Dozens of children trapped among scores of others in collapsed Lagos 'illegal school' building

Abstract: LAGOS - Dozens of children were among scores of people feared trapped on Wednesday after a four-storey building collapsed in Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, rescuers told AFP, with at least four dead bodies pulled from the rubble. The children were attending an “illegal school” inside the residential building when the structure collapsed, officials said. “Dozens of children were trapped inside,” said Adesina Tiamiyu, head of Lagos state emergency management agency (SEMA), which is supervising the rescue operation. So far, emergency workers had pulled 40 people alive from the rubble, some of them badly injured, he said. But they had also recovered “more than four dead bodies,” Tiamiyu said without giving an exact figure. Police said they believed scores of people were trapped under the rubble of the building which collapsed mid-morning in an area near Itafaji market on Lagos Island. “We are getting additional cranes to be able to go deeper than where we are now to rescue more lives,” said Lagos state governor Akinwunmi Ambode in a statement. And he promised a full investigation, pledging there would be “punishment” for anyone found responsible for the building’s collapse. In chaotic scenes, panicked parents, local residents and shocked onlookers rushed to the area as police, firemen and medics staged a massive rescue operation. It was not immediately clear how many people were inside when the building foundered. Rescuers stressed there were no exact figures for the dead or injured, but one health official said 20 people had been taken to hospital. “We are still trying to find out how many are trapped inside,” said police officer Seun Ariwyo, who said there were probably scores. A young man helping rescue efforts who gave his name only as Derin said “at least 10 children” were trapped inside but “thought to be alive. An AFP reporter at the scene saw at least eight people pulled from the wreckage, including a small boy with blood on his face. Covered in dust, he was alive but unconscious and appeared to be badly hurt. One local resident who witnessed the moment of collapse said there was no warning. “We were smoking outside when the building just collapsed,” Olamide Nuzbah told AFP in pidgin English. As rescuers worked furiously to reach those inside, distraught parents begged them to find their children. “Please, save my child, save my child!” wept one traumatized mother whose 7-year-old daughter was trapped inside, as people tried to console her. School bags, toys and clothes could be seen among the piles of rubble as a bulldozer tried to clear a path through some of the wreckage to help the rescue efforts. As the day wore on, an AFP correspondent saw several children being brought out, at least one of whom appeared to be dead. Elsewhere, hundreds of local residents tried to help, passing water and helmets through to dust-covered rescuers working tirelessly to sift through the rubble, some of whom appeared to be distressed. Many locals told AFP that the building, which was in an advanced state of disrepair, had been “earmarked” for demolition by the authorities in Lagos state. “It is a residential building that was actually accommodating an illegal school,” said Ambode, the state governor, confirming that most buildings in the area had been marked for demolition but saying some landlords had defied the move. “We get resistance from landlords but we must continue to save lives,” he said, pledging to step up measures against all structures that failed to meet the correct standards, saying they would be “quickly evacuated” and demolished. Lagos, which has a population of 20 million people, is made up of a collection of islands. One of them is Lagos Island, a densely populated area which is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. It is characterized by its Afro-Brazilian architecture, a style brought over by thousands of freed slaves who headed back home after decades working the plantations in Brazil. Despite efforts to renovate the area, a large number of abandoned buildings have been taken over by families or businesses, despite being dilapidated and unsafe. Building collapses are tragically common in Nigeria, where building regulations are routinely flouted. In September 2014, 116 people died — 84 of them South Africans — when a six-story building collapsed in Lagos where a celebrity televangelist was preaching. An inquiry found it had structural flaws and had been built illegally. And two years later, at least 60 people were killed when the roof collapsed at a church in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, in the east of the country.


Admissions bribery scandal lays bare divide over class in America, and how elite reap the spoils

Abstract: PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND - The families ensnared in the college bribery scandal embody wealth and privilege in America: CEOs, Hollywood stars, Wall Street millionaires. A California vineyard owner. A prominent Manhattan lawyer. If they’re villains, they’re villains made to order for a time preoccupied with deep divisions of class, privilege and race — a time when many regular Americans often feel they have no chance of getting ahead in a system that’s engineered in favor of the richest of the rich. For those Americans, the corruption in the college admission system exposed by Tuesday’s indictments further shatters any notion that hard work, good grades and perseverance are the way to get into a prestigious school. “For most people outside the elite, these institutions might as well be on the moon. This story just reinforces that, the way in which money buys opportunity in America,” said Richard V. Reeves, whose book “Dream Hoarders” argues that the American upper middle class hoards opportunities. Prosecutors said dozens of parents paid bribes to alter their children’s test scores or get them into colleges like Yale, Georgetown, Stanford and USC as athletic recruits, fraudulently. In court papers, the ringleader explained the realities of getting into top colleges in America in stark terms: There’s the front door, which involves getting in legitimately through academic achievements. There’s the back door, which involves donating huge sums of money to a university to influence admissions decisions. His scheme — much easier and cheaper — was through the side door. The back door was common knowledge, and bad enough. The description of a side door — a corrupt advantage on top of the advantages already accorded the rich — has set off outrage, especially for hard-working kids trying to get in on merit. Lalo Alcaraz’s son is a Los Angeles high school senior who is waiting to hear back from over a dozen schools that he’s applied to, including some in the top tier. “It really infuriates me right now. These people jumped ahead in line of my kid, I mean, literally my kid, this year,” he said. For Alcarez, there’s also outrage at seeing wealthy, white families try to cheat the system, especially when many minorities have experienced being questioned over whether they got their spots because of their race. “They had all the advantages but they had to cheat,” he said. The scandal resonated largely because it’s hard to avoid conversations these days about the wealth gap, the 1 percent and a “rigged system,” a term used by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — and by President Donald Trump, though the billionaire developer-turned-politician and his administration exemplify that system to many. Wealthy parents can pay for a stellar K-12 education, athletic coaches and test prep, as well as donations to the Ivy League schools — all legal ways to influence admissions decisions. They have personal or legacy connections at elite schools that they can use to gain admission. They understand how to navigate the complicated admission system. In his 2006 book, “The Price of Admission,” journalist Daniel Golden detailed how the real estate developer father of Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — pledged $2.5 million to Harvard in 1998. Kushner was later admitted, even though his high school administrators told Golden they didn’t think he was qualified. There are other impediments to the nonelite. Research has shown that the all-important college admissions tests are biased and not a good predictor of college success for black students, said Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and policy at Ohio State University. Hamilton said social movements led by the young are contesting the notion that we live in a meritocracy where Americans can improve their standing by working hard and playing by the rules. “We’ve had over 50 years of accumulation among the elite and stagnation among everyone else, and the millennial generation is beginning to feel it the worst,” he said. Reeves cited the work of a group of researchers led by a team now based at Harvard that found that children whose parents are in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend top elite schools than those whose parents are in the bottom 20 percent. Most colleges targeted in the admissions scandal took more kids in the top 1 percent than they did from all of the bottom 60 percent, he said. Students at Brown University recently reported for The Providence Journal about exclusive dinners that were held for students whose parents are big-money donors and other prominent people. The former trustee who hosted the events reportedly told attendees he wanted them to get to know each other and that perhaps they would end up marrying one another. Brown’s president later insisted the Ivy League school was “committed to equitable access to opportunities for all students,” but the story set off a furious debate on campus, with calls for less elitism among Brown students. “College is the way to escape poverty and the working class and to do well. And the fact that the system is so stacked against regular people is highly disturbing,” said Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a New York-based think tank, who edited the 2010 book “Affirmative Action for the Rich,” about legacy preferences. Irene Sanchez, who teaches Latino studies in a high school near Los Angeles, said most of her students who are considering higher education at all are looking at community college, even though she teaches a college prep class. The situation has hit her hard, she said. Sanchez has a PhD; frequently, people question her qualifications, suggesting she got her spot only because she is Latina. She said the idea of the meritocracy is a myth, but one that the elites need everyone else to believe “to protect their advantages in society.” “They need people like my students to believe that, in meritocracy, that they didn’t work hard enough and that’s why they’re in the situation that they’re in,” she said. “But in reality, this meritocracy myth I feel teaches people that we’re not good enough or we’re not smart enough.”


