Huawei fights to keep U.S. funds flowing to its rural mobile customers

Abstract: WASHINGTON - China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., the world’s biggest telecom equipment maker, argued on Wednesday that Washington should scrap plans to prohibit wireless companies from using U.S. government funds to buy Huawei gear for their networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in March 2018 that he was proposing banning the use of money from its Universal Service Fund to buy equipment or services from companies that pose a security threat to U.S. communications networks. Pai identified Huawei as a company of concern in a letter to Congress. The rule has not gone into effect, although Pai reiterated support for it in a congressional hearing last month. A commissioner also asked for comment on whether existing gear from companies of concern should be removed from U.S. telecommunications networks. Huawei argued in a filing to the FCC Wednesday that the proposed rule would do nothing to protect national security, and could destabilize rural networks if they are required to rip out Huawei equipment they installed years ago. “Huawei cannot and will not sabotage its customer networks. But recent actions by the United States government are only one step away from doing so,” Huawei said in its filing. The Rural Wireless Association has estimated that it would cost $800 million to $1 billion for all members to replace equipment purchased from China’s Huawei and ZTE. Huawei has been battling the U.S. government for more than a year. National security experts worry that “back doors” in routers, switches and other Huawei equipment could allow China to spy on U.S. communications. Huawei has denied that it would help China spy. Rural carriers have also opposed the bar on using Universal Service Fund monies on Huawei equipment, which is often cheaper than competitors. Missouri’s Mark Twain Communications, for example, also noted in a recent filing that it would be difficult for the companies to determine which suppliers it should avoid because they may in the future pose a national security threat. The Universal Service Fund subsidizes equipment used to provide service in four programs, including some rural or hard-to-reach areas, libraries and schools and a program that helps low income consumers get phone service. Huawei also said in the filing that it had sought to meet with FCC commissioners to discuss the rule-making but were rebuffed. Huawei also argued in the filing that banning its equipment from sale in the United States “would likely violate” U.S. obligations to the World Trade Organization. “The Commission should not allow unsubstantiated ‘national security concerns’ to serve as a pretext for potential violation of long-standing international trade agreements, especially since such targeted actions would fail to address supply chain security concerns effectively,” the company said in the filing. The U.S. government has also angered China by putting Huawei on a blacklist that would ban U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese firm.

huawei
china
telecoms
ajit pai
fcc
zte
phones
u.s .


Japanese women face retirement savings gap of almost 20 years, World Economic Forum says

Abstract: NEW YORK - One of the toughest problems retirees face is making sure their money lasts as long as they do. From the U.S. to Europe, Japan and Australia, retirement account balances aren’t increasing fast enough to cover rising life expectancy, the World Economic Forum warns in a report published Thursday. The result could be workers outliving their savings by as much as a decade or more. “The size of the gap is such that it requires action” from policymakers, employers and individuals, said report co-author Han Yik, head of institutional investors at the World Economic Forum. Unless more is done, older people will either need to get by on less or postpone retirement, he said. “You either spend less or you make more.” Most of the world’s retirees are doing better than those in Japan, where the retirement savings gap is 15 years for men and almost 20 years for women. While Japanese workers save no less than others, they tend to invest in very safe assets that produce few gains over time, Yik said. As a result, average savings in Japan are only enough to cover 4.5 years of retirement. Meanwhile, life expectancy at birth for Japanese women is 87.1 years — the highest in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — and 81 years for men. The forum assumed retirees would need enough income to cover 70% of their pre-retirement pay, and didn’t include Social Security or other government welfare payments in the total. In the U.S., the forum calculates that 65-year-olds have enough savings to cover just 9.7 years of retirement income. That leaves the average American man with a gap of 8.3 years. Women, who live longer, face a 10.9-year gap. The retirement savings gap is about 10 years for men in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands, the forum says. Longer-living women in those countries face an extra two to three years of financial uncertainty. Across the world, governments and employers have pushed more responsibility for retirement onto individuals, by shifting from traditional pensions to defined contribution plans, mostly known as 401(k) plans in the U.S. “All the risks that governments and employers used to have, we’ve shifted that onto workers,” Yik said. The size of the world’s collective retirement savings gap could exceed $400 trillion (¥43 quadrillion) by 2050, up from $70 trillion in 2015, according to the report. The U.S.’s savings gap will be the largest at $137 trillion, followed by China at $119 trillion and India at $85 trillion. Among the forum’s recommendations are making sure more workers are covered by retirement plans on the job. Employers should be doing more to improve investment options while pushing workers to save a sufficient amount of their income, according to the report. Fewer than half of the 1,900 retirement plans served by Vanguard Group automatically enroll workers, according to the firm’s “How America Saves 2019” report released Tuesday. That number has risen quickly, however, doubling to 48 percent last year from 24 percent in 2009.

retirement
savings
world economic forum
europe
australia
u.s .
elderly


Business sentiment remains negative at Japan's big firms, survey shows

Abstract: Business sentiment among major companies in Japan remained negative in April-June, reflecting uncertainties over the U.S.-China trade dispute, a government survey showed on Thursday. The business sentiment index for companies with capital of ¥1 billion or more stood at minus 3.7, down from minus 1.7 for January-March, according to the joint survey by the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet Office. In October-December 2018, the index was at plus 4.3. The index represents the percentage of companies that see their business conditions improving from the previous quarter minus that of firms feeling the opposite. With the latest survey taken to gauge sentiment as of May 15, just after the United States raised its tariffs on imports from China worth $200 billion, companies “became more cautious (about their business performances), due to concerns over a slowdown in the Chinese economy,” a MOF official said. The business outlook index for the major companies stood at plus 6.7 for July-September and plus 0.4 for the following quarter. For April-June, the index for large manufacturers came to minus 10.4, worse than minus 7.3 for January-March, affected mainly by a fall in demand for auto parts and machine tools bound for China. The index for large nonmanufacturers stood at minus 0.4, against plus 1.0 in January-March, amid a drop in profit margins in the construction sector traced to higher labor costs mirroring a manpower shortage. The April-June sentiment index came to minus 5.3 for midsize companies, and minus 15.0 for small companies. Combined sales at all surveyed companies in fiscal 2019 are projected to grow 1.3 percent from the previous year, while their recurring profits are expected to fall 3.3 percent. Combined capital spending is seen growing 9.0 percent.

surveys
trade
tariffs
economic indicators
trade war


Uber tests drone food delivery and launches new autonomous SUV

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Uber is testing restaurant food deliveries by drone. The company’s Uber Eats unit began the tests in San Diego with McDonald’s and plans to expand to other restaurants later this year. Uber says the service should decrease food delivery times. It works this way: Workers at a restaurant load the meal into a drone and it takes off, tracked and guided by a new aerospace management system. The drone then meets an Uber Eats driver at a drop-off location, and the driver will hand-deliver the meal to the customer. In the future, the company wants to land drones atop parked vehicles near delivery locations and secure them to the vehicle for the final mile of the delivery. Last year Uber and the city of San Diego won a bid from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to test food delivery by air. “We’ve been working closely with the FAA to ensure that we’re meeting requirements and prioritizing safety,” Luke Fischer, head of flight operations at Uber Elevate, said in a statement Wednesday. The company said the knowledge it gains from the tests will help with Uber’s planned aerial ride-sharing network. Also Wednesday, Uber announced that it would work with Volvo Cars to build a vehicle that comes off the assembly line capable of driving autonomously. The ride-hailing company’s self-driving system will be installed in production versions of the Volvo XC90 SUV. The vehicle’s steering and braking systems are designed for computer rather than human control, including several backup systems for both steering and braking functions and battery backup power. If the primary systems fail, the backup system will immediately act to bring the car to a stop. Various sensors will allow Uber’s self-driving system to safely operate and maneuver in urban areas, the company said. Uber and Volvo Cars partnered in September 2016. This is the third car they’ve developed together. Volvo says it plans to use a similar vehicle to introduce its own self-driving cars in the early 2020s. Uber made the announcement at its third-annual Uber Elevate Summit. The announcements came on a day with a lot of activity in autonomous vehicle technology. Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company partly owned by Ford, announced that it would expand testing to Detroit. The company already is testing vehicles in Pittsburgh, Miami, Washington, D.C., Dearborn, Michigan, and Palo Alto, California. Argo had deployed third-generation test vehicles based on the Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrid in all of the cities. They get better sensors and software including higher-resolution radar and cameras. Volkswagen confirmed that it has cut ties with autonomous vehicle software and hardware developer Aurora Innovation Inc., which has offices in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. The German automaker is working on a tie-up with Ford that includes a partnership with Argo AI. Earlier this week Fiat Chrysler signed on with Aurora, a startup founded by executives who used to work at Google, Tesla and Uber.

