Singapore approves 'fake news' laws despite fierce criticism from tech giants and rights groups

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Singapore’s Parliament on Wednesday passed laws to combat “fake news” that will allow authorities to order the removal of online content, despite fierce criticism from tech giants and rights groups. They give government ministers powers to order social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to put warnings next to posts authorities deem to be false, and in extreme cases get them taken down. If an action is judged to be malicious and damaging to Singapore’s interests, companies could be hit with fines of up to $1 million Singapore dollars ($735,000). Individuals could face jail terms of up to 10 years. Authorities in the tightly-controlled country — long criticized for restricting civil liberties — insist the measures are necessary to stop the circulation of falsehoods that could sow divisions in society and erode trust in institutions. But the laws have sparked outrage from rights groups, which fear they could stifle online discussion, tech companies with major bases in the financial hub and journalists’ organizations. The legislation “gives the Singapore authorities unchecked powers to clamp down on online views of which it disapproves,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southeast Asia. “It criminalizes free speech and allows the government almost unfettered power to censor dissent. It doesn’t even provide any real definition of what is true or false or, even more worrying, ‘misleading.'” The measures were debated for two days in Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling People’s Action Party, before being passed late Wednesday. The city-state’s small opposition Workers’ Party — with only six elected members in the 89-seat chamber — opposed the measures. “To introduce such a bill is not what the government, which claims to defend democracy and public interest, should do,” said one of the party’s MPs, Low Thia Khiang. “It is more like the actions of a dictatorial government that will resort to any means to hold on to absolute power.” The Asia Internet Coalition, an industry association whose members include Facebook, Google and Twitter, has described it as the “most far-reaching legislation of its kind to date.” But addressing Parliament on Tuesday, the law and home affairs minister, K. Shanmugam, said that tech companies could not be relied upon to regulate themselves. “This is serious business. Tech companies will say many things to try and advocate their position,” he said. “We have to show them we are fair, but also firm.” The government stresses the laws target false statements, not opinions, and that ordering “corrections” to be placed alongside falsehoods will be the primary response rather than fines or jail terms. Any government decision can be appealed through the courts — although critics say there are few people who would have the resources or will to take on the authorities. Critics also note that Singapore already has tough legislation against sedition, defamation and disturbing racial harmony that can be used to police the web. The internet has up until now been a relatively free space in Singapore and there are some local alternative news sites, which are typically more critical of the authorities than the traditional, pro-government newspapers and TV. The financial hub of 5.6 million people is among several countries that have passed laws against fake news.

singapore
rights
social media
media
censorship


Kyoto firms target rich foreign travelers with exclusive accommodations and services

Abstract: KYOTO - Expensive guided tours and accommodations that give wealthy visitors to Japan rare opportunities to experience traditional culture in the historical city of Kyoto are picking up steam. Services include the company of traditional female entertainers, known as maiko and geiko , a rare experience for non-Japanese in particular, as well as temple lodgings that cost a whopping ¥1 million a night. They are intended to meet growing demand among foreign tourists to have a traditional experience in Kyoto, as visitors’ priorities are shifting from buying goods to experiencing unique events. Exclusive Kyoto Inc. started an ozashiki experience service in 2016 in entertainment districts such as Gion, where it is still tradition to refuse first-time customers, enabling non-Japanese the chance to enjoy conversations, facilitated by an interpreter, with maiko and geiko in a tatami room and be entertained by their traditional dances. The service is more expensive than the price charged to regular customers, mainly due to guide fees. Around 80 groups have used the service so far. “We want to offer foreigners a real experience of Kyoto entertainment, while paying maximum respect to local traditions,” said Kenji Sawada, chief executive officer of Exclusive Kyoto. Ninnaji, a Buddhist temple and UNESCO World Heritage site, began offering stays in a renovated wooden residence called Shorinan in spring 2018. The residence can accommodate only one group at a time at ¥1 million per night, excluding tax. During their stay, lodgers are allowed to use the Goten complex usually used as the chief priest’s office. They can also enjoy, for an extra charge, various Japanese cultural experiences such as gagaku (ancient court music) and ikebana flower arrangements. “We accept the ¥1 million fee in part as a donation to the temple,” said Chiho Kamoi, a priest in charge of the temple’s clerical work. The number of visitors to Ninnaji dropped some 10 percent last year from 2012, causing a decline in the temple’s revenues. It aims to use part of the income from accommodation fees for repair and maintenance work. The Thousand Kyoto, a new hotel that opened in January this year, offers paid services according to customers’ wishes, such as visiting temples that are not normally open to the public. The hotel charges around ¥60,000 to ¥220,000 per night. “Amid growing demand for experience-based consumption, we want to raise customer satisfaction by offering high-quality services,” a hotel employee said.

kyoto
maiko
geiko
foreign tourists
tourism
geisha
wealth


Amid chilly ties, Japan and South Korea defense chiefs may hold meeting at Singapore summit

Abstract: Japan has begun making arrangements to hold a meeting with South Korea’s defense minister on the sidelines of an annual security forum that is slated to begin in Singapore later this month, a senior Japanese official said Thursday. If realized, it will be Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya’s first meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo, this year. Bilateral tensions have been running high since a South Korean destroyer allegedly locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane last December, in addition to friction over long-standing wartime issues. During the envisaged meeting with Jeong, Iwaya hopes to mainly discuss North Korea and has no plans to focus on the radar incident, according to the Defense Ministry official. “The meeting will be meaningless unless it is a positive and constructive one,” a Japanese government source said. In January, Japan concluded that South Korea’s denial of the alleged radar lock-on is “baseless” and has not held further talks about the incident since then. During the three-day Asia Security Summit starting May 31, Japan is also considering holding a trilateral meeting that would also include acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, the official said. Also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, the forum has taken place every year in Singapore since 2002, where ministers of Asia-Pacific countries and other major nations such as the U.K., France and Germany debate security challenges in the region and their defense cooperation.

south korea
takeshi iwaya
jeong kyeong-doo
south korea-japan relations


Japan hopes to mediate between U.S. and Iran to rescue 2015 nuclear deal

Abstract: The Japanese government hopes to mediate between the United States and Iran in an effort to rescue a landmark 2015 international nuclear deal, officials have said. “We note that Iran denies it is withdrawing from the nuclear deal,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference Thursday after Tehran announced the suspension of some of its commitments under the 2015 agreement. “We intend to contribute to regional peace and stability, utilizing our traditional friendly relations with Iran,” Nishimura added. Tokyo has consistently supported the deal that terminated sanctions by the United States and Europe against Iran in exchange for restrictions on the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear development activities. When the U.S. government decided in May last year to withdraw from the accord, Japan acted in concert with European countries and said that it would be extremely regrettable if the decision had a significant impact on the maintenance of the deal. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order imposing fresh sanctions to prohibit trade in metals, mainly steel, with Iran. Some Japanese officials say Tokyo should urge Washington to exercise restraint. Amid heightened military tensions marked by the dispatch of a U.S. carrier strike group to the Middle East, Tokyo is seeking ways to facilitate talks between Iran and the United States. “Both sides are seeking dialogue,” a Foreign Ministry source said. “There’s a limit, but there’s also a role Japan can play.”

iran
yasutoshi nishimura
donald trump
u.s .
u.n .
nuclear weapons
nuclear energy
iran nuclear deal


Japan supports Taiwan's bid to attend World Health Assembly in move that could anger China

Abstract: TAIPEI - Foreign Minister Taro Kono expressed support on Wednesday for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly in a move that could anger China. It marks the first time Japan has publicly supported Taiwan’s bid to attend the annual meeting of the WHA, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, which this year is scheduled to take place in Geneva from May 20 to 28. Kono wrote on his Japanese-language Twitter account that it is essential to strengthen the ability to respond to global public health crises and to prevent the occurrence of geographical gaps in infectious disease control. With those factors in mind, he tweeted, “Japan supports Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer.” 国際化の進展に伴い、世界的な公衆衛生危機対応の強化は不可欠であり、感染症対策等に地理的空白を生じさせないためにも、台湾がオブザーバーとしてＷＨＯ総会に参加することを、日本として支持します。 — 河野太郎 (@konotarogomame) May 8, 2019 This is the third straight year the self-ruled island hasn’t received an invitation to attend the assembly due to strained ties with mainland China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province awaiting unification, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday thanking Kono for his support and expressing Taiwan’s willingness to cooperate more with Japan and the international community to tackle global health issues, including disease prevention. The ministry asked that Japan and like-minded countries continue to back Taiwan’s participation in international organizations and activities. Thank you @konotarogomame for urging #Taiwan ’s @WHO participation. Such support from #Japan shows how #TaiwanCanHelp boost global health security. It also spotlights the unfairness of denying the country’s 23 million people the basic right to #Health . https://t.co/4bFQ5c5hiY — 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) May 8, 2019 Kono’s message came a day after the U.S. representative office in Taiwan reiterated Washington’s backing for Taiwan’s membership in international organizations that do not require statehood, such as the WHO. Other countries, including the U.K., have also indicated their support for Taiwan’s WHA participation. On Tuesday, China blamed Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party government for the exclusion. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Taiwan was able to attend the WHA in the past as the result of negotiations based on the political foundation of the “one-China principle.” “However, since the DPP came to power, the political foundation no longer exists,” Geng said. To protect the integrity of related resolutions of the United Nations and the WHA concerning Taiwan’s participation, “the Chinese side decided not to let Taiwan participate in this year’s WHA,” he said. He was referring to U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758, passed in 1971, under which Taiwan was removed from the United Nations and the Communist Party-led government in Beijing became the sole representative of China in the world body, and WHA Resolution 25.1, under which Taiwan was expelled from the WHO in 1972. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, as well as the Mainland Affairs Council, slammed Beijing for “erroneously” using the U.N. and WHA resolutions to exclude Taiwan from the WHA.

