Sony bumps ups 3D camera sensor output as smartphone-makers show interest

Abstract: Sony Corp., the biggest maker of camera chips used in smartphones, is boosting production of next-generation 3D sensors after garnering interest from customers including Apple Inc. The chips will power front- and rear-facing 3D cameras of models from several smartphone-makers in 2019, with Sony kicking off mass production in late summer to meet demand, according to Satoshi Yoshihara, head of Sony’s sensor division. He declined to provide sales or production targets, but said the 3D business is already operating profitably and will make an impact on earnings from the fiscal year starting in April. Sony’s bullish outlook for 3D cameras provides much needed optimism to the global smartphone industry, which is suffering a slowdown as consumers find fewer reasons to upgrade devices. The Tokyo-based company has started providing software toolkits to outside developers so they can experiment with the chips and create apps that generate models of faces for communication or virtual objects for online shopping. “Cameras revolutionized phones, and based on what I’ve seen, I have the same expectation for 3D,” said Yoshihara, who has worked for more than a decade on wider industry adoption of cameras in smartphones. “The pace will vary by field, but we’re definitely going to see adoption of 3D. I’m certain of it.” Sony controls about half of the camera chip market and supplies customers including Apple, Alphabet Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., although Yoshihara declined to identify them by name, citing confidentiality agreements. Huawei Technologies Co. is employing Sony’s 3D cameras in next-generation models, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. Sony isn’t the only maker of 3D chips, with rivals Lumentum Holdings Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV already finding uses for them, such as unlocking phones through facial recognition or measuring depth to improve focus when taking pictures at night. Yoshihara said Sony’s technology differs from the “structured light” approach of existing chips, which have limits in terms of accuracy and distance. Sony uses a method called “time of flight” that sends out invisible laser pulses and measures how long they take to bounce back, which he said creates more detailed 3D models and works at distances of five meters. Other uses include mobile games, which could involve creating virtual characters that interact with and navigate real-world environments, or ones that use hand gestures for control. To be sure, demand for Sony’s technology is untested and it remains to be seen if consumer interest in 3D will be enough to snap the smartphone market out of its funk. Annual global shipments probably fell 3 percent in 2018 with growth of just 2.6 percent expected in 2019, according to IDC. Yoshihara also said there will only be a need for two 3D chips on devices, for the front and back, despite a trend by smartphone-makers to have three or more cameras. During the interview, Sony showed several examples using a custom phone with a 3D camera on its rear. In one app, users made specific hand gestures to cast magic spells inside a virtual game. In another, the phone calculated the depth of the room and accurately displayed a virtual goldfish swimming in front of and behind real-life objects. “The most important thing in the coming year will be to get people excited,” Yoshihara said.


Dollar falls to ¥110.40 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was softer around ¥110.40 in late Tokyo trading Friday, weighed down by sales that preceded year-end and New Year holidays in Japan. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.40-40, down from ¥110.92-93 at the same time Thursday. The euro was at $1.1455-1455, up from $1.1380-1381, and at ¥126.51-52, up from ¥126.31-32. After moving around ¥110.80 in early trading, the dollar fell to around ¥110.50 in late morning trading in line with a drop in Japanese share prices. The U.S. currency dropped further to around ¥110.40 in late trading due to preholiday position-adjustment sales, traders said. “The dollar-yen pair was pressured partly by concerns over a further plunge” in U.S. equities after they showed wild swings on Thursday, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service company said.


Nikkei ends year with 12% loss after logging first annual fall since 2011

Abstract: The benchmark Nikkei average snapped a six-year winning streak Friday to end 2018 down more than 12 percent after being pressured by selling following a spike the previous day. The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 62.85 points, or 0.31 percent, to close the year’s final session at 20,014.77. It shot up 750.56 points on Thursday. The key yardstick on the Tokyo Stock Exchange marked its first annual fall under the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office in December 2012 touting Abenomics, his reflationist policies based on fiscal spending, radical monetary easing and vows of structural reforms. For the whole of 2018, the Nikkei average sank 2,750.17 points, or 12.08 percent. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 7.54 points, or 0.50 percent, at 1,494.09 after gaining 70.16 points the previous day. For the year, the index plunged 323.47 points, or 17.80 percent. Brokers said the market’s downside was apparently underpinned by purchases of exchange-traded funds by the Bank of Japan. Stocks were hurt by “intermittent selling on a rally,” Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said, expressing his view that Friday’s trading was led by individual investors. Hiroaki Hiwada, strategist at Toyo Securities Co., said solid performances of other Asian equity markets gave some underpinnings to Japanese stocks. Investors “were engaged in adjusting trading positions” prior to the year-end and New Year holidays, an official at an online brokerage said. The official suggested that trading was not active, reflecting worries that dollar-yen rates may show violent movements during the six-day string of holidays through Thursday in Japan. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,166 to 891 in the TSE’s first section, while 72 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.195 billion shares from Thursday’s 1.576 billion shares. Nitori closed 3.58 percent lower, as the furniture retailer kept its forecast for group operating profit for the year ending next February unchanged at ¥99 billion even though profit for March-November this year grew 10.8 percent year on year to ¥78.033 billion. Department store operator J. Front Retailing dived 8.96 percent after announcing Thursday that its March-November operating profit slipped 10.6 percent from a year earlier to ¥33.853 billion. Also on the minus side were drugmaker Eisai and clothing retailer Fast Retailing. By contrast, precision parts manufacturer Star Micronics, industrial equipment-maker Fanuc and mobile phone carrier KDDI were upbeat. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March 2019 contract on the Nikkei average shed 180 points to end at 19,840.

nikkei
tokyo stock exchange
stocks
topix


U.K. charity says 10 worst climate-linked disasters this year caused an estimated $85 billion in damage

Abstract: LONDON - From floods to extreme heat, 10 of the worst climate-linked disasters in 2018 caused at least $84.8 billion worth of damage, a study released by the charity Christian Aid said on Thursday. Extreme weather driven by climate change hit every populated continent this year, the British relief organization said, warning that urgent action is needed to combat global warming. “This report shows that for many people, climate change is having devastating impacts on their lives and livelihoods right now,” Kat Kramer, who heads Christian Aid’s work on climate issues, said in a statement. Experts say a warming world will lead to sweltering heat waves, more extreme rainfall, shrinking harvests and worsening water shortages, causing both monetary losses and human misery. Almost 200 nations are aiming to limit the rise in average world temperatures under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, though some warn progress to meet targets has been slow. The 20 warmest years on record have been within the last 22 years, the United Nations said last month, with 2018 on track to be the fourth hottest. The most expensive climate-linked weather events of 2018 were hurricanes Florence and Michael, which caused at least $32 billion worth of damage as they slammed into the United States, the Caribbean and parts of Central America, the report said. The United States also suffered at least $9 billion of losses from wildfires that caused dozens of deaths and destroyed thousands of homes in California. Japan was badly hit by severe floods over the summer, followed by the powerful Typhoon Jebi in the autumn, which together caused more than $9.3 billion in damages, said the report. It also cited droughts in Europe, floods in south India and Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines and China as among the most expensive climate-linked disasters of 2018. The report’s authors collated total cost figures using data from sources including governments, banks and insurance firms, although in some cases the figures only covered insured losses and also failed to take account of the human costs of such events. They added that rising temperatures will continue to drive extreme weather events, and they urged action to prevent further global warming, which would affect the poorest and most vulnerable communities hardest. “The impacts of climate change are no longer subtle,” said Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University, in a statement on the study. “The world’s weather is becoming more extreme before our eyes — the only thing that can stop this destructive trend from escalating is a rapid fall in carbon emissions.”