U.S.-backed Syria force says Islamic State defeat looms after 3,000 jihadis are blitzed into surrender

Abstract: BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - U.S.-backed forces said Wednesday the Islamic State group was living its “final moments” after thunderous shelling on its last scrap of land in eastern Syria prompted 3,000 jihadists to surrender. But the die-hard IS fighters who stayed to defend the remnants of their “caliphate” struck back with a wave of suicide bombings, said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. IS once ruled over millions in a swath of Syria and Iraq, but it has since lost all that territory except for a riverside slither in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border. Thousands of men and women have poured out of the pocket in recent weeks, hampering an advance by the U.S.-backed SDF, which has paused its offensive multiple times to allow evacuations. Supported by airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition against the jihadis, the SDF resumed artillery shelling on Sunday after warning holdout IS fighters their time was up. For three nights in a row, the Kurdish-led SDF has unleashed a deluge of fire on jihadi outposts, engulfing their makeshift encampment in a ravaging blaze. “IS’s final moments have started,” SDF official Jiaker Amed told AFP. Clashes continued Wednesday as the SDF worked to thwart IS counterattacks. Jihadis “launched two counterattacks today — one in the morning and another in the afternoon,” an SDF official told AFP. “The second one was much stronger” and was launched under the cover of smoke caused by bombing, he said. The official said jihadis were using suicide bombers but his force intercepted them before they reached their target. The jihadis “made no progress and they were stopped,” he said. Inside Baghouz, the crackle and thud of gunfire and shelling rang out from the encampment as plumes of thick black smoke rose over the bombed-out IS bastion. Amid the rubble, three SDF fighters lobbed a salvo of mortar shells toward the IS pocket, hours after the jihadi counterattack at daybreak under the cover of a dust storm. On a rooftop near the front line, an AFP correspondent saw a warplane fire two missiles at IS positions. Delil, an SDF fighter, said: “Today, the sandstorm is to their benefit but all coming days are ours.” Outside the village, dozens of evacuees sat in clusters on a field dotted with yellow flowers, a day after thousands of the last survivors of the “caliphate” handed themselves over to U.S.-backed forces. After a night of heavy bombardment on Tuesday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said about 3,000 jihadis had handed themselves over to the SDF in the past 24 hours. “The battle is ongoing and the final hour is now closer than ever,” he said on Twitter. But an SDF official said on Wednesday that “it appears as though many fighters remain inside” the last pocket. Near the front line on Tuesday night, AFP correspondents saw bright, long streaks of light in the night sky as U.S.-backed forces bombed jihadi outposts. Explosions shook the IS pocket as large fires ravaged a cluster of tents and buildings. Coalition spokesman Sean Ryan on Wednesday said IS has no room to maneuver. “There is no freedom of movement at night for the enemy,” he told AFP. “Combined with the SDF ground movement against the final enclave, progress is being made and their capabilities are being severely destroyed.” Since December, about 60,000 people have left the last IS redoubt, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, around a tenth of them suspected jihadis. The outpouring has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Kurdish-run camps for the displaced further north, which are struggling to accommodate the mass influx of women and children. The U.N.’s food agency on Tuesday appealed for urgent funding for the Al-Hol camp, which is receiving the bulk of evacuees. At the height of its brutal rule, IS controlled a stretch of land in Syria and Iraq the size of the United Kingdom. The total capture of the Baghouz camp by the SDF would mark the end of the cross-border “caliphate” it proclaimed more than four years ago. But beyond Baghouz, IS retains a presence in eastern Syria’s vast Badia desert and sleeper cells in the northeast. The jihadis have continued to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held territory in recent months, and the U.S. military has warned of the need to maintain a “vigilant offensive. Baghouz is the latest major battlefront in Syria’s complex civil war, which has killed more than 360,000 people since 2011.

syria
islamic state
baghouz
syrian democratic forces
conflict
u.s .
terrorism


Assad and Russian forces intensify attacks on last Syria rebel bastion, despite truce

Abstract: AMMAN - The Syrian army aided by Russian warplanes shelled rebel-held towns in northwestern Syria in the most extensive bombardment in weeks against the last remaining rebel bastion in the country, rebels, rescuers and residents said on Wednesday. Rebels who have fought to topple President Bashar Assad for eight years are now largely confined to the enclave in the northwest near the Turkish border. Around 4 million people now live there, including hundreds of thousands of opponents of Assad who fled there from other parts of the country. The enclave is protected by a “de-escalation zone” agreement brokered last year by Assad’s main international backers Russia and Iran, and Turkey, which has supported the rebels in the past and has sent troops to monitor the truce. Since early last month, the Syrian army has escalated its shelling of the enclave. The attacks have killed dozens of civilians and injured hundreds, and led to tens of thousands of people fleeing front-line areas to camps and towns closer to the Turkish border, rescuers and aid agencies said. The Syrian army denies targeting civilians and says the army is responding to stepped-up attacks staged by al-Qaida-inspired fighters who aim to wreck the truce and control the area. Residents along the border area with Turkey could hear heavy overnight aerial strikes that covered a wide stretch of territory from rebel-held areas near government-held Latakia province on the Mediterranean to Idlib city toward the east and extending to adjoining opposition-held parts of northern Hama. “They burnt the land … the sounds were heard very clearly,” said Ibrahim al Sheikh, a father of five in the border town of Atmeh. He quoted relatives as saying the shelling was the heaviest yet in the two weeks of escalation. The escalation in the northwest is taking place as a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led militia has launched a separate assault on the final bastion of Islamic State fighters on the opposite, eastern end of the country, creating turning points on both major fronts of Syria’s multisided civil war. In the northwest, residents said white phosphorous munitions were fired overnight on the town of al Tamana in northwestern Idlib countryside, where rescue workers on Wednesday said they put out several fires caused by more than 80 rocket strikes. Among the targets of the aerial campaign was a makeshift tent camp in Kfr Amim, east of Idlib city, that shelters displaced families, where two women were killed and at least 10 children injured when bombs landed after midnight. “Whoever did this is a beast, truly a beast. It’s a camp with only women and children. There is nothing we can say except that this Russian beast is coming to kill,” said Laith al Abdullah, a civil defence worker in Sarqeb town who helped in the rescue effort, reached by mobile phone. Rocket shelling from a major army base in Joreen, in Hama province, escalated a week-long bombardment of rural areas near the town of Jisr al Shaqour, said Ahmed Abdul Salam, a rebel commander in the Turkey-backed National Liberation Front. A Russian army base, south of government-controlled Halafaya town, also targeted Kafr Zeita in northern Hama countryside while cluster bombs hit several rebel-held towns in southern Idlib, rebels said. The stepped up bombardment has depopulated opposition-held towns in the buffer zone that straddles parts of Idlib to northern Hama and parts of Latakia province. The opposition-held city of Khan Sheikhon had become a ghost city with most of its more than 70,000 people fleeing, said Yousef al Idlibi, a former resident who moved to Idlib city. Turkey, which began patrols in the buffer zone on Friday, has condemned what it said were increasing provocations to wreck the truce, and warned that a bombing campaign by the Russians and the Syrian army would cause a major humanitarian crisis. Many residents are exasperated by the failure of Turkish forces to respond to the shelling. The Syrian army has called for Turkish forces to withdraw.

russia
syria
bashar assad
turkey
idlib
hama
conflict
al-qaida


Delays with Boeing rocket lead NASA to consider other commercial options

Abstract: DALLAS - A further delay with a Boeing rocket has NASA considering other options for launching the agency’s future deep-space exploration craft. The Space Launch System “is struggling to meet its schedule,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday. The rocket won’t be ready for a launch in June 2020, when NASA had planned the Exploration Mission-1 flight of its Orion spacecraft around the moon. The agency is now exploring options for meeting that deadline using “commercial capabilities,” Bridenstine said. He stressed that the agency remains committed to Boeing’s SLS, the largest rocket in U.S. history and a “critical capability” for future deep-space missions. NASA will decide how to proceed for an unmanned test flight as soon as this month, he said. An October 2018 audit by NASA’s inspector general found multiple management flaws in the SLS program and said Boeing was likely to spend at least $8.9 billion for the rocket — double the original budget. A test flight of the Orion capsule was launched in early 2015 aboard a Delta IV rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Without the SLS, NASA would be forced to purchase two heavy-lift vehicle launches and then integrate the Orion with an upper stage in orbit, adding to the cost. Bridenstine told the Senate panel that NASA may need further financial assistance from Congress. After the hearing, Bridenstine told the industry publication Space News that he hadn’t spoken with ULA or Elon Musk’s SpaceX about using their heavy-lift vehicles for the EM-1 mission. A subsequent flight, EM-2, would launch with the SLS in 2023 and carry crew members.


Trump fights impeachment talk ahead of looming Robert Mueller report

Abstract: WASHINGTON - No one even knows when it will come out, but Robert Mueller’s top secret probe into possible collusion between Donald Trump and Russia has Washington on edge — and the president mounting preemptive attacks against impeachment. “How do you impeach a man who is considered by many to be the President with the most successful first two years in history, especially when he has done nothing wrong,” Trump asked Wednesday in a stream of tweets laying out the case for his innocence. Urgent predictions that Mueller’s report is just about to drop have come out all year, only to be proven wrong, leaving the country grasping for clues. Every passing week with no news raises the tension. Will the special counsel’s nearly two-year investigation exonerate Trump? Or will it link him to a Kremlin influence operation in what would be one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history? Trump is far from the only one biting his nails. National Public Radio made waves last week with a report about elderly people near death’s door fighting to hang on so that they too can see what Mueller uncovers. Almost everyone agrees that whatever Mueller finds, he will abide by Justice Department policy that he does not have authority to indict a sitting president. That job, if this worst case scenario occurred, would fall to Congress and a possible impeachment trial. But impeachment is a political, rather than purely judicial battle, and Trump — Mueller report or no Mueller report — is already fighting back. He got an unexpected assist from the de facto Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, on Monday when she effectively took impeachment off the table for now — much to the annoyance of more gun-ho members of her party. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” Pelosi, who is speaker of the House of Representatives, told The Washington Post. Trump leaped on that Wednesday, tweeting “I greatly appreciate Nancy Pelosi’s statement. “Everyone must remember the minor fact that I never did anything wrong, the Economy and Unemployment are the best ever, Military and Vets are great — and many other successes!” he continued. Once Mueller finally hands in his findings, today’s skirmishes will turn into battles on an rarely seen scale. The first clash will be simply over how much of the report is even made public. Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr gets to make that decision. However, if Democrats don’t get what they want, they will force Mueller to testify before Congress — a hearing that would turn into a political spectacle for the ages. And only then would the final showdown — the fight over Trump’s future — begin. Incredibly for a city submerged in leaks to the media, Mueller’s most stunning known achievement so far has been to keep everyone guessing. Republicans predict the Mueller report will be a bust, giving Trump, who has repeatedly called the whole thing a “witch hunt,” an open route to reelection in 2020. But Democrats see judgment day approaching. “Here’s my rule on this one,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of an array of Democrats seeking nomination as Trump’s 2020 opponent, told MSNBC news Wednesday. “Let’s wait until we get the Mueller report. Combine it with everything else we’ve seen. Then we’ll know what to do.”

