Thai navy tows floating home of fugitive U.S. 'seasteader'

Abstract: BANGKOK - Thailand’s navy on Monday began towing to shore the floating cabin of a fugitive U.S. citizen and his Thai girlfriend, both prominent members of the “seasteading” movement who face possible death sentences for setting up their offshore home. The cabin set on top of a spar 14 nautical miles off the Thai island of Phuket had been touted as a milestone in the movement to build floating communities in international waters as a way to explore alternative societies and governments. Authorities have revoked the visa of bitcoin trader Chad Elwartowski, 46, and charged him and his partner, Supranee Thepdet, with violating Thai sovereignty, punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. The Royal Thai Navy dispatched three boats on Monday to dismantle the structure and bring it back to shore for use as evidence in the government’s case against the couple. “The couple announced on social media declaring their autonomy beyond the jurisdiction of any courts or law of any countries, including Thailand,” Rear Adm. Vithanarat Kochaseni told reporters, adding they had invited others to join them. “We see such action as deteriorating Thailand’s independence,” he said. HTMS Mannai, a landing craft utility ship, was expected to return to Phuket with the 6-meter (20 ft) wide, hexagonal cabin by late Monday. Elwartowski and Supranee lived in the cabin for two months and left before the Thai navy raided the structure on April 13. Their whereabouts is unknown, though the government has said the pair are believed to be in Thailand. Elwartowski has referred requests for comment to Ocean Builders, which funded and built the cabin, and the Seasteading Institute, which advocates building offshore floating cities and originally received backing from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Ocean Builders said on its website the cabin was in international waters and beyond Thailand’s jurisdiction. Thai authorities say the structure is within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone and therefore a violation of its sovereignty. Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said the couple had achieved a milestone for the movement. “They proved a single-family seastead can float stably in international waters for less than the cost of the average American home,” Quirk said in a statement. Elwartowski also conducted valuable research on ecosystems over the two months the couple lived in the cabin, he said. “You can demolish the seastead, but you can’t demolish the knowledge that was gained,” said Quirk, who is described by his group as a “seavangelist” and an “aquapreneur.

seasteader
thailand
phuket
bitcoin
chad elwartowski
death penalty
cryptocurrencies


Myanmar's Supreme Court rejects appeal by award-winning Reuters reporters

Abstract: NAYPYITAW - Myanmar’s Supreme Court rejected the latest appeal Tuesday by two Pulitzer-prize winning Reuters journalists who were jailed for seven years on charges linked to their reporting on the Rohingya crisis, as hopes now turn to a presidential pardon. Reporters Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, have been behind bars since their arrest in December 2017 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They were convicted of possessing classified documents relating to security operations in Rakhine during a brutal military crackdown against Rohingya Muslims that forced some 740,000 to flee over the border into Bangladesh. The initial ruling, in September, was upheld by the Yangon High Court in January. On Tuesday, the reporters were not at the Supreme Court in the capital Naypyitaw to hear the ruling that once again went against them. Under Myanmar’s judicial system, the Reuters journalists could take their appeal back to the Supreme Court judges twice more, but it is unclear whether they will try this option or if they will pin all their hopes on a pardon. “Our appeal was rejected,” said lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. “They upheld the ruling of the lower court.” He added that the reporters had indicated they did not want to continue with the legal process but that a final decision had not yet been made. Both of the journalists’ wives were at the Supreme Court for the ruling, and spoke side-by-side to reporters afterwards. “I’m very upset by the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Chit Su Win, wife of Kyaw Soe Oo, visibly fighting back tears. “We really hoped our husbands would be released but it hasn’t happened.” Supporters believe the pair were punished for investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in September 2017. The story earned the team the Pulitzer, one of the top honors in journalism. Myanmar’s armed forces insist the brutal campaign in Rakhine was justified as a means to root out Rohingya militants. But soldiers involved in the massacre investigated by Reuters were also jailed. The case against the journalists has become a cause celebre for press freedom. Prominent rights attorney Amal Clooney joined the legal team, and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were featured on the cover of TIME magazine. But despite a global outcry the two remain in Yangon’s Insein prison. Rights groups and legal experts say the case against the Reuters reporters was riddled with irregularities. A whistleblowing police officer testified during their trial that his superior had ordered his team to trap the reporters in a sting — testimony the judge chose to ignore. Officer Moe Yan Naing was initially called as a prosecution witness before breaking ranks in court. “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo did not commit any crime, nor was there any proof that they did,” said Reuters Chief Counsel Gail Gove in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling. “Instead, they were victims of a police set-up to silence their truthful reporting. We will continue to do all we can to free them as soon as possible.” Rights groups have urged Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to use her influence to secure this, but she has so far refused to intervene. “The court decision is very disappointing — it’s a hopeless situation for the two journalists and for freedom of speech,” said Maung Saungkha, founder of local rights group Athan. Freedom of expression advocate PEN America called Tuesday’s decision “devastating and wrongful” in a tweet, adding that the campaign against the pair was a “disgraceful attempt to intimidate Myanmar’s fledgeling free press.”

myanmar
reuters
pulitzer
rohingya
wa lone
kyaw soe oo
official secrets act
murder


Japan's youngest pro go player, 10-year-old Sumire Nakamura, loses debut match

Abstract: OSAKA - Japan’s youngest professional go player, Sumire Nakamura, who is 10 years and one month old, failed to seal victory in her official debut match on Monday. Nakamura, a first-dan player of the traditional board game who turned professional earlier this month, lost to first-dan Ran Omori in a qualifying match for the 29th Ryusei tournament in the city of Osaka. Omori, 16, became a pro at the same time as Nakamura. Nakamura rewrote the previous youngest debut record of 11 years and eight months, which was set by now 20-year-old Rina Fujisawa, who holds three titles for female go players including Meijin. “I was too nervous to play very well,” Nakamura said. “I’m frustrated. The latter part (of the match) didn’t go well.” After starting to play go at the age of 3, she trained as a professional player candidate at the Japanese and South Korean go associations. In January, the Nihon Ki-in, or Japan Go Association, said Nakamura had secured professional status by passing an exam under a newly established recommendation system to nurture next-generation players. The elementary school student became professional when she turned 10. Her father, Shinya, 46, is a ninth-dan player.


Cross-party group of around 70 lawmakers visits Japan's war-linked Yasukuni Shrine

Abstract: A cross-party group of about 70 lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday during its annual spring festival to pay respects to Japan’s war dead. The Shinto shrine in Tokyo is often a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea, which regard it as a symbol of Japan’s militarism before and during World War II because it honors convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering of a masakaki tree to the shrine on Sunday, the first day of the three-day spring festival, but again refrained from visiting. “I think the deceased people will understand if it was a judgment for the country,” Hidehisa Otsuji, chairman of the cross-party group, told a news conference later in the day, referring to Abe’s decision not to visit the shrine. Since taking office for the second time in 2012, Abe has only visited Yasukuni once, in December 2013. That visit brought Japan’s relations with China and South Korea to their lowest point in years. The shrine’s annual spring and autumn festivals are its most important events. The group’s members usually visit Yasukuni during the two festivals, as well as on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

yasukuni shrine
shinto
wwii
history
diet
china-japan relations
south korea-japan relations


Japan and Russia to step up talks on economic activity on disputed isles

Abstract: Japan and Russia have agreed to start new working-level talks regarding joint economic activity on the four disputed islands off Hokkaido, Foreign Ministry officials said. The director-level task force, launched separately from an existing working-level dialogue involving higher-level officials, is intended to boost coordination on the territorial dispute ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin. The meeting is planned for June on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. A major breakthrough on the issue appears unlikely during the summit, with Russia showing no signs of budging on Japan’s proposal that the two smallest islands be handed over. Japan hopes the implementation of economic activities on the Russian-controlled islands will lead to an eventual settlement of the dispute, which has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from signing a postwar peace treaty. Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori told reporters Monday that he had “in-depth” discussions with Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on the establishment of a framework to allow people to travel to the islands without undermining their countries’ positions. Mori said the discussions included visa-free travel between Hokkaido and Sakhalin in the Russian Far East, which covers the disputed islands. The islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan’s surrender in 1945. Tokyo asserts the seizure was illegal while Moscow maintains it was a legitimate outcome of the war. Morgulov on Monday also held talks with Kenji Kanasugi, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, in which they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to Japanese officials. Putin is slated to hold his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this week, after talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim fell apart in February.

russia
vladimir putin
northern territories
russia-japan relations


Hanshin Expressway to be closed for up to four days for G20

Abstract: OSAKA - The Osaka Prefectural Police said Monday that it will close almost all major sections of the Hanshin Expressway for up to four days for the June 28-29 Group of 20 summit. The large-scale traffic restrictions will be put in place to facilitate the movement of the world leaders attending the summit in the city of Osaka. The police will also impose limits on other roads and conduct checks near hotels and venues. The public is being asked to refrain from using their vehicles in and near restricted areas during the period. The traffic restrictions will be applied to 10 sections of the expressway — totaling some 160 kilometers — that connect an airport, hotels and venues. The sections will be closed from early morning to late at night between June 27 and June 30. The long traffic management hours are necessary because a large number of vehicles will transport summit participants from a total of 37 countries and organizations. Routes for such cars must be kept clear, with many other meetings expected, including impromptu bilateral talks. According to the police, it is impossible to manage traffic by imposing and lifting restrictions repeatedly on the sections, where around 800,000 vehicles travel daily. The police plan to announce detour routes. The amount of traffic on ordinary roads is expected to double due to the expressway closures, likely causing heavy congestion. Aiming to halve traffic during the period, the police are asking local companies and citizens not to use their cars during the four days. Automobile traffic to and from Kansai International Airport, also in Osaka Prefecture, is also expected to face disruption during the summit period. Private passenger vehicles may be denied access to the bridge connecting the airport, located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, and the mainland, mainly on June 27 and 29, when many world leaders will arrive or leave. The police are asking people to reach the airport by using trains instead of buses or their own vehicles. As inspections and security checks at the airport are expected to be heavy, passengers should arrive at the airport early, according to the police.


