakistan last year, is expected to fly to Qatar to join the session — a move they believe will be welcomed by a U.S. side keen to talk to senior Taliban figures. “He is expected to join soon,” one of the senior Taliban officials in Afghanistan said. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was not immediately available for comment. Question marks remain over Baradar’s health, with Taliban officials saying after his release in October that Baradar needed rest before joining the movement’s leadership council. Baradar, who earlier led the insurgent group’s military operations in southern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2010 by a team from Pakistan and U.S. intelligence agencies. A co-founder of the movement, he was a close friend of the reclusive former Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre, “Baradar,” or “brother.” His appointment marks a new push to bring Taliban out of the political and diplomatic shadows, with several other officials being appointed to oversee education, mining and health issues. Staging near daily attacks against the Western-backed Afghan government and its security forces, the Taliban controls nearly half of Afghanistan and are widely seen as more powerful than at any time since being toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said last week that 45,000 members of the country’s security forces have been killed since he took office in the fall of 2014. When he joins talks, Baradar will be faced with easing U.S. fears over the Taliban’s refusal to cut ties with al-Qaida — the issue at the core of Friday’s walkout. One of the key U.S. demands is a guarantee from the Taliban that Afghanistan will not be used as a future base for terrorist attacks against the U.S. and its allies. “The Taliban has assured the U.S. that they will oppose any attempt by militant groups to use Afghanistan to stage terrorist attacks on America or its allies,” a senior Taliban leader said, adding that the U.S. wants the Taliban to snap ties with Islamic State and al-Qaida. “We are willing to denounce links with Islamic State but we refuse to disconnect ties with al-Qaida because they accept Taliban supremo Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada as their leader too,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.

taliban
qatar
kabul
afghanistan
mullah mohammad omar
al-qaida
u.s .


U.S. delays sending asylum-seekers to Mexico

Abstract: TIJUANA, MEXICO - The United States has delayed its plan to send asylum-seekers back to Mexico while their claims are processed, as the Mexican government said Friday it “disagrees” with the policy. U.S. and Mexican officials had said President Donald Trump’s controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy would be put into effect Friday at noon with the return of 20 Central Americans at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego, California and the Mexican city of Tijuana. However, no asylum-seekers had been sent back by Friday evening, said an AFP correspondent at the border, and Mexican authorities said the program had been delayed. A Mexican immigration official in Tijuana, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first returns had been pushed back, possibly to Monday or later. “It’s not that simple. It’s a very delicate migration situation,” the source told AFP. “These are migrants who have a court date with a judge (to seek asylum), which means U.S. authorities have accepted that their lives could actually be in danger. If anything happens to them in Mexico, their families could sue the U.S. government for failing to protect them.” Earlier, foreign ministry spokesman Roberto Velasco said the Mexican government was not happy with the new policy, but would accept the migrants for “humanitarian” reasons. “The Mexican government disagrees with the unilateral measure implemented by the United States government. However … we reiterate our commitment to migrants and human rights,” Velasco told a news conference. Mexico will give returnees humanitarian visas that allow them to stay in the country temporarily while they await their court dates in the U.S., he said. The U.S. plans to continue presenting 20 people a day at San Ysidro, and eventually extend the policy to other points along the 3,145-kilometer (2,000-mile) border, Velasco said. Announced last year, the policy is meant to stop what Trump calls “catch and release” — allowing migrants who cross the border without papers and claim asylum to leave detention and remain in the United States while their cases are processed. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it is facing a “humanitarian and security crisis” on the southern border, caused by a broken immigration system “exploited by smugglers, traffickers, and those who have no legal right to remain in the United States.” It says at least 80 percent of asylum claims are without merit — mostly by poor refugees from violence-wracked Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Many of them never show up for their court hearings, department officials say. The system is badly backlogged, with 800,000 asylum requests currently pending. But the “Remain in Mexico” plan — which Homeland Security has since renamed the “Migrant Protection Protocols” — has been sharply criticized by opponents on both sides of the border. Migrants have been tortured, raped and killed in Mexico’s often violent border regions, and the new policy violates the right of people whose lives are genuinely at risk to seek asylum in the US, activists say. The new policy “is not only unlawful but could lead to dire and catastrophic consequences for those who are seeking to access the asylum process in the United States, a right which is enshrined in both domestic and international law,” Katie Shepherd, a lawyer at the American Immigration Council, told AFP. Authorities in Tijuana said the returnees would initially be housed in a government-run shelter. Mexico will not accept unaccompanied minors, people with health problems or those who have appealed a rejected asylum claim, said Velasco. The policy limbo came as Trump announced a deal to reopen the U.S. government after a record five-week shutdown triggered by his fight with Congress over funding for a border wall, which he says is the only way to stop illegal immigration. The deal with opposition Democrats does not include funding for the wall.