impeachment
robert mueller
donald trump
congress
nancy pelosi
russia probe


Trump says Paul Manafort pardon not 'on my mind' after sentencing

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said a possible pardon for Paul Manafort “is not something on my mind” after his former campaign chair’s prison sentence was raised to 7½ years on Wednesday. “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “On a human basis, it is a very sad thing.” When asked about a possible pardon, Trump said: “I haven’t even given it a thought as of this moment. It is not something on my mind.” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington ordered that Manafort must serve an additional 43 months for illegal lobbying and witness tampering beyond the 47 months he already received last week from a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, for financial crimes. Just minutes after his federal prison sentence was raised, Manafort was charged by New York state prosecutors with residential mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. Trump has no pardon powers over state crimes, and the move by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. raises the prospect of a third criminal conviction for Trump’s one-time campaign manager.


U.S. lawmakers emerge from meeting with Trump ally Matt Whitaker with conflicting accounts

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee emerged from a closed-door meeting with former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Wednesday with conflicting accounts of their conversation with the controversial Trump ally. Whitaker was called to Capitol Hill to clarify his testimony at a combative Feb. 8 committee hearing, during which he denied speaking with President Donald Trump about a federal case involving Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who met for two hours with Whitaker and the panel’s top Republican, Rep. Doug Collins, said Whitaker no longer denied speaking to Trump about Cohen or about the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York. “Unlike in the hearing room, Mr. Whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District,” the New York Democrat told reporters. Nadler also said Whitaker told the lawmakers that he was involved in conversations about U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman’s recusal from the Cohen investigation in the Southern District of New York and about whether its campaign finance case involving hush money payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump had gone too far. Nadler’s committee is seeking evidence that Trump may have urged Whitaker to put the investigations under the supervision of Berman, a Trump donor and former law partner of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani who is recused. But Collins, a Georgia Republican, contradicted much of Nadler’s account. “He (Whitaker) said that he had not talked with the president about Mr. Cohen at all,” Collins told reporters. Collins described Whitaker’s conversations about Berman and the campaign finance case as questions for his personal staff. “(Whitaker) had no conversations with the Southern District of New York,” he said. Collins also dismissed a Nadler statement that Whitaker was involved in conversations about firing one or more U.S. attorneys as “normal personnel issues.” Whitaker, who left the Justice Department after Attorney General William Barr’s arrival last month, caused alarm among Democrats when Trump appointed him acting attorney general without Senate confirmation in November, after ousting former Attorney Jeff Sessions last November. Democrats warned that he could interfere with U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. In his February testimony, Whitaker denied interfering in the Mueller probe. The campaign finance case in New York mentioned by Nadler involves hush money payments made to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, just before the 2016 election. Both women have claimed they had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied those claims. Whitaker refused to answer questions about the topic during the hearing. He also denied media reports that Trump had lashed out at him after learning that Cohen would plead guilty for lying to Congress about a proposed Trump tower in Moscow. Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, including making the hush money payments. Cohen said he made the payments at the direction of Trump.

matthew whitaker
donald trump
michael cohen
jerrold nadler
doug collins
democrats
robert mueller
u.s .
russia probe


Judge doubts Paul Manafort's remorse and hands him over 3½ years of extra prison time as NYC charges loom

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison Wednesday after a federal judge rejected his appeal for no additional time and rebuked him for his crimes and years of lies. Within minutes of the sentencing, prosecutors in New York brought state charges against Manafort — a move that appeared at least partly designed to guard against the possibility that President Donald Trump could pardon him. The president can pardon federal crimes, but not state offenses. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Manafort to nearly three-and-a-half years in prison on charges that he misled the U.S. government about his foreign lobbying work and encouraged witnesses to lie on his behalf. That punishment is on top of a roughly four-year sentence he received last week in a separate case in Virginia. He is expected to get credit for the nine months of jail time he’s done already. The sentencing hearing was a milestone moment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign. Manafort was among the first people charged in the investigation, and though the allegations did not relate to his work for Trump, his foreign entanglements and business relationship with a man the U.S. says has ties to Russian intelligence have made him a pivotal figure in the probe. Though the judge made clear that the case against Manafort had nothing to do with Russian election interference, she also scolded Manafort’s lawyers for asserting that their client was only charged because prosecutors couldn’t get him on crimes related to potential collusion with the Trump campaign. “The no-collusion mantra is simply a non sequitur,” she said, suggesting that those arguments were meant for an audience outside the courtroom — presumably a reference to the president, who has expressed sympathy for Manafort and not ruled out a pardon. Jackson also harshly criticized Manafort for years of deception that extended even into her own courtroom and the grand jury. She said much of the information he provided to prosecutors after pleading guilty couldn’t be used because of his history of deceit. “It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved” in the federal conspiracy charges related to his foreign lobbying work and witness tampering. Reading from a three-page statement, Manafort asked for mercy and said the criminal charges against him have “taken everything from me already.” He pleaded with the judge not to impose any additional time beyond the sentence he had received last week in a separate case in Virginia. “I am sorry for what I have done and all the activities that have gotten us here today,” Manafort said in a steady voice. “While I cannot undo the past, I will ensure that the future will be very different.” The 69-year-old, who arrived in court in a wheelchair, said he was the primary caregiver of his wife and wanted the chance for them to resume their life together. “She needs me and I need her. I ask you to think of this and our need for each other as you deliberate,” Manafort said. “This case has taken everything from me already — my properties, my cash, my life insurance, my trust accounts for my children and my grandchildren, and more.” His plea for leniency followed prosecutor Andrew Weissmann’s scathing characterization of crimes that the government said spanned more than a decade and continued even while Manafort was awaiting trial. The prosecutor said Manafort took steps to conceal his foreign lobbying work, laundered millions of dollars to fund a lavish lifestyle and then, while on house arrest, coached other witnesses to lie on his behalf. “I believe that is not reflective of someone who has learned a harsh lesson. It is not a reflection of remorse,” Weissmann said. “It is evidence that something is wrong with sort of a moral compass, that someone in that position would choose to make that decision at that moment.” Defense lawyer Kevin Downing suggested Manafort was being unduly punished because of the “media frenzy” generated by the appointment of a special counsel. “That results in a very harsh process for the defendant,” Downing said. After the hearing, Downing criticized Jackson’s sentencing as “callous”, “hostile” and “totally unnecessary” as he was shouted down by protesters. “I think the judge showed that she is incredibly hostile toward Mr. Manafort and exhibited a level of callousness that I’ve not seen in a white-collar case in over 15 years of prosecutions,” Downing told reporters, noting that he was “disappointed” by the sentence. Wednesday’s sentencing comes in a week of activity for the investigation. Mueller’s prosecutors on Tuesday night updated a judge on the status of cooperation provided by one defendant, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and are expected to do the same later in the week for another. Mueller’s investigation has shown signs of coming to a close and he is expected to soon deliver a report to the Justice Department.

paul manafort
prison
donald trump
u.s .
corruption
money laundering probe


U.K. Parliament votes against no-deal Brexit, paving way for delay in hopes of a better agreement

Abstract: LONDON - Britain’s Parliament voted to avoid an economically disastrous no-deal split from the European Union, opening the door to delaying Brexit and radically re-writing the terms of the divorce. The House of Commons voted 321 to 278 to reject leaving the EU with no deal and is now expected to seek to delay Brexit in the hope of securing a better deal, which markets would welcome. Speaking in the Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May said Parliament must now face up to the consequences of its decisions. She announced that if a deal can be agreed to in the coming days, she would ask the EU for a short “technical” extension to the March 29 exit day deadline. If there’s no deal, the delay will be much longer, she said. It is almost three years since Britain voted to cancel its 40-year membership of the EU and with just 16 days to go until exit day, Theresa May’s government has failed to get an agreement that can win the support of Parliament. The prime minister’s preferred deal, which took two years to negotiate, was resoundingly rejected by the Commons for the second time in a vote on Tuesday night. Now, MPs have decided to avoid leaving the bloc without a deal. The question is, what kind of deal will Parliament vote for, and how much longer do Britain’s politicians need to make up their minds? On Wednesday, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that postponing Brexit won’t be straightforward. “It could be a tactical, a political prolongation,” Barnier told Euronews TV. “In that case, I know the answers and the reaction of the EU side, the EU leaders, the EU Parliament: ‘What for? Why do you need a prolongation? Is it for organizing a new referendum, new elections or not?”‘