taiwan
world health assembly
china
taro kono
foreign ministry
who
u.s .
taiwan-japan relations


Japan's Izumo helicopter carrier drills with U.S., India and Philippine militaries in disputed South China Sea

Abstract: Naval vessels from Japan, the U.S., India and the Philippines have sailed together through the disputed South China Sea in a nearly weeklong multilateral drill amid tensions with China over the strategic waterway. The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Izumo — Japan’s largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — and the destroyer Murasame joined warships from the other three nations, performing formation exercises, communication drills and passenger transfers from May 2 through Wednesday. The four navies also conducted a leadership exchange aboard the Izumo, the MSDF and U.S. Navy said in separate statements. The joint military drills come days after the U.S. Navy sent two warships near two Chinese-held man-made islands in the South China Sea’s Spratly island chain, prompting an angry reaction from China. Beijing has constructed a series of military outposts throughout the waterway, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims in the waters, where the U.S., Chinese, Japanese and some Southeast Asian navies also routinely operate. China says the facilities it constructed, which includes military-grade airfields and advanced weaponry, are for defensive purposes, but some experts say this is part of a concerted bid to cement de facto control of the waters. In an editorial this week, China’ state-run Global Times newspaper, a tabloid known for its strident nationalist viewpoint, blasted so-called freedom of navigation operations by U.S. warships near its man-made outposts. It said that the operations reminded the country of the urgent need to strengthen China’s navy. “Only if the Chinese navy is sufficiently strong will US warships dare not willfully enter China’s offshore waters to flex their muscles,” it said. “A strong Chinese navy is the guarantee for peace and stability of the South China Sea and even the whole world.” The multilateral exercises were likely to be interpreted in Beijing as pushback over its moves in the waterway. Japan has worked to bolster its presence in the South China Sea, deploying the Izumo and Murasame as part of the MSDF’s Indo-Pacific deployment this year, which began April 30 and runs through July 10. “The opportunity of a multi-sail with U.S. Navy and regional partners was a great experience,” MSDF Rear Adm. Hiroshi Egawa said in a statement released by the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet. “In addition to building mutual understanding and trust, it also served as a way to enhance peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The ability to do various exercises among four different navies smoothly demonstrated professionalism and high operational skills.”

izumo
india
philippines
military
south china sea
china
vietnam
u.s .
disputed islands
self defense forces


Driver of car in Shiga crash that left two toddlers dead says she wasn't paying enough attention

Abstract: OTSU, SHIGA PREF. - The driver of a car involved in a crash in Otsu that left two pedestrians dead, a boy and girl, both 2, has told investigators she was not paying enough attention when she made a right turn and hit a minivehicle that was traveling in the opposite lane at an intersection, police sources said on Thursday. The driver of the car, Fumiko Shintate, 52, was arrested at the scene of Wednesday’s accident and police are investigating her on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death and injury. The driver of the minivehicle, Michiko Shimoyama, 62, was also arrested at the scene but released later Wednesday after the police apparently deemed she did not have a high degree of responsibility for the accident. Shimoyama’s minivehicle was the only one equipped with a dashcam, according to the police, who are now analyzing images captured from the camera. Of the 13 children hit, two toddlers — Gaku Ito and Yui Harada — were killed and a third was left in critical condition. The other children and three nursery teachers were injured. Both drivers were uninjured in the crash, which happened at around 10:15 a.m. as the children and teachers from Leimond-Oumi Nursery School were taking a walk near the school. The drivers were on their way home from shopping and insisted the traffic light was green, according to the police. Police believe both women were driving within the speed limit, judging from the damage to their cars. National Police Agency Commissioner General Shunichi Kuryu told a news conference Thursday that the police intend to beef up safety measures, as there were no guardrails or curbs at the intersection, including by setting up more guardrails along routes to and from schools nationwide. Neighbors and others on Thursday left flowers, snacks and beverages at the crash site as an offering to the young victims. “It is unbearable to think that children who had only lived two years of their lives died,” said Yoshitaro Fujinaga, 81. “I don’t want people who get behind the wheel to think lightly of driving.” “I see many children in this area. It pains me to think that the deceased children may have been among them,” said a 76-year-old woman. The nursery school was closed for the day on Thursday. At a news conference held Wednesday evening, Hiromi Wakamatsu, the head of the nursery school, said the two children who died were sweet and always smiling. She then burst into tears while trying to answer reporters’ questions. Another official, Kazunaga Aoki, said the school will refrain from taking the children on walks for the time being. “We will reaffirm the safety of our walking course,” he said. According to local residents, the nursery schoolchildren and their teachers are frequently seen taking walks in the area, which is near Lake Biwa. Traffic is often heavy on the road there, they said. A 49-year-old woman who came to pick up her 3-year-old grandchild at the school on Wednesday said she was worried when she heard about the accident. “The school has been careful about safety during outings,” she noted. The families of the two toddlers who died didn’t speak to the media Thursday. At Ito’s house, the curtains were closed and no voices were heard. At the Harada residence, a hand-written sign was posted: “Please refrain from talking to us or photographing.”


Exhibit celebrating Akita dogs opens in breed's hometown of Odate in northern Japan

Abstract: AKITA - A permanent exhibit showcasing the Akita dog breed opened Wednesday in Odate, Akita Prefecture, the city that is regarded as the home of the internationally popular breed. “I hope a big circle of people who like and keep Akita dogs will spread around the world,” Odate Mayor Junji Fukuhara said during the opening ceremony. To mark the opening, visitors can meet the “real Hachiko,” a dog famed for loyally waiting for his deceased master for years near Shibuya Station in Tokyo. The stuffed body of Hachiko, which is usually displayed at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, will be exhibited through Sunday at the facility, the design of which is based on the exterior of Shibuya Station during the Taisho Era (1912-26). Akita dogs, known for their loyalty to their owners, were popularized outside Japan through the 2009 film “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” starring Richard Gere and have been adored by celebrities, including Russian figure skating star Alina Zagitova.

akita
akita dogs
odate
hachiko
museums
animals
tourism


Credit card data of up to 15,000 shoppers may have been stolen from Japan-based online stores

Abstract: At least seven online retailers have been hit by a scam resulting in the possible breach of some 15,000 customers’ credit card data between October last year and April, according to companies operating the websites. In the scam, personal information was stolen after customers typed in data necessary to make payments on fake settlement screens that they believed were genuine. Among the sellers compromised was an e-book site operated by Tokyo-based DLmarket Inc., which said in December the credit card information of up to 7,741 customers had been leaked. It later stopped selling items, and in June the entire site will be temporarily closed. “The system needs to be rebuilt thoroughly,” the company said. Iori Co., a towel store in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, reported in October a data breach that affected up to 2,145 customers. Some of the stolen details, including credit card numbers, names of card holders, expiration dates and security codes, were confirmed to have been used for illegal purchases, the companies said. Most of the compromised shopping sites were created using open-source software called EC-Cube. An official of the software developer said hackers who attacked the websites’ servers targeted weaknesses caused by improper settings on the websites, not the software itself. In the scam, a fake screen appears when a customer finishes choosing goods, and displays an error message after credit card information is entered. If the customer returns to the previous screen, the legitimate transaction site completes the order, and goods are delivered to the customer. Even if customers notice something wrong at this stage, credit card information has already been sent to hackers, information technology security experts said. “There seems to be a computer program which automatically finds defective websites. Online shopping operators need to strictly check whether there are any problems in their sites,” said Tsuyoshi Tsurushima, an IT consultant well-versed in online shopping security. Credit card information is prone to cyberattacks, with data obtained from one card available at several thousand yen on the anonymous darknet, which facilitates untraceable online activities. According to the Japan Consumer Credit Association, losses from stolen credit card numbers in the country totaled ¥18.7 billion ($170 million) in 2018, the highest since the industry group started compiling data in 2014.

credit cards
online shopping
hacking
data leaks


Syringes found in desk of METI official in smuggling case suggest drug use at work, source says