Spaniards grieve after 2-year-old boy who fell down illegally dug well is found dead

Abstract: SEVILLE, SPAIN - Spaniards on Saturday grieved after a toddler who fell down a well was found dead in a tragic end to an intense 13-day rescue operation fraught with danger and setbacks. Hundreds of engineers, police and miners had been working around the clock under the media glare to try to reach 2-year-old Julen Rosello, who plunged down a narrow, illegal well on Jan. 13 while his parents prepared lunch nearby in Totalan, a southern town near Malaga. “Unfortunately at 1:25 a.m. the rescue team reached the spot where they were looking for Julen and found the lifeless body of the little one,” the central government’s representative in the southern region of Andalusia, Alfonso Rodriguez Gomez de Celis, wrote on Twitter. “Not another time, no,” shouted his father Jose when he is believed to have heard the news, a photographer witnessed. Julen’s parents lost another child, Oliver, aged three, in 2017. The child had cardiac problems. Julen made a “free fall” down to a depth of 71 meters (232 feet) when he hit a layer of earth, Gomez de Celis later told reporters, adding that an investigation is underway to determine any “potential liabilities” in the boy’s death. A hearse arrived at the mountain site shortly after the news broke to take his body to a funeral home, with psychologists at the side of Julen’s parents. “All of Spain feels the infinite sadness of Julen’s family. We have followed closely every step to reach him,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter, where the news was a trending topic. In a tweet, Spanish King Felipe VI extended his “deepest condolences to Julen’s whole family.” The Civil Guard police force, whose explosives experts had helped elite miners in digging a tunnel to reach Julen, tweeted a photo of an eye with tears pouring out. “Unfortunately, despite so much effort by so many people, it wasn’t possible . . . ” it wrote on its official account. Spain had been riveted by the complex search-and-rescue operation, which was fraught with complications that caused delay upon delay as Julen’s distraught parents and relatives stood by. It was “a colossal mission,” Gomez de Celis told reporters Saturday morning, that involved “moving 85,000 tons of earth in a brief space of time . . . with the obstacle course that the mountain was throwing at us.” There had been no sign of life from the boy but rescuers believed they knew where he was inside the well. The only evidence of the boy’s presence were some strands of hair that matched his DNA and a bag of candy he had been holding when he fell into the well. Rescuers were not able to get to Julen via the well he fell down because it was blocked by a layer of earth, sand and stones believed to have been dislodged when he tumbled in. After unsuccessfully trying to suck up the blockage using machines, they decided to dig a vertical shaft parallel to the well. The idea was to secure the shaft with tubes then take elite miners down in a specially made cage to start digging a horizontal tunnel to the site where they believed the child was. But the tubes designed to secure the shaft did not fit, so they had to widen it, delaying the operation further. Eventually they succeeded and expert miners Thursday began painstakingly digging a four-meter-long tunnel to join both channels, with the help of small, controlled explosions. The miners worked in teams of two and were equipped with oxygen tanks. Despite the passage of time, the boy’s relatives held out hope that Julen had somehow survived the fall and would be found alive. An autopsy of the boy is currently being carried out and an investigation into the circumstances of his fall into the unmarked, illegally-dug well — one of many in Andalusia — will be carried out by an investigating judge.