New York inaugurates $25 billion mini-city, Hudson Yards

Abstract: NEW YORK - A towering sculpture called Vessel — made up of 2,500 twisting steps the public can climb — was to open Friday as the visual centerpiece of Hudson Yards, a $25 billion urban complex on Manhattan’s West Side that is the city’s most ambitious development since the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. When fully complete, the 28-acre (11-hectare) site will include 16 towers of homes and offices, a hotel, a school, the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, a performing arts center and a shopping mall, which also opened Friday. About half the complex is complete, with the rest scheduled to be done by 2025. The opening of the $200 million Vessel and the landscape around it will likely bring a wave of tourists to a rebuilt corner of the city that previously held a huge rail yard, parking lots and weedy sidewalks where prostitutes cruised. The 3,200-ton structure was assembled from steel-and-concrete pieces manufactured in Monfalcone, Italy. Accommodating 600 visitors at a time, it is 150 feet (46 meters) tall and rises from a narrow point at its base to a width of 150 feet at its peak. “We needed to have a centerpiece, we needed to have an attraction, a destination — something where you would say, ‘I’ll meet you at,'” said Jay Cross, president of Related Hudson Yards, which partnered with the Oxford Properties Group to develop the site. “And we thought monumental art is the way to go.” The concept was to make something “participatory,” he said of the sculpture, created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick. “The idea was that everybody would just come in and climb it, be able to propose marriage up here, or run up and down — do whatever they want.” Admission is free but people can get timed tickets in advance to avoid a line to enter. The developers, including Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, have billed their project as the most expensive private development in U.S. history. High-power tenants planning to move into Hudson Yards office space include CNN, the luxury goods maker Coach, WarnerMedia and the BlackRock money manager. About 60 percent of nearly 300 luxury apartments on the market have been sold, with hundreds more coming up. The observation deck will open later this year on the 100th story of one of the city’s tallest buildings. The wedge-shaped deck will be 100 feet (30 meters) above the one on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, with a bird’s-eye view of the New York skyline and the Atlantic Ocean. The arts center, a 200,000-square-foot (18,580-square-meter) building called The Shed, is scheduled to open April 5. It includes an outer shell that can deploy over an adjacent public plaza on huge wheels to expand the size of the performance space. Also opening Friday is a seven-story mall called the Shops at Hudson Yards, with more than 100 stores offering brands such as Cartier, Stuart Weitzman, Manhattan’s first Neiman Marcus and chains like H&M and Zara. There will also be a slew of dining choices, including a Shake Shack, Neiman Marcus’ signature Zodiac restaurant and celebrity chefs’ restaurants. Hudson Yards is part of a stretch of construction along the Hudson River from Columbus Circle to the World Trade Center that is gradually nudging New York’s power-and-money epicenter west from midtown Manhattan. Hudson Yards is aimed mostly at residents with deep pockets — one-bedroom apartments are renting for more than $5,000 a month, about $2,000 more than the average Manhattan one-bedroom apartment. A two-story penthouse is selling for $32 million. And although 10 percent of the residential space has been reserved for affordable housing, that applies to people whose annual income is still above poverty level. It took decades for this real estate saga to take shape. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg had wanted the West Side rail yards to become the site of a domed stadium that could host the 2012 Olympics and later be a home for the NFL’s Jets, but political and logistical hurdles ultimately killed those plans in favor of a mixed-use, commercial and residential neighborhood. The developers broke ground on the project in 2012, building over the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road that connect with Penn Station, the city’s busiest transportation hub. In an impressive engineering feat, massive columns support a platform surrounding the buildings and covering the tracks. To lure investors, Hudson Yards is getting a government tax break plus other assistance running into billions of dollars that also financed the extension of a subway line. In return, government officials hope the more than 50,000 estimated jobs created at Hudson Yards will justify the financial support.


Syria's ancient Aleppo market poised to regain its bustle in wake of years of war

Abstract: ALEPPO, SYRIA - On the domed roof of a historical market in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, architect Bassel al-Daher moves between laborers painstakingly working to erase the scars of war. Men wearing vests and helmets repair parts of the roof still bearing visible traces of the four-year-long battle for the former rebel stronghold. They cover its charred surface with a fresh coat of white paint as part of a wider effort to rehabilitate the Saqatiya souk — an Arabic word for market. Located in the old quarters of Syria’s second city, the market dates back to the Ottoman period. “I feel like I’m redrawing history by restoring this souk,” said Daher, 42, one of six architects overseeing its revival as the country’s conflict marks its eighth year. “For me, it’s the project of a lifetime.” The Saqatiya souk covers an area of more than 1,500 square meters (16,000 square feet) and used to house more than 50 shops before Syria’s conflict landed in Aleppo in 2012. It is located near other landmarks of Aleppo’s Old City, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site that served as a frontline during clashes that ended in 2016. Russia-backed regime forces that year retook control of the eastern side of the city, much of which remains in ruins. The celebrated citadel, a jewel of medieval architecture whose surrounding wall was damaged by a blast in July 2015, is visible from the market’s roof. The Umayyad mosque, an ancient site that dates back to the 11th century, is within walking distance. Clashes in April 2013 reduced the mosque’s minaret to an unrecognizable pile of blocks. ‘Bring merchants back’ UNESCO estimates that as much as 60 percent of the Old City was severely damaged. Saqatiya market fared better than most, with 30 percent battered during the fighting, Daher said. It shows signs of major damage but no sign of collapse, Syria’s antiquities authority said in a report last month. Restoration work began on Nov. 1 after Syrian authorities signed a partnership agreement with the Aga Khan Foundation in Syria. Renovations are expected to be completed in July, according to Daher. Workers are focusing on erasing all “signs of war” from the market and correct old construction violations. “The broader aim is to bring merchants back to their shops,” he says. Saqatiya market is one of around 37 souks surrounding the Aleppo citadel, the oldest of their kind in the world. They stretch from the western part of the Old City to the gates of the citadel in the east, covering an area of around 160,000 square meters. For centuries, they were the commercial heart of the ancient city and served as a key trading hub between the East and the West, said Alaa al-Sayyed, a historian and specialist on the Old City. The expert, who is also overseeing the restoration, says “they are more than 2,000 years old.” “They are the longest and oldest covered markets in the world,” he said. They consist of dozens of shops, schools, mosques and bathhouses. ‘Charred and damaged’ In their long history, this is not the first time the markets have had to be restored. Over two millennia, they have weathered numerous earthquakes and conquests, but “every time they were rebuilt,” Sayyed said. Diyaa al-Issa, 38, wears a white helmet and uniform as he works on renovating a massive gate in the market. He is one of around 60 men involved in restoration work. Before the conflict, Issa used to work in renovation and maintenance of the city’s ancient heritage. “Renovations today are nothing like those we used to carry out in the past,” he said. “We used to restore stones affected by moisture, wind and time. But today we are treating stones that have been charred and damaged by shrapnel, and we are rebuilding some domes that have been completely destroyed.” Issa hopes the souk can be restored in a way that does not alter its historical character or dispense with too may of the original materials. His colleague, Mohammed Baqiya, 47, is looking forward to the market coming back to life. “The stone will be restored,” he said. But “what is most important is the return of shop owners and people who used to bring life to the souk.” “It does not matter how beautiful the souk will be,” he added. It will mean nothing “if it is empty of people.”