Tepco transfers first nuclear fuel out of No. 3 reactor building at crippled Fukushima plant

Abstract: FUKUSHIMA - The operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant said Tuesday it has transferred some nuclear fuel from one of the reactor buildings damaged by hydrogen explosions in the 2011 disaster to another location for safer storage and management. It was the first removal of such fuel from within the buildings for units Nos. 1 to 3, where it had been kept in storage pools, at the site, which suffered meltdowns after losing power following a massive earthquake and tsunami. Seven unspent fuel rod assemblies were transferred Tuesday to a common pool about 100 meters away, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The transfer of nuclear fuel, which emits high levels of radiation, from the No. 3 unit pool is expected to lower the risk of the decommissioning work. The utility began the process of removing fuel there on April 15. At around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, workers began using a trailer to relocate the fuel assemblies, placed in a cylinder-shaped cask, to the common pool. The task, completed in about 20 minutes, was carried out by about a dozen workers in protective gear. Since the common pool undergoes regular checks as required by law, the fuel transfer may be suspended until July, the operator said. Tepco aims to transfer all of the remaining 559 spent and unspent fuel assemblies from the No. 3 unit storage pool to the common pool by March 2021. Fuel removal from the No. 3 unit was originally scheduled to start in late 2014 but was pushed back multiple times as high levels of radiation, among other factors, caused delays in the preparations for fuel transfer. In fiscal 2023 the utility aims to start the task of removing fuel currently in the storage pools of the Nos. 1-2 units, and it has been assessing their surroundings. Even if the fuel removal work progresses smoothly, Tepco still faces the biggest challenge in the decommissioning of the crippled plant — retrieval of melted fuel that has dripped down into the containment vessels at the Nos. 1-3 units.

tepco
fukushima
fukushima no . 1
radiation
nuclear energy
3.11


New 'air-a': Canny Japanese firm sells tins of Heisei air

Abstract: With just days to go until Japan ushers in a new era with the ascension of a new Emperor, one entrepreneurial company is cashing in by selling cans containing “the air of the outgoing era” — a breeze at ¥1,080. The cans filled with “the air of Heisei,” in reference to the era name for the 30-year reign of current Emperor Akihito, hit the shelves Monday, with producers hoping to sell as many as 1,000 units. “Air is free of charge but we hope people will enjoy breathing the fresh air of Heisei after the new era comes, or just keep it as a memento,” said Heso Production Co. president Minoru Inamoto. The cans have been produced in the village of Henari, Gifu Prefecture, which is written using the same characters as those used for the current Heisei Era, said Inamoto. The cans can be snapped up at a roadside station in the village as well as online, he added. They contain nothing but “the air of the current era” and a five-yen coin, often considered a lucky charm. Firms around Japan are scrambling to produce memorabilia from the outgoing era before the country enters the Reiwa Era on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito is set to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Oval gold coins engraved with Heisei are selling like hot cakes at Tokyo department stores, while confectionery-makers are bringing back blockbuster sweets popular during the Heisei Era. Henari is seeing an influx of visitors, and merchants there are selling everything from chocolate to polo shirts and alcohol bearing the name. Businesses targeting the new era are also thriving, launching Reiwa-labeled goods such as stickers, smartphone covers, T-shirts, pins and commemorative bottles of sake.


Japanese train companies devise various deals to celebrate end of Heisei and dawning of Reiwa

Abstract: Railway operators across Japan are offering myriad package deals ranging from overnight tours to countdowns inside carriages for passengers who want to celebrate the upcoming change of eras. Tobu Railway Co. will operate a special overnight train carrying travelers from an area near Tokyo to a hot spring resort to celebrate the end of the current Heisei Era on April 30, when Emperor Akihito abdicates, and the beginning of the Reiwa Era on May 1. The “Thank You Heisei, Hello Reiwa” train led by their diesel locomotive DL Taiju will leave Minami Kurihashi in Saitama Prefecture at 11:55 p.m. on April 30 and arrive at Kinugawa Onsen in Tochigi Prefecture at 5:00 a.m. the following day. Passengers will be offered light food and drinks to toast the new era on board and can use the hot springs and eat breakfast at a hotel at the end of their journey, according to the company. In western Japan, travel agency Hankyu Travel International Co. in Osaka has chartered West Japan Railway Co.’s express train Kuroshio for a trip to view the sunrise off Cape Shionomisaki, the southernmost point of Honshu. All 270 available overnight train tickets have already sold out, the company said. In Hokkaido, travelers can take part in an overnight railway tour offered by South Hokkaido Railway Co. between Hakodate and Hokuto. Participants in the “Journey from Showa, Heisei to Reiwa” tour will take a train that was built in the Showa Era, which preceded the Heisei Era, and depart Hakodate before midnight April 30. They can raise a glass as the era changes, relax in two carriages of the old Hokutosei sleeper service and take a dip in an onsen (hot spring) spa before returning to Hakodate, the operator said. In Saitama Prefecture, Chichibu Railway Co. will run a train led by a C58 steam locomotive between Kumagawa and Mitsumineguchi with a special sign reading “Thank you Heisei” on April 30. It will change the sign to “Congratulations Reiwa” the following day. Founded in 1989, the first year of the current era, Heisei Chikuho Railway in Fukuoka Prefecture is the only railway company in Japan that uses the era name. The company will run a train in which the conductor holds a countdown from Heisei to Reiwa within the carriage. “We have been able to safely operate on account of our customers (since the start of Heisei). We will promote our gratitude for the era as well as customers during the event,” an official of the operator said.


At Tokyo C20, civil society leaders from around the world press to be heard at Osaka G20

Abstract: Civil society leaders from 40 countries concluded a three-day gathering in Tokyo on Tuesday with calls that, amid violence and legal restrictions on them globally, such organizations’ voices should not be excluded from the Group of 20 leaders’ summit set to be hosted by Osaka this year. “There are increased worries that the space for civil society to operate in is shrinking, especially in Asia,” said Yuka Iwatsuki, the chair of Civil 20, one of several groups that advise G20 leaders on a broad range of international social and economic issues. “The G20 governments must recognize that civil society organizations are indispensable and that a diversity of voices from civil society enriches policymaking,” she added. Last week, C20 leaders presented recommendations to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on how to address a variety of issues ranging from corruption and education to the environment and engineering infrastructure. But it was the area of digital economy that has emerged as one of the key items on the agenda for when world leaders gather in Osaka on June 28 and 29. “Technological innovation can play a role in overcoming a wide range of social and economic challenges, such as a graying population and climate change,” said Tamaki Tsukada, Japan’s G20 Sous-Sherpa and the Foreign Ministry official who outlined Tokyo’s agenda for the G20 summit. “On the other hand, the pace of innovation-driven change is often difficult to respond to in a timely manner, resulting in economic and social dislocation,” Tsukada noted. “For the same reasons, efforts to create an appropriate system of governance tend to lag behind.” For these reasons, he said, Abe has decided to accelerate international discussion on data governance among G20 leaders. “We hope Osaka can crystallize global discussion on this very important topic,” Tsukada added. But civil society leaders have warned that the G20 needs to remember such governance will have to come with the careful handling of people’s data. “As the G20 discusses the use of data, it will be absolutely critical to create a new framework for governing the use of data that respects human rights, including the right to information and rights to privacy and security,” said Neth Dano, co-executive director of the Philippines-based ETC Group, which monitors the impact of emerging technologies and corporate strategies on biodiversity, agriculture and human rights. “Any new global rules on the digital economy must ensure accountability and transparency and protect the rights of workers, farmers, youth and women in manufacturing, agriculture and service industries,” Dano stressed. The Japanese government’s decision to make issues related to the digital economy a priority has also forced civil society organizations to consider how that would affect their own areas of expertise. “Traditionally, many (nongovernmental organizations) have a ‘silo approach,’ studying development issues and not focusing as much on economic issues. So we had to do a lot of studying and preparation to come up with recommendations for the G20 process,” said Masaki Inaba, who serves as this year’s C20 sherpa. Other discussions during the C20 summit have focused on transparency and anti-corruption measures, how to crack down on corporations that hide their money in tax havens, and environmental issues — such as the need for more G20 cooperation and funding to deal with cleaning up plastic waste in the world’s oceans. In addition, participants emphasized the importance of the G20 leaders promoting so-called “quality infrastructure” — a somewhat vague term that can be used to refer to high levels of financial transparency and accountability for both the donors and recipients before international funding is poured into major civil engineering projects in lesser developed countries. This year’s C20 took place less than five months after the conclusion of the 2018 G20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires.