disasters
climate change
typhoons
storms
environment


Number of maternity hospitals in Japan at lowest level in over four decades, health ministry says

Abstract: The number of maternity hospitals in Japan has fallen to 1,313, its lowest since 1972 when comparable data became available, as the country’s population rapidly greys and maintains a low birthrate, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey showed Thursday. As of October last year, the number of hospitals — which fell by 19 from a year earlier to mark the 27th straight annual decrease — sank to about half the figure seen in 1990, according to the survey. Besides the low birthrate, a ministry official said, “it may also be that hospitals in various communities are consolidating their obstetric departments.” The number of smaller clinics with obstetricians and gynecologists stood at 3,327, down 142 from 2014, while pediatric hospitals decreased for the 24th consecutive year to 2,592, down 26 from a year before. The number of medical facilities across Japan, including mental hospitals and dentists’ clinics, totaled 178,492, down 419 from the previous year, according to the ministry’s survey. The ministry also said that the number of full-time hospital doctors came to 171.7 per 100,000 population, with Kochi Prefecture having 259.7 doctors and Saitama Prefecture 124.9.

maternity hospitals birthrate doctors aging


Majority of Japanese have favorable feelings toward Taiwan: poll

Abstract: TAIPEI - A majority of Japanese have a strong affinity for Taiwan and think bilateral relations will further develop, according to the results of a survey conducted by Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Tokyo that was released Friday. In the poll, 64.7 percent of respondents said they feel the most affinity for Taiwan among all Asian countries and regions. By comparison, 17.5 percent of respondents chose South Korea, while just 4.5 percent said they feel the greatest affinity for Taiwan’s cross-strait rival China. Twelve percent named other Asian nations. Among those who feel some degree of affinity toward Taiwan, over 79 percent said that Taiwanese are friendly. The next largest group, or 45.8 percent, cited the long history of exchanges between Japan and Taiwan. Those who pointed to the island’s generous donations in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster accounted for 39.2 percent. The survey also found that 60.4 percent of the respondents think Taiwan is reliable, with 67.5 percent of those respondents saying they hold that opinion because the island is friendly toward Japan. About 52 percent cited the fact that the two sides share the same values of freedom and democracy, and 49.7 percent said both are peace-loving countries. With regards to bilateral relations, 71 percent of the respondents replied that Tokyo-Taipei relations are sound, while 59.3 percent said they believe bilateral ties will further develop in the future. Nearly 57 percent of the respondents said they would like to visit Taiwan. Among them, respondents between the ages of 30 and 39 are the most interested in doing so. When asked what area of exchanges needs to be strengthened, 64.6 percent named tourism, 52.8 percent chose trade, and 41.8 percent said political exchanges and security. The survey was conducted by phone from Nov. 12 to Nov. 15 on a random national sample of 1,000 adults aged from 20 to 79 years old. People aged from 80 to 89 years old were polled from Nov. 23 to Nov. 26. Some of the questions allowed respondents to submit multiple answers.

taiwan
survey
south korea
china
taiwan-japan ties


Well-known Japanese photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa admits to sexual harassment

Abstract: Ryuichi Hirokawa, an internationally recognized Japanese photojournalist, has admitted to sexual harassment that was reported by a weekly magazine, according to a publisher for which he served as a director. The publisher of the monthly photojournalism magazine Days Japan said Wednesday it has dismissed Hirokawa, 75, as representative director after he said part of Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine’s report was true, according to the company’s lawyer. The New Year issue of the weekly magazine reported that Hirokawa sexually harassed several women, including those aspiring to be photographers as well as a former assistant. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart for people I hurt because of my insincere way of facing them,” Hirokawa said in his statement posted on the publisher’s website. “I did not realize that I was hurting them.” Covering social issues in Japan and abroad, Days Japan was launched in 2004 by Hirokawa and others. It announced in November it will discontinue after the March edition is published, in February, due to slumping sales. Hirokawa is particularly known for his work covering the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and the circumstances of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Kumejima Museum in Kumejima Island, Okinawa Prefecture, said Thursday that it will cancel an exhibition of Hirokawa’s works, which had been scheduled to be held at the museum starting Jan. 4.

ryuichi hirokawa
sexual harassment
shukan bunshun
photographer


USTR Robert Lighthizer called tough negotiator in Trump's shadow, shares mistrust over China

Abstract: WASHINGTON - He stays out of the limelight but shares President Donald Trump’s mistrust of China and the threat it posed to U.S. economic power. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has emerged as the U.S. strongman in the ongoing trade negotiations, determined to force changes in Beijing’s economic policies. A day after signing a new free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico after over a year of tough negotiations, Trump tapped the 71-year-old Lighthizer to lead this time the delicate trade talks with Beijing, with perhaps more at stake for the global economy. Trump previously entrusted that mission to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Without success. The title of US Trade Representative makes him a full member of the “Cabinet,” which is to say the government gathered around the U.S. president and the U.S. representative in the World Organization Trade. And Lighthizer is a veteran of trade negotiations, having served as deputy USTR under Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and dealt with Japan, the trade power at the time. Like Trump, Lighthizer believes free trade cannot be unfettered and must be reciprocal. In the talks with China, the objectives are clear: to force the Asian giant to put an end to trade policies the U.S. deems “unfair,” especially the theft or forced transfer of American technology, and state subsidies for industry. The countries agreed to a 90-day truce through March 1, but without at agreement, Trump will continue to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the United States. “Technology is the most important advantage that Americans have economically,” Lighthizer said in a recent, and rare, television interview. “We will protect that technology and get additional market access from China. If that can be done the president wants us to do it. If not we’ll have tariffs.” Lighthizer will not be satisfied with promises. He wants actions. Unlike Trump who revels the spotlight, Lighthizer keeps a low profile. During negotiations with Canada and Mexico his appearances were rare, his speeches parsimonious, his press releases distilled. He makes it a point of honor not to expose in public what is happening behind the scenes. Lighthizer comes from an affluent family in Ashtabula, Ohio, an important port on Lake Erie. It was used for coal and ore transport at the end of the 19th century, and the town’s decline contributed to his skepticism about globalization and its drawbacks, according to relatives cited by The New York Times. Prior to being named USTR in May 2017, Lighthizer, a father of two, was a partner in the Skadden law firm where he was a specialist in international trade law for more than 30 years. Imposing stature, piercing gray-blue eyes, he is described as a man as “grumpy” in private as in public. “He’s very particular. Bombastic at times,” said an official close to the U.S.-Canada-Mexico talks. But he is “also charming, with a great sense of humor” and “tremendously respected his strong intellect.” Like many of the Washington elite, Lighthizer attended Georgetown University both as an undergraduate and for law school.

ustr
robert lighthizer
china
donald trump
trade
wilbur ross
japan
u.s .
wto
steve mnuchen