syria aleppo history conflict architecture


'Brain orgasms'? ASMR relaxation trend joins the pop culture mainstream

Abstract: NEW YORK - Tapping fingernails that trigger goose bumps, whispers that send shivers down the spine: The brain-tingling world of ASMR has people clamoring for sounds that feel good. The auditory-sensory phenomenon, in which people experience waves of calm and pleasurable mental quivers that are often referred to as “brain orgasms,” is emerging from the depths of the web into the cultural mainstream as a means to relax. ASMR — autonomous sensory meridian response — has become a full-fledged internet sensation. YouTube creators notch millions of views for clips featuring stimuli — whispers, nails tapping, noodle slurping — to set off a prickle at the back of the neck. “It’s that moment where all the hair on your body stands up,” said Bianca Hammonds, who works on the ASMR channel for the U.S. music outlet Fuse. “You kind of feel your body vibrate,” she said. “It’s like this Zen moment.” A TV beer ad during the Super Bowl showcased ASMR, with actress Zoe Kravitz whispering, drumming her fingers against a bottle and pouring the beer to release a gentle fizz. But it is largely hip-hop’s taste-makers who have ushered it onto the scene, with rap stars making their own ASMR videos or even integrating its techniques into their songs. “I love ASMR,” Cardi B whispers during a clip she made with fashion magazine W. “My husband thinks it’s very strange and weird that I watch ASMR every single day to go to bed,” the rap queen continues in hushed tones, tapping and caressing the mic with her signature extra-long nail extensions. The subgenre’s velvety qualities have led some people to dub ASMR sexual. China began censoring it last year, saying web users were releasing porn under its veil. But experts have likened ASMR to massage or yoga, saying it is not inherently sexual, although it can be suggestive. Just 5 percent of participants reported using it for arousal in a 2015 British survey. More recently, a 2018 study from the University of Sheffield in England found that, unlike sex, ASMR actually reduces the heart rate. Predominately popular among teenagers and 20-somethings, ASMR’s online fan base began forming around 2010. “I always knew I liked people to whisper in my ear. I just didn’t know the term for it,” said Cedrick Williams, an ASMR video creator from Mobile, Alabama. “When I started doing it, no one really knew what it was,” said the 27-year-old, who started his ASMR YouTube channel in 2017 and says the side gig makes about $100 per month. “It’s blowing up — now everybody’s doing it,” according to Williams, who listens to ASMR to alleviate anxiety and insomnia. When making his own videos, he favors whispering rap songs: “With hip-hop you can have a very diverse sound with your voice, so if you can master whispering, in ASMR it works very well.” Craig Richard, an ASMR researcher at Virginia’s Shenandoah University, said the relationship also works in reverse, saying there is a “clear trend of integration of ASMR into hip-hop.” The British-born, Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage, whose immigration travails recently launched him into the global spotlight, has a song titled “asmr” and also introduced whispering onto a track with producer Metro Boomin, “Don’t Come Out The House.” Richard says the ASMR-rap marriage makes sense: “With hip-hop and rap there can be incorporation of spoken word, which allows the ability to whisper and still be within their musical genre.” Plus, he said, rappers aim to stay fresh: “They’re reflecting back to their younger fan base because they drive the trends.” Despite its growing association with the genre, rap is not the only style drawing inspiration from ASMR. The Canadian electronic music DJ deadmau5 sampled a whispering YouTube star for the song “Terrors In My Head.” For Hammonds, starting an ASMR series at music-focused Fuse was a “no brainer.” “We wanted to tap into a subculture,” she said of their project entitled “Mind Massage.” “It focuses on sound, and we focus on music culture, so we wanted to see what we could do there,” said Hammonds, who attributes ASMR’s popularity to its meditative qualities. “We’re in this world of constant distraction and overshare,” she said. “To actually listen in on something that’s making you relax — literally focusing on the sounds — I think that’s why it’s really popular.” Rappers are eager to do a segment, she said, because “they’re respecting these subcultures as a way to bloom.” So far acclaimed trap producer Zaytoven along with rappers T-Pain and Wiz Khalifa are among those to appear on Fuse ASMR clips — but there is one rap legend Hammonds is aiming for. “I can’t wait for us to get Snoop Dogg,” she said.


Lion on the lam locked up in South African jail

Abstract: CAPE TOWN - A young lion that had been captured after being on the run for almost a month spent the night in a South African police cell before being moved back to its national park home. The juvenile male apparently escaped from the Karoo National Park through a hole in a perimeter fence. He was eventually tracked and darted on Wednesday before being moved by helicopter to the Sutherland police station where he ended up alone in a holding cell. “I am sure this is the first time in the world that a lion is put in jail,” said police station commander Capt. Marius Malan. He said the jail luckily had no human guests on Wednesday night. Curious residents of the village of Sutherland, known more for one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest optical telescopes, thronged outside the police station to catch a glimpse of the locked-up lion. “He is safe and healthy. We didn’t give him breakfast because he had enough to eat along the road,” Malan said. Malan said the lion, believed to be 2 years old, would be darted again before being transported back to his natural habitat at the Karoo National Park, a hilly region of grassy scrubland about halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg.


U.S. sends bombers over disputed South China Sea for second time in 10 days

Abstract: The U.S. has sent B-52 bombers near disputed islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said Thursday, the second such mission over the contested waterway in 10 days. The Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in a statement that the two B-52s had taken off from Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. island territory of Guam, and participated in “routine training missions.” “U.S. aircraft regularly operate in the South China Sea in support of allies, partners, and a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said. The B-52 aircraft involved in the mission were part of the U.S. Air Force’s “continuous bomber presence” based in Guam. Since 2004, the U.S. has rotated B-1, B-52 and B-2 long-range bombers out of Guam to conduct training missions in Asia. Akin to the U.S. Navy’s so-called freedom of navigation operations, in which it has sailed warships near disputed islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, the air force missions are intended to assert that the area is international airspace as well. Beijing has built up a series of military outposts in the South China Sea, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year. Washington and Beijing have frequently jousted over the militarization of the South China Sea, where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have competing claims. The U.S. does not maintain any claims there, but says the operations are conducted globally with the aim of promoting freedom of navigation. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Philip Davidson said last week that the United States has observed a rise in Chinese military activity in the South China Sea area over the last year. Davidson declined to quantify the increased activity — nor would he say whether the number of freedom of navigation patrols would increase or remain stable. “It’s building, it’s not reducing in any sense of the word,” Davidson was quoted as saying in Singapore on March 7 when asked about China’s military activities in the waterway. “There has been more activity with ships, fighters and bombers over the last year than in previous years, absolutely.”

south china sea
china
disputed islands
military
vietnam
philippines
u.s .
south china sea ruling


U.S. slams human rights record of China as in 'league of its own' but goes easier on North Korea

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday denounced China and Iran as Washington offered its annual human rights report, while going easier on other countries like North Korea in the name of “U.S. interests.” China, often seen as the main strategic adversary of the United States in the long term and locked in thorny trade talks with Washington, “is in a league of its own when it comes to human rights violations,” he said. “In just 2018, China intensified its campaign of detaining Muslim minority groups at record level,” Pompeo told reporters, referring to Beijing’s campaign of repression in the restive Xinjiang region. “Today, more than 1 million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Muslims are interned in re-education camps designed to erase their religious and ethnic identities.” As for Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump’s favorite bete noire, Pompeo alleged that last year, “the regime killed over 20 people and arrested thousands without due process just for protesting for their rights.” The State Department’s annual human rights report, which is presented as a factual, country-by-country description of the situation on the ground, usually does not offer comparisons with past years. But on Tehran, it says, “The government’s human rights record remained extremely poor and worsened in several key areas.” As for North Korea, with which Trump is trying to negotiate a deal on denuclearization, a reference in last year’s report to “egregious” rights violations has been replaced with a damning, if somewhat more neutral, assessment. It cites Pyongyang for “unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government” along with “forced disappearances” and “torture by authorities.” Trump has repeatedly said he has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Rights experts consider Pyongyang one of the worst offenders in the world, but the Republican president barely speaks about rights violations when he talks about the North these days. “The policy of this administration is to engage with other governments, regardless of their record, if doing so will further U.S. interests,” Pompeo writes in the report’s preface. On Saudi Arabia, while the report mentions the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which cast a shadow on U.S. ties with its ally Riyadh, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — considered by the U.S. Senate to be behind the killing — is not mentioned by name.


Pierced by an arrow, mobile phone dies saving Australian man

Abstract: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - An Australian had a lucky escape while confronting a man armed with a bow outside his home — an arrow shot at him merely pierced his mobile phone as he took photos of the incident, Australian police said on Thursday. The 43-year-old man had returned on Wednesday to find the man — who was known to him — waiting outside his home in Nimbin, a small town around 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Brisbane. “The resident held up his mobile phone to take a photo of the armed man, who then engaged the bow and was ready to fire,” a police statement said. “It’s alleged the man fired the arrow at the resident which pierced through the man’s mobile phone causing the phone to hit him in the chin. It left a small laceration that didn’t require medical treatment.” A 39-year-old man was arrested at the scene and charged, police said.


U.S. report cites persistent sexual harassment at workplace in Japan

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has raised the issue of persistent sexual harassment in the workplace in Japan in its annual human rights report, released Wednesday. The U.S. report cited a first-of-its-kind survey conducted in 2016 by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry saying that 30 percent of women in full- and part-time jobs in the country complained of “being sexually harassed at work.” The figure stood at 35 percent among full-time workers, it added. The U.S. report also noted the April 2018 resignation of Japan’s vice finance minister over claims he sexually harassed a female journalist. The Japanese government has since released a set of preventive measures, including requiring all central government officials to take mandatory training courses, the report pointed out.