U.S.-chartered ship and Japanese research vessel to join deep-sea search for SDF's lost F-35A

Abstract: Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday a U.S.-chartered ship will within this month join a deep-sea search for an F-35A fighter jet that recently crashed in the Pacific. Iwaya told a news conference that the Van Gogh will join the search effort by the Maritime Self-Defense Force and U.S. forces off Aomori Prefecture, saying, “We’ll try to find the wreckage as soon as possible.” The jet, developed by U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin Corp. and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., went down on April 9 during an Air Self-Defense Force night exercise after taking off from Misawa Air Base in Aomori. Both countries are concerned about the implications of the cutting-edge aircraft being recovered by other countries as it could constitute a major military intelligence breach. The ASDF pilot of the single-seat stealth jet also remains missing. Science minister Masahiko Shibayama told a separate news conference on Tuesday that the research vessel Kaimei, owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, will also take part in the search following a request from the Defense Ministry. According to the agency, the ship is equipped with a remotely operated vehicle that can observe up to a depth of about 3,000 meters. Iwaya told reporters in Washington on Friday that acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan agreed to dispatch a ship to search for the F-35A’s wreckage following a request from Japan.

takeshi iwaya
military
u.s .
accidents
self defense forces
f-35


Emperor visits father's tomb before April 30 abdication

Abstract: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the tomb of Emperor Showa in Hachioji, western Tokyo, on Tuesday for an official ceremony to mark the Emperor’s abdication on April 30. The visit to his father’s mausoleum in the Musashino Imperial Graveyard is among the 11 ceremonies scheduled for the 85-year-old’s relinquishment of the throne and the last before rites to be held on the day of abdication. The Emperor, wearing a morning suit, and the Empress, wearing a long dress, offered prayers at the mausoleum during the Shinetsu no Gi ritual. His father was known as Emperor Hirohito during his life. Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, who will ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, will similarly take part in a number of ceremonies and rituals to mark his succession. The abdication is the first by a living Japanese monarch in over two centuries. As preparations for the Imperial succession move forward, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided Tuesday to appoint the Crown Prince’s top aide, Nobutake Odano, 71, as the new grand chamberlain as of May 1. Current Grand Chamberlain Chikao Kawai, 66, will simultaneously assume a new post created to support the current Emperor after his abdication. Odano is a former ambassador to the European Union, while Kawai is a former vice foreign minister. The Emperor indicated his wish to abdicate in a 2016 video message. He cited his concern that he might not be able to fulfill his official duties due to his advanced age. The Diet enacted legislation the following year to enable the move.

abdication
emperor akihito
musashino imperial graveyard


Abe asks U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to minimize Brexit impact on Japan firms and world

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday asked the U.K. to minimize the negative impact of its departure from the European Union on Japanese companies and the broader global economy. During a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in Tokyo, Abe said Japan welcomes the fact that a “no deal” Brexit was avoided after the U.K. and the European Union agreed last week to extend the deadline again for the so-called British exit from the bloc to Oct. 31 from April 12. “We respect the efforts made by Prime Minister (Theresa) May” to avert a no-deal Brexit, Abe told Hunt. “It’s our hope that the negative impact of Britain’s exit on Japanese companies and the world economy will be minimal.” May has struggled in recent weeks to win parliamentary support for the deal she negotiated with the other 27 EU members, raising fears of a no-deal exit disrupting business activities. Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., have production plants in Britain. Hunt told Abe that Britain is “very determined” to avoid a no-deal Brexit, noting that Japan has helped “transform the British manufacturing industry for the better.” “We want that strong cooperation to continue,” the British foreign secretary said. During the meeting, Abe also sought British support when Tokyo hosts the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June. Tokyo hopes to lead discussions on turning innovation and free trade into drivers of economic growth, among other global challenges.


Too many travelers, too few planes is U.S. airlines' 737 Max summer dilemma

Abstract: CHICAGO - Normally U.S. airlines compete to sell tickets and fill seats during the peak summer travel season. But operators of the grounded Boeing 737 Max are facing a different problem: scarce planes and booming demand. The grounding of Boeing Co’s fuel-efficient, single-aisle workhorse after two fatal crashes is biting into U.S. airlines’ Northern Hemisphere spring and summer schedules, threatening to disarm them in their seasonal war for profits. “The revenue is right in front of them. They can see it, but they can’t meet it,” said Mike Trevino, spokesman for Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and an aviation industry veteran. Southwest Airlines Co., the world’s largest Max operator, and American Airlines Group Inc. with 34 and 24 Max jetliners respectively, have removed the aircraft from their flying schedules into August. Southwest’s decision will lead to 160 cancellations of some 4,200 daily flights between June 8 and Aug. 5, while American’s removal through Aug. 19 means about 115 daily cancellations, or 1.5 percent of its summer flying schedule each day. Low-cost carrier Southwest, which unlike its rivals only flies Boeing 737s, had estimated $150 million in lost revenue between Feb. 20 and March 31 alone due to Max cancellations and other factors. So far airlines have said it is too soon to estimate the impact of the Max grounding beyond the first quarter, but the extended cancellations signal that they do not expect a quick return of Boeing’s fast-selling jetliner. The 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash just five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. All on board both planes were killed. Boeing is under pressure to deliver an upgrade on software that is under scrutiny in both crashes and convince global regulators that the plane is safe to fly again, a process expected to take at least 90 days. The timing of a prolonged grounding could not be worse for Northern Hemisphere carriers. Planes run fullest during June, July and August, when airlines earn the most revenue per available seat mile, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In a letter to employees and customers on Sunday, American Airlines’ top executives said they believed the Max would be recertified “soon” but wanted to provide their customers reliability and confidence during “the busiest travel period of the year.” American was canceling about 90 flights per day through early June, but runs more flights and has less fleet flexibility in the peak summer travel months. “We’re not denying that it’s going to be a challenge for us,” American spokesman Ross Feinstein said. “That is why if we have to extend cancellations based on aircraft availability we will do so as far in advance as possible.” A decline in seat capacity could mean higher last-minute summer fares, particularly for business class travelers, aviation consultants and analysts said. United Airlines, with 14 Max jets, has largely avoided cancellations by servicing Max routes with larger 777 or 787 aircraft, but the airline president, Scott Kirby, warned last week that the strategy was costing it money and could not go on forever. Overall the Max represents just 5 percent of Southwest’s total fleet and even less for American and United, but the strain on fleets increases as additional Max deliveries remain frozen. Southwest has 41 Max jets pending delivery for 2019, while American has 16 and United 14. To compensate, global Max operators have added a flight or two to other aircrafts’ daily schedules and deferred some non-essential maintenance work. Some airlines are also weighing extending aircraft leases and bringing back idled planes, but with unclear Max timing, no option is clear-cut or cheap, consultants said. United is due to publish first-quarter results on April 16, followed by Southwest on April 25 and American on April 26.

travel
airlines
737 max
boeing
ethiopian airlines
lion air
air accidents


New Zealand pension fund drops two gun-linked Japanese firms in wake of mosque massacres

Abstract: SYDNEY - Two Japanese companies are among those that have been excluded from New Zealand’s public pension fund in response to stricter gun control measures following the fatal mass shootings last month. The NZ Super Fund, which manages 41 billion New Zealand dollars ($27.7 billion) worth of assets, removed seven firms including Daicel Corp. and NOF Corp., which are both involved in gunpowder-related operations, the fund announced Friday. The divestiture amounts to NZ$19 million ($12.8 million). New Zealand banned most semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the shootings, which killed 50 people in Christchurch. Other companies dropped by the fund include U.S. firearm makers American Outdoor Brands Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

new zealand
pension
guns
mass shootings
daicel
nof
christchurch


Resolution to U.S.-China trade war not too far away, GE boss Larry Culp says

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - U.S.-China relations will continue to evolve as negotiations stretch over the decades, but a resolution to the current trade dispute will likely happen in the “not too distant future,” General Electric Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said. His comments came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is open to facing “repercussions” if it doesn’t live up to its commitments in a potential trade deal with China, a sign the two sides are edging closer to an accord to end their nine-month trade and tariff war. “There’s a politically expedient resolution relative to trade numbers, a big order here, a big order there,” Culp said at the Harvard College China Forum. “Substantively, our sense is that both governments should like to advance the conversation, maybe not once and for all, but in a meaningful way with respect to access and intellectual property.” He’s also concerned that pulling back from China, where GE started doing business as early as 1906, would open up a void its competitors in Japan and Europe would be “very quick” to fill. China is GE’s biggest market by revenue after the U.S., he said. “If you look at our supply chains, the way our design footprints, operate today they are very much integrated global networks,” Culp said. “To pull a piece of the puzzle like China out would impair those supply chains and those design networks.” The U.S. and China are discussing whether to hold more in-person meetings. The IMF cited trade tensions as a risk in the past week as it cut its outlook for global growth to the lowest since the financial crisis a decade ago. Culp, highly respected on Wall Street for the successful transformation of Danaher Corp., took over as GE’s CEO in October after John Flannery was ousted, pledging to speed up the company’s turnaround.

china
trade
trade war
ge
larry culp
tariffs
u.s .