uber
drones
suv
uber eats
faa
volvo
self-driving
u.s .
carmakers


Tokyo stocks extend losses on Hong Kong drop and yen rise

Abstract: Stocks fell further on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, bruised by a drop in Hong Kong equities and a stronger yen. The 225-issue Nikkei average closed down 97.72 points, or 0.46 percent, at 21,032.00. On Wednesday, the key market gauge dropped 74.56 points. The Topix index of all first section issues fell 12.72 points, or 0.82 percent, at 1,541.50, after sliding 7.10 points the previous day. The Tokyo market got off to a weak start, battered by profit-taking after a three-day advance through Tuesday and an overnight drop on Wall Street, brokers said. It slowly slipped further into negative territory, pulled down by a tumble in Hong Kong stocks and the yen’s appreciation. The Nikkei briefly sank nearly 200 points. Hong Kong stocks were hurt by massive protests over a proposed law revision to allow extraditions to mainland China. The Tokyo market cut losses in the afternoon, partly thanks to a recovery in Hong Kong stocks. While fluctuating around the 21,000 level in the afternoon, the Nikkei average failed to make up for the morning’s plunge and remained in negative territory for the rest of the day. Brokers noted that the market was also weighed down by concerns over the uncertain future of U.S.-China trade negotiations to settle their trade dispute. Investors became concerned that the talks may drag on, after U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement Wednesday that he had no deadline for an agreement in the negotiations to avert additional tariffs on Chinese imports. On the other hand, Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co., said that the Tokyo market in the afternoon was “supported by apparent purchases of exchange-traded funds by the Bank of Japan.” Otsuka said that investors retreated to the sidelines in the afternoon to wait to see the outcome of a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee on June 18-19 and whether Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet during a Group of 20 summit in Japan on June 28-29. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,673 to 394 in the TSE’s first section, while 74 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.174 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.056 billion shares. Japan Display Inc. plunged 11.94 percent, a day after the company announced plans to suspend operations at a factory producing its mainstay liquid crystal display panels for smartphones and a voluntary redundancy program aimed at cutting 1,200 jobs. Semiconductor-related issues fell, dragged down by a drop in the U.S. semiconductor sector stock index on Wednesday. They included Tokyo Electron and Advantest Corp. On the other hand, a handful of winners included hourly parking service provider Park24 Co. and cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average lost 100 points to end at 21,020.


Dollar almost unchanged around ¥108.30 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was almost flat around ¥108.30 in Tokyo trading late Thursday after overcoming its early weakness. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥108.34-35, against ¥108.31 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1294, down from $1.339-1340, and at ¥122.37, down from ¥122.82. After moving around ¥108.40 in early trading, the dollar fell below ¥108.20 in midmorning trading as the Australian dollar dropped against the yen amid growing speculation over an interest cut by the Australian central bank. The speculation spread as the Australian government’s jobs data for May showed only a slight increase in the number of full-time workers, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The greenback was also pressured by falls in Japan’s benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average and Hong Kong stocks. After the selling ran its course, the U.S. currency bounced back above ¥108.30 in afternoon trading. Market players “found it difficult to move in the absence of major incentives in the afternoon,” an official of a Japanese bank said, indicating that their attention is increasingly paid to U.S. and Chinese retail sales data for May, to be released Friday. Players are also keeping a close tab on whether the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week will hint at an interest cut at an FOMC meeting in July, traders said. But the foreign exchange margin trading service firm official said that “the market has factored in a Fed interest rate cut too much.” The dollar is expected to attract buybacks if the FOMC meeting results fail to meet market expectations, the official added.


Volkswagen may launch new EV series in Japan in 2022

Abstract: German automaker Volkswagen AG will release its ID series of next-generation electric vehicles in Japan as soon as 2022, officials with its Japanese unit said Wednesday. All-electric vehicles under the ID brand will travel up to 550 kilometers on a single full charge, according to Volkswagen Group Japan K.K. The German company is accelerating its shift to electric vehicles worldwide. In Japan, the lineup of electric vehicles will be expanded. Till Scheer, president of the Japanese unit, told reporters that the new models will travel farther and be more driver-friendly than existing electric vehicles.


Japan to lift 18-year-old embargo on Irish sheep meat

Abstract: LONDON - The Japanese and Irish governments have reached a broad agreement on the lifting of Japan’s 18-year-old ban on imports of sheep meat from Ireland, Irish agriculture minister Michael Creed said on Twitter on Wednesday. The accord came after Japan resumed imports of Irish beef only last month. “Sheepmeat Access to Japan agreed!” Creed tweeted after holding separate meetings with Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Takamori Yoshikawa and Masayoshi Shintani, parliamentary vice minister of health, labor and welfare, in Tokyo on Wednesday. The Japanese government imposed the embargo on Irish sheep meat in 2001, in the wake of outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. As conditions for lifting the import ban, the Japanese government demanded Ireland improve the traceability of Irish sheep meat, according to officials of an Irish farm group. In his Twitter post, Creed described the broad accord with Japan as “an early win for Team Ireland in Japan,” in a reference to the Rugby World Cup 2019 — set to kick off in Japan 100 days later.

sheep
meat
ireland
beef
trade
u.k .
tariffs
maff


Uber Eats delivery staff in Japan to launch labor union as they dispute their 'contractor' status

Abstract: Food delivery staff working in Japan for ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. said Wednesday they plan to form a labor union in a bid to improve what they see as disadvantageous treatment for being classified as independent contractors rather than employees. “The delivery staff are working under the instructions of Uber, so they should be treated the same as employees,” said Yoshihito Kawakami, a lawyer supporting workers for Uber Eats in Japan, at a meeting to prepare for the launch of the labor union. Around 20 delivery riders attended the meeting in Tokyo, which was organized by the Japan Community Union Federation. They said they hope to recruit more members and launch the union later this year. The move comes as the U.S. company faces criticism for evading its responsibility as an employer by not paying social insurance contributions to provide delivery riders with accident compensation and sickness benefits. The company insists that it does not hire workers and is just offering a platform connecting delivery staff, businesses and customers. But critics argue that a de facto employment relationship exists as Uber decides on payments for the delivery riders and manages orders. Under the service, delivery riders on bicycles and motorcycles are directed by the company to pick up food and drink items at restaurants that have been ordered using the Uber Eats app and website. The service is available in 10 cities across Japan including Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, with the number of delivery riders totaling over 15,000, according to lawyers supporting the Uber Eats workers. “I’m afraid the operator won’t compensate me if I have an accident during a delivery, as the risk is growing amid a glut of orders,” said a delivery man from Nagoya in central Japan at the meeting. Uber has been dogged by disputes over labor issues in the United States and other countries, where drivers for its ride-hailing service have set up labor unions. But Uber has refused to negotiate with the unions, according to the lawyers.

uber
uber eats
unions
food delivery
labor laws
jobs


Renault seeks greater role in Nissan governance reform

Abstract: PARIS/TOKYO - Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said Wednesday he was unhappy with a part of Nissan Motor Co.’s plans to bolster corporate governance following the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. At an annual shareholders meeting in Paris, Senard said Renault CEO Thierry Bollore should be added to new committees to oversee executive nominations, compensation and audits at Nissan. Renault has a 43 percent stake in the Japanese automaker, which holds a 15 percent nonvoting stake in its French peer. “In Nissan’s proposal, I am the only member (from Renault) appointed for the committees, and CEO Bollore is not included,” Senard said at the meeting. Senard, also a Nissan board member, said he supports its efforts to strengthen governance. The Japanese automaker is set to propose its plan for establishing committees and the appointment of members at its annual shareholders meeting on June 25. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday the two automakers have “slightly different views” on who should be appointed. “We are discussing the matter” with Renault, he said. Saikawa said Renault remains an important shareholder and partner for Nissan. Renault’s discontent clouds the outlook for Nissan’s monthslong efforts to install a post-Ghosn management system. The French automaker recently told Nissan in a letter it plans to abstain from voting on the proposal at the general shareholders meeting. That could block the plan to form the three statutory committees as the Japanese automaker needs to secure a two-thirds majority. Nissan wants the committees chaired by outside directors, and for the majority of members to consist of independents, because Ghosn, who now faces charges of understating remuneration and misuse of company assets, had effectively handled those areas of responsibility as chairman of the board and the company. Ghosn denies all charges. Nissan faces another challenge in launching a new board. Two major U.S. proxy advisory firms — Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC — have recommended investors vote against Saikawa’s reappointment as board member at the shareholders meeting, saying it would be inappropriate to retain the person who failed to identify Ghosn’s alleged financial misconduct. Following Ghosn’s arrest last November, differences have surfaced between the two carmakers over how to strengthen their alliance in the face of rapid shifts in the industry toward electric and self-driving vehicles. Nissan opposes Renault’s intention to integrate operations, which reflects the wishes of the French government — Renault’s top shareholder. Renault made a merger offer in mid-April that was rejected by Nissan. Saikawa has said the Japanese carmaker wants to focus on revamping its faltering sales for now. The French government recently softened its position, with French finance minister Bruno Le Maire saying it would not stick to the idea of a merger between the two automakers, according to French media. In June, Italian-American firm Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. suddenly dropped its proposal to merge with Renault, citing French government involvement in the negotiations.

nissan
renault sa
ceo
carmakers
integration
mergers
fiat chrysler automobiles
france
acquisitions