Japan warns firms not to fire pregnant foreign trainees, as interns fear impact on work status

Abstract: SAPPORO - The government has warned companies against dismissing or unfairly treating foreign trainees who get pregnant while working in the country, officials said Thursday. With many interns expressing concern about the impact a pregnancy may have on their employment status, with some women having been compelled to consider abortions or return home, the government on Monday told firms that accept and supervise foreign trainees that it would violate the gender equality law if the women are unfairly treated due to marriage, pregnancy or childbirth. The government-sponsored technical internship, introduced in 1993 with a stated aim of transferring skills to developing countries, has faced criticism at home and abroad over perceptions it is used as a cover for companies to import cheap labor. Government bodies such as the justice and labor ministries also said in a note sent to the organizations that they should not unjustly interfere in trainees’ private lives as it would be a breach of the internship program law. The document also urged the supervising organizations that connect trainees with host institutions to inform interns about the laws. The warning came ahead of the launch of a new visa program in Japan next month that will allow the entry of more workers from abroad to address the country’s serious labor shortages. Those who have taken part in the existing technical intern program for more than three years will be able to obtain the new visa status to be created from April, and the government expects many interns to apply. The Justice Ministry said it has received reports from supporters of technical interns highlighting cases in which pregnant trainees were threatened with dismissal. Similarly, the Zentouitsu Workers Union, a Tokyo-based labor organization that assists foreign workers, said it has received numerous requests for consultations from female trainees. “Since the scheme for foreign technical interns itself does not allow for cases of pregnancy or childbirth, trainees believe that they cannot become pregnant,” said Shiro Sasaki, the labor union’s secretary-general. “The lack of preparation in creating the system is the reason for forced abortions and returns. The cases that have come to light are only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. Shoichi Ibuski, a lawyer knowledgeable about problematic issues faced by foreign trainees, said the fact the government needs to remind and inform those involved that it is illegal to disadvantage and coerce pregnant interns “shows the seriousness of the issue.” “Those who dismiss or force trainees to return home because of pregnancy must merely think that trainees are cheap labor or useful slaves,” he said. “If they cannot treat them as humans, they have no business accepting them.” Last November, a Vietnamese woman in her 20s who arrived to train at a paper factory in western Japan, told the union that an official at a training center, a subcontractor of her supervisory organization, ordered her to either have an abortion or return to her home country. The woman had also signed a contract with a recruiting company in Vietnam that required her to return home in the event of a pregnancy, a stipulation that is illegal in Japan. In January, a Chinese trainee in her 20s was arrested on suspicion of abandoning her newborn baby in a residential area near Tokyo, fearing that her employers at a food processing plant would force her to return home.

foreign trainees
pregnancy
women
justice ministry
zentouitsu workers union
shoichi ibuski
immigration


Japan to seek help with running Subaru Telescope in Hawaii from U.S., Canada, China and India

Abstract: Japan is planning to request help from other countries to operate the Subaru Telescope, located near the top of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano, in order to increase available funding and widen the scope of research activities, officials said Thursday. The optical-infrared telescope with a mirror measuring 8.2 meters in diameter was built by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan on the island of Hawaii in 1999. It has been at the forefront of research into black holes and planets outside of the solar system but the operator has struggled to secure finances to pay for repairs amid budget cuts. The NAOJ is considering asking the United States, Canada, China and India to jointly operate the telescope with Japan. Those five countries are already building another giant telescope near the summit of the more than 4,200-meter-high Mauna Kea that, when completed, will be 55 meters tall. Named the Thirty Meter Telescope, a reference to the telescope’s diameter, the new observatory is expected to be completed around 2027 and the NAOJ may propose its operations combine with those of the Subaru Telescope. Michitoshi Yoshida, head of the NAOJ’s Hawaii observatory, said the plan to call for international cooperation is “by no means a sign it is giving up” on the Subaru project for financial reasons. “Japan will continue to lead the project and will provide over half of its funds” in the event that it is operated jointly, Yoshida said, while expressing hope a deal with the other countries can be reached in the coming years. According to the NAOJ, the Subaru Telescope is useful for wide-field surveys and can work in conjunction with the Thirty Meter Telescope. The new telescope will be able to see deep into space with its prime mirror measuring 30 meters in diameter but will have a narrower field of view.

subaru telescope
telescope
hawaii
space
astronomy


Abe rules out fourth term as head of Japan's LDP amid talk of tweaking rules to allow another run

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Thursday he has no intention of serving another four-year term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party when his third term expires in September 2021. Abe’s remarks came after some LDP heavyweights hinted at the possibility of changing a party rule to make it possible for him to remain in the post beyond the current limit of three terms. “Seeking a fourth term is prohibited by a party regulation. It is a matter of course to abide by the rule,” Abe, who returned to power in late 2012, told a Diet committee session. “As this is my last tenure, I will concentrate on achieving results with full might,” said the 64-year-old, who is set to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in November this year, surpassing Taro Katsura’s record of 2,886 days in office. Earlier this week, LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai said a fourth term for Abe as head of the party was “fully possible.” “There is no problem when it is hard to find someone else to replace him,” Nikai, the LDP’s No. 2, said at a news conference on Tuesday. Katsunobu Kato, chairman of the party’s decision-making general council and a close aide to Abe, has also mentioned the possibility of the prime minister serving a fourth term. In 2017, the LDP changed its term limit for party leaders in a move that was initiated by Nikai, extending the cap to three consecutive three-year terms from the previous limit of two consecutive three-year terms.


Japan and South Korea talks end without progress on wartime labor dispute

Abstract: SEOUL - Senior Japanese and South Korean officials failed to bridge differences in talks Thursday over the thorny issue of compensation by Japanese firms for wartime labor. In the working-level consultations in Seoul, Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry told reporters he called again for measures from the South Korean side to ensure that accused companies are not harmed. He also said he requested anew that intergovernmental talks be held based on an agreement attached to a 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between the two countries. His South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-kil gave no specific reply to either request, according to Kanasugi. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said it is not appropriate for countermeasures to be mulled by the Japanese side in relation to the issue, apparently referring to recent comments by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. Aso said Tuesday that Japan could ban new visa issuances and money transfers as retaliatory steps if South Korea goes ahead with the seizure of assets of a Japanese company over wartime labor. The comments come after a South Korean court approved the seizure of assets from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to compensate Koreans for conscripted labor during World War II. In Thursday’s talks, Kanasugi said he stressed that Tokyo is considering all options, such as referring the case to the International Court of Justice and taking “countermeasures,” if Seoul goes ahead with the sale of the firm’s assets. As the next stage in resolving the dispute, the Japanese side is considering calling for the establishment of an arbitration panel including members from a third country. The two sides did agree to continue bilateral communication even if there is conflict and to try to avoid further confrontation. In October, South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered the Japanese steel-maker to compensate four men for forced labor during Japan’s 1910 to 1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. A request for seizing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s assets has also been filed with the Seoul Central District Court after the top court ordered the Japanese heavy-machinery-maker to compensate for wartime labor in a similar case. A team of lawyers representing South Korean plaintiffs who won the wartime labor case against Mitsubishi Heavy is considering seeking a seizure of the company’s assets in Europe. Japan maintains that the issue has already been resolved “finally and completely” under a 1965 accord between the two countries to settle property claims signed alongside the Japan-South Korea treaty that established diplomatic ties. But the South Korean top court said the right of individuals to claim damages was not terminated by the accord, when it handed down the ruling against the steel-maker. Tokyo proposed launching talks based on the agreement and is awaiting Seoul’s response.

south korea
wartime labor
wwii
history
south korea-japan relations


Victims sterilized under Japan's eugenics law to get ¥3.2 million each under state redress plan

Abstract: Ruling and opposition party lawmakers on Thursday decided on a bill to provide ¥3.2 million ($28,700) in state redress to every surviving victim of a state sterilization program that was conducted under a now-defunct 1948 eugenics law. The bill marks progress toward offering relief to the victims of the program that only came to an end in 1996, but the level of compensation was immediately criticized as insufficient by lawyers involved in damages suits filed by victims across the country. Under the bill, the one-time payments, on par with similar compensation in Sweden, would be made to victims who underwent sterilization irrespective of consent. The spouses of deceased victims would not be eligible for redress. The bill also included a “deep apology” in its preamble for the physical and mental suffering inflicted on the victims, but it failed to assign specific blame by employing “we” as the subject of the sentence. The victims have been calling for a clear apology from the “state.” “The word ‘we’ strongly signals that it includes the Diet and the government,” said Norihisa Tamura, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who dealt with the issue as the head of a task force also involving its coalition partner the Komeito party. The lawmakers plan to submit the bill to the Diet in April and seek its passage within the month. They have been considering redress ahead of court rulings in the series of lawsuits filed against the state since January, with the highest compensation demand exceeding ¥35 million. A lawyers’ group involved in the suits immediately reacted with disappointment. “I don’t think this bill can be said to squarely face up to the suffering (of the victims),” Koji Niisato, a co-leader of the group, said at a news conference, noting that the plaintiffs will continue with their lawsuits. Kikuo Kojima, a plaintiff who was forced to undergo sterilization surgery nearly 60 years ago, said angrily of the content of the bill, “It’s not that I want money, but isn’t this appalling?” “A surgical knife cut my body and I could not have children throughout my life. I couldn’t talk about the surgery to anyone around me and I lied to my wife. Only ¥3.2 million for all these things,” the 77-year-old said. The former eugenics law, modeled on Nazi Germany’s sterilization law, authorized surgery to sterilize people with learning difficulties, mental illnesses or genetic disorders to prevent the birth of “inferior” offspring during the postwar food shortage. The bill set the amount of redress by looking at the examples of Germany and Sweden, which have apologized to and compensated the victims of their sterilization programs. In Sweden, where a similar eugenics law was in force between 1935 and 1975, a law came into force in 1999 to pay 175,000 Swedish krona to each of the victims, now equivalent to around ¥3.12 million. In Japan, about 25,000 people with disabilities were sterilized under the law, including around 16,500 who underwent surgery without their consent, according to the health ministry and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. As remaining sterilization records only identify 3,000 victims, a panel will be set up in the summer under the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to certify those who do not possess documentation but can show evidence such as operative scars. A ministry official said it is unclear when the payments would start.

sterilization
eugenics
disability
discrimination
eugenic protection law


In race for fluency in time for Olympics, Tokyo great-grandmother proves it's never too late to learn