U.S. wants World Bank to give more support to poorest nations

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The World Bank, a major source of development lending, needs to make more progress in shifting its loans away from fast-growing economies such as China and devoting more support to the world’s poorest nations, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday. The Trump administration was encouraged that the bank’s private sector lending operation wanted to step up support for nations “affected by fragility, conflict and violence,” Mnuchin said as the spring meetings of the bank and the International Monetary Fund wrapped up in Washington. The World Bank, he said, needed to make sure that such support was aimed at boosting “private investments that are growth-enhancing and poverty-reducing.” The U.S. wants to see “additional progress” in shifting more World Bank loans to poorer countries, he said. The lending institution is a major source of development assistance for projects such as building damns for energy transmission. Mnuchin said investments in energy production represented a critical need to aid development in poorer nations. The U.S. has succeeded in installing David Malpass, a longtime World Bank critic, as the bank’s new president, although President Donald Trump said in a published interview that he had considered his daughter, Ivanka, a White House adviser, for the job. “She would have been great at that because she’s very good with numbers. She’s got a great calmness. … I’ve seen her under tremendous stress and pressure,” he was quoted as telling The Atlantic. When Jim Yong Kim resigned suddenly as bank president earlier this year, reports said that Ivanka Trump along with Malpass were being considered for the job, which has always gone to an American. Coinciding with the institutions’ meetings was a gathering of world financial leaders and central banks, who said the global economy was likely to pull out of a brief slump later this year. But a trade standoff between the United States and China threatens to dim the economic outlook. “We must be mindful of an escalation of trade tensions,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday. Japan holds the chairmanship of the Group of 20 major economies. The IMF cut its forecast for global growth from 3.6 percent last year to 3.3 percent in 2019, the slowest since the recession year 2009, but it predicts growth will return to 3.6 percent in 2020. The U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest economies, have imposed tariffs on $350 billion worth of each other’s goods. They are battling over U.S. allegations that China deploys predatory tactics — including cybertheft and forcing foreign firms to hand over trade secrets — in a sharp-elbowed effort to challenge American technological dominance. Financial markets have rallied this year on hopes that the two countries will reach a settlement.

world bank
david malpass
donald trump
ivanka trump
taro aso
steve mnuchin


Stratolaunch, world's largest plane, makes first flight over California

Abstract: The world’s largest aircraft took off over the Mojave Desert in California on Saturday, the first flight for the carbon-composite plane built by Stratolaunch Systems Corp., started by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, as the company enters the lucrative private space market. The white airplane called Roc, which has a wingspan the length of an American football field and is powered by six engines on a twin fuselage, took to the air shortly before 7 a.m. Pacific time (1400 GMT) and stayed aloft for more than two hours before landing safely back at the Mojave Air and Space Port as a crowd of hundreds of people cheered. “What a fantastic first flight,” Stratolaunch Chief Executive Officer Jean Floyd said in a statement posted to the company’s website. “Today’s flight furthers our mission to provide a flexible alternative to ground launched systems, Floyd said. “We are incredibly proud of the Stratolaunch team, today’s flight crew, our partners at Northrup Grumman’s Scaled Composites and the Mojave Air and Space Port.” The plane is designed to drop rockets and other space vehicles weighing up to 500,000 pounds at an altitude of 35,000 feet and has been billed by the company as making satellite deployment as “easy as booking an airline flight.” Saturday’s flight, which saw the plane reach a maximum speed of 189 mph and altitudes of 17,000 feet, was meant to test its performance and handling qualities, according to Stratolaunch. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, announced in 2011 that he had formed the privately funded Stratolaunch. The company seeks to cash in on higher demand in coming years for vessels that can put satellites in orbit, competing in the United States with other space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance — a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Stratolaunch has said that it intends to launch its first rockets from the Roc in 2020 at the earliest. Allen died in October 2018 while suffering from non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma, just months after the plane’s development was unveiled. “We all know Paul would have been proud to witness today’s historic achievement,” said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “The aircraft is a remarkable engineering achievement and we congratulate everyone involved.”

stratolaunch
california
paul allen
space
spacex
u.s .


Trump, despite solid U.S. growth, says Fed should fire up crisis-era stimulus

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Sunday that actions by the U.S. Federal Reserve have nicked U.S. economic growth and stock market gains by perhaps 30 percent, and that it should begin pumping money into the economy as it did during the 2007-2009 recession. Trump’s latest broadside against the central bank, delivered by Twitter and without citing any evidence, came as European Central Bank head Mario Draghi and other international officials worried that a Fed politicized by potential Trump nominees would rattle a dollar-based global system. “If the Fed had done its job properly, which it has not, the Stock Market would have been up 5000 to 10,000 additional points, and GDP would have been well over 4 percent instead of 3 percent…with almost no inflation,” Trump said. “Quantitative tightening was a killer, should have done the exact opposite,” he said, referring to the Fed’s monthly withdrawal last year of up to $50 billion of the bonds it acquired during the worst economic downturn since the 1930s Great Depression. Trump’s suggestion the Fed return to quantitative easing would put the central bank in the position of adding monetary stimulus and expanding its presence in debt markets in an economy growing solidly and with historically low unemployment. No one at the Fed, including three Trump appointees on the board of governors and Trump’s handpicked chairman, Jerome Powell, has suggested the U.S. needs the sort of central bank help launched when the economy was in free fall a decade ago, according to minutes of recent Fed meetings. The Fed has already decided to halt the drawdown of its security holdings as of September after concluding that the size of its asset holdings, likely around $3.5 trillion by that point, would be adequate given the demand by commercial banks to hold central bank reserves, the public demand for cash, and the other uses to which its assets are put. The Fed raised interest rates four times in 2018, but also has put that process on hold, leaving the target policy rate at a range of between 2.25 and 2.5 percent, still below historical averages. Trump was angered last fall when a variety of economic risks, which analysts say included slowing growth abroad, Trump’s own trade policies, and communications missteps by Powell, contributed to a more than 20 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from October through December. That loss has been almost completely erased as the Fed shifted gears, and the Dow is now just about 1.5 percent below the record it set on Oct. 3. Trump remains peeved with Powell, and indicated he wants to name two political allies, economics commentator Stephen Moore and businessman Herman Cain, to fill two open seats on the Fed’s board of governors.

donald trump
federal reserve
mario draghi
quantitative easing
jerome powell
herman cain
u.s .
ecb
monetary policy
great recession


OECD secretary-general urges Japan to pull trigger on tax hike and pursue structural reforms

Abstract: The scheduled consumption tax hike to 10 percent this fall is “essential” to ensure Japan’s fiscal sustainability, a top Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development official said Monday. At a news conference unveiling its biennial Economic Surveys report on Japan, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria urged the Japanese government to adhere to a clear plan to stabilize its budget. Gross government debt reached 226 percent of GDP last year, the highest in the OECD and far exceeding that of Greece and the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to go ahead with the oft-delayed tax hike to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October, completing the Diet’s decision to double the rate in two stages from 5 percent. “Spending restraint needs to be accompanied by measures to increase government revenues,” Gurria said at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, adding that the consumption tax should continue to be raised gradually over the years. The OECD report assesses a country’s range of policies in such areas as the labor market, public spending and health care, and provides policy recommendations. Regarding the effects of the looming tax hike, the report gave an optimistic view, saying it would be less intense than the 2014 hike “thanks to offsetting fiscal measures.” The government has a target of achieving a primary surplus by 2025, but the OECD projects that Japan won’t reach it even if it goes ahead with the tax hike. “Japan needs to take more steps to try to achieve this 2025 target,” said Randall Jones, head of the OECD’s Japan/Korea desk. While Japan’s economy has expanded in the past six years under Abenomics, as Abe’s economic policies are known, the OECD also recommends that the government accelerate structural reforms to counter the graying population and embrace the entry of women, the elderly and foreign nationals in the country’s labor market. The report particularly took issue with Japan’s conservative labor market practices, including the mandatory retirement age, seniority-based wages and lifetime employment. Getting rid of those practices would encourage women and seniors to work, it said. “Japan needs to shift to more flexible employment, more flexible wage systems based on performance rather than age,” Gurria said. “And then, it will be possible to better utilize human capital.” As for its aging population, the report says it is important to shift long-term care out of hospitals and to use more generic drugs to curb Japan’s ballooning health care spending. The share of generic drugs in Japan’s pharmaceuticals market is around 40 percent, as opposed to more than 50 percent on average in the OECD and over 80 percent in the U.S.. The OECD report approved Japan’s move to welcome foreign workers, describing it “a major step” to address labor shortages. The country is slated to accept up to around 340,000 blue-collar workers in 14 sectors over the next five years. “Japan really is a front-runner, and everyone will be watching how Japan addresses these issues,” Jones said.

oecd
taxes
consumption tax
angel gurria
debt


As LED bulbs catch on in Japan, Consumer Affairs Agency issues public fire warning