Japanese electronics firms look to re-engineer their design mojo

Abstract: Akihiro Adachi, a 31-year-old audiovisual equipment designer at Panasonic Corp., longed for some personal space during his lengthy train rides from Osaka to Tokyo. So when his company set out to encourage innovation, he joined with some colleagues and came up with Wear Space, a headset that limits noise and peripheral vision. Many at Panasonic were puzzled. “Someone said the office full of people wearing this would look weird,” said Kang Hwayoung, another member of the 10-person design team. But the prototype unexpectedly won a global design award and received positive feedback from unexpected quarters, such as sake tasters who wanted to limit sensory input. The project is among a range of efforts in the Japanese electronics industry to reinvigorate industrial design. After years of losing ground to design-first rivals such as Apple and Dyson, Japanese companies are now trying to recover the processes and creative flair that produced iconic products such as the Walkman. Panasonic, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are among those implementing practices that have been routine at many U.S. and European companies, such as engaging designers at every step and treating packaging as part of the product. “We used to have designers involved only in final stages of our product development process, just for an aesthetic fix,” Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Panasonic’s technology and manufacturing chief, told reporters. “We are revamping the process so that designers can join us from the planning phase.” The government is promoting their efforts: A report in May urged corporate executives to pursue “design-driven management, whereby a company leverages design as a primary driver of competitiveness.” It also called for tax incentives for design-related investment and new laws to better protect intellectual property. The government is set to revise such laws next year. “Of course, we had an argument over how much the government can do and should do with private sector issues like this,” said Daisuke Kubota, director at the government’s design registration system planning office, who was involved in the panel. “But a lot of design experts asked us for government initiatives, saying that this is really the last chance and Japan would never be able to catch up with global rivals if this opportunity is missed.” Another member of the panel, Kinya Tagawa, a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art and co-founder of design firm Takram, says there has been a sharp increase in major companies requesting design lectures for their executives. “I’m seeing a sign of change,” he said. The road ahead All agree there is a long way to go. C-suite designers remain a rarity at most electronics companies while technologists reign supreme, company officials and industrial designers say. Japan last year received 31,961 applications for design registrations, only a fraction of China’s 628,658 and half of South Korea’s 67,374. In the heyday of the Japanese electronics industry in the early 1980s, Japan had nearly 60,000 applications every year. Tagawa said the root of today’s problems was the failure of Japanese firms to absorb lessons from the software revolution, which showed the importance of user-centered design principles and easy-to-use products such as Apple’s iPhone. Instead, they remained fixated on engineering. Ryuichi Oya, who retired as design chief of Sharp Corp. last month, says he saw that attitude up close when he moved to Sharp four years ago after a long stint at automaker Mazda Motor Corp. “Designers at home electronics companies have little say compared to engineers,” he said. “When engineers dismiss design proposals as too costly or difficult from an engineering point of view, designers easily succumb.” Oya said he found it particularly hard to convince management of the need for a design vision. “It’s not about whether you like this color or that shape,” he said. “There have to be design principles unique to Sharp and consistent across its product line.” Overseas competition Japanese designers cite the contrast with South Korea’s Samsung Group, where its patriarch, Lee Kun-hee, said in 1996 that design was a core management resource “imperative for a company’s survival in the 21st century.” He sharply boosted both the number and status of designers. At Sony, insiders say design began its return to the forefront after Chairman Kaz Hirai took over in 2012. Change has been slow as the company went through a painful restructuring, but the results can be seen in its approach to the revival of the Aibo robot dog. Designers worked to craft a holistic user experience, starting from the moment a customer opened the box, by tapping into a community of Aibo owners, Sony design chief Yutaka Hasegawa said. “We had intense discussions over how Aibo should be packaged, to make it look closer to a living creature. It’s important because opening the container box marks the customer’s first encounter with the dog.” They decided to lay Aibo sideways with its head tilting to the left, a more expensive option than placing it face down because the interior packaging must be asymmetrical. The result was a buzz among Aibo owners, with some posting videos on the internet showing a “ceremony for opening the Aibo container.”


Seven-Eleven tries out a store in Tokyo with unmanned payment system

Abstract: Major convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan Co. has launched an experimental outlet in Tokyo with an unmanned payment system and facial recognition technology. The facial recognition system was developed by technology giant NEC Corp. Seven-Eleven Japan plans to open such outlets in locations where customers can be identified, such as office buildings and factories, after resolving various technological challenges. The trial shop, located in a building that hosts NEC group companies, can be used only by their employees. The NEC-developed system checks customers’ faces against pre-registered facial images of employees using cameras when they enter the outlet and make payments. After shoppers scan barcodes on products in the self-checkout area, the purchase amounts are automatically deducted from their salaries. The use of digital technologies is growing in the retail industry, which faces manpower shortages. FamilyMart Co. and Aeon Co. have introduced self-service cash registers. Lawson Inc. is testing a system in which customers make payments by scanning barcodes with a smartphone. Japan, however, is lagging behind other countries in the launch of stores with unattended payment systems. U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. and other foreign firms operate stores equipped with cameras and sensors, enabling payments to be made automatically via smartphone apps when shoppers leave the stores with items they purchase.


Dollar weakens slightly in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was marginally softer below ¥113.50 in late Tokyo trading Monday amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.40-40, down from ¥113.55-55 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1318-1318, down from $1.1355-1355, and at ¥128.36-37, down from ¥128.94-95. After moving around ¥113.30 in early trading, the dollar reached levels around ¥113.50 later in the morning thanks to a solid performance by the Nikkei 225, and real demand-backed dollar purchases, traders said. In afternoon trading, the greenback fluctuated narrowly around ¥113.50 before weakening slightly in late trading. “The dollar-yen rates moved in a narrow range despite a rise in the Nikkei average,” a trust bank official said. An official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said, “A wait-and-see mood prevailed” prior to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting from Tuesday.


Tokyo stocks rebound after last week's tumble

Abstract: Stocks staged a rally Monday, buoyed by dip buying after a tumble late last week. The Nikkei 225 average gained 132.05 points, or 0.62 percent, to end at 21,506.88. On Friday, the key market gauge plunged 441.36 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 2.04 points, or 0.13 percent, higher at 1,594.20 after shedding 24.49 points Friday. The market was boosted by futures-led purchases from investors anticipating a rebound in stock prices, market sources said. The market attracted buybacks following Friday’s plunge, an official of a midsize securities firm said, adding that Japanese shares “were oversold” recently. “Domestic demand-oriented issues were hunted,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. But active “buying of stocks sensitive to economic fluctuations was held in check” reflecting concerns over an economic slowdown in China following weaker than expected Chinese economic data released Friday, Ichikawa also said. “Individual investors were inactive, and small-capitalization issues were sold,” Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said, stressing that he “can’t be optimistic” about Monday’s rally. Despite rises in the key market yardsticks, falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,420 to 648 in the first section, while 60 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.362 billion shares from 1.871 billion Friday. NH Foods was buoyant after announcing plans Friday to buy back its shares. Tokyo Gas and Tepco were also upbeat. Other major winners included supermarket and convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny and mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group. Meanwhile, Askul closed 6.46 percent lower after the online stationery retailer said Friday that its operating profit for the six months through November plunged 55.4 percent from a year earlier to ¥1.029 billion. Also on the minus side were oil company Showa Shell and children’s wear retailer Nishimatsuya.