Japan Display CEO to quit as struggling screen-maker plans more job cuts

Abstract: Japan Display Inc., a supplier to Apple Inc., said Wednesday its CEO will quit in September to take responsibility for years of net losses as it unveiled additional restructuring measures and raised the number of domestic job cuts to 1,200. The latest reduction, up from 1,000 announced in May, represents over a quarter of the display maker’s total workforce in Japan. CEO and President Yoshiyuki Tsukizaki will step down, effective Sept. 30, to be replaced by Managing Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer Minoru Kikuoka. The struggling maker aims to lower fixed costs and has agreed to receive up to ¥80 billion ($738 million) in a bailout from a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium. It incurred a group net loss for the fifth straight year in fiscal 2018 at ¥109.43 billion, on sales of ¥636.66 billion, down 11.3 percent from the previous year, hit by falling demand from its main client Apple. The maker also said operations at its Hakusan plant in Ishikawa Prefecture will be suspended from July to September, and that part of its manufacturing line at its Mobara plant in Chiba Prefecture will be closed in September. The company said it would decide by late September whether to reopen the Hakusan plant, which makes displays for smartphones. Between July 29 and Aug. 27, the company will invite employees to take early retirement by the end of September under a voluntary early retirement program. Japan Display was established in 2012 following the merger of the display operations of Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp., with support from state-backed fund INCJ Ltd. It struck a bailout deal in April with the consortium, which includes China’s Harvest Tech Investment Management Co. and Taiwanese panel maker TPK Holding Co., under which the foreign group will together own 49.8 percent of Japan Display once the payments are made by Dec. 30. As a result, INCJ’s shareholdings in the company will fall to 12.7 percent from the current 25.3 percent.

japan display
jobs
apple
smartphones
financial results


Toyota to cut managers' summer bonus by up to 5% due to high R&D costs

Abstract: NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. will cut summer bonuses for some 9,800 managers by 4 to 5 percent, as it looks to tighten cost control in the face of high spending on developing technology for autonomous and electrified vehicles, a source close to the matter said Thursday. The decision comes even as the company expects a 19.5 percent rise in net profit in the current fiscal year, and reflects an uncertain business outlook due to the prolonged trade war between the United States and China, the source said. Toyota President Akio Toyoda said Thursday at an annual shareholders’ meeting that his company is boosting efforts in developing zero-emission vehicles including fuel cell vehicles. “We are facing a once-in-a-century transformation. I hope to build a mobility society of the future with our shareholders,” Toyoda said at the meeting at its headquarters in Aichi Prefecture. Competition is intensifying, with new rivals such as technology giant Google LLC now in the markets for electric and self-driving vehicles and new transportation services. In recent years, Toyota has struck cross-industry tie-ups with partners such as investment giant SoftBank Group Corp., leading ride-share service provider Uber Technologies Inc. and ride-hailing company Grab Holdings Inc. of Singapore. Japan’s biggest automaker plans to spend a record ¥1.1 trillion ($10 billion) in research and development operations in the year through March 2020, up 4.9 percent from the previous year. The firm expects a group net profit of ¥2.25 trillion on group sales of ¥30 trillion in the current fiscal year. At the shareholders meeting, some shareholders asked about Toyota’s efforts to reduce accidents, after incidents involving elderly drivers came under the spotlight recently in Japan as its population rapidly grays. “How far along is Toyota’s technology being developed for cars that can stop automatically when a driver makes a mistake?” one shareholder asked company executives at the meeting. A Toyota executive responded that its engineers versed in artificial intelligence technology are working on enhancing safety systems. The number of fatal traffic accidents has been declining in recent years in Japan, but accidents deemed to be caused by people aged 75 or older increased to 460 in 2018 — up by 42 from a year earlier. Of the 460, 136 cases involved drivers believed to have became confused when using the pedals or steering wheel.

toyota google softbank uber ride-hailing grab carmakers


Japan to partially end feed-in tariff system for electricity from renewable sources

Abstract: Japan’s industry ministry plans to partially end the country’s feed-in tariff program, under which electricity produced by businesses and others from renewable energy sources — such as from solar and wind — is bought by power suppliers at fixed rates, it has been learned. To reduce the cost burden on the public, which increased after the program was introduced in 2012, the ministry plans to revise a related law in fiscal 2020 to adopt a competitive bidding system for electricity generated by businesses using large-scale facilities, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. Under the FIT system, power suppliers pass on their costs for purchasing electricity from renewable energy sources via electricity bills. The additional burden on households and businesses is expected to reach some ¥2.4 trillion in fiscal 2019. The planned revision is based on a system in Germany, which is ahead of other nations in promoting renewable energy use, according to the sources. The ministry hopes to start in-depth discussions on the FIT system overhaul at a meeting of experts within this month, the source said.

electricity renewables energy solar wind meti


First black priest in U.S., an ex-slave, on track for sainthood

Abstract: SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS - Pope Francis on Wednesday deemed the first known black Roman Catholic priest in the United States to be “venerable,” positioning the former slave for possible sainthood. The pontiff’s designation of the Rev. Augustine Tolton as venerable, meaning the church has intensely scrutinized his life and recognizes it as one of “heroic virtue,” puts Tolton two steps away from possible canonization, the Diocese of Springfield explained in announcing the designation. Born to a Missouri slave in 1854, Tolton, his mother and two siblings eluded Confederate guns, with help from Union soldiers, and escaped across the Mississippi River into Illinois in 1862, settling in Quincy, a river city about 110 miles (177 km) northwest of St. Louis. Baptized a Catholic, the faith of his family’s Missouri owners, Tolton studied for the priesthood in Rome because his race precluded his acceptance to a U.S. seminary. “Father Tolton’s story, from slave to priest, is an incredible journey that shows how God has a plan for all of us,” Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese said in a statement. “Father Tolton overcame the odds of slavery, prejudice and racism … (and) carried his crosses in life quietly and heroically.” Work continues on Tolton’s history. If a miracle can be attributed to his ministry, the pope may declare him “blessed.” A second miracle would make him eligible for sainthood. The Springfield Diocese, which includes Quincy, and the Archdiocese of Chicago, where Tolton ministered to the poor before dying at 43 in 1897, have been working on his canonization since 2003. Michael Patrick Murphy, director of Catholic Studies for Loyola University Chicago’s Department of Theology, said for Tolton to move from “servant of God” in 2011 to “venerable” just eight years later indicates the seriousness of the church’s review. Reaching the “venerable” stage “kicks the machine into gear” as researchers search for miracles, a weighty and fact-reliant process, he said. “Miracles by definition interrupt the laws of nature,” Murphy said, but the requirements for evidence are strenuous: “There can’t be a retroactive, ‘Let’s make this happen’ type-of-thing.” Tolton assumed he would work in Africa, but once ordained at age 31, he was sent back to Quincy. A biographer recounted Tolton’s conversation with another cleric shortly before departing in which he wondered whether America deserved being called by many the world’s most enlightened nation. “If America has not yet seen a black priest,” Tolton said, “it must see one now.” He endured three years of racism in Quincy before “Good Father Gus” moved to Chicago. He is buried in Quincy. Paprocki said the diocese is exploring establishing a shrine to Tolton, perhaps in a now-closed Quincy church. “From slave to priest. That’s an amazing American story,” Murphy said. “He went from having lived amid the greatest sin in American culture to being a minister that would address that kind of moral crime, a fully scoped life. Prisoner to liberator.”

sainthood
illinois
pope francis
roman catholics
augustine tolton
slavery
u.s .
african-american


Ecuador's highest court approves same-sex marriage

Abstract: QUITO - Ecuador’s highest court on Wednesday approved same-sex marriage in a landmark ruling in the traditionally Catholic and conservative South American country. The Constitutional Court said same-sex marriage had been approved in a five-to-four vote of its nine judges in a closed hearing. Ecuador, where the church is very influential, thus joins Argentina, Brazil and Colombia in recognizing same-sex marriage. “It means that Ecuador is more egalitarian. It is more just than yesterday, that it recognizes that human rights must be for all people without discrimination,” said lawyer Christian Paula of the Patka Foundation, which provides legal advice for around 10 same-sex couples seeking to marry in the country. The four dissenting judges argued that in order to recognize same-sex marriage, constitutional reform would have to be debated in the National Assembly. Gustavo Medina, a former Supreme Court president, told AFP that Ecuadoran authorities were obliged to abide by decisions of the Constitutional Court, which were “binding and mandatory.” Ecuador has recognized de-facto civil unions for same-sex couples since 2015. The Constitutional Court approved same-sex marriage as it ruled on lawsuits by two pairs of men who wanted to wed. The men in one of those couples are named Efrain Soria and Javier Benalcazar. “I want to say hello to Javier, who is in Guayaquil. Honey, I love you,” Soria told reporters in the capital Quito. He urged other gays to stop hiding and “enjoy the happiness that comes from being equal, like anyone else.” Ecuador’s current constitution, ratified in 2008, defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman. It also bars same-sex couples from adopting children. The Constitutional Court judges that approved same-sex marriage said they based their decision on the idea that all people are equal. They also said they sought to counter any kind of discrimination.