Abstract: A trade ministry official who was arrested last month on suspicion of attempting to smuggle a stimulant from the United States may have used drugs at his workplace, an investigative source said Thursday. Several syringes were seized during a recent search of the desk used by Tetsuya Nishida, 28, deputy director of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry’s automobile division, and police are now investigating whether he used stimulants at the office, the source said. Police arrested the career-track bureaucrat on April 27 at his Tokyo home while he received a dummy package. The original parcel contained the illegal substance but it was intercepted and the contents replaced by investigators. Nishida initially denied the allegation, saying he was not aware of the contents of the parcel, but later admitted that he had tried to obtain the stimulant for personal use, the source said. The bureaucrat was quoted as saying that he had taken psychoactive drugs to deal with work-related stress, but began using stimulants “in search of more powerful effects,” according to the source. The suspect also said he smuggled stimulants purchased on websites based overseas for personal use and payments were made using bitcoin, the source said. Police said the original package arrived in Japan on April 15. In it, they found 22 grams of a stimulant with a street value of about ¥1.3 million in a plastic bag that had been inserted inside a fashion magazine. The package was addressed to another location but Nishida, who began working at the ministry in 2013, instructed the postal service to deliver it to his home instead, according to police.

meti
smuggling
drugs
stimulants
tetsuya nishida
police


Calbee to extend 'best before' dates for potato chip products by two months

Abstract: Major Japanese snack-maker Calbee Inc. said Thursday that it will extend the “best before” date for its potato chip products by two months. The company also said it will change the best-before labels for such products to display the year and month, instead of the current labeling that shows the year, month and date. The changes were made possible because Calbee has improved the quality of the products by reviewing its manufacturing processes, ingredients and packaging materials, the firm said. The company hopes that the changes will help address food loss, or food that can be eaten but is thrown away, which is becoming a social issue. Calbee will extend the “best before” date for some 100 types of bagged potato chip products from the current four months to six months, starting with those manufactured Oct. 1. For potato chips in tubes, the company will prolong the “best before” date from the current 12 months to 13 months, starting with those made Saturday. Moves to reduce food waste and streamline inventory control are spreading in the nation’s food industry. Ajinomoto Co. has introduced “best before” date labels that display only the year and month for its seasonings and powdered soups. Calbee plans to extend “best before” dates and introduce labels that display the year and month for its other products in the future.


NBCUniversal latest U.S. media firm reconsidering Georgia business over abortion law

Abstract: NEW YORK - NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia on Thursday joined a wave of U.S. media companies, including Walt Disney Co., saying they will reconsider working in Georgia if a new law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected takes effect. Georgia is 1 of 9 U.S. states that have passed strict new limits on abortion this year, moves activists on both sides of the abortion debate have said were aimed at prompting the U.S. Supreme Court to review and strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal unit said that it expects that many of the laws will face court challenges, but added, “If any of these laws are upheld, it would strongly impact our decision making on where we produce our content in the future.” AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia cited similar concerns. “If the new law holds we will reconsider Georgia as the home to any new productions,” WarnerMedia said. “As is always the case, we will work closely with our production partners and talent to determine how and where to shoot any given project.” On Wednesday, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger told Reuters it would be “very difficult” to keep filming in Georgia if the new law went into effect. Netflix Inc. on Tuesday said it would “rethink” its investment in Georgia if the law goes into effect. The Georgia law, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed on May 7, is due to take effect on Jan. 1 if it survives court challenges. It would ban abortions at about six weeks into a pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant. Abortion is one of the most socially divisive issues in U.S. politics, with opponents often citing religious beliefs to call it immoral, while abortion-rights advocates say the bans amount to state control of women’s bodies. Georgia has attracted film and TV productions with tax credits and currently employs over 92,000 people in the entertainment business, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The media companies’ words echoed a parallel case in North Carolina, which in 2016 repealed a law restricting bathroom use by transgender people after a boycott that cost its economy hundreds of millions of dollars and saw the National Collegiate Athletic Association pull championship games and the National Basketball Association its All-Star Game from the state. While most of the abortion restrictions passed this year have been signed by Republican governors, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, on Thursday was preparing to sign a six-week abortion ban authored by a fellow Democrat and passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, making it the ninth state to pass such a law this year. Women’s health services provider Planned Parenthood on Thursday was warning that Missouri’s sole abortion clinic could be forced to stop providing them as the result of a license dispute that could make Missouri the sole U.S. state without a legal abortion provider. Attorneys for the group were due in a St. Louis courtroom to ask a judge to block the state health department from not renewing the clinic’s license on Friday. Hundreds of abortion rights protesters, including singer Amanda Palmer, some carrying “I Stand with Planned Parenthood” or “Stop the Ban” signs, gathered near the courthouse on Thursday during the hearing, according to videos of the scene posted online by Missouri media.

nbcuniversal
georgia
abortion
warnermedia
disney
netflix
u.s .


Yusen Logistics starts liquor export agency service as world gets a taste for sake

Abstract: Japanese transportation and warehouse operator Yusen Logistics Co., a unit of Nippon Yusen K.K., said Thursday that it has started a liquor export agency service. The company aims to meet growing demand for sake and other Japanese alcoholic beverages in Asia, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, as well as the United States. Yusen Loginet Co., a Yusen Logistics unit, will collect products directly from breweries and others for export to overseas customers. It will shoulder the costs of the products temporarily on behalf of customers. Japan’s sake exports totaled some ¥22.2 billion in 2018, rising for the ninth consecutive year on the back of the popularity of washoku (Japanese cuisine), according to the agriculture ministry.

yusen logistics
sake
nippon yusen
hong kong
south korea
singapore
drinking


T-Mobile and Sprint offer to shed airwaves, enticing cable giants Comcast and Charter

Abstract: NEW YORK - T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. are considering the divestiture of some airwaves to win Justice Department approval of their $26.5 billion merger, a proposal that’s already attracted interest from Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said. Justice officials met Wednesday with Comcast and Charter over their possible interest in the airwaves and a potential role as a fourth wireless competitor, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Both cable operators already offer wireless service. T-Mobile and Sprint are scrambling to meet conditions sought by top Justice officials weighing whether to approve their merger, which would reduce the number of major wireless carriers to three from four. The two wireless companies are considering divesting the airwaves to the government, which would sell them to help establish a fourth carrier, according to the people. Representatives from Comcast and Charter declined comment. There was no immediate response from Sprint, T-Mobile or the Justice Department. Comcast and Charter, the two largest U.S. cable operators, told Justice officials they would bid on certain parts of the wireless business that might be divested as a condition of the deal, the people said. Both cable companies use Verizon Communications Inc.’s network to offer mobile phone service to their subscribers. The cable companies are interested primarily in spectrum, as well as favorable wholesale agreements, network equipment and customers that might be part of the divestiture, according to the people.

t-mobile
sprint
comcast
charter
justice department
u.s .
telecoms


Japanese carmakers could take hit as Trump vows tariffs on Mexico over illegal immigration

Abstract: TOKYO/WASHINGTON - Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that an escalation of U.S. tariffs on Mexico and China is an undesirable development for the global economy, in response to questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to rapidly increase tariffs on Mexican imports unless illegal immigration ends. Motegi, speaking at a seminar in Tokyo, said it would be beneficial for all parties to reach a rules-based resolution through negotiations. Incensed by a surge of migrants across the country’s southern border, U.S. President Donald Trump — in a move that could affect Japanese companies operating in Mexico — vowed Thursday to impose a tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting at 5 percent and ratcheting it up higher if the influx of people entering illegally does not cease. The U.S. president’s decision, abruptly announced in a tweet and subsequent statement, was a direct challenge to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and appeared to take the Mexican government by surprise. It raised the risk of deteriorating economic relations between the two neighbors heavily dependent on the cross-border flow of goods. It also opened up a new front on trade as the Trump administration struggles to conclude a trade deal with China. A number of Japanese firms have their production bases in Mexico. Honda Motor Co., for instance, exported around 120,000 vehicles made in Mexico to the United States in 2018, accounting for around 80 percent of the cars it produces in Mexico, which is also home to large assembly plants owned by Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. Shares in Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor all closed down on the Tokyo Stock Exchange more than 2.8 percent, while Mazda Motor tumbled 7.1 percent. According to credit research firm Teikoku Databank, there were over 700 Japanese companies operating in Mexico as of June 2018. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. President and CEO Tsutomu Tannowa said his company will consider moving its North American production base for vehicle resin parts in Mexico depending on how the situation develops. “If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the Tariffs will be removed,” Trump promised in the statement. “We therefore look forward to, and appreciate, the swift and effective actions that we hope Mexico will immediately install,” he said. Higher tariffs will start at 5 percent on June 10 and increase monthly until reaching 25 percent on Oct. 1, unless Mexico takes immediate action, Trump said. The tariffs potentially complicate efforts to pass a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, even as the Trump administration on Thursday triggered the process for submitting a bill to Congress that would implement the president’s new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. The notification sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders riled Democrats, who have been talking with U.S. trade officials to address various concerns, including how to enforce labor reforms that Mexico is enacting to strengthen unions. The procedural step includes submission of a draft statement of administrative action and final legal text of the agreement as it now stands. That formality must be undertaken at least 30 days before the administration can submit its legislation to implement the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Republicans and business groups are trying to generate momentum for the trade deal at a time when strong tensions between the president and Democrats are threatening prospects for getting much of anything done before next year’s presidential election. “In my view, the president is really creating a mess for Republicans who want to support both USMCA and border security,” said Daniel Ujczo, an international trade lawyer based in Ohio. He said many of those lawmakers spent the past year fighting the tariffs that Trump placed on imported steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico because those tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs they provoked on products such as soybeans and pork hurt many of their constituents. He said the same concerns would apply to the president’s proposed tariff on all goods from Mexico. United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the procedural step toward implementing the president’s new trade deal does not begin a countdown for a vote, but it would ensure Congress had sufficient time to consider approving USMCA before the August recess, “if leadership deems that appropriate.” The tariff announcement also rattled investors, who feared that worsening trade frictions could hurt the global economy. The Mexican peso, U.S. stock index futures and Asian stock markets tumbled on the news, including the shares of Japanese automakers. “We’re in a good moment building a good relationship (with the United States) and this comes like a cold shower,” said Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for North America, Jesus Seade. U.S. officials said 80,000 people are being held in custody with an average of 4,500 arriving daily, overwhelming the ability of border patrol officials to handle them. A source close to Trump said there had been an internal debate inside the White House over whether to go forward with the new policy, with immigration hawks fighting for it and others urging a more diplomatic approach. Trump sided with the hawks. “The last thing he wants is to look weak,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mexico’s Seade said it would be disastrous if Trump goes through with his threat to impose the tariffs. Calling Trump’s move “extreme,” Seade said a normal response would be for Mexico to “mirror” the U.S. tariffs but that would lead to a trade war. Trump said he was acting under the powers granted to him by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He campaigned for election in 2016 on a vow to crack down on illegal immigration. “Mexico’s passive cooperation in allowing this mass incursion constitutes an emergency and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States,” Trump said in the statement. “Mexico has very strong immigration laws and could easily halt the illegal flow of migrants, including by returning them to their home countries,” he said. White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, asked in a conference call with reporters which products from Mexico could be affected by the tariffs, said: “All of them.” “This is an urgent problem,” Mulvaney said. “We are interested in seeing the Mexican government act tonight, tomorrow.”