Hamas chief praises West Bank 'resistance' after deadly attacks on Israelis

Abstract: GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - Hamas leader Ismail Haniya praised “resistance” in the occupied West Bank in a speech to tens of thousands on Sunday after recent deadly attacks against Israelis. Haniya made the comments at a rally in Gaza City for the 31st anniversary of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s founding. “We place our hopes in the West Bank, which is the main area where events are occurring and the most appropriate area to resolve the conflict with our Zionist enemy,” he told the crowd, which waived green Hamas flags. “The West Bank has shaken and stood up with glory, strength and skill, as if it wanted to say to our people on the occasion of this glorious anniversary that it was with the resistance, in total harmony.” Members of the Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, participated in the rally in camouflage and carrying rifles, while presenting a range of weapons. Hamas runs the Gaza Strip but also has a presence in the West Bank, where its rivals from Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah are based. Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, have fought three wars with Israel since 2008. The group has claimed two recent deadly shootings in the West Bank, which has seen an upsurge in violence over the past week. They included a Dec. 9 attack near a settlement that led to the death of a baby prematurely delivered after his mother was shot and wounded. A total of seven people were wounded in the attack. An Oct. 7 shooting in the West Bank that killed two Israelis was also claimed by Hamas. In another attack on Thursday, two soldiers were shot dead at a central West Bank bus station near a settlement. The two Palestinians behind the attacks claimed by Hamas were shot dead by Israeli forces during arrest raids last week, Israeli officials said. Israel’s security forces have also carried out raids in Ramallah and say they have also arrested at least 37 Hamas operatives in connection with recent violence. Earlier Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had issued a warning to Hamas after the recent attacks. He referred to a controversial Gaza ceasefire in November that ended the worst escalation between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war. “I conveyed a clear message to Hamas — we won’t accept a situation of a truce in Gaza and terror in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the biblical name for the West Bank, as is Israel’s policy. “We will exact a high price over them,” he said of the attacks. As part of efforts to restore calm in Gaza, Israel has allowed Qatar to bring fuel and tens of millions of dollars to the besieged territory for salaries.

hamas
west bank
ismail haniya
conflict
israel
benjamin netanyahu
terrorism


Burnout and stress lead more companies to try a four-day work week

Abstract: BERLIN - Work four days a week, but get paid for five? It sounds too good to be true, but companies around the world that have cut their work week have found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout. “It is much healthier and we do a better job if we’re not working crazy hours,” said Jan Schulz-Hofen, founder of Berlin-based project management software company Planio, who introduced a four-day week to the company’s 10-member staff earlier this year. In New Zealand, insurance company Perpetual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year. Even in Japan, the government is encouraging companies to allow Monday mornings off, although other initiatives in the workaholic country to persuade employees to take it easy have had little effect. Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) is pushing for the whole country to move to a four-day week by the end of the century, a drive supported by the opposition Labour party. The TUC argues that a shorter week is a way for workers to share in the wealth generated by new technologies like machine learning and robotics, just as they won the right to the weekend off during the industrial revolution. “It would reduce the stress of juggling working and family life and could improve gender equality. Companies that have already tried it say it’s better for productivity and staff wellbeing,” said TUC economic head Kate Bell. Lucie Greene, trends expert at consultancy J. Walter Thompson, said there was a growing backlash against overwork, underlined by a wave of criticism after Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.” “People are starting to take a step back from the 24-hour digital life we have now and realize the mental health issues from being constantly connected to work,” Greene said. A recent survey of 3,000 employees in eight countries including the United States, Britain and Germany found that nearly half thought they could easily finish their tasks in five hours a day if they did not have interruptions, but many are exceeding 40 hours a week anyway — with the United States leading the way, where 49 percent said they worked overtime. “There has been work creep. Because you always have the technology, you are always working, so people are getting burned out,” said Dan Schawbel, director of executive development firm Future Workplace, which conducted the survey. Schulz-Hofen, a 36-year-old software engineer, tested the four-day week on himself after realizing he needed to slow down following a decade of intense work launching Planio, whose tools allowed him to track his time in detail. “I didn’t get less work done in four days than in five because in five days, you think you have more time, you take longer, you allow yourself to have more interruptions, you have your coffee a bit longer or chat with colleagues,” Schulz-Hofen said. “I realized with four days, I have to be quick, I have to be focused if I want to have my free Friday.” Schulz-Hofen and his team discussed various options before settling on everybody working Monday to Thursday. They rejected the idea of flexible hours because it adds administrative complexity, and were against a five-day week with shorter hours as it is too easy for overwork to creep back in. Clients who call on a Friday hear a recorded message explaining why nobody is at the office. “We got an unexpected reaction from customers. Most of our clients did not complain. They were just jealous,” Schulz-Hofen said. Grey New York, an ad agency owned by WPP, launched a program in April to allow staff to work a four-day week for 85 percent of their full-time salary. Schawbel expects the idea to catch on in more companies and countries, but probably not his own: “I think America will be the last country to give us Monday mornings off because we’re so used to this way of working.”


Gay Singaporean man wins right to adopt surrogate son, in a first for the city-state

Abstract: SINGAPORE - A gay Singaporean man Monday won the right to adopt a child he fathered via a surrogate in the United States, in a landmark court ruling for the conservative city-state. While Singapore is affluent and modern in many ways, attitudes towards sexual minorities are routinely criticized as outdated. Gay marriage is not permitted and sex between men remains illegal under a law that dates from the British colonial era, although it is rarely enforced. In the latest case, the man — who is in a long-term relationship — first inquired about adoption in Singapore but was told a gay couple was unlikely to get permission. He found a surrogate in the United States who agreed to carry his child for $200,000. Surrogacy is effectively banned in Singapore. His son was born and is now five years old. The man, a 46-year-old pathologist who has not been identified, brought the boy back to Singapore and applied to formally adopt him, in the hope of securing him Singapore citizenship. A district judge rejected the initial application in December last year. But he appealed to Singapore’s High Court, which has now ruled in his favor. Delivering the verdict, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said that “the evidence has demonstrated to us that it is very much in the interests of the child that the adoption order be made.” “His prospects of acquiring Singapore citizenship could be significantly enhanced by making an adoption order, which would in turn lead to an overall increase in the stability of his life in Singapore.” But he noted that the decision was related to that particular case and should not be viewed as an endorsement of what the man and his partner had done. The man’s lawyer, Ivan Cheong, said his client was “overjoyed and happy that at the end of a long adoption process, the child’s welfare is upheld.” “At the end of the day, it is about what is in the child’s best interests.”


Indian politician Sajjan Kumar, 73, gets life sentence over role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Abstract: NEW DELHI - A veteran Indian politician was given a life sentence Monday over anti-Sikh riots in 1984 that killed nearly 3,000 people following the assassination of then-premier Indira Gandhi. The Delhi High Court found Sajjan Kumar, 73, guilty of instigating mobs during the mass killings, which were triggered by the death of Gandhi at the hands of her Sikh bodyguards. At the time Kumar was an MP with the then-ruling Congress party. He was acquitted in 2013 but the High Court reversed the judgment on appeal from federal investigators. He was found guilty over a case involving the murder of five members of a Sikh family in New Delhi after key testimonies from eye witnesses. A two-judge bench convicted Kumar for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity and acting against communal harmony, the Press Trust of India and other local media reported. “It is important to assure the victims that despite the challenges truth will prevail,” the court said, according to the NDTV news network. “The aftershock of those atrocities is still being felt.” Kumar, who has been asked to surrender by the end of this month, will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars. The 1984 carnage erupted just hours after Gandhi was shot dead at her residence in New Delhi. It lasted three days with Sikhs raped and murdered, their homes and businesses torched. Gandhi was killed over her decision to use military force to expel Sikh separatists from inside the Golden Temple — Sikhism’s holiest shrine, located in the northern Indian city of Amritsar. Critics have accused Congress of turning a blind eye to the killings and the role of leaders such as Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. Last week, Congress named Kamal Nath as the chief minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh despite allegations that he had led one of the mobs during the riots. Kumar, Tytler and others have always denied any wrongdoing. Kumar last won a parliamentary election in 2004, but was forced to withdraw from the 2009 polls over the rioting allegations. Last month, another accused, Yashpal Singh, was sentenced to death for murder and rioting. Sikhs make up some 2 percent of the 1.25 billion population of India, the majority of which is Hindu.