Coalition vows retaliation after Yemen's Houthis strike Saudi airport

Abstract: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The Saudi-led military coalition vowed to respond firmly to a missile attack by Yemeni Houthi forces on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that wounded 26 people. The Western-backed, Sunni Muslim alliance that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen said the early-morning strike was proof of Iranian support for what it called cross-border terrorism. The coalition said a projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage. Three women and two children were among the wounded, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities, it said in a statement. The Houthis said on their media channels that they fired a cruise missile at Abha airport, which is about 200 km (125 miles) north of the Yemen border and serves domestic and regional routes. “Evidence indicates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards supplied the Houthis with the weapon that targeted Abha airport,” Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV quoted the coalition as saying. There was no immediate Iranian response. The Saudi civil aviation body told Reuters flight traffic was currently running normally at the airport. The Houthi media center said the strike destroyed the control tower. The coalition’s spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the claim. The attack follows an armed drone strike last month on two oil-pumping stations in the kingdom that were claimed by the Houthis. Saudi Arabia accused Iran of ordering the attack, a charge that Tehran and the Houthi movement deny. The coalition said the strike on Abha airport could amount to a war crime and it would take “urgent and timely” measures in response. A Houthi military spokesman on Tuesday threatened that the group would target every airport in Saudi Arabia and that the coming days would reveal “big surprises. The alliance intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government that was ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014. The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being puppets of Iran and say their revolution is against corruption. A Houthi military spokesman said the attack on Abha airport was a response to the coalition’s “crimes” against Yemen. “The most modern American systems could not intercept the missile,” he said in comments carried by the group’s media center. The coalition spokesman did not immediately respond when asked if the projectile had been intercepted by the kingdom’s Patriot missiles before hitting the airport. The Houthis have previously targeted Saudi cities with drones and missiles, most of which have been intercepted. In March 2018 an Egyptian was killed in Riyadh by missile shrapnel. The nearest Patriot battery to Abha airport is about 20 km to the north, said Jeremy Binnie, Middle East & Africa editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly. “A cruise missile might be able to come in at a sufficiently low altitude that it could not be engaged before reaching its target,” he said. The Houthis stepped up their attacks following a lull last year ahead of U.N.-led peace efforts. The coalition has responded by carrying out air strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa. Senior European Union diplomat Helga Schmid told Reuters in Abu Dhabi that Wednesday’s attack was a “provocation that is unacceptable” and risked undermining the U.N. efforts. The United Nations is deeply concerned about the attack, deputy U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. “We urge all parties to prevent any such further incidents, which risk escalating the current situation, pose a serious threat to national and regional security and undermine the U.N.-led political process,” Haq said. The attack comes against a backdrop of heightened U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington’s move to tighten sanctions on Tehran and to reinforce its military presence in the Gulf. The escalation in violence could threaten a fragile U.N.-led peace initiative in Yemen’s main port city of Hodeida, which handles the bulk of the impoverished country’s commercial and aid imports and is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

yemen
houthis
saudi arabia
iran
abha airport
conflict
middle east


Signs of ritual pot smoking, possibly part of funeral rites, found in ancient Chinese graves

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Archaeologists have unearthed the earliest direct evidence of people smoking marijuana from a 2,500-year-old graveyard in western China. In a complex of lofty tombs in the Pamir Mountains — a region near the borders of modern China, Pakistan and Tajikistan — excavators found 10 wooden bowls and several stones containing burnt residue of the cannabis plant. Scientists believe heated stones were used to burn the marijuana and people then inhaled the smoke as part of a burial ritual. “It’s the earliest strong evidence of people getting high” on marijuana, said Mark Merlin, a botanist at the University of Hawaii. He was not involved in the research published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. The history of ancient drug use has long intrigued scholars. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of people in Central Asia smoking cannabis around 440 B.C. In the past century, archaeologists have found cannabis seeds and plants buried in tombs across Central Asia’s highlands, including in southern Siberia, and elsewhere in western China’s Xinjiang region. Today, scholars don’t consider ancient accounts trustworthy without corroborating evidence. And since the cannabis plant has other uses — seeds are pressed for oil and fibers used for cloth — the presence of seeds alone doesn’t confirm drug use. Using new techniques for chemical analysis, the study’s scientists examined the residue and found evidence of THC, the compound that gives pot its high. Most wild cannabis plants have low levels of THC, so the researchers believe the people who built the graves deliberately selected or cultivated plants with higher amounts. “During funeral rites, the smokers may have hoped to communicate with the spirit world — or with the people they were burying,” said study co-author Yimin Yang of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Excavation of the site, called Jirzankal Cemetery, began in 2013. The tomb complex also contained other objects the researchers believe were used in funeral rituals, including fragments of silk cloth and harps. No DNA analysis of the ancient corpses has been released to suggest their origins. Dorian Fuller, an archaeologist and botanist at University College London who was not involved in the study, called the findings “very exciting.” “Some of the artifacts are from Central Asia and some from Central China,” he said. “It reminds us that this region was very much at the crossroads of Asia at the time.”


Ebola claims two in Uganda as virus spreads from Congo, prompting WHO emergency meeting

Abstract: KAMPALA - A second person infected with the Ebola virus has died in Uganda, the health ministry said Thursday, after a family exposed to the disease quietly crossed the border from Congo. The first cross-border cases in this Ebola outbreak — the second-deadliest in history — have prompted a World Health Organization expert committee to meet on Friday to discuss whether to declare a global health emergency. Such declarations almost always boost attention and donor funding. Uganda health ministry spokesman Emmanuel Ainebyoona confirmed the death of the 50-year-old woman overnight. Her 5-year-old grandson was the first confirmed death from Ebola in Uganda on Wednesday. The boy’s 3-year-old brother also is infected. Congo’s health ministry said all members of the Congolese-Ugandan family have agreed to be repatriated to Congo for experimental treatments as part of clinical trials. There is no licensed treatment for the hemorrhagic fever which can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. More than 1,400 people have died in this outbreak declared in August in eastern Congo, one of the world’s most turbulent regions, where rebel attacks and resistance by community members wary of authorities have badly hampered Ebola containment work. For months, officials have feared the virus would cross the heavily traveled border where health workers have been screening millions of people for fever and other symptoms. Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan have been preparing for possible cases. The family’s case shows the challenges in tracking those infected in an outbreak where an alarmingly high percentage of cases aren’t discovered until it is too late. Doctors Without Borders last month said as few as a third of new confirmed Ebola cases were linked back to known contacts of infected people. Authorities on Wednesday said the family had traveled from Uganda to Congo because the boys’ grandfather was ill. WHO said he died of Ebola, and officials believe those who mourned him became infected, too. While returning to Uganda, the group including several other children was stopped at a Congolese border post. A dozen members of the group already showed symptoms of Ebola. While awaiting transfer to an Ebola treatment unit, six family members slipped away and crossed into Uganda on an unguarded footpath, authorities told The Associated Press. Authorities in both countries now vow to step up border security. Uganda has now identified seven suspected Ebola cases, and about 50 contacts of the family are being traced there. Five family members who did not cross into Uganda have tested positive for Ebola, Congo’s health ministry said. Health teams in Uganda “are not panicking,” Henry Mwebesa, the national director of health services, told the AP on Wednesday. He cited the East African nation’s experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers. This outbreak “is not going to go beyond” the boy’s family in Uganda, he added. For the first time an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine is being widely used, with more than 132,000 in Congo receiving it. Uganda is more stable than eastern Congo, and it has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers. WHO is shipping another 3,500 doses this week for health workers and contacts of those infected.


Jump around: How 'jumping genes' could transform gene editing

Abstract: For years, scientists have used a tool something like a pair of scissors for the complex task of genetic editing, but a newly discovered technique using “jumping genes” could offer a seamless, safer alternative. Gene editing is the process of altering a part of DNA — the code that governs much about how an organism develops and behaves. It can correct or delete parts of that code, or insert new sections, for reasons that include preventing disease. A key tool for editing is the CRISPR-Cas9 process, which uses CRISPRs — a part of the immune defense system in bacteria — to locate a target in the DNA, and then uses the protein Cas9 to “snip” the DNA strand. The DNA then repairs itself, sometimes guided by a template that is inserted during the editing process. But the process is not always effective — sometimes the repairs are incomplete or incorrect, and the damage response prompted by the cutting can have negative side effects. Last year, a study found the technique was “frequently” causing “extensive” unintended gene mutations. But new research published Thursday in the journal Nature offers a totally novel way to edit genes in DNA: jumping genes, also known as transposons, can effectively slide into the DNA without cuts. The jumping gene “possesses all the necessary chemical properties to directly insert, or integrate … without a DNA double-strand break,” lead author Samuel Sternberg said. “You essentially sidestep all that complexity, and you obviate the need for a DNA break,” added Sternberg, an assistant professor at Columbia University’s department of biochemistry and molecular biophysics. The research was inspired by the discovery in 2017 that some types of jumping genes contain the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Sternberg and his team decided to focus on the jumping gene in the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and see whether it could be used for editing. While the properties of jumping genes have been known for some time, in the past scientists struggled with their tendency to land “just about anywhere in the genome, without rhyme or reason,” said Sternberg. But they found that the jumping gene could effectively be programmed with a guide “so it can insert itself with incredible precision into user-defined sites in the genome.” That means scientists can ensure the edits are made in the correct place and in the correct way, and frees them from relying on the DNA’s own repair mechanism. The researchers found the jumping gene was capable of depositing “genetic cargoes into the genome,” delivering sequences up to 10,000 bases long. Researchers checked their work by sequencing the edited genome and found the additions were inserted precisely with no extra copies created elsewhere — a problem that can occur with gene editing that uses CRISPR. The new technique holds “really exciting” potential — including for treating people, said Sternberg. “This approach could allow for therapeutic genes to be inserted into the genome in a potentially safer way than is currently possible,” he said. And it could be a game-changer for certain types of cells, like neurons, which stubbornly resist gene editing using the “cutting” process. The technique may also open up new editing options, Sternberg said, in industrial biotechnology and complex bacterial communities, such as those in the gut. Gene editing is often heralded for its potential to treat illness. It has been used to restore hearing in mice and repair disease-causing mutations in human embryos. But its use in human embryos has come under the spotlight in recent months, after a Chinese researcher altered the DNA of twin girls to insert a gene mutation making them immune to the HIV virus. The controversy prompted calls from experts for a moratorium on so-called germline editing, where the heritable DNA in sperm, eggs or embryos is altered. But Sternberg said while his research offers a new tool for gene editing, it doesn’t change the debate about germline editing. “The issue, at least right now, isn’t really the way that a change is made, but whether to make the change in the first place,” he said.