Abstract: With over 300 accidents involving LED light bulbs logged in the past decade, the Consumer Affairs Agency is warning the public to use them properly after getting reports of fires erupting when switching bulbs. “The packages of LED bulbs show which types of lighting equipment they can be used with,” an agency official said. “Even if you already have LED bulbs installed, we recommend you check whether the combinations are correct at electronics stores,” the official added. According to the agency, light-emitting diode bulbs, which last much longer than typical bulbs as they are more efficient, began spreading after rolling blackouts caused by the March 2011 quake- and tsunami-triggered Fukushima disaster fueled public concerns about power shortages. Fitting LED bulbs into sockets designed for conventional incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, however, especially those with adjustable brightness, can be dangerous as the circuits for adjustable lights are not designed for them. This means the bulbs could get higher voltages than they were designed for, which over an extended period could lead them to produce smoke or even fire, the agency said. LED bulbs accidents between September 2009 and March 10 this year stood at 328, with fire breaking out in 23 cases, the agency said. One person reported that a fire broke out after an LED bulb was installed in a lighting fixture that was over 20 years old. Another said unusual noises and odors were noted when an LED bulb was fitted into a fluorescent lamp.

led
consumer affairs agency
light-emitting diode


U.S. backing off demand for China to ax state subsidies, sources say

Abstract: WASHINGTON/BEIJING - U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, according to two sources briefed on discussions, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks. The world’s two biggest economies are nine months into a trade war that has cost billions of dollars, roiled financial markets and upended supply chains. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of imports of Chinese goods to press demands for an end to policies — including industrial subsidies — that Washington says hurt U.S. companies competing with Chinese firms. China responded with its own tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods. The issue of industrial subsidies is thorny because they are intertwined with the Chinese government’s industrial policy. Beijing grants subsidies and tax breaks to state-owned firms and to sectors seen as strategic for long-term development. Chinese President Xi Jinping has strengthened the state’s role in parts of the economy. In the push to secure a deal in the next month or so, U.S. negotiators have become resigned to securing less than they would like on curbing those subsidies and are focused instead on other areas where they consider demands are more achievable, the sources said. Those include ending forced technology transfers, improving intellectual property protection and widening access to China’s markets, the sources said. China has already given ground on those issues. “It’s not that there won’t be some language on it, but it is not going to be very detailed or specific,” one source familiar with the talks said in reference to the subsidies issue. A representative for the White House referred Reuters to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, which did not respond to a request for comment. “If U.S. negotiators define success as changing the way China’s economy operates, that will never happen,” said the other source with knowledge of the trade talks. “A deal that makes Xi look weak is not a worthwhile deal for Xi. Whatever deal we get, it’s going to be better than what we’ve had, and it’s not going to be sufficient for some people. But that’s politics,” that source said. China pledged earlier this year to end market-distorting subsidies for its domestic industries but offered no details on how it would achieve that goal, three people familiar with the trade talks said in February. Mixed messages One of the key sticking points in the negotiations is the removal of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs. It is broadly expected in the trade community that U.S. negotiators want to keep some tariffs on Chinese goods, which Washington sees as retaliation for the years of damage done to its economy by Beijing’s unfair trade practices. The role of the state firms may benefit the United States in another part of the trade deal. The Trump administration wants China to make big-ticket purchases of over a trillion dollars of U.S. goods in the next six years to reduce its trade surplus. The companies likely to make the purchases are the state-run firms, both sources said. “The purchasing, for example, reinforces the role of the state sector because the purchasing is all being done through state enterprises,” one of the sources said. Another point of contention between the two countries, telecommunications, may drive China to increase the state’s role rather than reduce it, the source said. Pressure from the U.S. on allies to reduce cooperation with Chinese telecommunications champions such as Huawei Technologies could push the government into raising state support to develop technology at home. Decades of friction Subsidies and tax breaks have been a source of friction between the rivals for years. Washington says Beijing has failed to comply with its World Trade Organization obligations on subsidies that affect both imports and exports. China has taken steps to address some U.S. concerns in cases brought before the WTO. It has also begun to publicly downplay its push to dominate the future of high-tech industries under its “Made in China 2025” policy, although few expect it to jettison those ambitions. But the USTR complains of a catalog of other subsidies and supports, including preferential access to capital and land. The U.S. says China has failed to disclose subsidies as required by the WTO. In notifications to the group, Washington has detailed over 500 different subsidies it says China applies. The scope of China’s local government subsidy programs is largely unknown, and even the Chinese negotiators have said in recent discussions they do not know the details of all those programs. “China continues to shield massive sub-central government subsidies from the scrutiny of WTO members,” the USTR said in a February 2019 report to Congress on China’s WTO compliance.

china
trade
trade war
donald trump
tariffs


VW to take on Tesla X in China from 2021 with electric SUV

Abstract: SHANGHAI - Volkswagen plans to build a fully electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) for China from 2021, taking on the Chinese market leader Tesla’s Model X as the German carmaker ramps up production of zero emissions vehicles. The planned new SUV is the latest move in Volkswagen’s aggressive growth strategy in China, where electric cars are given preferential treatment by authorities. VW said its ID ROOMZZ, which it presented in Shanghai on Sunday, will have three rows of seats and an operating range of up to 450 km. The concept car is capable of a “level 4 autonomous driving,” VW said. VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess said the ID ROOMZ will be the flagship electric car to be launched by Volkswagen in China. “We plan to produce more than 22 million electric cars in the next 10 years,” Diess said, adding that around half of VW’s engineers were working on products destined for China. Diess said the ID ROOMZ would eventually be rolled out to other markets. To enhance the VW Group’s research and development capabilities, Volkswagen and its premium brand Audi will combine their R&D operations in China. VW brand’s head of e-mobility Thomas Ulbrich said the carmaker will start ramping up production of 33 electric cars by mid-2023, using VW Group’s modular electric car (MEB) platform to build electric cars for the Skoda, Seat, Audi and VW brands. Ulbrich said VW Group is converting 16 factories worldwide to enable mass production of electric vehicles, of which eight plants will be making VW branded cars.

tesla
tesla x
china
suv
volkswagen
emissions
ev
id roomzz


Dollar breaches ¥112 line in Tokyo for first time in month and a half

Abstract: The dollar strengthened to around ¥112 in Tokyo Monday, underpinned by higher stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.91-91, up from ¥111.86-86 at the same time on Friday. The euro was at $1.1316-1316, up from $1.1288-1288, and at ¥126.63-68, up from ¥126.27-27. The dollar was boosted close to ¥112.10 in early trading by risk-on buying by investors who took heart from Friday’s powerful rebound on Wall Street and a post-weekend surge in the Nikkei stock average. The greenback topped ¥112 for the first time in 1½ months here. However, the U.S. currency’s rise to the threshold prompted selling to lock in gains, traders said. In afternoon trading, active trading in the dollar-yen pair was held in check ahead of the start of the first-round Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in Washington later on Wednesday. “Players were bracing for U.S. officials’ possible remarks about the inclusion of a currency provision in an envisaged deal with Japan,” a currency broker said. An official at a bank-affiliated securities firm said investors began refraining from active transactions as a 10-day holiday in Japan approached on April 27.


Nikkei closes above 22,000 for first time in four months

Abstract: Stocks soared on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei average topping 22,000 for the first time in four months. The 225-issue Nikkei average jumped 298.55 points, or 1.37 percent, to finish at 22,169.11, ending above the psychologically important threshold for the first time since Dec. 4 last year. Friday, the key market gauge gained 159.18 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues surged 22.53 points, or 1.40 percent, to 1,627.93, after falling 1.12 points the previous trading day. The market opened sharply higher with the Nikkei average far surpassing 22,000, as investors rushed to buy in view of the Dow Jones industrial average’s powerful rally on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Both Nikkei and Topix indexes remained considerably higher throughout Monday’s session, also supported by constant buying amid the yen’s easing against the dollar and rosy prospects for China’s economy that grew after the announcement Friday of a significant rise in new bank loans in the country in March, brokers said. “Risk-on sentiment spread in the Tokyo market” with participants taking heart from the Dow advancing close to its record-high level, said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. With concerns over a Chinese slowdown retreating, “foreign investors moved to buy back, in particular, cyclicals such as nonferrous metals and machines,” an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. But after the pile of initial buy orders were executed, the market turned top-heavy. Some investors took to the sidelines ahead of the start of two-day Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in Washington later on Monday, bracing for possible dollar-negative remarks by U.S. officials, Kuramochi pointed out. On Saturday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said any agreement with Japan would include a provision against currency manipulation. Rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,910 to 190 in the TSE’s first section, while 41 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.225 billion shares from Friday’s 1.101 billion shares. Gainers in the cyclical sector included industrial robot producers Yaskawa Electric Corp., up 4.47 percent, and Fanuc Corp., up 2.57 percent. Financials attracted purchases after their U.S. peers fared well Friday. Insurer Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. added 2.63 percent, brokerage giant Nomura 1.79 percent and megabank group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. 1.48 percent. Among other winners were technology investor Softbank Group Corp. and drugmaker Eisai. Meanwhile, automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. plunged 2.32 percent amid growing concerns over a massive recall stemming from inspection irregularities. Daiwa House Industry Co. tumbled 3.80 percent following the company’s disclosure of defects in houses and rental apartment buildings it put up. Also shunned were cybermall operator Rakuten Inc. and mobile phone carrier KDDI Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average rose 320 points to end at 22,180.