Malaysia files charges against Goldman over 1MDB scandal

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia filed criminal charges Monday against Goldman Sachs and two of its former employees over the alleged theft of billions of dollars, heaping fresh pressure on the Wall Street titan over the 1MDB scandal. Goldman subsidiaries and ex-bankers Tim Leissner and Ng Chong Hwa are accused of misappropriating $2.7 billion, bribing officials and giving false statements when helping to arrange bonds for state fund 1MDB. Allegations that huge sums were looted from 1MDB in an audacious fraud that involved former Malaysian leader Najib Razak and his cronies, and used to buy everything from yachts to artwork, contributed to the last government’s shock defeat at historic elections in May. Both former Goldman employees had already been charged over the scandal in the U.S. last month, with Leissner pleading guilty while Ng was arrested in Malaysia. Low Taek Jho, a Malaysian financier accused of masterminding the fraud, was also hit with new charges. The news represented a fresh blow to Goldman, whose corporate culture has come under scrutiny as a steady stream of accusations surrounding its involvement in the controversy have emerged. “Having held themselves out as the pre-eminent global adviser / arranger for bonds, the highest standards are expected of Goldman Sachs,” said Malaysian attorney general Tommy Thomas, as he announced the charges. “They have fallen far short of any standard. In consequence, they have to be held accountable.” Goldman has come under fire for its role in underwriting bonds totaling $6.5 billion on three occasions for 1MDB, for which they earned an eye-watering $600 million in fees. Thomas said Monday that the bank and its former employees were accused of making false and misleading statements to misappropriate $2.7 billion from the bond issuances, which took place in 2012 and 2013. Leissner, who worked as Southeast Asia chairman and managing director at Goldman, and Ng, a managing director at the bank, conspired with Jho and others to bribe Malaysian officials to ensure that Goldman was selected to work on the bonds, Thomas said in a statement. The money earned by Goldman for the bond issuances was “several times higher than the prevailing market rates and industry norms,” the statement said. Those accused personally benefited from receiving stolen funds and also got large bonuses and improved their career prospects, and false statements were presented to investors suggesting the proceeds of the issuances would be used for legitimate purposes, Thomas said. Prosecutors would seek fines well in excess of the $2.7 billion allegedly misappropriated from the bond issuances and the $600 million fees as well as long prison terms for the individuals accused, Thomas said. The charges brought Monday were under Malaysian security laws, for which the maximum jail term is 10 years. As well as Leissner, Ng and Low, Malaysian authorities also charged former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo Ai Swan. Malaysia’s new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who came to power in part on a pledge to investigate the 1MDB scandal, has been taking an increasingly tough line against Goldman and has accused the bank of having “cheated” the country. A steady stream of negative news concerning the scandal has come out of the U.S., focusing on the great lengths the bank went to in courting 1MDB. It emerged last month that former Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein met with Jho — commonly known as Jho Low — at a reception in 2009 hosted by Najib at a hotel in New York while the ex-premier was visiting the U.S. Since his election defeat, Najib has been arrested and hit with dozens of charges over the scandal and is likely facing a long jail term.


Number of people living in flood-prone areas in Japan has risen 4.4% over 20 years, research shows

Abstract: More people in Japan are living in areas with potential risks of flooding compared with two decades ago due to residential development on suburban fields, a study showed Monday. The figure stood at around 35.4 million in 2015, up 4.4 percent from 1995, according to research by Yasunori Hada, an associate professor of regional disaster prevention at the University of Yamanashi in Yamanashi Prefecture. The number of households in areas designated as flood-prone by central and local governments soared 24.9 percent, to about 15.3 million, in the same period, according to the study that was based on flooding hazard maps for fiscal 2011 and the national census, conducted every five years. Hada pointed to a notable increase in the number of people and households in suburban areas at risk from flooding despite the overall population decrease in Japan, because land and homes are cheaper there than in central city areas. “In many cases, land previously deemed unlivable or not useful as rice or vegetable fields has been developed,” said Hada. The hazard maps compiled by municipal governments and flood-prone areas have been released online. Flooding estimates by local governments were almost in line with the actual damage seen in the city of Joso, in Ibaraki Prefecture, following torrential rain in 2015, and the city of Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture, in a similar disaster in July. The nation’s population has been on the decline since around 2010, but the number of people in flood-prone zones rose from about 33.9 million in 1995 to 34.8 million in 2005, going on to add about 1.5 million over the 20-year period through 2015. The number of households in flood zones increased from about 12.2 million in 1995 to 13.9 million in 2005, eventually rising by about 3 million over the two decades. By prefecture, Kanagawa logged the fastest increase in flood-prone area population at 17.4 percent, followed by Tokyo at 15.3 percent and Okayama at 12.8 percent. “In addition to raising awareness among people already living in areas with potential flooding, we have to restrict use or development of land based on disaster risks,” said Hada.

floods
yasunori hada
disasters
university of yamanashi
population


Experts question Juntendo University's reasoning behind gender discrimination in medical course entrance exams

Abstract: A prominent medical university in Tokyo, which recently admitted setting a higher bar for female applicants to pass entrance exams, is now being criticized for the reasons it has given for its gender discrimination. Juntendo University, which received the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s top award this year for its contribution to female empowerment, acknowledged the unfair treatment at a news conference last week but said it had considered the practice as a measure to narrow the wide gap between the abilities of men and women. “Women are more mature and have better communication skills than men,” a Juntendo official said at the news conference, revealing that the university had set different pass scores for men and women for at least the past decade. Many of the university’s faculty members told a third-party panel of lawyers probing the matter that male students tend to catch up with female students in communication skills after joining the university, according to panel members. The panel concluded there is no rationality behind such a view. “That is far too unjust,” said Kiriko Sakata, a social psychology professor at Hiroshima University. “They are pretending that there are academic grounds (for their practice), but this is nothing more than plain discrimination against women,” Sakata said, adding that differences in communication skills are far more related to individual abilities than gender. It is inappropriate to apply gender standards when evaluating individual academic skills, Sakata said. Takato Kusakawa, a visiting professor at Teikyo University specializing in teacher training, said the university’s reasoning raises another question about the legitimacy of its reliance on brief interviews with applicants in evaluating their communication skills. “I have doubts about how (Juntendo University) was judging communication skills through short interviews,” said Kusakawa. Having met many students during his career as a teacher in junior high schools and high schools, Kusakawa said he has seen no evidence of a significant gap between men and women in their ability to communicate with others. “It merely sounds like a selfish value of a male-dominant society,” he added. A slew of entrance exam-rigging cases surfaced after Tokyo Medical University admitted in August to gender discrimination, and prompted the government to investigate other universities. The education ministry has concluded that nine institutions, including Juntendo University and Tokyo Medical University, have conducted entrance exams inappropriately. Another was suspected of doing so. The news of Juntendo’s score manipulation came as a surprise in academic circles as its reputation had been growing in recent years through the addition of highly acclaimed doctors — a significant portion of whom are women — to its faculty. The number of female professors at its medical department had increased to 11 in 2017 from two in 2011. That was one of the main reasons the Tokyo government selected the university for the female empowerment award. Rika Kayama, a psychiatrist and popular social commentator, said she finds it odd that people in medicine who agree on the importance of evidence have been engaging in discriminatory practices based on unfounded ideas. “The discrimination mechanisms at every one of the universities are all alike, and it makes you wonder if there has been a tacit agreement between the medical universities” to rig test results, Kayama said.