Kenya's rape survivors win right to abortion in landmark court ruling

Abstract: NAIROBI - Kenya’s High Court ruled that rape survivors had the right to an abortion on Wednesday, as it ordered authorities to pay almost $30,000 in damages to the mother of a teenage victim who died after a botched abortion. The landmark ruling in a country where abortion is illegal in most cases was in response to a petition filed by the mother, whose daughter — known by her initials JMM to protect her identity — became pregnant after she was raped in 2014 at age 15. She had a backstreet abortion, leaving her with injuries that eventually led to her death last year. JMM’s mother, along with the Federation of Women Lawyers, filed a petition in 2015 claiming authorities failed to provide her daughter with proper post-abortion care, and called on the government to implement measures for access to safe abortions. The court awarded her damages of 3 million Kenyan shillings ($29,600) over poor post-abortion care at a government hospital and said rape survivors should be permitted to have abortions under certain circumstances. “Pregnancy resulting from rape or defilement, if in the opinion of a trained medical profession poses a danger to life or the health — that is physical, mental and social well-being of the mother — maybe terminated under … sections of the constitution,” said Justice Aggrey Muchelule. Abortion is permitted under the East African nation’s constitution only when a woman’s life or health is in danger and emergency treatment is required. Campaigners say the policy — along with conservative pro-life attitudes that stigmatize abortion in largely Christian Kenya — has driven thousands of women and girls to unregulated clinics run by untrained medical practitioners. Almost half a million abortions were conducted in Kenya in 2012 — the most recent data available — with one in four women and girls suffering complications such as high fever, sepsis, shock and organ failure, according to health ministry data. Like JMM, most victims are from poor urban and rural settlements, cannot afford private health care and face stigma and discrimination when they seek treatment in public hospitals. Campaigners say Kenyan authorities — influenced by powerful Christian groups — have in recent years made it harder for women to access safe abortions by withdrawing guidelines on conducting abortions and banning health workers from training. The High Court said the health ministry’s actions had violated the constitution, which guarantees the right to health, life and dignity of women, ordering authorities to reinstate the guidelines and provide health professionals with training. “JMM’s case is a window into the plight of many other women and girls who have no place to turn, and no access to information or reproductive health services,” said Evelyne Opondo, senior regional director for Africa at the Center for Reproductive Rights. The court order would mean health providers would be able to offer abortion and post-abortion care services without the fear of being prosecuted, said Opondo. JMM’s mother said that she hoped thousands of lives would be saved through the implementation of the order. “I know this is what my daughter, JMM, would have wanted to see,” she said in a statement. “That justice is served, and that Kenyan women and girls in need of emergency health services including abortion, regardless of their social economic status, are able to access safe and legal abortion services.”


Ex-Trump aide Hope Hicks agrees to closed-door appearance before House panel

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks has agreed to a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee, the panel announced Wednesday. The panel subpoenaed Hicks last month as part of its investigation into special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and obstruction of justice. The interview will be held June 19 and a transcript will be released. The appearance is a breakthrough for the panel, which has been holding hearings with experts as Trump has broadly obstructed congressional investigations. Hicks, a longtime aide to Trump, is mentioned throughout Mueller’s report. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said the interview will include questions about her time on Trump’s presidential campaign and in the White House. “It is important to hear from Ms. Hicks, who was a key witness for the special counsel,” Nadler said. “Ms. Hicks understands that the Committee will be free to pose questions as it sees fit.” Democrats hope to have additional witnesses after Hicks. They are expected to go to court soon to enforce a subpoena against former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who did not show up for his scheduled hearing last month. Nadler has also subpoenaed former McGahn aide Annie Donaldson, who is also mentioned throughout the Mueller report. Her deposition is scheduled for May 24, but it is so far unclear whether she will appear.

hope hicks
jerrold nadler
don mcgahn
u.s .
congress
donald trump


Trump ex-adviser Michael Flynn hires Robert Mueller critic as lawyer

Abstract: NEW YORK - Former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn has hired Sidney Powell, a fierce critic of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, as his new attorney, Powell’s office said in a statement. Powell, who has previously urged Flynn to withdraw his guilty plea over lying to the FBI www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/flynn-pleads-guilty-to-lying-on-russia-cooperates-with-u-s-probe-idUSKBN1DV50N about his contacts with Russia, suggested her client would not withdraw his plea and would adhere to the terms of his guilty plea signed in December 2017. “Attorney Powell is honored to represent General Flynn and he will continue to cooperate with the government in all matters,” the statement said. The move comes about a week after Flynn fired two lawyers www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flynn/former-trump-adviser-flynn-shakes-up-legal-team-court-filing-idUSKCN1T723B who had represented him since before the Mueller probe started in May 2017, prompting speculation the retired general might be looking to revoke his admission of guilt. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/flynn-pleads-guilty-to-lying-on-russia-cooperates-with-u-s-probe-idUSKBN1DV50N about his 2016 conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then-Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn was fired by Trump after just 24 days in the job for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his conversations with Kislyak. Flynn’s supporters have also raised questions about why the judge presiding over his case recently backed off a prior order and said the government did not need to disclose the transcripts of phone calls in December 2016 between Flynn and Kislyak. Powell, a conservative commentator who frequently appears on Fox News, authored the book “Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice,” which relates to the department’s conduct during the investigation of Enron Corp.

michael flynn
robert mueller
sidney powell
sergey kislyak
u.s .
donald trump
russia probe


Trump Jr. glad Senate testimony 'is finally over'

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, said he is “glad this is finally over” after speaking to the Senate Intelligence Committee for around three hours on Wednesday. Trump Jr. said he was happy to clarify answers from an interview with the panel’s staff in 2017, but told reporters, “I don’t think I changed any of what I said because there was nothing to change.” Senators wanted to discuss the answers Trump Jr. gave in that 2017 interview, as well as the answers he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a separate interview behind closed doors that year. He appeared in response to a subpoena from the panel’s Republican chairman, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, as part of the committee’s investigation into Russian interference. The president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House committee in February that before the presidential election he had briefed Trump Jr. approximately 10 times about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. But Trump Jr. told the Judiciary panel he was only “peripherally aware” of the real estate proposal. The panel was also interested in talking to him about other topics as well, including a 2016 campaign meeting in Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer that captured the interest of special counsel Robert Mueller. Emails leading up to the meeting promised dirt on Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent. Mueller’s report, released in April, examined the meeting but found insufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime. Trump Jr. would not discuss the details of the Senate interview, but said he was happy to comply if clarification was needed. “I am glad this is finally over, we’re able to put some final clarity on that, and I think the committee understands that,” he said. Asked as he walked away if he is worried about perjury, Trump Jr. said “not at all.” He also noted that Cohen is “serving time right now for lying to these very investigative bodies.” Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and other crimes. He is currently serving a three-year prison sentence. Trump Jr. said “I am glad this is finally over, we’re able to put some final clarity on that, and I think the committee understands that.” Asked as he walked away if he is worried about perjury, Trump Jr. said “not at all.” Trump Jr.’s testimony comes as the Intelligence Committee continues its two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Some Republicans are becoming restless with the topic, and Burr received considerable blowback from colleagues over the subpoena. But he told fellow senators that Trump Jr. had backed out of an interview twice, forcing the committee to act. Neither Burr nor the top Democrat on the panel, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, would comment on the interview as they left. The president said in May he believed his son was being treated poorly. “It’s really a tough situation because my son spent, I guess, over 20 hours testifying about something that Mueller said was 100 percent OK and now they want him to testify again,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I don’t know why. I have no idea why. But it seems very unfair to me.” It was the first known subpoena of a member of the president’s immediate family, and some Republicans went so far last month as to suggest Trump Jr. shouldn’t comply. Burr’s home state colleague, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., tweeted, “It’s time to move on & start focusing on issues that matter to Americans.” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a GOP member of the panel, said he understood Trump Jr.’s frustration. Cornyn’s Texas colleague, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, said there was “no need” for the subpoena. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has defended Burr, saying “none of us tell Chairman Burr how to run his committee.” Still, McConnell made it clear that he is eager to be finished with the probe, which began in early 2017. It’s uncertain when the intelligence panel will issue a final report. Burr told The Associated Press last month that he hopes to be finished with the investigation by the end of the year.