China increases clout at United Nations as U.S. leadership wanes

Abstract: NEW YORK - As the United States has increasingly backed away from multilateral leadership and engagement at the United Nations, China in particular has stepped up to fill the vacuum, according to diplomats and insiders, while countries such as Japan are left on uncertain footing. “China has become much more eager to assert itself and look like a leader in the U.N. system,” said Richard Gowan, a senior fellow at the United Nations University, said. “It’s a strategic shift, and at a moment where the United States is pulling back, China has a lot of opportunities to make its power felt.” Part of China’s rise in the international body is a direct result of its growing financial prosperity. In the calculation of each nation’s funding obligations for the U.N. budget from 2019-2021 — an assessment that factors in gross national income, debt adjustments and other variables — China has come out ahead of Japan as the second-largest contributor, behind only the United States. China’s increased financing of both the general operating budget and international peacekeeping missions gives it additional clout, while Tokyo has slipped to the third spot in general funding for the first time since the 1980s. Beijing now contributes 12.01 percent of the general budget, up from 7.92 percent in the previous three-year period. Japan’s share is down to 8.56 percent from 9.68 percent previously. The current U.S. contribution level is 22.00 percent. At its peak, Tokyo footed 20.57 percent of the general budget in 2000 as it pushed to gain a permanent seat on an expanded Security Council. Amid the steady rise of China, which eclipsed Japan as the second-largest funder of peacekeeping operations in 2016, some fear the window for Tokyo to achieve such reform is closing. The shifts in relative influence occur against a backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump shunning multilateral engagement, including by curbing Washington’s financing of the international body he once described as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” In addition to limiting its contribution to a quarter of the peacekeeping budget rather than roughly 28 percent as assessed, Washington under Trump has backed out of the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement, refused to participate in a global compact for migration, withdrawn from the Human Rights Council, slashed funding to Palestinian refugees and moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Such decisions have been viewed as spurning international cooperation and leave the U.S. mission increasingly isolated. “In the last two years (China) has really, really raised its presence here and it is now pushing very hard for the U.N. to regularly endorse the ‘One Belt, (One) Road’ approach to development,” Gowan said, referring to China’s massive program of foreign infrastructure investment, which critics see as a cover for Beijing to expand its economic influence. Making a significant push in 2015 to ramp up China’s international commitments, President Xi Jinping pledged to establish a $1 billion peace and development fund, earmarked $100 million for African Union military assistance and promised to contribute a standby peacekeeping force of 8,000 troops. The standby force, which Beijing finished assembling last autumn, is in addition to more than 2,500 Chinese personnel already serving in eight operations mainly in hot spots like South Sudan, Mali, Darfur and Congo. With the latter figure alone, China was already the 10th-largest contributor of boots on the ground, exceeding the combined number of troops from Britain, France, Russia and the United States, the other four permanent members of the Security Council. “China is investing in peacekeeping because it has economic stakes in countries like South Sudan and the Congo,” Gowan said. “Everyone uses peacekeeping to advance their own national interests, and it is not completely sincere to say that China shouldn’t.” As China exerts greater influence, some member states have raised concerns over Beijing’s views on human rights, including its endorsement of defunding human rights officers for peacekeeping missions and its reluctance to bring up rights issues, such as those in North Korea, in various U.N. forums. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other officials have nonetheless backed China in its international development efforts as the country pushes for references to “win-win cooperation” — a phrase closely tied to Beijing’s presentation of “One Belt, One Road” — in U.N. resolutions and statements. Speaking at the China-Africa Cooperation Summit last September, Guterres praised China’s engagement abroad and its “commitment to sharing its successes through different initiatives” including “One Belt, One Road.” The United States, India and nations in Europe are among those that have pushed back against the initiative. China has been less vocal on such matters in the Security Council. During its November presidency of the 15-member council, Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu led a rare working visit to his country with stops to tour Guangzhou and Shenzhen to mark the 40th anniversary of China’s opening and reform. Gowan said that in spite of Beijing’s apparent “public relations moment,” he believes Japan’s role remains strong, especially in the area of aid and the support it offers throughout the U.N. system. “It is not clear to me that it hugely affects Japan’s diplomatic position at the U.N.,” said Gowan. “Japan has always been overshadowed by the United States, not China.” Robert Zuber, director of Global Action to Prevent War, also differentiates Tokyo’s motives in saying Japan is “not looking for voids or gaps to fill” but is “looking for things that could work better” in areas such as disarmament where it has expertise. “I don’t think Japan is going to lose its place here,” the seasoned U.N. watcher added. “If we propose good ideas and take a leadership role, we can maintain our presence and be respected,” Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho told reporters. “We will continue our efforts at the U.N.”

china
u.s .
u.n .
china-japan relations
_analysis


Hawkish U.S. national security adviser says 'significant' steps by North Korea could lead to eased sanctions