juntendo university
entrance exams
medical universities
women


In lawsuit, consumer group alleges discrimination by Tokyo Medical University

Abstract: A consumer advocacy group representing applicants who allege they have been subject to unfair admissions practices filed a lawsuit against Tokyo Medical University on Monday with the Tokyo District Court, the first legal action in a series of scandals embroiling Japanese medical schools. A government probe has found similar misconduct at multiple institutions. The nonprofit Consumers Organization of Japan is demanding that test fees and associated costs be paid back to affected applicants, including men who took the test multiple times and women. The group said it decided to take legal action after being frustrated by what it describes as the university’s slow response. Yukitaka Sasaki, a lawyer and the group’s vice managing director, called the practice of offering the exams without explaining the process for score adjustment “illegal.” “We believe the university has an obligation to pay damages such as the reimbursement of test fees,” Sasaki told a news conference at the Tokyo District Court on the day. The lawsuit marks the latest development in an admissions scandal that has enveloped a number of medical schools. The education ministry said Friday that its investigation found a total of nine medical schools engaged in score manipulation based on the gender of applicants and nepotism. Cases of such misconduct were acknowledged by Nihon University and Juntendo University last week. At Monday’s news conference, Akiko Shirai, one of three attorneys representing the consumer organization, said that such discriminatory practices against women cannot be condoned. “Children filled with dreams are being denied of opportunities before they even enter society. I question whether it is appropriate to simply address the issue as a matter of moral responsibility. I think it’s wrong,” Shirai said. “There is law. Something illegal is illegal. I don’t want children to think they are helpless if they are discriminated against.” The legal action also serves as an important moment in the nation’s judiciary, as it is the first case in which a certified consumer advocacy group has been able to sue on behalf of plaintiffs under a system that came into force in October 2016. The lawyers said the system skips a burdensome legal process — like having to pay expensive legal fees — for the consumers affected, since the groups can file lawsuits for them. If a ruling in their favor is secured, they would be able to collect damages through mediation.

discrimination
tokyo medical university
tokyo district court
gender


Aichi temple priest leads double life as craftsman restoring clocks and record players

Abstract: Saihoji Temple in Kota, Aichi Prefecture, is littered with handmade mechanical dolls, antique clocks and record players — presenting a unique sight for visitors. Junno Nakamura, chief priest of the temple that has a history dating back to the Muromachi Period (1392-1573), is also a craftsman who restores antique machinery, attracting fans and repair orders from across the nation. “People who really know (about record players) use cactus spines,” says Nakamura, 71, referring to turntable needles. In the temple’s main hall sits a wind-up record player released by Victrola in 1927. The 93-cm-high and 65-cm-wide player, which weighs 45 kg, can give off considerably high-volume sounds even without an electricity supply. Listening to music from the machine, one can also hear the faint buzzing sound of the needle rubbing against the record. Nakamura makes turntable needles from cactus spines, which are softer than metals, to prevent the records he owns — many produced in the Meiji Era (1868-1912) through the early Showa Era — from wearing out. He says that although the sounds become lower in volume when cactus needles are used, the quality remains the same as metal needles. However, one problem is that the tip of a cactus needle must be sharpened with a file after every use. To make things easier, eight years ago Nakamura developed a cactus needle sharpening machine that can be operated by turning a handle to rub the needle against a file. He has sold roughly 200 so far. While serving as a priest since his 20s, Nakamura worked at a sewing machine manufacturer in the city of Chiryu in Aichi. Hoping to create in his home the atmosphere of a jazz cafe he frequented after work, Nakamura began collecting antique lamps, record players and clocks. When the items in his collection broke down, he tried repairing them. “I fiddled with a clock for a while and somehow I managed to fix it,” he said. Since both clocks and record players work by winding a spring, he also began repairing record players. Soon, his skills became known among record player aficionados nationwide, resulting in a flood of repair requests. About a decade ago, he was asked to repair wadokei — a clock made in the Edo Period (1603-1868) by adapting Western clock-making techniques to tell time in the traditional Japanese way. To get some hints for repairing it, he was reading “Karakurizui,” an illustrated manual of curious machines published in the Edo Period, and he came across a design drawing of a mechanical doll. Since he had been visiting nursery and elementary schools as a volunteer, he thought children would be interested in mechanical dolls and soon began producing them. So far, he has made four such dolls, including Shinadama Ningyo, a magician doll with a box containing an item that changes every time the doll opens it, and Hannya Shingyo Kobozu, a little priest doll that chants the Buddhist Heart Sutra while striking a mokugyo wooden drum. The chanting voice of the priest doll was recorded by his grandchild. “I enjoy coming up with ideas and designs about how to make them,” Nakamura says. “It’s not enough of a challenge to make something that amateurs can produce.”

aichi
priest
clocks
record players
saihoji temple
antiques
junno nakamura


Tokyo stocks dive on Wall Street sell-off

Abstract: Stocks took another plunge after one-day rebound on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday, dampened by a steep fall in U.S. equities late last week. The 225-issue Nikkei average tumbled 459.18 points, or 2.12 percent, to end at 21,219.50, a level unseen since Oct. 29 on a closing basis, after briefly losing over 500 points. On Friday, the key market gauge rose 177.06 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 30.64 points, or 1.89 percent, at 1,589.81. It gained 9.85 points the previous trading day. Investors were wary of the U.S.-China trade friction after the Dow Jones industrial average shed 2.24 percent on Friday following White House adviser Peter Navarro’s comments that the United States would raise tariffs on Chinese imports if the two countries fail to strike an agreement during their 90-day trade truce, brokers said. China’s release on Saturday of weaker-than-expected exports and imports for November added to bearish market sentiment, brokers said. “Investors were in no mood to buy stocks” even though they were more affordable after recent sell-offs, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said, noting a series of negative news flows from overseas markets. Buying was held in check ahead of Tuesday’s vote on a draft deal on Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, by the country’s Parliament, the official also said. Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan Inc., said the market may become volatile this week, due to the Brexit vote, a slew of economic data announcements and the fixing on Friday of special quotations to settle Japanese stock index futures and options contracts. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,951 to 149 in the TSE’s first section, while 22 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.38 billion shares from 1.37 billion shares on Friday. Japan Display closed 10.61 percent lower after hitting a listing-to-date low, due to selling prompted by a media report that the company started reducing the production of liquid crystal display panels for U.S. technology giant Apple Inc.’s iPhone XR. Nissan lost 2.91 percent after a fresh automobile inspection scandal came to light on Friday. Other major losers included technology firms Sony and Murata Manufacturing, as well as clothing retailer Fast Retailing. Oil names were buoyant after a recovery in crude oil futures in New York trading on Friday. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average shed 480 points to end at 21,140.


Dollar falls below ¥112.70 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was weaker below ¥112.70 in Tokyo trading late Monday, after regaining some lost ground helped by repurchases. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥112.65, down from ¥112.78 at the same time on Friday. The euro was at $1.1425, up from $1.1372, and at ¥128.71, up from ¥128.25. In early trading, the dollar eased below ¥112.50 as dollar selling continued from late last week against the backdrop of slightly weak U.S. government jobs data, released on Friday, and persistent concerns over U.S.-China trade friction, traders said. After briefly rebounding above ¥112.50, the greenback fell below ¥112.30 later in the morning in line with a plunge in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average, traders said. The dollar climbed above ¥112.60 in late hours, as dollar buybacks gained strength, backed by a slight upturn in U.S. long-term interest rates in off-hours trading. Market players found it difficult to boost trading ahead of Tuesday’s vote on a draft deal on Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, by the country’s Parliament, traders said. “Dollar-yen rate movements currently depend on U.S. interest rates” and trading to adjust positions will likely be dominant until the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service company said.