donald trump
richard burr
michael cohen
trump tower
robert mueller
congress
u.s .
donald trump jr .
russia probe


U.S. House oversight panel backs contempt vote for Cabinet pair in census dispute

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A House committee voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to a decision adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee voted 24-15 to advance contempt measures against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The vote sends the measures to the full House. The committee’s action marks an escalation of Democratic efforts to use their House majority to aggressively investigate the inner workings of the Trump administration. The White House asserted executive privilege on the matter earlier Wednesday. The Justice Department said officials had “engaged in good-faith efforts” to satisfy the committee’s oversight needs and labeled the planned contempt vote “unnecessary and premature.” Democrats fear the citizenship question will reduce census participation in immigrant-heavy communities and result in a severe undercount of minority voters. They say they want specific documents to determine why Ross added the question to the 2020 census and contend the administration has declined to provide the documents despite repeated requests. The administration has turned over more than 17,000 pages of documents and Ross testified for nearly seven hours in March. The Justice Department said two senior officials were interviewed by committee staff and said officials were working to produce tens of thousands of additional pages of relevant documents. The oversight panel’s chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, disputed the Justice Department’s account and said most of the documents turned over to the committee had already been made public. “We must protect the integrity of the census and we must stand up for Congress’ authority under the Constitution to conduct meaningful oversight,” Cummings said Wednesday. The administration’s refusal to turn over requested documents “does not appear to be an effort to engage in good-faith negotiations or accommodations,” he said. “Instead, it appears to be another example of the administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’ constitutionally mandated responsibilities.” Trump has pledged to “fight all the subpoenas” issued by Congress and says he won’t work on legislative priorities, such as infrastructure, until Congress halts investigations of his administration. Ross told the committee the March 2018 decision to add the question was based on a Justice Department request to help it enforce the Voting Rights Act. Cummings disputed that, citing documents unearthed last week suggesting that the real reason the administration sought to add the citizenship question was to help officials gerrymander legislative districts in overtly partisan and racist ways. Computer files from North Carolina redistricting expert Tom Hofeller include detailed calculations that lay out gains Republicans would see in Texas by basing legislative districts on the number of voting-age citizens rather than the total population. Hofeller, a Republican operative who died last year, said in the documents that GOP gains would be possible only if the census asked every household about its members’ immigration status for the first time since 1950. The Supreme Court is considering the citizenship question . A ruling is expected by the end of the month. “I think it’s totally ridiculous that we would have a census without asking” about citizenship, Trump said Wednesday, “but the Supreme Court is going to be ruling on it soon. I think when the census goes out … you have the right to ask whether or not somebody is a citizen of the United States.” Some of the documents the committee is seeking are protected by attorney-client privilege and other confidential processes, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said. The president has made a “protective assertion” of executive privilege so the administration can fully review all of the documents, he added. “The president, the Department of Justice, has every right to do that,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC. Democrats are “asking for documents that are privileged, and I would hope that they can continue to negotiate and speak about what is appropriate and what is not, but the world is watching. This country sees that they’d rather continue to investigate than legislate.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said the administration has thwarted congressional efforts to obtain key documents and exercise legitimate oversight. “All we get from the administration is a middle finger” of defiance, Raskin said. “And that’s not appropriate for the power of Congress.” A vote by the full House to hold Barr and Ross in contempt on the census issue would be a political blow but would not result in real punishment since the men are unlikely to go to jail or be arrested.

congress
william barr
wilbur ross
elijah cummings
tom hofeller
u.s .
discrimination
donald trump
u.s. census


As president, Kamala Harris would pursue Trump obstruction case

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Wednesday that if she wins the White House, her Justice Department “would have no choice” but to pursue an obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump after he leaves office. The California senator and some other Democrats in the 2020 race are pushing their party to initiate the impeachment process after special counsel Robert Mueller ‘s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has said he was unable to exonerate Trump of obstruction but couldn’t pursue potential charges because of a Justice Department policy that bars the indictment of a sitting president — a policy Harris has said she would ask her Justice Department to re-examine. “Everyone should be held accountable,” Harris told NPR in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “And the president is not above the law.” Harris, a former California attorney general who also was San Francisco’s district attorney, later said she would not dictate the outcome of any prospective efforts to charge Trump. “The facts and the evidence will take the process where it leads,” she said. Suggesting that Trump face prosecution after he leaves office is a fine line for any Democrat after the party has excoriated him for politicizing the Justice Department. Impeachment remains popular with Democrats’ base voters, but the party’s congressional leaders are more cautious because the Republican-controlled Senate probably doesn’t have the votes to remove Trump from office. Harris is not alone among 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls in criticizing the Justice Department policy that Mueller cited in declining to look at obstruction charges in his nearly two-year investigation of Trump. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the first candidate to fully endorse the start of impeachment proceedings after Mueller’s report, pledged last month to end that policy if she’s elected president. Nearly half of the more than 20 Democratic primary candidates are calling for the start of an impeachment inquiry, Harris and Warren among them. Few contenders, though, are making that stance a centerpiece of their campaigns. But Harris, who is running in part on the strength of her legal and law enforcement experience, appears to have taken a step farther than her opponents in affirming that a Justice Department in her administration “should” look at charging Trump with obstruction once he no longer is president. “I do believe that we should believe Bob Mueller when he tells us, essentially, that the only reason an indictment was not returned” was because of the current policy that bars indictment of a president while in office, Harris told NPR. “But I’ve seen prosecution of cases on much less evidence.” Eric Columbus, who served as a Justice Department and Homeland Security Department attorney during the Obama administration, suggested recently on Twitter that any Democratic candidate asked about seeking charges against Trump answer by promising, “unlike the current president,” not to “interfere” with the impartial administration of justice. The statute of limitation for seeking obstruction charges, as in most federal criminal cases, is five years from the time an alleged crime is committed. The time limit for charges in conspiracy cases begins at the time of the last act in an alleged conspiracy.

kamala harris
donald trump
impeachment
robert mueller
elizabeth warren
u.s .
russia probe
2020 u.s. presidential election


Trump says he'd 'want to hear' foreign dirt on 2020 rivals and might not alert FBI

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that if a foreign power offered dirt on his 2020 opponent, he’d be open to accepting it and that he’d have no obligation to call in the FBI. “I think I’d want to hear it,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News, adding, “There’s nothing wrong with listening.” The role of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., in organizing a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer offering negative information on Hillary Clinton was a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the last presidential campaign. Mueller painstakingly documented Russian efforts to boost Trump’s campaign and undermine that of his Democratic rival. But while Mueller’s investigation didn’t establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign, Trump repeatedly praised WikiLeaks in 2016 and celebrated information exposed by Russian hackers. Trump’s comments came just a month after he pledged not to use information stolen by foreign adversaries in his 2020 re-election campaign, even as he wrongly insisted he hadn’t used such information to his benefit in 2016. During a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office in May, Trump said he “would certainly agree to” that commitment. “I don’t need it,” he said as he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “All I need is the opponents that I’m looking at.” Trump also insisted erroneously that he “never did use, as you probably know,” such information, adding: “That’s what the Mueller report was all about. They said no collusion.” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that Donald Trump Jr. should have called his agency to report the offer. But Trump, who nominated Wray to the role in 2017, told ABC News that he disagrees. “The FBI director is wrong,” the president said. He added, “Life doesn’t work like that.” Asked whether his advisers should accept information on an opponent from Russia, China or another nation or call the FBI this time, Trump said, “I think maybe you do both,” expressing openness to reviewing the information. “I think you might want to listen,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called, from a country — Norway — we have information on your opponent. Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”

fbi
donald trump
abc
robert mueller
christopher wray
u.s .
elections
donald trump jr .