carmakers
tariffs
mexico
immigration
donald trump
trade
congress
u.s .
nafta


India's economic growth dropped to 5.8% in January-March period, lowest in 17 quarters

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India’s economy grew at a much lower than expected 5.8 percent in the January-March period, its slowest pace in 17 quarters, and falling behind China’s pace for the first time in nearly two years, government data showed Friday. The slowdown will put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the nation’s central bank to provide stimulus for the economy through fiscal measures and interest rate cuts. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have only just been re-elected to a second term with an increased majority. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a growth of 6.3 percent for the January-March quarter, compared with a 6.6 percent rise in the October-December period of last year. The Statistics Ministry revised economic growth for the fiscal year to March 31 downward to 6.8 percent from the 7.0 percent estimated earlier.


G20 to seek agreement on international tax rules for IT giants by 2020

Abstract: Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies will approve in early June a plan to create global tax rules covering digital giants, including Google LLC and Facebook Inc., based more on where they make their sales rather than where their permanent offices are located, Japanese officials said Friday. The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will endorse a plan to be submitted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which seeks an agreement by the end of 2020 on the new tax scheme, when they meet in the city of Fukuoka for a two-day meeting from June 8. But it remains to be seen whether the Paris-based organization can find common ground by the target time due to conflicting opinions over how to collect taxes from global companies and distribute them in the digital era. The issue has drawn attention amid claims multinational companies are not paying their fair share of tax. Currently, taxation of a foreign company in principle depends on whether it has permanent facilities, including branches and factories. At the request of the G20, the OECD has studied ways to impose more levies on multinational firms, in particular U.S. IT giants Google, Apple Inc., Facebook and Amazon.com Inc., collectively known as GAFA. The OECD will submit to the G20 finance meeting a set of proposals to review international tax rules. The finance chiefs will also look at the key issue of how to prevent multinational companies from massively shifting their profits to entities subject to no or very low taxation.


Rise of the machines: AI beats humans in multiplayer shooter Quake III Arena

Abstract: WASHINGTON - It’s official: The machines are going to destroy you (if you are a professional gamer). A team of programmers at a British artificial intelligence company has designed automated “agents” that taught themselves how to play the seminal first-person shooter Quake III Arena, and became so good they consistently beat human opponents. The work of the researchers from DeepMind, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., was described in a paper published in Science on Thursday and marks the first time the feat has ever been accomplished. To be sure, computers have been proving their dominance over humans in one-on-one turn-based games such as chess ever since IBM’s Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. More recently, a Google AI agent beat the world’s No. 1 go player in 2017. But the ability to play multiplayer games involving teamwork and interaction in complex environments had remained an insurmountable task. For the study, the team, led by Max Jaderberg, worked on a modified version of Quake III Arena, a game that first appeared in 1999 but continues to thrive in competitive gaming tournaments. The game mode they chose was Capture the Flag, which involves working with teammates to grab the opponent team’s flag while safeguarding your own, forcing players to devise complex strategies mixing aggression and defense. After the agents had been given time to train themselves up, they matched their prowess against professional game testers. “Even after 12 hours of practice, the human game testers were only able to win 25 percent of games against the agent team,” the team wrote. The agents’ win-loss ratio remained superior even when their reaction times were artificially slowed down to human levels and when their aiming ability was similarly reduced. The programmers relied on so-called reinforcement learning to imbue the agents with their smarts. “Initially, they knew nothing about the world and instead were doing completely random stuff and bouncing about the place,” Jaderberg said. The agents were taught to reward themselves for capturing the flag, but the team also devised a series of new and innovative methods to push the boundaries of what is possible with reinforcement learning. “One of the contributions of the paper is each agent learns its own internal reward signal,” said Jaderbeg, meaning that the AI players decided for themselves how much weight to assign the successful completion of tasks like capturing the flag or hitting an opponent. Next, they found that training a population of agents together, rather than one at a time, made the population as a whole learn much faster. They also devised a new architecture of “two time scale” learning, which Jaderberg likened to the thesis of the book “Thinking Fast and Slow,” but for AI. “You have one part of the agent which kicks very quickly, it updates its own beliefs very quickly, and you have another part of the agent, which updated belief at a slower rate, and these two beliefs influence each other and help shape the way the agent learns about the world,” he said. Finally, randomizing the map for each new match was key. “That meant the solutions that the agents find have to be general — they cannot just memorize a sequence of actions,” said co-author Wojciech Czarnecki. The team did not comment on the AI’s potential for future use in military settings. DeepMind has publicly stated in the past that it is committed to never working on any military or surveillance projects, and the word “shoot” does not appear even once in the paper (shooting is instead described as tagging opponents by pointing a laser gadget at them). Moving forward, Jaderberg said his team would like to explore having the agents play in the full version of Quake III Arena and find ways his AI could work on problems outside of computer games. “We use games, like Capture the Flag, as challenging environments to explore general concepts such as planning, strategy and memory, which we believe are essential to the development of algorithms that can be used to help solve real-world problems,” he said.

ai
automation
deepmind
computers
robotics
video games


Britain may not have made final decision on Huawei and 5G, says John Bolton

Abstract: LONDON - Britain may not have made a final decision on allowing China’s Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton said on Thursday. The Trump administration, which has sanctioned Huawei and tried to block it buying U.S. goods, has told allies not to use its 5G technology and equipment because of fears it would allow China to spy on sensitive communications and data. Britain’s National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, met to discuss Huawei last month and a decision was made to block Huawei from all core parts of the 5G network but to give it restricted access to noncore parts. A final decision by the British Cabinet of senior ministers was due to have happened in recent weeks but May’s pledge to step down as prime minister has stalled the process, sources said. She is expected to be out of office by the end of July. When asked if the United States would like the next British leader to take a tougher stance on Huawei, Bolton said discussions with London were continuing but that Trump would probably raise it when he visits next week. “I’m not sure that this decision has reached the prime ministerial level in final form. I mean we are still talking,” Bolton told reporters in London. “People are talking back and forth.” “Everybody is catching up to the dangers posed, especially in 5th-generation telecommunications systems, by equipment from Huawei and potentially others that can allow foreign governments a back door into telecommunications systems,” he said. The 5G system, which will offer much faster data speeds and become the foundation stone of many industries and networks, is seen as one of the biggest innovations since the birth of the internet itself a generation ago. In what some have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States is worried 5G dominance would give a competitor such as China an advantage Washington is not ready to accept. Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former engineer in China’s People’s Liberation Army, denies it spies for Beijing, says it complies with the law and that the United States is trying to smear it because Western companies are falling behind. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Britain on a visit in May that it needed to change its attitude toward China and Huawei, casting the world’s second-largest economy as a threat to the West similar to that once posed by the Soviet Union. “Now is not the time for either of us to go wobbly,” Pompeo said in a speech on the so-called special relationship, paraphrasing what former prime minister Margaret Thatcher once famously told late U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Britain has said it will announce the findings of a review into 5G suppliers to parliament once the work has been completed, though May’s imminent departure from office has slowed the process. Bolton said the issue of Huawei and 5G came down to a risk assessment but he repeated the fundamental view of the United States that the division between core and non core is less clear when it comes to 5G networks. “5G really is not so easily divisible into core elements and peripheral elements,” Bolton said. “How much risk are you prepared to accept that a foreign power is reading your mail all the time at their will?” Bolton asked. “When it comes to our government systems, the United States has said zero is the level of risk we will accept.” The world’s leading intelligence-sharing network — the anglophone Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — will not use technology from Huawei in its most sensitive networks. For Britain’s spy masters, the riddle of Huawei is only a part of the wider challenge of securing 5G networks and what they see as the much more fundamental threat from China’s dominance in certain globalised technologies of the future.

huawei
5g
john bolton
china
donald trump
theresa may
u.s .
u.k .