Fujitsu finishes designing Japan's Post-K supercomputer

Abstract: Fujitsu Ltd., working with national research institute Riken, has finished designing the successor to the K supercomputer. Fujitsu and Riken have also concluded an official agreement on the production, shipment and installation of the Post-K supercomputer, the company said Monday. The team and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plan to start jointly operating the supercomputer, which is designed to be able to calculate 100 times faster than the existing K, in 2021-2022. It is expected to be used for predicting natural disasters and developing novel drugs. Put into full service in 2012, the K supercomputer, in a world first, achieved over 10 quadrillion calculations per second. The Post-K will be built at a Fujitsu plant in Ishikawa Prefecture and then installed at the Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe for research use by universities and corporations. Capitalizing on technical advantages it has obtained through the Post-K development, Fujitsu plans to launch a supercomputer model for corporate customers in the second half of this business year.


Japan opposed Renault-Nissan merger via METI in spring 2018, French newspaper reports

Abstract: PARIS - The Japanese government intervened to block any potential merger plans between Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA in spring last year, French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche reported on Sunday, citing email messages between executives and state officials. The emails dating from April 23 to May 22, 2018, show that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry weighed in to stop any merger discussions between the two carmakers, JDD reported, without saying how it got access to the messages, which were either addressed directly to former Renault-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn or in which he was copied as one of the recipients. JDD reported that the first of the emails came from Nissan executive Hari Nada following a meeting in which his Renault counterpart Mouna Sehperi, and Martin Vial, the head of France’s public body for state holdings APE, were also present. Nada’s email said that Nissan favors a status quo in the alliance, and would later prefer a “re-balancing of the shareholding” with Renault decreasing its stake in Nissan and Nissan boosting its own in Renault, while the French state would ultimately pull out of the alliance completely. APE’s Vial is reported as signaling that the French government couldn’t accept “too big a sacrifice for Renault” unless a merger is set in motion, JDD reports. In one of the following messages, Nissan’s public affairs Vice President Hitoshi Kawaguchi described officials from METI as “fearing that the French government further pressures Carlos Ghosn ahead of the next general assembly” toward pushing for a merger. JDD quoted Kawaguchi as saying in the email that he asked METI officials “not to be too aggressive” toward their French counterparts at a time when things were calming down. Kawaguchi later emailed a memorandum of understanding from METI, which highlighted that Nissan’s independence must be respected. No one at the French Finance Ministry, which oversees the APE, or at Renault were immediately available to comment.

renault
nissan
meti
journal du dimanche
carmakers
carlos ghosn


Elon Musk tweets another Tesla forecast in midst of talks with SEC

Abstract: NEW YORK - Elon Musk, already in hot water over his Twitter use, posted another Tesla Inc. production forecast reminiscent of the one that landed him before a federal judge earlier this month. Musk wrote Sunday that Tesla will make more than 500,000 cars in the next 12 months. A similar tweet sent almost two months ago, in which Musk said the company would build half a million vehicles in 2019, led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to argue he was in contempt of a settlement reached with the regulator last year. The latest forecast, given as a seemingly innocuous aside in a discussion about the future value of Tesla vehicles, nonetheless came as Musk’s lawyers are negotiating with the SEC over an agreement that put controls on the billionaire’s tweeting. A U.S. judge gave the two sides until Thursday to meet for at least an hour and resolve their differences. If they can’t, she’ll rule whether Musk is in contempt. The legal tussle for Musk, 47, served as a distraction amid a record decline in deliveries for Tesla during the first quarter. Concerns about demand for Tesla’s vehicles escalated last week after the Nikkei reported the company and its partner Panasonic Corp. were freezing plans to expand capacity at the battery factory they share in Nevada. The newspaper said that because sales of electric vehicles have been below forecasts, the two companies decided that a major additional investment now posed too much of a risk. The report came after Panasonic said in a statement Monday that the factory is not operating at its full 35-GWh annual capacity and that it is working on increasing output. Musk on Saturday disputed Panasonic’s statement, saying the company’s lines were only at 24 gigawatt hours and have been constraining output of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. “Pana cell lines at Giga are only at ~24GWh/yr & have been a constraint on Model 3 output since July,” Musk wrote in a tweet Saturday. “Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh.” The Model 3 has been available in the U.S. since 2017, though the pace of sales in the market has slowed following the shrinking of federal tax incentives, and the company has struggled to get the car quickly into Europe and China. In the March quarter, Tesla delivered 63,000 vehicles, down from 90,966 in the final quarter of 2018. “There is 35 GWh/yr ‘theoretical capacity’, but actual max output is ~2/3,” Musk said in a tweet. “It was physically impossible to make more Model 3’s in Q1 due to cell constraints.” Both the Panasonic and the next-12-months production tweets are noteworthy in light of the settlement that sprang from Musk tweeting in August of last year about trying to take Tesla private. The SEC accused the chief executive officer of securities fraud, and Musk settled. He agreed to pay $20 million, step down as chairman and seek pre-approval from an in-house securities lawyer before tweeting information material to the EV maker. Musk’s legal team has argued that he retained discretion to determine whether he was sending out material information or not, and that his Feb. 19 post about Tesla’s 2019 production was consistent with comments he made weeks earlier on an earnings call. In an April 4 hearing where Musk appeared, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan questioned the specifics of the CEO’s settlement with the SEC and told the two sides to rework the language of their agreement. “Take a deep breath, put your reasonableness pants on and work this out,” Nathan said. She wrote in an order the next day that if Musk is held in contempt, the court will allow further briefings on sanctions. The SEC said at the hearing that the remedies it was seeking included a series of escalating fines for future violations, and monthly reporting on Musk’s communications.


Docomo to lower mobile phone fees by up to 40% in June

Abstract: NTT Docomo Inc. says it will cut mobile phone charges by up to 40 percent in June amid the government’s call on carriers to lower service fees. Docomo said Monday it will introduce two basic service plans, one with a monthly fee of ¥5,980 for unlimited data and the other charging ¥1,980 for limited data. The company is looking to counter low-cost wireless service providers UQ Mobile and Ymobile launched by domestic rivals KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. respectively. Docomo does not have a budget service brand. Docomo will offer simpler plans by separating charges for handsets and services, as major Japanese wireless carriers are often criticized for their complicated plans that make it difficult to compare fees with those of other carriers and discourage carriers from cutting charges. The issue came under the spotlight last year when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga urged carriers to cut their fees, as their rates are higher than in other countries and the three major cellphone companies generally log higher profit margins than those in other industries. Suga declined to comment Monday on Docomo’s new service fees. “We will introduce simpler and more reasonable service fee plans after receiving many voices that they have been complicated and difficult to understand,” NTT Docomo President Kazuhiro Yoshizawa said at a news conference in Tokyo. The introduction of the new service charges will reduce the company’s income by as much as ¥400 billion per year, Yoshizawa said. “I recognized some moves (within the government) but we decided to launch the new fee plans to become the leader in the mobile phone market,” he said. Japan’s mobile fees are relatively high. It costs about ¥7,000 a month to download 20 gigabytes of data in Tokyo, the most among comparable cities, including New York, London and Seoul, according to data from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Japan’s mobile phone market has long been dominated by the top three carriers, which together control nearly 90 percent of the market. Last April, the government granted approval to e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. to enter the business this October, a move expected to spur greater competition.

docomo phones kddi softbank rakuten smartphones


VW unveils apple-skinned SUV challenger to Tesla's Model X

Abstract: FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Volkswagen AG unveiled an electric sport utility vehicle concept to challenge Tesla Inc.’s Model X as part of the auto industry’s largest push into battery-powered vehicles. The full-size SUV, available from 2021, features rotating lounge seats covered in so-called AppleSkin — an artificial leather made in part from apple juice waste, VW said ahead of the Shanghai auto show. The ID. Roomzz will follow the rollout of an all-electric hatchback and a compact crossover in 2020 as well as battery versions of the Lavida and Bora sedans in China this year. China is forcing automakers to sell more electric vehicles and more battery-powered and hybrid cars to fight pollution. VW is fighting to keep profits from sliding as it spends an unprecedented €30 billion ($34 billion) to roll out the industry’s largest fleet of EVs. VW is developing 70 all-electric models by 2028. By 2023, it plans to build electric cars at 18 factories in Europe, China and the U.S. The VW group targets sales of more than 400,000 so-called electrified vehicles in China in 2020. Half of the more than 30 fully electric and hybrid models will be produced locally The company prepares to deliver 1.5 million alternative-energy vehicles in China in 2025. The ID. Roomzz, capable of automated driving with someone still behind the wheel, has a range as long as 280 miles (448 km) under European certification rules, lagging the Model X’s maximum of 351 miles. VW is investing more than €4 billion in China this year with local partners as a market contraction that started last year spills into 2019. Sales in March slumped for a 10th straight month. VW is counting on a growing SUV lineup to sustain profit and sales in the world’s biggest car market, expecting their share to double to at least 40 percent of the group’s total deliveries in 2020. This will include two new SUV models from VW’s new Jetta brand in the third quarter, which targets younger Chinese buyers.