Syria bars access to chemical weapons investigators, says watchdog

Abstract: AMSTERDAM - Syrian officials have refused access to a newly created chemical weapons investigation team formed to identify culprits behind attacks with banned munitions, the organization’s top official said in remarks published on Wednesday. Member countries of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted last year to create the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), a decision that was opposed by Damascus and its ally Russia. “Syria refuses to recognize the decision and to deal with any of its subsequent implications and effects,” OPCW head Fernando Arias told member states. He said Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faysal Mekdad, had informed the OPCW in writing of the decision not to issue travel visas to members of the investigation team. “Additionally, I received two letters dated 9 May and 14 May from the vice-minister, informing of Syria’s objection to grant the newly appointed members of the IIT access to any confidential information concerning the Syrian chemical dossier,” Arias said. With 193 member states, the OPCW, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, is the U.N.-supported global body established to rid the world of chemcial weapons. Syria joined the OPCW in 2013, agreeing to give weapons inspectors access, in a move that averted air strikes threatened by then-U.S. President Barack Obama. A joint United Nations-OPCW investigation team (JIM) concluded that Syrian forces used banned nerve agent sarin and chlorine barrel bombs, while militants with Islamic State had used mustard gas. The new investigation team was formed after Russia vetoed a resolution to extend the mandate of the JIM in November 2017.

syria
chemical weapons
opcw
fernando arias
sarin
u.n .
bashar assad


Defense in trial of Chinese scholar's brutal slaying: The accused did it

Abstract: PEORIA, ILLINOIS - As Federal prosecutors on Wednesday shared with jurors grisly details of how they claim a former University of Illinois doctoral student kidnapped a visiting scholar from China, then brutally beat and killed her, defense attorneys intent on sparing their client a possible death penalty offered an exceptional claim: He did it. Opening statements began in the federal death-penalty trial of Brendt Christensen, a case that is being closely watched by Chinese students across the U.S. Christensen is accused of luring 26-year-old Yingying Zhang into his car in June 2017 as she headed to sign a lease off campus. Prosecutors told jurors Wednesday that Christensen took Zhang to his apartment where he raped, choked and stabbed her in his bedroom. They said Christensen later pummeled her in the head with a baseball bat in his bathroom before decapitating her. With Yingying Zhang’s father sitting just a few feet away on a courtroom bench, prosecutor Eugene Miller also revealed for the first time that Brendt Christensen was captured on an FBI wiretap bragging that Zhang had been his 13th victim. But the prosecutor didn’t say if authorities believed him. Miller told jurors that Christiansen became obsessed with serial killers in the months before he kidnapped the 26-year-old Zhang, setting a goal of infamy for himself by slaying someone. Zhang, who had only been at the university for two months, aspired to become a professor in her home country. “While Yingying was on campus pursuing her dreams, he was on campus pursuing something dark — something evil,” Miller said, standing at a podium in front of jurors. A federal judge moved the trial to Peoria in central Illinois after Christensen’s lawyers said pretrial publicity would have made it impossible for the 29-year-old former physics student to get a fair trial in the Champaign area, where the 45,000-student university is located. The university has more than 5,000 Chinese students, among the largest such enrollments in the nation. Prosecutors allege Christensen, posing as an undercover policeman and taking advantage of Yingying Zhang’s small stature and lack of English fluency, lured the 26-year-old into his car in June 9, 2017. She had just missed a bus on her way to sign an apartment lease off campus in Champaign’s sister city Urbana, 140 miles (225 km) southwest of Chicago. Christensen told Zhang to get into his car because he had questions for her, an attempt he’d made earlier in the day with another woman, Miller said. Later, the tall, muscled Christensen bound the 5-foot-4 Zhang and got her into his apartment, where, Miller said, he raped Zhang in his bedroom and began stabbing her, blood splattering around the room. Zhang fought back as Christensen began trying to choke Zhang, Miller told jurors, citing a statement Christensen allegedly made to others. Miller said Christensen then dragged Zhang into the bathroom where he picked up a baseball bat and struck Zhang in the head as hard as he could, “splitting her head open,” Miller said. Christensen cut off her head and disposed of the found, which has never been, the prosecutor told jurors. When Christensen’s lawyer, George Tesseff, addressed the jury, he said he would start with what he realized was an unusual admission for a defense attorney: His client did it. “Brendt Christensen killed Yingying Zhang,” he said. Without explaining in detail, Tesseff said Christensen was responsible because he “is on trial for his life,” alluding to the possibility of a death sentence. While the defense agreed Christensen kidnapped and killed Zhang, Tesseff said they took issue with prosecutors’ explanation of “how and why.” Tesseff portrayed Christensen’s life as being in turmoil leading up to Zhang’s disappearance, saying he was drinking heavily at the time. He also mentioned that statement Christensen made about killing others, saying his client was clearly in a drunken stupor at the time and that there is no evidence he ever killed anyone else, including 12 people other than Zhang. Prosecutors were expected to call their first witnesses after opening statements. The final selection of 12 jurors and six alternates happened Tuesday. Those who categorically oppose capital punishment or believe it should be imposed on someone convicted of killing without expectation can’t serve as jurors in federal death-penalty trials, and weeding them out extended jury selection to more than a week. If Christensen is convicted, there will then be a death-penalty phase where jurors would decide if Christensen should be executed. The federal death-penalty case is the first in Illinois since the state struck capital punishment from its books on grounds death-penalty processes were too error-prone. Some Illinois anti-death penalty activists criticized what they said was the federal government’s imposition of a death-penalty case on a non-death penalty state. The disappearance of Zhang, the daughter of working-class parents in China who aspired to become a professor, prompted a massive search. Zhang’s parents traveled from China to join the search. Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, his birthday, after his girlfriend wore a wire for the FBI in a bid to capture incriminating statements by Christensen. He later pleaded not guilty to kidnapping resulting in death. The girlfriend is expected to be the government’s star witness. Zhang’s body was never found and one challenge for prosecutors is to prove to jurors she is dead. That could include evidence of her blood in Christensen’s apartment and a cadaver-sniffing dog that indicated a dead body had been there. Zhang’s parents, her brother and boyfriend are in Illinois for the trial. They watched part of the jury selection process in Peoria and some days watching via a closed-circuit TV at a federal courthouse in Urbana.

illinois
china
death penalty
brendt christensen
yingying zhang
serial killers
u.s .
murder


Lake yields apparent remains of Cyprus serial killer's seventh victim, a 6-year-old girl

Abstract: NICOSIA - A two-month search for the victims of a confessed serial killer in Cyprus came to a close Wednesday when divers discovered the decomposing body of his youngest victim in a lake. The discovery of the remains of the girl, believed to be 6-year-old Sierra Grace, brings to an end the search that began when an army captain confessed to killing seven foreign women and girls on April 25. Fire Department Chief Marcos Trangolas told The Associated Press that the remains, which were wrapped in a bed sheet and tied by rope to a cement block, were found among reeds six meters (20 feet) down the lake that was part of a former copper pyrite mine. He said divers had searched the exact spot where the 35-year-old suspect pointed to investigators earlier Wednesday while on site. Police have said they’ve found no evidence to suggest the suspect has killed anyone else, but investigators are still trying to track down anyone who had been in contact with him online. The army officer, who police haven’t formally identified yet, had been in contact with several of his victims through online chat rooms. He is widely acknowledged to be Cyprus’ first serial killer. The chance discovery of the body of Sierra Grace’s mother, Mary Rose Tiburcio, 38, down a flooded mineshaft on April 14 triggered an investigation that led to the suspect through his online communications with the Filipino woman with whom he had had a six-month relationship. The body of Arian Palanas Lozano, 28, also from the Philippines, was found down the same shaft six days later. The killings took place over 2½ years starting in September 2016 with the disappearance of 36-year-old Romanian Livia Florentina Bunea, and her 8-year-old daughter, Elena Natalia. Their bodies were found inside suitcases at the bottom of a toxic lake that was part of another copper pyrite mine. Another body, believed to belong to Ahita Khadka Bista from Nepal, was found down a dry well in a military firing range. The suspect is due to appear in court Friday, but it’s unclear whether investigators will ask for another custody extension or formally charge him. Bunea and her daughter will be buried Thursday in a village outside the capital Nicosia. The Cyprus government has said it will cover the funeral and burial expenses of all the victims.


Journalist slain outside her southern Mexico home, another kidnapped

Abstract: MEXICO CITY - A reporter was shot dead in the southern state of Tabasco, her newspaper said Wednesday, the latest in a string of journalist killings in one of the world’s most lethal countries for the profession. Another reporter was kidnapped by a pair of armed men in the nearby state of Veracruz. Norma Sarabia, who covered crime and police for Tabasco Hoy, was talking to a family member in front of her home in the municipality of Huimanguillo when a car pulled up with at least three masked assailants inside, the newspaper reported. One got out and opened fire at close range, striking her with at least four bullets. Municipal police confirmed the killing but did not immediately provide further details. Tabasco state prosecutors said an investigation was underway. There was no immediate word on whether the murder may have been linked to her work. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Sarabia is the seventh journalist killed in Mexico since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office Dec. 1. But the problem has transcended administrations: Ten journalists were killed in Mexico in 2018, the deadliest year to date for the country. Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative for the CPJ, tweeted that since he joined the press freedom nonprofit in 2016, there have been 34 journalists murdered in Mexico with none of the cases officially solved. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission urged the Tabasco government to provide protection to Sarabia’s family as well as Tabasco Hoy staff. The commission said 149 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000. In the neighboring state of Veracruz, Marcos Miranda Cogco was abducted from his home by armed men in in the morning, according to the Network of Veracruz Journalists. Miranda’s wife, Maria del Pilar Gasca, pleaded for his safe return: “Please bring my husband back to me,” she told reporters. Del Pilar added that Miranda has received threats for years over his reporting critical of the local government. “We are not wicked, we will continue to respect freedom of expression,” Veracruz Gov. Cuitlahuac Garcia tweeted. “We will demand that an investigation be initiated against anyone who threatened journalists. The days of ‘tolerating’ criminal groups and kidnappers are over.”