Freighter arrives in Philippine port to return Canadian trash

Abstract: SUBIC, PHILIPPINES - A cargo ship arrived in a northern Philippine port on Thursday to transport 69 containers of garbage back to Canada that officials say were shipped illegally to the Philippines, one of two Southeast Asia countries that have protested being treated like dump sites by wealthier nations. Administrator Wilma Eisma of Subic Bay freeport said the garbage will be loaded on the M/V Bavaria starting Thursday night and then be taken to Vancouver. Environmental activists welcomed the development and sailed in Subic Bay on a small outrigger with a streamer reading, “Philippines: not a garbage dumping ground!” President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to forcibly ship back the trash, which officials said was shipped to the Philippines in 2013 to 2014 and falsely declared as recyclable plastic scraps. The Philippine government recalled its ambassador and consuls in Canada earlier this month over Ottawa’s failure to comply with a May 15 deadline to take back the waste. “I think the message that we’re sending to the world is that we will not be a pushover and, moreover, that the president is really somebody to reckon with,” said Eisma, who was appointed by Duterte in 2016 to head the freeport northwest of Manila that used to be one of the largest American military bases outside of the U.S. mainland. The return of the garbage will remove a six-year thorn from relations between the two countries, especially under volatile President Duterte, who took office in mid-2016. The countries had sought to resolve the problem for years, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying in 2017 that legal issues preventing the return of the garbage had been resolved. The return of the garbage, however, has been delayed by other issues despite Canadian government assurances of its willingness to take back the garbage that was shipped to Manila in a private commercial transaction. Last week, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said the government had awarded a contract to French shipping giant Bollore Logistics Canada calling for the return of the containers of household waste and electronic garbage by the end of June. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo rejected the plan, saying the Duterte administration would look for a private shipping company to transport the garbage to Canadian territory sooner. “If Canada will not accept their trash, we will leave the same within its territorial waters,” Panelo said. “The president’s stance is as principled as it is uncompromising: The Philippines as an independent sovereign nation must not be treated as trash by other foreign nations.” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has also criticized the practice of wealthier countries such as the United States, Canada and Japan sending their nonrecyclable waste to poorer countries. Speaking in Tokyo on Thursday, Mahathir said it was “grossly unfair” and should stop. His comments came a few days after his government announced plans to return thousands of tons of plastic waste to mostly Western countries. China banned the import of plastic waste last year, causing other Southeast Asian nations to become new destinations. Philippine environmental groups urged the Duterte administration on Thursday to ban all imports of waste and ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, which prohibits the import of waste for any reason, including recycling. They cited the discovery of other waste shipments to the Philippines from South Korea in 2018 and more recently from Australia and Hong Kong. The garbage issue has been the latest strain in Philippine relations with Canada under Duterte. Last year, he ordered the cancellation of a multimillion-dollar agreement to buy 16 helicopters from Canada after Trudeau’s government decided to review the deal due to concerns that the Philippine military might use the aircraft in counterinsurgency assaults.

philippines
canada
environment
rodrigo duterte
waste
malaysia
u.s .


NASA's major projects busting budgets and schedules, says report

Abstract: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - NASA’s major projects are busting budgets and schedules like never before, according to a congressional watchdog agency. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported Thursday that NASA’s major projects are more than 27 percent over baseline costs and the average launch delay is 13 months. That’s the largest schedule delay since the GAO began assessing NASA’s major projects 10 years ago. The still-in-development James Webb Space Telescope is the major offender. The projected launch date for this advanced successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is now 2021, with an estimated $9.6 billion price tag, the GAO noted. Its original target launch date was 2007, with initial cost estimates as low as $1 billion. NASA’s yet-to-fly mega rocket, the Space Launch System, also faces big cost overruns because of production challenges and, likely, even more launch delays. On the bright side, the Parker Solar Probe launched last summer and looping ever closer around the sun came in millions under budget and was also on time. The GAO defines a major project as having at least $250 million in lifetime costs. Altogether, NASA plans to invest $63 billion on the 24 major projects listed in the GAO’s latest report. The partial government shutdown, which stretched from December to January, was not factored into the report.


Tokyo stocks tumble on Trump's Mexico tariff threat

Abstract: Stocks took a plunge on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday, battered by the yen’s sharp rise against the dollar after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on all imports from Mexico. The 225-issue Nikkei average dived 341.34 points, or 1.63 percent, to end at 20,601.19, a closing level unseen since Feb. 8. On Thursday, the key market gauge sagged 60.84 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 19.70 points, or 1.29 percent, at 1,512.28, after losing 4.43 points the previous day. The Tokyo market opened lower, soon after Trump announced on Twitter that the United States will impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on all imports from Mexico unless illegal inflows of immigrants from Mexico stop. The Twitter post left investors increasingly risk-averse and sent the yen higher, brokers said. A weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for May, released on Friday morning, also weighed on the Tokyo market, brokers said. Both the Nikkei and Topix indexes accelerated their downswing in the afternoon, as the dollar weakened further and fell below ¥109 for the first time in about four months, brokers said. “Trump’s tweet spurred selling in companies that operate in Mexico, such as automakers,” said Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co. Investors retreated to the sidelines “to see Wall Street’s reaction later on Friday to the Trump tweet,” said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan Inc., pointing to a sharp drop in U.S. index futures in off-hours trading. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,688 to 374 in the TSE’s first section, while 78 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.438 billion shares from 1.113 billion shares on Thursday. Automakers fell across the board, with Mazda tumbling 7.13 percent, Nissan 5.38 percent and Isuzu 4.91 percent. Oil names met with selling due to a decline in crude oil prices. They included Idemitsu, JXTG and Cosmo Energy. Among other major losers were clothing store chain Fast Retailing and air conditioner-maker Daikin. On the other hand, Japan Display skyrocketed 20.75 percent following the announcement of additional financial support from government-affiliated investment fund INCJ. Ono Pharmaceutical surged due to an own share buyback plan. Also on the positive side were cybermall operator Rakuten and game-maker Nintendo. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average slumped 390 points to end at 20,540.


Dollar hits four-month lows below ¥109 in Tokyo after Trump threatens tariffs on Mexico

Abstract: The dollar hit four-month lows of around ¥108.80 in Tokyo trading late Friday, with risk aversion growing after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on all imports from Mexico. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥108.78-78, down from ¥109.74-74 at the same time on Thursday. The euro was at $1.1142-1143, up from $1.1132-1132, and at ¥121.21-21, down from ¥122.17-17. Trump announced on Twitter on Thursday that the United States will impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on all imports from Mexico unless illegal inflows of immigrants from Mexico stop. The dollar fell from above ¥109.50 to below ¥109.30 after the Trump tweet in the morning. In the afternoon, the greenback dropped below ¥109 for the first time in about four months, following a decline in U.S. long-term interest rates in off-hours trading, traders said. “Risk aversion strengthened after the United States put itself into a deeper conflict not just with China but Mexico” on the trade front, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The Trump tweet weighed on the dollar-yen rate, as “the higher tariffs would directly hit the earnings of Japanese automakers shipping vehicles from plants in Mexico to the United States,” a think tank official said.


Japan cosmetics firm Shiseido ties up with Hong Kong drug store chain A.S. Watson Group

Abstract: Cosmetics giant Shiseido Co. said Thursday that it has concluded a business tie-up agreement with A.S. Watson Group, the Hong Kong-based operator of a major drug store chain. Shiseido aims to strengthen sales of its products in the middle price range through A.S. Watson’s extensive network of some 15,000 stores, mainly in China and other parts of Asia. Shiseido specifically hopes to increase sales in markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, whose economies are booming. The two companies will also jointly develop products from Shiseido’s Za and Senka mid-price cosmetics brands. They have already been working to co-develop sensitive skin care items under the d program brand. In April, Shiseido announced a business tie-up with Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as part of its moves to expand its marketing network in Asia.

cosmetics
shiseido
hong kong
china
alibaba
retailers
a.s. watson group


Angry emoji inflatable looms over Facebook annual meeting as users vent frustrations