Salisbury, scene of Novichok poison drama, named Britain's best place to live

Abstract: LONDON - The English cathedral city of Salisbury, the location of a deadly nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russia, was named Britain’s best place to live by the Sunday Times newspaper. The award comes a little over a year after a former Russian double agent and his daughter were found slumped on a bench, triggering a sequence of events which ended with one person dead and the West’s relations with Russia in the diplomatic deep-freeze. The Sunday Times praised the “divinely attractive” city in southern England, previously best-known for its medieval cathedral, citing its friendly atmosphere, good rail links and the high-speed broadband connections. “Whatever foes this beautiful medieval city has faced, from the Celts to the Vikings the recent Novichok poisonings, it has emerged victorious,” the newspaper wrote. In the weeks and months after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found, police uncovered a trail of evidence that they said lead back to two agents from Russia’s GRU military intelligence who visited the city to smear Novichok poison on a door handle. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, and the two men said they were innocent tourists visiting the city’s cathedral. “It’s famous not only in Europe, but in the whole world. It’s famous for its 123 meter-spire,” one of the men told Russia’s state-funded RT television station. Nevertheless, British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed Putin for the attack and European countries and the United States expelled 100 Russian diplomats over the incident. Large areas of the city center, which is just 90 minutes by train from London, had to be cordoned off for decontamination and one woman died after her partner found a perfume bottle which turned out to have been used to transport the poison. Nevertheless, the Sunday Times said the city had bounced back, tourists were returning, and even the Zizzi Italian restaurant visited by the Skripals before the nerve took effect had reopened with a packed crowd. The paper said it had looked at statistics like crime, schools and property prices in reaching its judgment, but that the award had also been based on less easily-measured factors like “beautiful scenery, culture and, above all, community spirit.”

salisbury
novichok
russia
theresa may
vladimir putin
u.k .
sergei skripal


Hungary Holocaust march honors Scottish missionary

Abstract: BUDAPEST - Thousands of Hungarians attended the annual March of the Living in Budapest on Sunday to commemorate victims of the Holocaust, including Jane Haining, a Scottish missionary who refused to abandon her Jewish charges during World War II. Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem estimates that 565,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust, most of them deported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland between May and July 1944. Haining, who had taught Christian and Jewish girls at a boarding school of the Church of Scotland’s Mission in Budapest, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and later died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. “From April 5, we had to put on the yellow star. Miss Haining called in the children and she cried with us,” said 83-year-old Agnes Rostas, one of Haining’s former Jewish pupils, who was 8 at the time of the Scottish missionary’s arrest. “Miss Haining was a very warm-hearted human being. I have never met anyone like her all my life.” Within half an hour of Haining’s arrest, the remaining teachers packed up the children and shuttled them off to their parents, Rostas said. Haining was born in 1897 into a poor farming family in southwestern Scotland. She did well in school and went on to business college in Glasgow. She was among the generation of women who were able to join the workforce due to World War I, according to Mary Miller, the author of a new biography of Haining’s life. She decided to pursue working with children, influenced by her experience teaching Sunday school in Glasgow. She was the only British person at the school when the Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944. The Gestapo arrested Haining the following month on charges including political activity and espionage, which she denied. The Rev. Aaron Stevens, the head of the Scottish mission to Budapest, said Sunday’s march remembering Haining presented an opportunity to speak up against prejudice, intolerance or fear-mongering. “Sometimes when we look at the messages people are promoting today about foreigners, it is not that different from the messages that were being spread about Jews some 75 years ago,” Stevens said. “(Haining’s) example is a reminder to us to not become complacent or lazy,” he said. “We also need to speak up and stand up in solidarity with those who might be victims of prejudice.”

hungary
holocaust
jane haining
jews
auschwitz
u.k .


Three killed as small Nepal airliner hits parked copter during takeoff

Abstract: KATHMANDU - A small plane operated by a private airline in Nepal hit a parked helicopter on Sunday while preparing to take off in a mountainous area near Mount Everest, killing three people, including a co-pilot, an airport official said. The Twin Otter aircraft crashed into the helicopter at Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla, known as the gateway to the world’s highest mountain, 125 km (78 miles) northeast of capital Kathmandu. The plane, operated by Summit Air, was not carrying passengers as it was trying to leave what is considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous airports due to the shortness of its runway and its location surrounded by mountains. Officials said the cause of the accident was not immediately known. “Two people died on the spot and the third one died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kathmandu,” airport official Pratap Babu Tiwari told Reuters. The dead included two security guards who were near the helicopter. The pilot of the plane was among three people injured, though the lone stewardess escaped unhurt. Air crashes are common in mostly mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest. In February a helicopter carrying seven people including the country’s tourism minister crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing seven all on board. The Lukla airport was built by New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary — who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Everest peak in 1953 — as a gift to the people of the remote Solukhumbu region where it is located. In 2008, another Twin Otter plane carrying 16 passengers and three crew crashed shortly before it was due to land at Lukla.

nepal
mount everest
lukla
summit air
air accidents


More than 120 killed as Libya's rivals battle for Tripoli

Abstract: TRIPOLI - Fighting near Tripoli has killed 121 people since strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive earlier this month to take the Libyan capital, the World Health Organization said Sunday. In clashes between Haftar’s forces and those of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), both sides have proclaimed “advances” but neither appears to have made substantial progress on the ground in recent days. With more than 560 people wounded since the fighting started on April 4, the WHO said it was sending more medical supplies and staff to Tripoli. On its Twitter feed, the agency denounced “repeated attacks on health care workers” and vehicles during the fighting. The U.N.’s humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, said Saturday that three medical personnel had been killed and that shrapnel had put five ambulances out of action. The mounting violence has sparked global alarm over the oil-rich country, in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. A bewildering array of militias have sought to take control since his ouster. Haftar’s offensive began shortly before a conference set for this month to discuss Libya’s future — an event the U.N. canceled as his forces closed in on the capital. Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed from his power base in the country’s east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government led by Fayez al-Sarraj. The unity government said its forces had shot down an LNA fighter jet on Sunday “that was preparing to conduct air raids” south of Tripoli. An LNA source said the plane had come down in an area under its control and that the pilot, who had ejected, was “safe and sound”. That came as the strongman met in Cairo with key backer Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who pledged support for “efforts to fight terrorism and extremist militias to achieve security and stability … throughout the country,” Sisi’s office said. Haftar also has the support of key Gulf Arab states and Russia. With gunfire echoing through city blocks and tanks rumbling through towns and districts south of Tripoli, many panicked residents have fled their homes. More than 13,500 people have been displaced and over 900 are now living in shelters, OCHA said. Both sides have launched daily air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians. One airstrike the GNA blamed on Haftar’s forces hit a school in Ain Zara, south of Tripoli, which has been the scene of violent clashes for days. On Sunday, the U.N. mission in Libya warned that international humanitarian law “prohibits the bombing of schools, hospitals, ambulances and civilian areas”. The mission warned that it would document all breaches in order to inform the U.N. Security Council and the International Criminal Court. The LNA meanwhile accused the Tripoli-based forces of an air raid “targeting civilians” in the Gasr Ben Ghachir region south of Tripoli. GNA spokesman Mohamed Gnounou said his forces had carried out 21 air strikes targeting LNA positions and supply lines between Friday and Saturday. Gnounou late on Saturday claimed “great advances on all fronts,” including in Al-Aziziya, a city about 50 km south of Tripoli. “We have not started this war,” he said, “but we will decide the time and place of its end.” On the LNA’s side meanwhile, spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said the attacking forces were also “moving forward on all fronts. He reiterated his claim that “terrorists” and “criminals” were fighting on the side of the U.N.-backed GNA forces. “The decision is no longer in Sarraj’s hands,” he said. “It is in the hands of terrorists now.” The European Union also expressed its “concern” on Thursday at the involvement of “terrorist and criminal elements” in the fighting. Sarraj on Saturday denounced the “misinformation campaign by some parties that our forces include fighters belonging to terrorist organizations and groups”. In a statement, he “strongly denied” the claim and insisted that it was the LNA attack on the capital that was “paving the way the way for dormant terrorist cells” to attack Libyans.

libya
tripoli
khalifa haftar
terrorism
conflict
u.n .


Clues sought in brutal broad-daylight beating of Dallas transgender woman

Abstract: Police canvassed a Dallas neighborhood during the weekend in search of anyone who may have witnessed the brutal beating of a transgender woman in an attack that happened in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people and that was caught on cellphone video. Detectives were seeking clues in hopes of identifying the woman’s assailant or assailants, police said in a statement. They said the woman reported the assault while receiving hospital treatment Friday night. She told officers the attack happened earlier Friday after she was involved in a minor traffic accident near an apartment complex in the southern part of Dallas, according to the police statement released Saturday. A purported video of the attack posted on Facebook shows a man in a white shirt viciously beating the woman, apparently into unconsciousness, while the crowd looks on and homophobic slurs are shouted. Several women eventually carried the victim’s limp body to safety. A Dallas police spokesman said the woman’s identity and further information about the case would not be released Sunday. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he is “extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman” and that those responsible do not represent how most residents feel about the city’s “thriving LGBTQ community.” “I am in contact with (Police Chief U. Renee Hall) and she assured me that the Dallas Police Department is fully investigating, including the possibility that this was a hate crime,” Rawlings, who has viewed the video, said in a statement Saturday. Last November, the FBI reported that 7,175 hate crimes were committed in the United States in 2017, the most recent year for which the agency had compiled data. Of those, 1,130 were based on sexual orientation bias and 119 on gender identity bias. The data showed a 5 percent increase in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias and a 4 percent percent decrease in hate crimes motivated by gender identity bias. Of crimes motivated by gender identity bias, 106 targeted transgender people, a 1 percent increase from 2016.