Abstract: Setsuko Takamizawa is determined to prove that it is never too late to learn as she bids to conquer the English language before the Tokyo Olympics, having been prevented from learning what was considered the “enemy language” in her youth. When Japan last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, Takamizawa was too busy raising a family to go to any events or pay much attention. Takamizawa, now a great-grandmother, will be 92 when the Olympics return to Tokyo in July next year and this time she wants to get as close to the action as possible. She is one of more than 200,000 people who have applied as volunteers for the Olympics and Paralympics, hoping to be part of the army of people needed to help organize and guide thousands of visitors around the city. Although it is not a mandatory qualification, the ability to speak English is a crucial skill organizers are looking for and Takamizawa is eager to finally take the opportunity to acquire it. “When I was a freshman at a girl’s senior high school, World War II broke out,” Takamizawa explained in an interview. “In my second year there, English was banned because it was the enemy language.” Takamizawa said her grandchildren had helped convince her she was not too old to learn. “I don’t speak English at all, so I thought I wish I could speak English,” Takamizawa said while visiting the under-construction Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. “When I talked to my grandchildren about my wish, they said, ‘it’s not too late. We will teach you one word a day. It’s going to be a good challenge for you’.” “That was when everything started.” According to organizers, less than 1 percent of the applicants are over 80 years old. However, she knows that novelty will not be enough and that an ability to speak passable English will help her achieve her chief goal — to share stories with people from around the world. “When I taught her the word ‘world,’ grandmother said: ‘That’s what I want to know about, the world and your country. I want to know about the world,'” said Takamizawa’s granddaughter, Natsuko. Natsuko speaks English well and has been her grandmother’s main teacher. “What I want is not only a chance to speak English but also I want to encounter various people with various culture and values by using English as a tool,” added Takamizawa. “That would be the best.” According to the EF English Proficiency Index, Japan ranks 49th among countries where English is not the first language, below Chile, Belarus and South Korea. This is slowly changing as younger generations embrace English and it is taught in schools from a much younger age. However, Takamizawa believes real change will not happen unless Japanese people become more open to the rest of the world. “There are only few, or such a thin layer of people on the surface, very thin like cling film, who can speak English or who are interested in the world,” she said of her fellow Japanese. “But they must look to step out of the country. We should live and act not only as a Japanese person but also one of the global members on the Earth.” Natsuko sends her grandmother a new English word to learn every day on her phone and they also regularly sit down together to work on key phrases that Takamizawa will need come the Olympics. “Welcome to Tokyo, this is the Olympic stadium, how can I help you?” says a beaming Takamizawa when asked to recite the English phrases she has learned. For her granddaughter, this curiosity is a source of true joy. “My intention was that I wanted to give her joy at her age of 90,” Natsuko said. “For me it’s simply fun to talk to her and to wait for her reply, (it’s not about) admiring her hard work or contributing to the Olympic Games. “I can clearly see her English is getting better. It’s my joy now.”

setsuko takamizawa
english
language
elderly
2020 tokyo olympics


Three arrested over murder of Tokyo woman, 80, after police link men to Shibuya robberies targeting elderly

Abstract: Police arrested three men Wednesday over the robbery and murder of an 80-year-old woman in Tokyo last month, after investigators found similarities in the case with two other robberies targeting elderly people. Tatsumi Komatsuzono, 27, Hiroki Sue, 22, and Yuta Sakai, 22, allegedly broke into the apartment of Kuniko Kato in Koto Ward on Feb. 28 and killed her. The three men have denied the allegations, according to the police. A nursing caregiver found Kato dead the same day with her hands and feet bound. About two weeks before the murder, Kato told a friend she had received a suspicious phone call asking whether she kept money at home. She did not report the matter to police. Prior to the case, two similar robberies took place in Shibuya Ward, one in January and another in February. In those cases, the victims were also tied up and had received phone calls asking how they kept their money, according to investigative sources. Security footage and witness reports allegedly placed the three men at the scene of the crime in Koto Ward and the vehicle seen near Kato’s house matched the description of the car used in the Shibuya crimes. On Jan. 11, three masked suspects broke into the residence of a 93-year-old man and his 86-year-old wife, tied them up and took about ¥20 million worth of cash and jewelry. Two days earlier, a man pretending to be their son had called to ask for money, saying he had become sick, according to investigators. On Feb. 1, three men who initially claimed to be police officers entered the residence of a married couple in their 70s and 80s, tied them up and took about ¥4 million in cash. At least one of the three was wearing a ski mask, according to the police. Police have been alerting the public about suspicious phone calls to obtain personal information, including questions about financial assets and the makeup of the household. Callers often identify themselves as relatives of the targets or poll takers, they said.

murder
tokyo
police
elderly
personal information
theft


Number of minors in Japan involved in bank transfer scams jumped over 50% in 2018, police say

Abstract: The National Police Agency said Thursday that 750 people under 20 years old were involved in furikome (bank transfer) scams last year, up 57.9 percent from the previous year. Of the minors, 76.4 percent received cash from fraud victims by hand, and 9.7 percent worked to recruit new members of fraud groups, according to a survey by the agency. Furikome scams originally referred to cases of forcing targets, usually elderly people, to transfer money by pretending to be their children or others on the phone, but the term now includes cases where victims deliver cash by hand. Following a surge in the involvement of minors in such scams in recent years, the police are stepping up prevention measures including gathering information on juvenile delinquents who may be invited to join criminal groups. On a whole, the number of minors involved in crimes in 2018 fell to 23,489, the lowest level since the end of World War II, reflecting a drop in those facing theft charges, which had accounted for some 60 percent of offenses by minors. But the number of minors involved in white-collar crimes, including furikome scams, jumped 28.5 percent to 1,155. Of the minors involved in furikome scams, 612 were between 17 and 19 years old. Nine 14-year-olds were involved in such cases, the youngest age recorded.

scams
fraud
elderly
children
crime
teens
ore ore sagi
it 's me scam


Record 1,380 child abuse cases investigated by Japanese police in 2018, up 21% from year earlier

Abstract: The police launched full-scale investigations into a record 1,380 child abuse cases nationwide in 2018, up 21.3 percent from the previous year, an official report showed Thursday, an apparent reflection of increased efforts by police to tackle such cases. Of the total, 1,095 cases involved physical abuse, followed by 226 cases of sexual abuse, according to the report by the National Police Agency. The number of children who were victims of abuse also hit a record high, up 19.3 percent from 2017 to 1,394, and that of children who were taken into protective custody climbed 19.1 percent to a record 4,571, it said. “It is a worrying situation,” NPA Commissioner-General Shunichi Kuryu said. “We would like to coordinate with child consultation centers, schools and others while advancing our efforts by putting children’s safety first.” Tetsuro Tsuzaki, head of the Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, said the rise in the number of investigations reflects the police’s proactive attitude as well as the increasing severity of the abuse. “There has been a slew of serious cases in which child victims died, and we think the situation is worsening,” he said. The report was released amid growing concern over parental violence against children following the death in January of 10-year-old Mia Kurihara at her home in Chiba Prefecture. Authorities suspect she died after suffering physical abuse from her parents. The ongoing probe has uncovered failures by local welfare authorities and her school to respond in a timely fashion to the girl’s appeals for help. Among other cases to have attracted national attention was that of 5-year-old Yua Funato, who died in March last year at her Tokyo home after having made desperate pleas for her parents to “forgive” and stop mistreating her. The parents have been indicted for neglect resulting in the girl’s death. Of the 1,419 people police investigated as possible assailants in the cases, 622 are the victims’ biological father, followed by 352 who are the biological mother and 266 who are foster or step-fathers, according to the report. After the recent high-profile deaths of children due to alleged mistreatment by their parents, the central government has decided to step up efforts to prevent child abuse and is seeking to revise related laws to that end during the ongoing Diet session. The measures are expected to include strengthening the police’s ability to identify cases of child abuse at an early stage, such as by holding joint training with child consultation centers and enhancing support by placing current and retired police officers at the centers. Tsuzaki said the government’s plan would be “effective to a certain degree” but also urged child consultation centers, schools and private-sector bodies to consider ways for the community to prevent child abuse, as a heavy police presence could make parents cautious. The report also said police opened investigations into a record 3,097 child pornography cases in 2018, up 28.3 percent from a year earlier. The number surpassed 3,000 for the first time and involved 2,315 alleged perpetrators, also an all-time high, up 35.9 percent from the previous year and the fifth consecutive yearly increase, the report said. Many of the victims were coerced or tricked into sending nude photos of themselves, the agency said. Cases in which a person possessed images of naked children surged fivefold to 951, while the production of child pornography by taking photos accounted for nearly half of the total at 1,417 cases, marginally higher than the year before. The distribution of such photos stood at 729 cases, down 8.6 percent. Nearly 80 percent of victims were junior high school or high school students. Among them, 1,152 girls and 124 boys were identified. Of the total, 541 children were coerced into sending nude photos of themselves, while 295 were photographed or filmed by hidden cameras. About 90 percent of cases where the victim sent nude selfies of themselves involved junior high school or high school students. The taking of photos and videos with concealed cameras accounted for more than half of the cases involving children in elementary school or younger. The NPA has been stepping up its efforts to crack down on crimes by pedophiles. It confiscated from a group that ran a child porn website a list of about 7,000 individuals who purchased child porn DVDs in 2017. Since then, police officers across the country have been expanding investigations based on the list. In 2018, 1,811 children under 18 were found to have fallen prey to sexual and other crimes through social networking platforms, according to the agency. The figure was almost unchanged from the previous year in which a record 1,813 were victimized. By age, 991 were high school students, followed by 624 junior high school students. The social networking platform in which most victims were targeted was Twitter at 718, while 214 used Himabu, a popular messaging app for students.