Abstract: MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA/BOSTON - Protesters carrying an inflatable angry emoji greeted Facebook Inc. shareholders as they gathered for the company’s annual meeting on Thursday, the latest sign of its struggle to shake off privacy scandals and rein in fake news and hate speech. The social media giant again faced demands for reform at Thursday’s meeting, including shareholder proposals that called for revamping the company’s voting structure and ousting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg as chairman. The measures had little chance of succeeding, as a dual class share structure gives Zuckerberg and other insiders control of about 58 percent of the votes. Many investors have shrugged off the scandals swirling around the company, as it has beaten Wall Street’s estimates for revenue growth and continues to add users globally. Zuckerberg declined to answer a shareholder question on why he would not agree to create an independent board chair, instead restating his view that regulators should set the rules for companies around privacy and content. But even though the votes are largely symbolic, they are still seen as a useful barometer of investor sentiment about how well the social media icon is coping with unprecedented challenges to its hands-off approach to content. Last year, about 83 percent of shares held by outside investors voted for a proposal that would have the company move to a structure of one vote per share and do away with the supermajority shares. A coalition of activist groups have urged big investors to reject Zuckerberg’s nomination to the board this year, saying Facebook has failed to protect users, especially racial and religious minorities. Outside the hotel, a small group of protesters filmed themselves hoisting the 8-foot (2.5-meter) red emoji balloon, saying the company failed to protect its users, particularly minorities, from hate speech and other abuses. “Zuckerberg has said that he wants to protect people from white supremacy but there’s still a ton of white supremacists organizing on Facebook,” said Leila Deen, program director for SumOfUs, the group in the coalition responsible for the balloon. Nearby, an opposing protester in a red hat stamped with “Make America Great Again,” a slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump, used a loudspeaker to accuse Facebook of censoring conservatives. The coalition, led by consumer group Majority Action and civil rights advocate Color of Change, said they had gathered 125,000 signatures on a petition targeting BlackRock Inc., one of Facebook’s biggest outside investors. BlackRock’s funds backed all of Facebook’s director nominees last year, but also voted for two shareholder proposals that would have reorganized Facebook’s governance structure. It declined to comment on the petition, with a spokesman saying it did not preview votes or comment on specific companies. Other shareholders in the meeting said the company created a “hostile work environment” for people with conservative views and pressed for a diversity report reflecting its public policy positions. Facebook has been under scrutiny from regulators and shareholders since last year, when reporting revealed that the data of some 87 million users had been shared with now-defunct political data firm Cambridge Analytica. The company has also come under fire over Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which used social media to spread disinformation, and its frequently shifting policies around which content is permitted on its platform. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized the company on Wednesday, saying she was no longer willing to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt on Russia after it refused to remove a heavily edited video that attempted to make her look incoherent. “I thought it was unwittingly, but clearly they wittingly were accomplices and enablers of false information to go across Facebook,” she said. The comments raise the specter of harsher action in Congress against Facebook. Pelosi has previously warned that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from legal liability for content created by their users, was a “gift” that had been abused and could be reconsidered. Investors do not seem worried. The company’s stock jumped 10 percent after its last earnings report, even as it announced it was setting aside up to $5 billion for what could be the largest civil penalty ever paid to the Federal Trade Commission, which has been investigating Facebook over alleged privacy violations. One of Facebook’s largest fund investors, William Danoff of the $123 billion Fidelity Contrafund, did not mention any of Facebook’s privacy issues in his most in his most recent quarterly commentary to investors. He wrote only that, as his portfolio’s second-largest holding, Facebook “appeals to us based on growth in its various apps and revenue from advertisers that want to reach the firm’s enormous base of daily active users.” Danoff has been a long-time backer of Facebook and previously indicated he was satisfied with the company’s reform efforts to date. Among other top Facebook investors, last year Vanguard Group Inc withheld support from Zuckerberg and Sandberg, and backed a measure to reform Facebook’s voting structure.

facebook
privacy
social media
mark zuckerberg
donald trump
cambridge analytica
nancy pelosi
u.s .


Nissan CEO willing to meet Fiat Chrysler chairman to discuss Renault merger

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co. CEO Hiroto Saikawa said Friday he is willing to meet Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. Chairman John Elkann to be briefed directly on the Italian-American company’s plan to merge with Renault SA, the Yokohama-based carmaker’s alliance partner for 20 years. Saikawa has not clarified whether he agrees with the merger plan between Renault and FCA, saying he wants to examine the potential impact on Nissan’s business operations. The deal would create the world’s third-largest automaker group by volume. “I would like to meet” Elkann, Saikawa told reporters, adding that the location and date of the envisioned meeting has not been decided. The Nissan CEO said he has already been exchanging emails with the FCA chairman. At a meeting of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the third partner in the alliance, on Wednesday in Yokohama, the French carmaker’s CEO, Thierry Bollore, and chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, revealed the planned merger with FCA to the Japanese firms and sought their support, according to a source close to the matter. With combined sales totaling 8.7 million vehicles last year, a merged Renault and FCA group would be behind only Volkswagen AG group and Toyota Motor Corp. in terms of size. If Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors are included in any FCA-Renault merger plan, the prospective group’s global sales would reach 15.6 million vehicles — far exceeding the 10.83 million units the Volkswagen group sold last year. FCA said Monday it has proposed a plan to Renault in which shareholders on each side would take 50 percent in a merged entity. The Italian-American carmaker said the combination would improve capital efficiency and the speed of product development.

nissan
fiat chrysler
renault
carmakers
mitsubishi motors
volkswagen
toyota


Toyota to begin pickup truck production in Myanmar from 2021

Abstract: Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will build its first assembly plant in Myanmar to produce Hilux pickup trucks from February 2021. The auto giant plans to establish its Myanmar unit, Toyota Myanmar Co., in June and construct a new plant in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in the southern suburbs of Yangon at a cost of $52.6 million (¥5.7 billion). Toyota will hire about 130 employees to build some 2,500 units of Hilux pickup trucks annually amid strong demand for new vehicles on the back of the country’s rapid economic growth. “Toyota will strive to provide products and services that continue to meet the needs of customers in Myanmar,” the automaker said in a statement. In Myanmar, an emerging Southeast Asian economy with a population of around 50 million, new vehicle sales more than doubled to 17,500 units in 2018 from the previous year, according to the Automotive Association of Myanmar. Toyota, which has been exporting finished cars to Myanmar, said it decided to launch local production amid expectations for further expansion in the country’s auto market. Tighter import restrictions on used cars have also led to increased demand for new vehicles in the nation. Duties and caps on imported cars in Myanmar also prompted Toyota to locally make its vehicles, according to sources familiar with the matter.


MUFG, Japan's biggest bank, offers redundancy to hundreds of managers in London

Abstract: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is preparing major job cuts in London, another sign of the deepening troubles Japanese banks face at their overseas operations. MUFG, Japan’s largest lender, is offering voluntary redundancy packages to about 500 directors and managing directors in London, according to an emailed statement. That’s roughly a quarter of its workforce in the city. Financial firms in Japan have been expanding abroad to make up for a squeeze on profits stemming from rock-bottom interest rates and slow economic growth at home. Now they’re in cost-cutting mode, with Nomura Holdings Inc. eliminating dozens of jobs in London this year as the nation’s largest investment bank tries to return its overseas operations to profit. “We have implemented this voluntary retirement program to enhance our competitiveness given the severe business environment, such as persistently low interest rates,” Tokyo-based MUFG wrote in the statement. “We remain committed to London and the European region, and wish to make further contributions to this important market.” MUFG will accept applications until the end of July and the number of retirees will be decided on that basis, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Financial News reported the plans earlier, saying that Brexit wasn’t a factor in the decision. Still, it’s another blow for London’s financial industry as banks prepare to move hundreds of employees from the city to elsewhere in Europe in preparation for the U.K.’s exit from the bloc. MUFG has set up commercial banking and securities businesses in Amsterdam. MUFG has about 2,000 employees in London, its base for operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It offers services ranging from corporate finance to structured finance and capital markets. The region accounted for almost 6 percent of group revenue in the year ended March 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.


NEC shows how facial recognition could speed up boarding at Japan's Narita airport hub

Abstract: NEC Corp. gave a demonstration of its facial recognition system at its headquarters in Tokyo on Friday that it says will help passengers board planes faster without having to present passports or boarding passes. Narita will be the first airport in the country to deploy the system, called OneID, ahead of an expected spike in foreign arrivals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the media presentation, NEC showed how the system streamlined the boarding procedure. First, at the self check-in machine, passenger consent was obtained, then their passport was scanned and a barcode on their smartphone screen provided the flight details. A camera was used to capture their facial image during the process. The data was then linked together and stored in an authentication system. Those who wish to use the conventional procedure will still be able to choose to do so, according to NEC. The system also allows passengers to drop off their baggage at an automated check-in terminal equipped with a facial recognition camera, by comparing their face with the data held on record. Passengers can enter the area for safety inspections and walk through the boarding gates without needing to stop for a passport or boarding pass to be checked. Narita’s immigration control, however, will maintain its existing procedures. The airport’s operator, Narita International Airport Corp., views enhancing operational efficiency as one of its primary challenges, said Senior Vice President Tatsuya Hamada. A surge in the number of foreign visitors to Japan is exacerbating congestion at Narita terminals, contributing to lower customer satisfaction levels and flight delays. Higher efficiency is also crucial to meeting the tight flight schedules of low-cost carriers. NEC’s OneID can, Hamada said, boost the on-time performance of flights, reduce passenger stress and save on labor “while retaining or even raising the level of security at the airport” due to the system’s sophisticated identity verification technology. The speed of the entire process could be 50 percent to 100 percent faster, according to the company. The biometric screening system, which will cover Japanese and non-Japanese passengers, will be introduced in spring 2020 for flights operated by All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. The government is aiming to increase the number of foreign visitors per year to 40 million by 2020 and 60 million by 2030, from a record-high of 31.19 million in 2018. Yutaka Ukegawa, senior vice president at NEC, said the company intends to expand the use of its facial recognition technology to operations such as commuter pass purchases, and shopping at duty-free shops with the aim of eliminating the onerous tax exemption procedures

facial recognition
narita airport
airports
immigration
shopping
tech
tourism
foreign tourists