transgender
facebook
violence
sexuality
lgbt
hate speech


How Robert Mueller's hunt for Russia-Trump conspiracy fell short

Abstract: NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - As recently as February, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team dropped hints that the inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election might unearth evidence of active cooperation between Moscow and President Donald Trump’s campaign. That turned out not to be the case. Attorney General William Barr, who has said he hopes to release Mueller’s nearly 400 page report this week, told U.S. lawmakers on March 24 that the special counsel investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” To be sure, the investigation documented numerous contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russia, a willingness on the part of the campaign to accept help from Moscow, and no indication that the campaign told the Kremlin to keep out of an American presidential race. No criminal conspiracy was documented, according to Barr. But tantalizing court statements by members of Mueller’s team and evidence disclosed in various prosecutions by the special counsel had suggested on several occasions during the 22-month investigation that a different conclusion had been possible. Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official with extensive experience in counterintelligence investigations, said the words “did not establish” are commonly used in national security cases as language merely ruling out a chargeable offense. “It doesn’t mean a subject is innocent. It means investigators didn’t find enough evidence to charge a crime,” Montoya said. The most recent indication that the special counsel might document a Trump-Russia conspiracy came on Feb. 4 during a closed-door court hearing in Washington. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Mueller was still investigating interactions between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his Russian business partner, Konstantin Kilimnik, as critical to the inquiry. “This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what we think the motive here is,” Weissmann said, according to a transcript released days later that indicated Mueller might be on the verge of a breakthrough. “This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel’s Office is investigating.” Mueller’s team said Manafort shared political polling data from the campaign with Kilimnik, who the special counsel has said had ties to Russian intelligence. The two also discussed proposals for a Ukrainian client to solve the Crimea conflict in a Kremlin-friendly way, Mueller said. Three weeks after Weissmann made his comments, Mueller’s office backtracked. It said in a court filing it needed to correct its assertions about Manafort’s interactions with Kilimnik. Partially redacted court filings indicated the correction may relate to the polling data. When Mueller’s report is released — with parts blacked out by Barr to protect certain sensitive information — it is unclear how harsh a light it will shine on the contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russians. Those making contacts included the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law, Jared Kushner, former Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, and campaign figures Manafort, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos. Mueller and U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Russia employed hacking and propaganda to sow division in the United States, harm Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and boost Trump’s candidacy. Moscow has denied election interference. A key event in the question of conspiracy was a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York in which Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr. met with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had offered damaging information about Clinton. After being promised “dirt” on Clinton, Trump Jr. wrote in an email, “I love it.” Mueller charged 34 people and three Russian entities. He convicted or secured guilty pleas from Trump aides including Manafort, Flynn, Cohen and Papadopoulos, and charged Russian intelligence officers and a Russian “troll farm.” Perhaps no avenue of inquiry appeared more promising on the question of conspiracy than Mueller’s pursuit of longtime Trump political adviser Roger Stone, who had suggested he had a relationship with the WikiLeaks website and advance knowledge of its release of Democratic emails the special counsel said were stolen by Russians to hurt Clinton. But when Mueller indicted Stone in January, the seven criminal counts did not refer to conspiring with Russians and there was no allegation of close ties to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who separately was charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion related to a 2010 hack of U.S. government computers. Mueller questioned more than a half dozen Stone associates to establish if he had acted as a go-between for the campaign with Wikileaks. Stone associates who spoke to Reuters suggested Stone was struggling to make contact with Assange rather than having an inside track. Randy Credico, a New York comedian associated with Stone who appeared before Mueller’s grand jury, is a case in point. Text messages seen by Reuters show Stone sought to use Credico as an intermediary with Assange and urged Credico to feed WikiLeaks anti-Clinton research. Credico told Reuters he never made good on the request. Mueller’s investigation was aided by witnesses including Flynn, the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in 2016, and Samuel Patten, a political consultant and former Kilimnik business partner sentenced to probation on Friday after prosecutors credited him for assisting Mueller and other probes. It is unclear to what extent Mueller’s inability to secure fulsome cooperation from others impeded him. A judge found that Manafort, after agreeing to cooperate, repeatedly lied to prosecutors about interactions with Kilimnik and other matters, breaching a plea deal. Kilimnik, charged along with Manafort with conspiring to tamper with witnesses, was believed to be in Russia, out of reach. There also are witnesses like Papadopoulos, the first former Trump aide charged by Mueller who initially cooperated but became increasingly critical of the special counsel, especially after completing a two-week prison term in December. Montoya, the former FBI agent, said it should fall to Congress to decide whether the conduct found by Mueller warranted punishment such as the impeachment process in Congress to remove a president from office. “History suggests,” Montoya said, “the impeachment process does not rely on establishing wrongdoing beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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


Rep. Ilhan Omar says death threats increase, urges Trump not to encourage them

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Rep. Ilhan Omar says she’s faced increased death threats since President Donald Trump spread around a video that purports to show her being dismissive of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “This is endangering lives,” she said, accusing Trump of fomenting right-wing extremism. “It has to stop.” Her statement late Sunday followed an announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she has taken steps to ensure the safety of the Minnesota Democrat and the speaker’s call for Trump to take down the video. Soon after Pelosi’s statement, the video disappeared as a pinned tweet at the top of Trump’s Twitter feed, but it was not deleted. Pelosi was among Democrats who had criticized Trump over the tweet, with some accusing him of trying to incite violence against the Muslim lawmaker. An upstate New York man recently was charged with making death threats against her. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended Trump earlier Sunday, saying the president has a duty to highlight Omar’s history of making comments that others deem anti-Semitic or otherwise offensive and that he wished no “ill will” upon the first-term lawmaker. But Omar said that since Trump retweeted the video Friday night, she’s received many threats on her life that referred or replied to the posted video. “Violent crimes and other acts of hate by right-wing extremists and white nationalists are on the rise in this country and around the world,” she said. “We can no longer ignore that they are being encouraged by the occupant of the highest office in the land.” She said: “We are all Americans.” Earlier, Pelosi issued a statement while traveling in London saying she had spoken with congressional authorities “to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff.” Pelosi said officials will continue to monitor and assess threats against Omar, and called on Trump to discourage such behavior. “The president’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger,” Pelosi said. “President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.” The video in Trump’s tweet included a snippet from a recent speech Omar gave to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in which she described the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center as “some people did something,” along with news footage of the hijacked airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. Trump captioned his tweet with: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” Critics accuse Omar of being flippant in describing the perpetrators of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. She later sought to defend herself by tweeting a quote from President George W. Bush, in which the Republican president referred to the attackers as “people” just days after 9/11. Neither Trump’s tweet nor the video included Omar’s full quote or the context of her comments, which were about Muslims feeling that their civil liberties had eroded after the attacks. The tweet was posted atop Trump’s Twitter feed for much of Sunday, with more than 9 million views. It remained lower in the feed after Pelosi requested that the video be pulled. Sanders questioned why Democrats weren’t following Trump’s example and calling out Omar, too. Democrats who criticized the president over the tweet defended Omar, with some noting their past disagreements with her. “Certainly the president is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone, but the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her — not only one time — but history of anti-Semitic comments,” Sanders said. “The bigger question is why aren’t Democrats doing the same thing? It’s absolutely abhorrent the comments that she continues to make and has made and they look the other way.” Omar repeatedly has pushed fellow Democrats into uncomfortable territory with comments about Israel and the strength of the Jewish state’s influence in Washington. She apologized for suggesting that lawmakers support Israel for pay and said she isn’t criticizing Jews. But she refused to take back a tweet in which she suggested American supporters of Israel “pledge allegiance” to a foreign country. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who represents Manhattan’s financial district, which was targeted on 9/11, said he had no issues with Omar’s characterization of the attack. “I have had some problems with some of her other remarks, but not — but not with that one,” he said. Sanders commented on “Fox News Sunday” and ABC’s “This Week.” Nadler appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

ilhan omar
donald trump
nancy pelosi
democrats
twitter
muslims
sarah sanders
9/11
jerry nadler


Mike Pompeo visits Colombia-Venezuela border and hears critic after praising Peru refugee policy

Abstract: LIMA - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended a visit to Peru on Sunday and traveled to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, crossed through by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing crisis under President Nicolas Maduro. After attending a Sunday service in the Peruvian capital Lima, the chief U.S. diplomat set off shortly after noon for the final leg of his tour of South America, which began Friday in Chile. The highlight of Pompeo’s trip will be the brief visit to Cucuta, where he will meet refugees. All four countries on his itinerary — the fourth being Paraguay — are led by right-wing or center-right leaders favorable to Washington’s uncompromising approach to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “Peru has felt firsthand the effects of the disastrous Nicolas Maduro and the pain that he has brought to the Venezuelan people,” he had said Saturday, following talks with President Martin Vizcarra and Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio. Pompeo said that Peru had shown “enormous leadership in responding to this challenge.” Over 3 million Venezuelans, around 10 percent of the population, now live outside the crisis-hit country. The United Nations predicts that number will hit 5.3 million by the end of 2019. Peru has received the most Venezuelans after Colombia: 750,000, according to Popolizio, testing the capacity of the country’s public services. On Saturday, Pompeo paid tribute to Peru’s welcome for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees. But he became irritated when a reporter asked if that contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy at home.

mike pompeo
colombia
peru
cucuta
nicolas maduro
donald trump
u.s .
venezuela
juan guaido