mexico
tabasco
veracruz
norma sarabia
murder
media
journalism


Trump says he's sending 1,000 more U.S. troops to ally Poland

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will send 1,000 more U.S. service members to Poland as part of his broadening security and economic alliance. Trump made the announcement during a White House news conference with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda. Trump said the Polish government will pay for the infrastructure to support the additional troops, and he praised Poland for increased defense spending to meeting its NATO commitments. Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said the United States has based tens of thousands of troops in Germany for a “long, long time” and that he probably would move a “certain number” of those personnel to Poland, “if we agree to do it.” Trump also said Poland is buying more than 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets from the U.S. In recognition of that purchase, a single F-35 flew over the White House on a sunny afternoon. Duda looked up and waved as the jet passed. “They’re going to put on a very small show for us and we’re doing that because Poland has ordered 32 or 35 brand new F-35s at the highest level,” Trump said. U.S. officials said earlier this week that Trump, in addition to the additional troops, would send a squadron of Reaper drones to Poland to aid its self-defense amid concerns about Russian military activity. Polish leaders have lobbied for additional forces for months and had hoped for a permanent U.S. base they said could be called “Fort Trump.” Following the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the U.S. has again been increasing military activity in Europe in concert with NATO allies. That includes stationing four multinational battalion-size battlegroups in alliance members Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, led respectively by the U.S., Britain, Canada and Germany. The Eastern European nations have reached out to the U.S. and NATO for greater protection, worrying that they might be the next target of Russia’s military advance. The increase in U.S. forces in the region also reflects America’s new national defense strategy that declares great-power competition with China and Russia as a top priority.

poland
donald trump
andrzej duda
nato
f-35
russia
ukraine
u.s .
u.s. military
crimea


Xi seen having few good options after Trump's G20 ultimatum to meet or else

Abstract: BEIJING - By now, Xi Jinping is used to Donald Trump’s tariff threats. But the U.S. president’s latest ultimatum is personal, and the Chinese leader’s response could have far-reaching consequences for his political future. Trump on Monday said he could impose tariffs “much higher than 25 percent” on $300 billion in Chinese goods if Xi doesn’t meet him at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Japan. China’s foreign ministry — which usually refuses to provide details of meetings until the very last minute — declined Tuesday to say whether the meeting would take place. The brinkmanship puts Xi — China’s strongest leader in decades — in perhaps the toughest spot of his six-year presidency. If Xi caves to Trump’s threats, he risks looking weak at home. If he declines the meeting, he must accept the economic costs that come with Trump possibly extending the trade conflict through the 2020 presidential election. “Whether they meet or not, none of the possible scenarios are good for President Xi or the economy in the long run,” said Zhang Jian, an associate professor at Peking University. “You don’t have a good choice which can meet the needs of the Chinese economy or Mr. Xi’s political calculations.” Prodded by hawks in Washington to take a “whole of government” approach toward China, Trump may make it harder for Xi to compromise at the negotiating table. The U.S. administration’s efforts to sell arms to Taiwan and criticize China’s mass detention of ethnic Uighurs in the remote far west of the country are fueling nationalist fears in Beijing that the U.S. wants to weaken and contain its biggest rival. The G20 summit in late June is one of the last chances for Trump and Xi to head off a conflict between the world’s biggest economies that appears to be worsening by the day. Besides tit-for-tat tariff hikes, the U.S. has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co. and threatened other major Chinese tech firms, while Beijing is drawing up a list of “unreliable entities” that could face restrictions. At the last meeting between Trump and Xi at the G20 in Argentina last year, they emerged with a 90-day truce that opened up space for more talks. Those collapsed last month after Trump accused China of reneging on parts of the agreement, leading to an increase in tariffs and stronger actions against Huawei. The arguments for Xi to meet Trump mostly revolve around the need to prevent greater economic damage. China’s imports tumbled in May, underscoring domestic weakness that could hurt global growth. Stalled talks For China, 25 percent tariffs could result in a drag of nearly 1 percent on growth by 2021 if they remain in place, according to Bloomberg Economics. What’s more, Chinese officials increasingly feel working-level talks aren’t leading anywhere. One Chinese trade official said talks with the U.S. had reached a point where no further progress could be made without the intervention of the two presidents. And besides, Trump has a track record of escalating tensions dramatically before cutting a deal in a personal meeting. “The best approach for China is to not reply to Trump’s words, but wait a few days and then announce that Xi will attend the G20,” said Wang Peng, associate research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. “Meeting Trump is risky for everybody, but Xi can manage and control that risk.” Xi, however, also has reasons to avoid a meeting with Trump. China has repeatedly said it won’t be bullied or pressured into negotiating, and Xi could look as if he’s giving Trump a win by meeting him after an explicit threat. Since talks collapsed, China’s state media have ramped up nationalist rhetoric. The Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper ran a commentary in May saying China will never make decisions that “give up power and humiliate the country,” a phrase used in textbooks to describe the treaties China signed mostly in the 19th century. Ignoring threats “I don’t think the threat will work,” said He Weiwen, a former commerce ministry official who is now a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization. “China will reiterate that the U.S. side must have sincerity if they want the talks to continue.” Previous interactions with Trump don’t help much in making the decision. When Trump flirted with a more formalized relationship with Taiwan early on in his presidency, China refused any contact until he reaffirmed the U.S. “one China” policy. Within weeks, Trump caved. Still, Xi has also watched as Trump repeatedly escalated a trade war despite hailing a personal friendship between the two men. And even assuming they do meet, the best outcome could be another temporary truce that only prolongs the uncertainty. Either way, Xi has a lot riding on the decision. He became China’s most powerful leader possibly since Mao Zedong after scrapping term limits last year, a move that could backfire if the economy tanks. “You can hardly blame anyone else for the conflict between China and the United States — he is the ultimate decision-maker,” said Zhang of Peking University. “Remember that we believe he wants a third or fourth term. If in 2020 you see the Chinese economy suffer, then his road to a third term looks less rosy.”

g20
xi jinping
donald trump
tariffs
trade
trade war
osaka


Long haul: How two men managed the first trans-Atlantic flight 100 years ago

Abstract: PARIS - When two British pilots steered a biplane across the vast Atlantic 100 years ago, battling frozen sleet and thick fog for more than 16 hours, they were making aviation history. With their harrowing 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) crossing, Capt. John Alcock and navigator Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown completed the world’s first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight, from Newfoundland to Ireland on June 14 and 15, 1919. The North Atlantic had already been conquered by air when Alcock and Brown climbed into their modified World War I bomber on June 14 — but never in one go. Just weeks earlier three U.S. Navy Curtiss flying boats had set out from New York state to make the trip with stopovers in Newfoundland, the Azores, Portugal and England. Only one completed the journey, covering 6,000 kilometers in three weeks. Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper had laid down the challenge for a nonstop crossing by offering £10,000 for a single flight from North America to the British Isles in under three days. Just weeks ahead of the Alcock-Brown bid, two other teams had made an attempt: The first plane ditched into the ocean and was rescued, and the second crashed on takeoff. Alcock, 26, and Brown, 32, took off in the early afternoon from St. John’s, one of the easternmost points of North America. Their Vickers Vimy biplane was weighed down by 4,000 liters (1,056 gallons) of fuel and only just able to clear the trees, lurching in gusts of wind. “Several times I held my breath, from fear that our undercarriage would hit a roof or a tree-top,” Brown recalled in “Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours” (1920). Once airborne, the Royal Air Force aviators turned eastward for Ireland, heading into the night. Heavy fog meant they flew blind for much of the trip, unable to get their bearings. The plane was tossed about by the wind, rising and plunging, at times just meters above the water, Alcock recounted afterwards. “I believe we looped the loop and by accident we did a deep spiral. It was very alarming. We had no sense of the horizon,” Alcock told the Daily Mail. Ice and hail jammed some of the instruments and threatened to freeze the motors. Brown had to chip off ice with a knife. “We had a terrible trip. We never saw a boat, and we got no wireless messages at all,” Alcock said afterwards. “We flew along the water and we had doubts as to our position, although we believed we were ‘there or thereabouts.’ We looked out for land expecting to find it any time.” When solid ground did suddenly appear in the morning of June 15, “it was great,” the pilot said. He spotted what seemed a good field for a landing near Clifden in County Galway, but it turned out to be a bog. “The wheels sank axle deep in the field. The Vimy toppled over on her nose,” he said. The plane was damaged but the two pioneers emerged unscathed. The trip had taken just over 16 hours. Alcock and Brown were welcomed as heroes in Dublin and London, handed the Daily Mail prize by Winston Churchill, then aviation minister, and later knighted by King George V. Their record was overshadowed just eight years later when American Charles Lindbergh made a trans-Atlantic flight alone and between two major cities, from New York to Paris, on May 20, 1927. Alcock died just six months after his feat, when his plane crashed near Rouen, France. Brown passed away in 1948.