New accounts at MUFG to go digital by default as bank seeks to wean customers off passbooks

Abstract: Major lender MUFG Bank will no longer issue paper passbooks from June to most customers who open new deposit accounts over the counter, sources said Thursday. The move is aimed at promoting the use of online banking services. MUFG Bank also aims to reduce costs, as banks need to shoulder an annual stamp duty of ¥200 per account for paper books. Currently, when customers apply for a new account at MUFG Bank, they can choose either a paper passbook or a digital version that can be checked online. Starting on June 10, customers will be signed up for digital passbooks in principle, unless they specifically ask for the paper version. Customers holding paper passbooks can shift to the digital version if they wish. In February the bank bolstered its online services, including by enabling its users to see records of deposits and withdrawals over the past 10 years for free, in a bid to urge its customers to go online. In a similar move, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has since 2016 asked customers to use digital passbooks in principle, even if they open bank accounts over the counter. Mizuho Bank gives customers digital passbooks when they open new accounts online, but issues paper passbooks in principle if accounts were opened over the counter. “Demand for the paper version is strong,” a Mizuho official said.


Japan Display hopes to secure financial aid from China-Taiwan group in June

Abstract: Japan Display Inc. said Thursday it will secure a capital injection from a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium next month. The struggling display-maker, which is a supplier to Apple Inc., has been told by the consortium that a formal decision on the financial aid will be reached by June 14. The consortium, which includes China’s Harvest Tech Investment Management Co. and Taiwanese panel-maker TPK Holding Co., had delayed an investment of up to ¥80 billion ($730 million) agreed under a bailout plan, in order to reassess the business prospects of Japan Display. The Japanese firm also said it would receive additional financial assistance from state-backed fund INCJ Ltd. It will sell all of its 27.2 percent stake in JOLED Inc., an affiliate that makes advanced displays, to INCJ. In exchange, the fund will cancel a debt of around ¥45 billion. Japan Display will also convert an additional ¥27 billion in long-term loans from INCJ to preferred shares as part of the assistance. Japan Display said it has also asked Apple for concessions on repayment of part of its debt from the U.S. firm. Japan Display was established in 2012 following the merger of the display operations of Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. with support from INCJ. However, the display-maker logged a group net loss for the fifth straight year in fiscal 2018 through March amid intensified competition from Chinese and South Korean rivals. It announced earlier this month it will cut about 1,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its global and group workforce.


Nippon Steel's reinvention of its namesake metal could make car bodies 30% lighter

Abstract: Imagine the weight of 24 elephants bearing down on a tiny spot the size of a postage stamp. That’s how much pressure Nippon Steel Corp.’s strongest metal can withstand. The firm is pushing the envelope in order to stay relevant as the auto industry, its most important customer, goes through major changes. Steel has been the main material in cars since Henry Ford started mass producing them a century ago. But the heavy metal is falling out of favor because automakers can’t meet new fuel efficiency standards or build long-range battery-powered cars without shedding precious pounds. Several years ago, Ford Motor Co. decided to build its best-selling F-150 pickup truck mostly out of aluminum — and steel-makers have been panicking ever since. That’s why Nippon Steel opened a research department last April to come up with tricks for making car parts lighter, using advanced grades of the material it’s been smelting for 118 years. In January, the firm unveiled the results of the new approach; an all-steel car body, built in-house, which it says cuts weight by 30 percent, putting it on par with aluminum. “There’s this idea out there that steel is an old-fashioned material, but it’s not true,” Nippon Steel’s laboratory research head, Nobuhiro Fujita, said last week at a briefing in Yokohama. For years, cars have actually been gaining weight, not losing it, adding about 880 pounds (400 kg) in the last two decades alone, according to automotive consultancy A2Mac1. Beefier beams and pillars for added crash protection and more amenities like power seats have been the main culprits, along with popularity of behemoth pickup trucks and SUVs. But now tighter emissions rules are forcing manufacturers to consider dieting. Even in North America, where fuel efficiency targets are less ambitious than in Europe and China, the curb weight of new vehicles will drop about 7 percent, or 270 pounds (122 kg), between 2015 and 2025, according to market researcher Ducker Worldwide. The pressure will only increase as automakers produce more electric cars because batteries aren’t powerful enough to carry extra weight and still propel cars for long distances. Over time, this will mean more aluminum, more exotic materials like carbon fiber and magnesium — and less steel. By 2025, steel will account for only 62 percent of the weight of the average new vehicle, down from 70 percent in 2015, according to Akihito Fujita, a New York-based consultant at Nomura Research Institute America Inc. “The move away from steel is inevitable,” he says. No one will feel the pain of those changes harder than Nippon Steel. Competition with lower-cost rivals in China has made it more difficult to make money selling construction materials and the firm now relies on the auto industry to buy about 30 percent of its output, according to Takeshi Irisawa at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo. Nippon Steel doesn’t disclose the numbers in its financial reports. “They don’t have any replacement for cars,” the analyst said. Still, aluminum has made fewer inroads than expected since the release of Ford’s F-150 pickup in 2015. General Motors Inc. mocked the material’s durability in TV ads that showed the F-150’s aluminum truck bed cracking when heavy objects were dropped into it. Another blow came in 2017, when Tesla Inc. switched to steel for the body of its first mass-market car, after using aluminum on earlier luxury vehicles. Nissan Motor Co. also chose a mostly-steel body for its Leaf, which is the world’s best-selling electric car. Toyota Motor Corp., a key Nippon Steel customer, has done the same for its plug-in hybrids. “We have to keep costs down,” Toyota’s head of advanced R&D, Shigeki Terashi, said last month. To persuade auto customers to stick with them, though, Nippon Steel is trying to show that steel can also be a weight-saver, if it’s superstrong and used cleverly. The car body it exhibited at a Tokyo trade fair in January cuts weight by 30 percent using a half-dozen different grades of the metal. The strongest has a tensile strength of 2,000 megapascals, which means it can withstand 290,000 pounds (131,542 kg) of pressure per square inch — several times more than the advanced steel commonly used in cars today — without breaking. Nippon Steel’s engineers also found ways to redesign components so they could be made with less material. For example, they used a combination of thinner body panels and reinforcement bars to shave 20 percent off the weight of door modules, without sacrificing strength. The next goal is to prove that high-grade steel can be used to cut the weight of car bodies by half. That may require some compromise, though, since steel can only get so strong or light. To push the limits, Nippon Steel is experimenting by mixing small amounts of plastics with the metal it’s been producing for decades. “We want to do the most we can with steel,” said Fujita, the company’s laboratory head, “but we’re not taking the competition for granted.”

nippon steel
steel
ford
aluminum
toyota
carmakers
gm


Congo forces kill 26 Islamist rebels in Ebola zone shootout

Abstract: GOMA, CONGO - Congolese forces killed 26 rebels from a group thought to be linked to Islamic State on Thursday in a shootout in the country’s eastern Ebola zone, the army said. The clash took place in a village near the city of Beni, an area where more than a dozen different militia groups and associated armed gangs operate, and the epicenter of Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst-ever Ebola epidemic. The army’s spokesman for east Congo, Gen. Leon-Richard Kasonga, said the insurgents from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked an army position in Ngite village and that soldiers returned fire and pursued them. “Twenty six rebels were neutralized by the army, and their bodies recovered,” he told journalists in Goma. The ADF has never claimed allegiance to Islamic State, but witnesses said the Congolese group carried out an attack last month in nearby Bovata that IS claimed. Islamic State said on Thursday its “Central Africa Province” had inflicted “dozens of casualties” on Congolese forces, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity. Its fighters had attacked three army barracks near Mavivi, which lies next to Ngite, and “returned safely to their positions,” it said. There was no independent confirmation of the claims. The ADF, originally a Ugandan Salafist-inspired extremist group, has been operating along the Congo/Uganda border for more than two decades. Rival armed factions remain active in pockets of east Congo long after the official end of a 1998-2003 war in which millions of people died, mostly from hunger and disease. Insecurity around Beni is also undermining efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic, which has killed close to 1,300 people since August. Militiamen attacked a hospital in the nearby city of Butembo last month and killed a Cameroonian doctor working for the World Health Organization (WHO).