SoftBank sticks to IPO price despite market drop and network outage

Abstract: SoftBank Group Corp. set the final price for the ¥2.65 trillion initial public offering of its Japanese telecom business at its original target, underscoring its confidence in judging demand as it deals with fallout from a major network outage and a global stocks rout. The technology conglomerate fixed the final price for the offering at ¥1,500 apiece, according to a statement on Monday. The IPO will mark the biggest-ever offering in Japan, outstripping the ¥2.3 trillion raised by the government through the sale of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. shares before its 1987 listing, according to data provider Dealogic. Including an overallotment of about 160 million shares, SoftBank is selling a total of roughly 1.76 billion shares. The shares of the new entity, SoftBank Corp., will begin trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 19 Founder Masayoshi Son and his bankers dispensed with a price range and chose to set a single preliminary figure last month, betting that they will be able to sell all of the shares in the cash-generating business. While the underwriters were able to cover their entire book by Wednesday last week, a Japan-wide network outage the following day left its 34 million mobile subscribers in the country without services for hours. At the same time, a global stock sell-off has dragged the Nikkei 225 stock average down by more than 5 percent this month. “The outage may have led some retail investors to change their mind, but not enough to affect the price,” Kyohei Jingu, an analyst at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo, said prior to announcement. The stock market rout may somewhat reduce the amount of capital available, “but it’s not likely to cause a major disruption for the offering.” The outages were caused by a problem with software supplied by Ericsson AB and impacted mobile phone users in 11 countries, including Britain and Japan, according to a statement by SoftBank. The disruption fueled outcries on social media and dominated evening news programs. SoftBank and its bankers held emergency conference calls with institutional investors and extended bookbuilding by an extra six hours in order to address any potential concerns, a person familiar with the plan said. The telecommunications arm, which will trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker 9434, is a cash-generating business spanning wireless, broadband and fixed-line services. Son is transforming his Tokyo-based company from a telecom operator into a global tech investor, but the listing comes at a time when Japan’s wireless industry has come under pressure from the government to reduce phone bills. The entry of e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. is also raising the risks of a price war next year.


As commerce and tourism suffer, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says ongoing rioting is nothing less than a 'catastrophe' for economy

Abstract: PARIS - Shops shuttered in the run-up to Christmas, chaos on the roads: France’s “yellow vest” protests are dealing a blow to the economy, which Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said is no less than a “catastrophe.” As riots flared in Paris on Saturday, Livio Forte, a tourist from New York, could only look on as police trucks lined up on the Place Vendome. The chic square’s luxury jewelry shops were boarded up, the diamonds and watches gone from their windows to protect them from looters. The trip had been intended as a romantic surprise for his wife Carmela’s 59th birthday. At least, they joked, it will be a memorable one. “Everything’s closed,” Carmela said. The couple had planned a trip to Normandy to see the beach where Carmela’s father fought in World War II, but ended up canceling it because of anti-government roadblocks. The Eiffel Tower, museums, department stores — all closed on what would normally be a bustling Saturday in the run-up to Christmas. The U.S. Embassy had issued a warning to Americans to “avoid crowds” in Paris, while Belgium, Portugal and the Czech Republic advised citizens to postpone trips altogether. For a third weekend running, shops were looted in the French capital, their windows smashed, cars torched and barricades burned in the streets. Riots also shook other French cities popular with tourists, including Bordeaux and Toulouse. “It’s a period when commerce is usually brisk, just before Christmas — but this, this is a catastrophe,” Le Maire said as he visited Parisian shopkeepers. He promised “direct” help for businesses affected, as President Emmanuel Macron prepares to address the nation this week in a bid to end the deepest crisis of his term in office. Clad in their luminous safety jackets, the yellow vests show no sign of calling off weeks of protests over rising living costs and accusations that Macron only looks out for the rich. The government has yet to release an estimate of how much damage the demonstrations have dealt to the economy. The Bank of France on Monday slashed its fourth-quarter growth forecast in half, to 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent, citing the impact of the protests. With tourists reluctant to risk being tear-gassed on a trip to Paris, the National Hotel Chains’ Group estimates reservations for the New Year down at least 10 percent. Le Maire’s ministry estimated last month that large retailers had seen a 15 percent drop in revenues and small businesses a drop of up to 40 percent. “The smaller a business is, the more fragile it is,” Francois Asselin, head of the CPME confederation of small and medium-sized businesses, wrote in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper. “We’re very worried.” Asselin predicts that overall, the yellow vest movement will cost small and midsize businesses some €10 billion ($11.4 billion). He has called on the government for help, and urged banks to offer more credit to businesses and accept delayed loan payments as the crisis rumbles on. Beyond the costs to the private sector, there’s the considerable hit to public coffers from concessions made to the protesters. This week Macron scrapped the planned rises in fuel taxes which first sparked the protests among car-reliant workers in small-town and rural France. That is set to blow a hole in the budget of around €2 billion ($2.3 billion). In addition, there’s the €500 million relief package for low-income families, which he had already offered in a failed bid to mollify the protesters. Macron had planned to reduce France’s deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP this year, just under the EU-mandated 3.0 percent limit. But further expensive concessions could jeopardize that when combined with other risks such as a potential fall in investment as a result of the protests. Le Maire insisted this week that France will meet its targets. “The president fixed a course for respecting our European commitments, reducing our expenditure, reducing our debt and reducing our taxes. This course will be respected,” he said. In the meantime, shopkeepers targeted by the rioters are counting the costs. In the northwestern 17th district of Paris, an optician despondently surveyed the contents of his ruined store. Far from the touristy center, authorities and shopkeepers alike had expected this area to avoid trouble. “They took everything. Everything,” he said.

paris
france
yellow vests
emmanuel macron
demonstrations


China gene-editing scientist's project rejected for WHO database

Abstract: HONG KONG - The global medical community is distancing itself further from the researcher whose controversial gene-editing work has been condemned by scientists and the Chinese government. A Chinese branch of the World Health Organization has withdrawn an application to register He Jiankui’s project in its clinical database. The move comes after China’s government halted He’s work, saying it would take a “zero tolerance attitude in dealing with dishonorable behavior” in research. He has faced a global backlash after claiming to have produced the world’s first gene-edited babies in a bid to make them HIV-resistant. The project drew international criticism for its lack of transparency, with health officials and other scientists concerned that it raises ethical questions that will taint other work in the field. The application to enter the database of the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry was rejected because “the original applicants cannot provide the individual participants’ data for reviewing,” according to the registry’s website. The application was uploaded to the website on Nov. 8 and updated on Nov. 30, the registry said. The site serves as a registry of Chinese trials. If the application is successful, project information is sent to the clinical trial platform of the WHO, and that data is then searchable on its global website. He’s whereabouts are still unknown. Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily cited unnamed sources earlier this month that the researcher was put on house arrest by his university, Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, but representatives of the university and He’s lab both declined to comment.