Abstract: U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, known as one of the most hawkish officials in the Trump administration, has said that Washington would roll back crushing sanctions on North Korea if the U.S. sees “a significant sign” of steps toward denuclearization. Bolton alluded to the possibility of easing the tough measures in an interview Friday with The Washington Times. The comment marks a stunning reversal for Bolton, who in February last year called for preemptively bombing North Korea. “President Trump … has said repeatedly that North Korea has not engaged in nuclear tests,” he said when asked about progress on the issue. “North Korea has not engaged in missile tests. What we need from North Korea is a significant sign of a strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons and it is when we get that denuclearization that the President can begin to take the sanctions off.” Bolton did not specify if he was speaking of international sanctions or the United States’ unilateral measures. Still, any decision to relax sanctions as an intermediary step toward the North relinquishing its nuclear arsenal would be a step backward from its current policy of seeking the “final, fully verified denuclearization” of the country before any rewards are doled out. U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks had been stalled for months after the landmark summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. But recent remarks by Kim and Trump, as well as a visit to Washington by the North Korean leader’s right-hand man earlier this month, have injected fresh momentum into the negotiations and a second Kim-Trump summit scheduled for the end of February. Experts say the U.S. could put aside its hard-line denuclearization-first stance in exchange for an interim agreement well short of complete disarmament. The U.S. has reportedly demanded an inventory of the North Korean arsenal, a request Pyongyang has brushed away. Instead, the U.S. could accept a North Korean offer to shutter the reactor at its Nyongbyon nuclear complex in exchange for specifically targeted sanctions relief. In a New Year’s address, Kim urged the United States to take reciprocal measures in exchange for denuclearization steps the North Korean dictator has claimed his country has taken since last year. State-run media has echoed this sentiment, urging corresponding, step-by-step measures, including sanctions relief, as Kim seeks to follow through on a pledge to shift his focus from nuclear weapons to rebuilding his country’s economy. A “peace declaration” ending the 1950-53 Korean war could also be one measure on the table. Such a declaration could pave the way for a formal peace treaty and could involve security guarantees the North craves. Kim on Thursday was quoted by state media as praising Trump’s “unusual determination” to secure a second summit, saying the North Korean leader plans to “believe in the positive way of thinking of President Trump, wait with patience and good faith and, together with the U.S., advance step by step toward the goal to be reached by the two countries.” But despite this praise, Bolton, delivered a stern warning in Friday’s interview to the young North Korean leader. “The negotiation really is between the President and Kim Jong Un,” Bolton said. “He is prepared to engage in this negotiation. If I was Kim Jong Un, I would not think of crossing the president.”

north korea
john bolton
nuclear weapons
donald trump
kim jong un
kim-trump summit
u.s .
north korea nuclear crisis


Camels, stunts and military might featured in annual parade as India marks 70th Republic Day

Abstract: NEW DELHI - Thousands of people watched as tanks, camel-mounted forces and motorbike stunt riders paraded in New Delhi on Saturday as India marked its 70th Republic Day in an annual display of culture and military might. Security was tight, especially in the capital where large sections were sealed off for the parade and visiting dignitaries including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was the guest of honor. Around 25,000 police and paramilitary force personnel were deployed across the city for the event. The day marks the date in 1950 when India’s new constitution came into effect. India gained independence from Britain in 1947, but went through a transitional phase when it was still classed as a dominion. The parade, in the heart of the Indian capital, had the customary colorful array of security forces, including camel-mounted border forces in vivid turbans, tanks, missiles and groups from across the country in regional dress. On the eve of the national day, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind urged people to vote in national elections due by May. “An election is not just a political exercise. An election is a collective call to wisdom and a collective call to action,” Kovind said in his speech. “This makes the very act of voting a sacred act,” he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who analysts say is locked in a hard-fought electoral battle, hopes to be re-elected in the upcoming elections. Ramaphosa, who is leading a delegation to India, held a meeting with Modi and said he hopes for closer bilateral cooperation between the two countries. “(We) concluded this morning a three-year strategic program of cooperation,” Ramaphosa told journalists after the Friday meeting.

india
republic day
new delhi
cyril ramaphosa
narendra modi
south africa


Japan aims to woo more U.S. tourists at New York travel show

Abstract: NEW YORK - Travel agencies and organizations from Japan pitched the country as a perfect destination for American tourists at the annual New York Times Travel Show, which opened on Friday. “One of our main efforts is to disperse travelers throughout Japan,” said Keiko Matsuura, a spokeswoman for the Japan National Tourism Organization. “We are trying to introduce lesser-known regions.” Akita Inu Tourism was among the bodies present at the exhibition, promoting its “land of Akita dogs” in the prefecture. Inu is the Japanese word for “dog.” As a special destination marketing organization in Japan, Akita Inu Tourism receives funding from the government to promote the area in a bid to revitalize its economy. The area is known to be heavily burdened by an aging population. Shin Osuka, chief marketing officer at Akita Inu Tourism, said he hopes the organization can become a role model for other areas that have a rapidly aging population. “We have a social mission,” he said. Heartland Japan is a new travel website operator hoping to draw foreign tourists beyond the three most popular cities — Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo — and give them an “authentic” local experience so they can learn about Japan’s culture. Launched in March last year, the company offers a walking tour of the Aso volcano in Kumamoto Prefecture and gives visitors a chance to speak with local residents who lived through the powerful earthquakes that struck the prefecture in 2016. According to the JNTO, the total number of foreign visitors to Japan was around 31.19 million in 2018, a record high, while the number of U.S. tourists represented about 1.53 million of the total, up 11 percent from the previous year. Japan is aiming to attract 40 million travelers in 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. To meet the target, the government has implemented measures such as relaxing visa rules and expanding airports to accommodate budget airlines. The three-day travel show, one of the biggest of its kind on the U.S. East Coast, brings together travel representatives from over 170 countries.