congo ebola goma beni adf conflict terrorism


149 African refugees airlifted from Libya to Italy but more help needed, U.N. says

Abstract: GENEVA - A total of 149 Africans in Libya were evacuated to Italy on Thursday, but more states must help people escape deteriorating conditions in Tripoli after two months of fighting, the United Nations refugee agency said. Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Hifter’s Libyan National Army began an offensive in early April to take the capital from fighters loyal to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s Government of National Accord, which is internationally recognized. The 149 refugees and asylum-seekers flown to Rome, many of them malnourished and needing medical treatment after detention in Tripoli, are from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement. The group included 65 children, 13 of them babies under a year old, it said. They follow 62 Syrians and Africans evacuated earlier this week to Timisoara, Romania, where they are receiving treatment before going to Norway, it said. More than 1,000 refugees and migrants have been evacuated or resettled out of Libya so far this year. Around 1,200 others were returned to the North African country by the Libyan Coast Guard in May alone after being rescued or intercepted while attempting to flee by boat, it added. Hifter’s Libyan National Army has not been able to breach defenses in southern Tripoli suburbs. But UNHCR said that risks were rising for refugees and migrants, and that “new detainees are arriving at a faster pace than people are departing.” “More humanitarian evacuations are needed,” said Jean-Paul Cavalieri, UNHCR mission chief in Libya. “They are a vital lifeline for refugees whose only other escape route is to put their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers on the Mediterranean Sea.”

refugees libya italy unhcr conflict africa eu


Three dead in Rhine boat sinking; rescuers search for child

Abstract: PARIS - Three people were killed and a child is missing after a motorized rubber boat capsized Thursday in the Rhine River between Germany and France. One of those killed was a passer-by who tried to help with the rescue. French and German rescuers are searching for the missing child. The boat, which left the German bank of the river Thursday morning carrying two adults and two children, sank near the eastern French town of Gerstheim, police said. Onlookers on the banks tried to help save the sinking group, according to an official with the regional police authority. Three people were killed — a 6-year-old girl and an adult who had been on the boat, and another adult who tried to save them, the official said. Another adult passenger was hospitalized, and a girl passenger is missing, the official said. It’s unclear what caused the sinking. No information was immediately available about the victims’ nationalities. Helicopters, divers and police and firefighters are involved in the extensive search, according to the regional French rescue service for the Bas-Rhin region. The crash came after a sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists collided with a cruise ship in Hungary’s capital, leaving seven dead and 21 missing.

rhine
germany
france
gerstheim
marine accidents


Syria regime airstrikes kill seven in latest Idlib bloodshed

Abstract: MAARET AL-NUMAN, SYRIA - Regime airstrikes on a jihadi enclave in northwest Syria killed seven civilians on Thursday, a monitor said, the latest deaths in a bloody wave of government attacks. Damascus and its ally, Russia, have pummeled Idlib province and surroundings over the past month despite a truce deal aimed at staving off a humanitarian catastrophe. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organization says over 285 civilians have been killed since late April in the enclave, home to almost 3 million people. “The pace of airstrikes decreased relatively on Thursday compared to previous days,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. But bombings still killed seven civilians, including five in the town of Maaret al-Numan on the western edge of the jihadi-held territory, he said. An AFP photographer reported the strikes hit a residential area, collapsing a building and killing some of those inside. The body of a victim could be seen still in bed as rescue workers struggled to reach survivors trapped under the rubble. Idlib province and some surrounding areas are mostly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group dominated by former members of al-Qaida’s Syria affiliate. The United Nations says roughly 270,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since late April and that aid agencies have been forced to halt work in some areas. Some 30 health facilities and schools have been hit, the U.N. says. Despite the surge in attacks, the government has not announced an all-out offensive to retake the entire jihadi enclave. Russia and rebel supporter Turkey brokered a cease-fire deal in September to avert a government assault it was feared could spark the worst humanitarian disaster of the eight-year war. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday spoke by telephone to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, calling for the ceasefire to be respected, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan told Putin it was important to “apply the ceasefire without delay in order to focus once again on finding a political solution” to the Syrian conflict, a statement said. He also “stressed the need to prevent more lives being lost in regime attacks mainly targeting civilians” and to eliminate the “growing risk” of a wave of migrants heading for Turkey’s border. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people since it started in 2011.

syria idlib russia al-qaida turkey conflict


U.S. measles count nears 1,000, surpassing 25-year-old record

Abstract: NEW YORK - U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 971 measles cases so far this year, the highest tally in 27 years, and experts say it’s not clear when the wave of illnesses will stop. Measles, once common in the U.S., became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s. A decade ago, there were fewer than 100 cases a year. The new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pushed the U.S. tally higher than the 963 illnesses reported for all of 1994. The nation last saw this many cases in 1992, when more than 2,200 were reported. Overall vaccination rates have remained fairly high, but outbreaks have been happening in communities where parents have refused recommended shots, U.S. health officials say. “What’s causing these outbreaks is lack of vaccination,” said Dr. Mark Roberts, chair of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Illnesses have been reported in 26 states, but the vast majority are in New York City. The city’s outbreak, which began last October, is already the largest local measles outbreak in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. It started when some unvaccinated children visited Israel, where a measles outbreak is occurring, and came back to New York. More than 500 cases have been diagnosed in two Brooklyn neighborhoods — Williamsburg and Borough Park — and mainly among unvaccinated children in Orthodox Jewish communities. Forty-two have been hospitalized, including 12 treated in intensive care units. More than 25,000 doses of vaccine have been given to children and teenagers in those two neighborhoods since October. Some have been motivated by a city order issued in April that all children and adults who live in four Brooklyn ZIP codes be vaccinated or face fines up to $1,000. City officials say 123 people have received summonses for not complying with the order. The city health department has put 400 people to work on the outbreak, and forged new relationships with community organizations to make a better case for vaccinations. The officials believe it’s all paying off. New measles diagnoses dropped from 173 last month to 60 this month. “I’m confident that the work that we have put in place … put us on the right trajectory to bring this outbreak to an end soon,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City’s health commissioner. Some health experts see the current outbreak as a sign that other vaccine-preventable illnesses could worsen. “Measles is incredibly contagious,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement. “We need to act together now to stop this outbreak before there are even more serious consequences.” In most people, measles causes fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. However, a very small fraction of those infected can suffer complications such as pneumonia and a dangerous swelling of the brain. According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it. No deaths have been reported this year. The CDC recommends a combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine for everyone over a year old, except for people who had the disease as children. Those who have had measles are immune. The worst year for measles in modern U.S. history was 1958, with more than 763,000 reported cases and 552 deaths. The numbers fell dramatically after a vaccine became available in the 1960s and by the 1983 the annual case count dipped below 1,500. But the illness rebounded at the end of the 1980s, with many cases among young unvaccinated black and Hispanic children living in inner-city areas. In 1990, more than 27,000 cases were reported, including about 90 deaths. During the resurgence, public health officials began recommending children get two vaccine doses, instead of one. Cases began to drop, and they plummeted after the 1993 creation of a federal program providing vaccines to children whose parents or guardians can’t afford them. Will this year’s measles cases reach the levels seen in the early 1990s? There are several reasons the answer may be no. Overall vaccination levels are higher nationally today. Also, measles cases historically peak in the spring for some unknown reason, and summer is almost here. Maybe that pattern will hold this year, too, said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases expert at the Baylor College of Medicine. But experts have been surprised by the current epidemic, and say some recent developments make it hard to predict. Some point to a social media-driven anti-vaccine movement that has been a major factor in the Brooklyn outbreak. Also, the chance of measles coming in from other countries keeps rising. The World Health Organization has said 82,500 measles cases were reported last year, over three times more than the previous year. The CDC’s Dr. Tom Clark said that even if the New York City outbreak continues, this year’s case count should stop short of the 1992 mark. Hotez sounded uneasy. “How this all shakes out over the next few months, we don’t know,” he said.

measles
new york
vaccinations
who
cdc
u.s .


'Octo-champs' bring National Spelling Bee to its knees

Abstract: OXON HILL, MARYLAND - The Scripps National Spelling Bee was broken Thursday night, brought to its knees by eight spellers who were prepared for any word thrown their way. Faced with a dwindling word list and a group of spellers who showed no weakness, Scripps gave up and declared them co-champions, the most extraordinary ending in the 94-year history of the competition. The eight co-champions spelled the final 47 words correctly in their historic walk-off victory, going through five consecutive perfect rounds. “Champion spellers, we are now in uncharted territory,” bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly told them in announcing the decision to allow up to eight winners. “We do have plenty of words remaining on our list. But we will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of superspellers in the history of this competition.” The winners, who dubbed themselves “octo-champs,” were Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja. From 2014 to 2016, the bee ended with co-champions. In 2017 and last year, the bee had a written tiebreaker test of spelling and vocabulary that would be used to identify a single champion if necessary. It didn’t turn out to be needed, and bee officials decided the test was too burdensome and got rid of it. Some of words used in the final rounds were: Varsovienne : A graceful dance similar to a mazurka. Marmennill : A fabled marine male creature usually represented as having the head, trunk and arms of a man and a lower part like the tail of a fish. The word sounds like it has a “t” but doesn’t. Macclesfield : A silk with small all-over patterns used especially for neckties. Kirillitsa : The alphabet based principally on the Greek uncials that was originally used for writing Old Church Slavonic. Kula : A Melanesian interisland system of exchange. Aufgabe : A task or exercise, especially when assigned experimentally. Rijsttafel : An Indonesian midday meal consisting chiefly of rice. Vibratiuncle : A slight vibration.

spelling bee
language
contests
japan times bee