child abuse
abuse
police
children
npa
child porn
pornography
teens
sex crimes


China's Xi arrives in Italy amid Western unease over Silk Road project, Huawei

Abstract: ROME - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Rome on Thursday evening at the start of a whistle-stop European tour amid growing Western unease over the economic giant’s new Silk Road project. Xi descended from his Air China Boeing 747 with first lady Peng Liyuan at Rome’s Fiumicino airport before being whisked off to their hotel in the Italian capital, AFPTV reported. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is to sign a memorandum of understanding with Xi on Saturday for Italy to join the $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, the first G7 member to do so. Xi is to meet his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, on Friday during a trip that will also take in parliament and the Colosseum. Around 1,000 extra police have been deployed around Rome for the state visit before Xi heads to Palermo, where his singer wife reportedly wants to see the Teatro Massimo opera house. NATO member Italy’s plan to join China’s ambitious maritime, rail and road venture, which critics warn mainly benefits Chinese firms, has raised eyebrows among Western allies and within Italy. The United States has also warned European allies that China’s Huawei could use its next generation 5G technology as a “backdoor” for spying.

china
italy
silk road
huawei
xi jinping
u.s .
eu


U.S. barring business with Chinese shipping firms over North Korea sanctions violations

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies for doing business with North Korea, vowing to keep strictly enforcing sanctions on Pyongyang even amid top-level diplomacy. “The maritime industry must do more to stop North Korea’s illicit shipping practices,” national security adviser John Bolton tweeted after the Treasury Department’s announcement. “Everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion,” he said. The Treasury Department said it was blocking all potential U.S. interests of the Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. Ltd. and prohibiting Americans from dealing with the firm. The United States charged that the company last year shipped cargo from the Chinese port of Dalian to North Korea on behalf of the Paeksol Trading Corporation, which in the past has sold metal and coal to earn money for Pyongyang. The Treasury Department also sanctioned the Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co. Ltd., saying it had assisted North Korean officials based in Europe in procuring goods for the regime. The action comes less than a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Hanoi with President Donald Trump for a second summit that broke down in part over Pyongyang’s demands for immediate sanctions relief. Trump, while walking away from the talks, has been eager to reach a potentially landmark agreement on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, announcing the latest measures, said that the United States remained committed to seeking a denuclearization deal with North Korea but believed fully enforcing U.N.-backed sanctions “is crucial to a successful outcome.”

north korea
john bolton
kim jong un
donald trump
denuclearization
china
u.s. sanctions
steve mnuchin


Facebook admits storing passwords in plain text; 600 million users may have been exposed

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - Facebook on Thursday admitted that millions of passwords were stored in plain text on its internal servers, a security slip that left them readable by the social networking giant’s employees. “To be clear, these passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused or improperly accessed them,” Pedro Canahuati, vice president of engineering, security, and privacy, said in a blog post. The blunder was uncovered during a routine security review early this year, according to Canahuati. He said that the Silicon Valley company expected to notify hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users; tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users whose passwords may have been vulnerable to prying eyes. The basic security shortcoming was revealed on the heels of a series of controversies centered on whether Facebook properly safeguards the privacy and data of its users. The basic data defense mistake would also appear contrary to the “Hacker Way” mantra that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has espoused at the social network. “One Hacker Way” is the main address of Facebook’s vast campus in the California city of Menlo Park. Brian Krebs of security news website KrebsOnSecurity.com cited an unnamed Facebook source as saying the internal investigation had so far indicated that as many as 600 million users of the social network had account passwords stored in plain text files searchable by more than 20,000 employees. The exact number had yet to be determined, but archives with unencrypted user passwords were found dating back to 2012, according to Krebs. “We have fixed these issues and as a precaution we will be notifying everyone whose passwords we have found were stored in this way,” Canahuati said.


Japan inflation slows in February as gasoline prices fall

Abstract: Underlying inflation slowed in February as gasoline prices fell for the first time in more than two years, government data showed Friday. The nationwide core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food items because of their volatility, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier, slowing from a 0.8 percent increase in January. Prices rose for the 26th straight month, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Gasoline prices fell 1.3 percent, the first decline since November 2016, tracking a plunge in crude oil prices late last year. But with the recent resurgence in oil, gasoline prices could also rebound next month, a ministry official said at a news briefing. Mobile phone fees were also down, while utility bills, accommodation, and household appliances such as vacuum cleaners rose in price. So-called core-core consumer prices, which exclude both fresh food and energy items, rose 0.4 percent in February, the same pace as the previous month. Lagging inflation is a headache for the Bank of Japan, which is pursuing a 2 percent target in a bid to keep the economy from falling back into growth-stunting deflation. Last week, the central bank decided to maintain ultralow interest rates and asset purchases as Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda kept to the script that upward momentum in prices remains intact. In reality, there has been little progress despite years of drastic monetary easing. Some government officials have criticized the focus on the 2 percent target, with Finance Minister Taro Aso saying earlier this month that the BOJ should “take a more flexible approach.” Takeshi Minami, chief economist at the Norinchukin Research Institute, said he does not foresee prices picking up any time soon given household spending will remain muted due to tepid wage gains and an upcoming consumption tax hike. The introduction of free preschool and a further fall in mobile phone fees are also expected to put downward pressure on inflation. “The BOJ may need to consider taking policy action at some point,” Minami said.

inflation
boj
japanese economy
economic indicators


NYSE drops 'no jeans' policy as Levi Strauss goes public again, shares surge 31%

Abstract: NEW YORK - Levi Strauss & Co., which gave America its first pair of blue jeans, is public for the second time. The stock, which is listed under the ticker “LEVI,” opened for trading on Thursday up 31 percent on very strong demand and recently changed hands at $22.90, up $5.90. The offering priced at $17, above an originally expected range of $14 to $16. In a rare move, the New York Stock Exchange suspended its “no jeans” policy on Thursday to commemorate the event, transforming the floor from suits and ties into a sea of blue denim. More than 120 employees from Levi’s global offices, including its CEO, Chip Bergh, outfitted in denim, were on the trading floor. On Wednesday, the NYSE even tweeted, “Tomorrow we’ll be in our 501s.” The 166-year-old company, which owns the Dockers and Denizen brands, previously went public in 1971, but the namesake founder’s descendants, the Haas family, took it private again in 1985. The initial public offering comes as the iconic brand is staging a comeback under Bergh even as it faces increasing competition and a changing retail landscape. Women are opting for yoga pants or other comfortable athletic sportswear that can be worn every day. And the brand is also contending with a shrinking number of department stores, once its traditional venue of distribution. But since assuming the helm in 2011, Bergh has refashioned the brand and image. It didn’t chase after the yoga trend but rather focused on enhancing the fit of its women’s jeans with stretchier fabrics. Bergh also has created buzz with partnerships with celebrities like Justin Timberlake while increasing Levi’s marketing at events like Coachella, where Beyonce performed in the brand’s cut-off shorts. At the same time, Levi’s has been expanding online and juggling between selling to low-end and high-end stores. It’s also been opening its own stores. All of that has helped Levi Strauss turn in a 14 percent increase in sales to $5.6 billion for the year ended Nov. 25, 2018. “Focusing on product improvements and diversification have been excellent moves,” said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a retail research firm. “There’s a lot of competition, but Levi’s has always been the brand in denim.” The timing might be right for Levi’s. Jeans sales appear to be on an upswing in the U.S., increasing 2.2 percent to $16.7 billion last year after four straight years of declines, according to data from Euromonitor. “Things go in waves,” said Marie Driscoll, managing director of luxury and fashion at Coresight Research. “The ‘athleisure’ trend made denim not as comfortable. But denim brands have responded by adding stretch.” It wasn’t long ago when Levi’s was struggling with a big debt load and had grown too reliant on department stores. During its worst slump, the company’s sales went from $6.8 billion in 1997, when it helped to drive the Casual Friday trend with its Dockers khakis, to $4.07 billion in 2004. Levi’s is hoping to prove to Wall Street there’s staying power for a legacy name that dates back to 1853 when its namesake founder started a wholesales dry goods business in San Francisco. Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis invented jeans 20 years later after receiving a patent to create cotton denim workpants with copper rivets in certain areas like the pocket corner to make them stronger. By the 1920s, Levi’s original 501 jeans had become top-selling men’s workpants, according to its corporate website. Levi’s, like many denim brands, still faces challenges. They’re being squeezed by a new wave of closures of traditional department stores. And discounters like Walmart have been developing their own exclusive brands. In its prospectus, Levi Strauss says it plans to use the proceeds to expand more aggressively into China, India and Brazil. It also is expanding its retail stores. As of late last year, Levi’s operated 824 stores. Levi Strauss is adopting a dual-class share structure. Each Class A share will be entitled to one vote, while Class B shares will have 10 votes. Class B stock will primarily be held by the descendants of the company founder. That means that the Strauss’s descendants will still exert big influence over the company’s major decisions.