Bug business: Cockroaches corralled by the millions in China to crunch waste

Abstract: JINAN, CHINA - In the near pitch-dark, you can hear them before you see them — millions of cockroaches scuttling and fluttering across stacks of wooden boards as they devour food scraps by the ton in a novel form of urban waste disposal. The air is warm and humid — just as cockroaches like it — to ensure the colonies keep their health and voracious appetites. Expanding Chinese cities are generating more food waste than they can accommodate in landfills, and cockroaches could be a way to get rid of hills of food scraps, providing nutritious food for livestock when the bugs eventually die and, some say, cures for stomach illness and beauty treatments. On the outskirts of Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed with 50 tons of kitchen waste a day — the equivalent in weight to seven adult elephants. The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co. where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells. Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about 7 million people. A nationwide ban on using food waste as pig feed due to African swine fever outbreaks is also spurring the growth of the cockroach industry. “Cockroaches are a biotechnological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste,” said Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association. Cockroaches are also a good source of protein for pigs and other livestock. “It’s like turning trash into resources,” said Shandong Qiaobin chairwoman Li Hongyi. In a remote village in Sichuan, Li Bingcai, 47, has similar ideas. Li, formerly a mobile phone vendor, has invested a million yuan ($146,300) in cockroaches, which he sells to pig farms and fisheries as feed and to drug companies as medicinal ingredients. His farm now has 3.4 million cockroaches. “People think it’s strange that I do this kind of business,” Li said. “It has great economic value, and my goal is to lead other villagers to prosperity if they follow my lead.” His village has two farms. Li’s goal is to create 20. Elsewhere in Sichuan, a company called Gooddoctor is rearing 6 billion cockroaches. “The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer,” said Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor’s cockroach facility. Researchers are also looking into using cockroach extract in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments. At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their lifespan of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank. Asked about the chance of the cockroaches escaping, Wen said that would be worthy of a disaster movie but that he has taken precautions. “We have a moat filled with water and fish,” he said. “If the cockroaches escape, they will fall into the moat and the fish will eat them all.”

cockroaches china insects pollution animals recycling


Chinese police detain prominent Protestant 'house' church leaders and attendees in Chengdu

Abstract: BEIJING - Police have detained dozens of churchgoers and leaders of one of China’s most prominent Protestant “house” churches, congregation members and activists said, in the latest government action against unregistered religious groups. Teams of police and state security officials in the southwestern city of Chengdu came to the homes of leaders and members of the Early Rain Covenant Church late Sunday and detained them, according to church announcements sent to members and passed to Reuters by churchgoers and activists. “The time has come. O, Lord! Did you not establish this church for this very purpose?” the church said in one of its announcements. “We will wait for Thee, as one keeping vigil waits for daybreak.” More than 100 people are believed to have been detained, said a church elder, who declined to be identified. Neither the Chengdu nor national-level Public Security Ministries responded to faxed requests for comment. China’s Constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party. Chinese law requires that all places of worship register and submit to government oversight, but some churches have declined to register, for various reasons. The Early Rain Church is one of the best known unregistered “house” churches in China. Members of the church have been unable to contact pastor Wang Yi, the church’s founder, or his wife, and church groups on the instant messaging platform WeChat had also been blocked, the church said in an announcement. Reuters was unable to reach Wang for comment. Beijing-based journalist Ian Johnson, who wrote about Wang and his congregation in his 2017 book The Souls of China, said on Twitter that the crackdown was “really disturbing news.” “I’m afraid this is part of a bigger crackdown on unregistered Christian churches as the government pushes its efforts to dominate society,” he wrote. Police told Zhang Xianchi, 84, a well-known author and church member, not to visit the church, because it had been “outlawed” and that all its top leaders had been detained, according to an account from Zhang shared with Reuters by church members. A video posted online by activists in China and overseas, which Reuters was unable to independently verify, showed a group of about a dozen plainclothes policemen taking churchgoers away from a meeting. In the footage, police told a woman they were taking a man to the municipal public security bureau to be investigated, while a child cried in the background. “I’m telling you, we are enforcing the law,” a policeman said to the woman. Churches across China have more pressure to register since a new set of regulations to govern religious affairs came into effect in February and increased punishments for unofficial churches.


Japan to extend copyright period on works including novels and paintings to 70 years on Dec. 30

Abstract: The copyright period on works such as novels and paintings in Japan is set to be extended to 70 years after the authors’ deaths, from the current 50 years, effective Dec. 30 when a revised copyright law goes into force. The copyright law was revised as part of legislation to approve the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, known as TPP-11. Before the revision, the copyright on the works of Japanese painter Tsuguharu Fujita, who died in January 1968, was set to expire at the end of this year. The revision is set to extend the copyright on his works until the end of 2038. A similar last-minute extension also applies to the works of artists including composer Tadashi Manjome and Hanako Muraoka, who is known for translating the novel “Anne of Green Gables” into Japanese. A provision mandating the 70-year copyright was included in the original 12-member TPP at the strong request of the United States. Implementation of the provision was put on hold under the TPP-11 after the U.S. withdrawal from the original pact. But the Japanese government opted to extend the copyright period by 20 years at the same time as the TPP-11 goes into effect. A government official said that 70-year copyright is already a global norm.


Japan sees rise in use of riverside areas to attract tourists following deregulation

Abstract: The use of riverside areas to attract tourists is on the rise nationwide, following deregulation in recent years allowing the private sector to use the public land to open restaurants or hold events. “I used to think of public authorities as an enemy,” said Tadashi Iwamoto, 42, head of riverside consulting company Mizubesoken. Speaking at a national conference on canals held in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in mid-November, Iwamoto said local governments used to decline all of his proposals to revitalize riverside areas because the law restricted them to use by public entities. In response to growing calls for deregulation, the rule was revised in fiscal 2016 to allow private companies to use river zones for a maximum of 10 years. Following the revision, cafes and barbecue areas were set up on the banks of about 60 rivers nationwide, including six rivers in the Chubu region such as Hori River in Nagoya and Yahagi River, which flows through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu and Aichi. The use of canals is regulated by the Port and Harbor Law, but the local governments which oversee them are taking deregulatory measures to encourage private sector use. Nagoya Port Authority, which manages Nakagawa Canal in the city, revised its ordinance so that the canal’s banks can be leased for projects other than port-related purposes. Aichi Dobby Ltd., a Nagoya-based manufacturer of Vermicular cast-iron pots, plans to open a restaurant and other facilities on the canal bank by next fall. The Nagoya Municipal Government is considering utilizing Nakagawa Canal and Hori River — which served as the city’s distribution hub before being replaced by land transport — as a means to connect sightseeing spots in the city. Last year, the local government began offering a cruise service on Nakagawa Canal connecting an area south of Nagoya Station with Nagoya Port. Trial boat cruises have also been conducted on Hori River with the aim of launching a service in 2022. The progress followed years of preparation including sludge removal, bank protection work and construction of piers. An international conference inviting participants from canal cities in around a dozen countries is planned near Nakagawa Canal next year. “We hope to learn from countries around the world so that we can use waterways to increase our cities’ attractiveness,” said Toru Fujisawa, 44, one of the organizers. Similar moves to boost riverside tourism have been seen nationwide, including a marine sports facility set to open next to the new Yokohama Municipal Government office being built on the banks of Ooka River. In Tokyo, the Shibuya Ward office restored Shibuya River — which had been limited to a narrow concrete chute — and installed an adjacent plaza and walkway.


With debate on constitutional reform sidelined, has immigration law been a pyrrhic victory for Abe?

Abstract: It was in the early hours of Saturday morning that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc rammed through the Diet a contentious immigration bill, at last defeating hours of fierce protest by opposition lawmakers who had shouted at — and even wrestled with — a committee chairman trying to finalize the vote. But Abe’s success in enacting the landmark bill, which will bring a legion of foreign workers into a nation traditionally averse to immigration but in desperate need of laborers, may turn out to have been a pyrrhic victory. As this year’s extraordinary Diet session wrapped up Monday, Abe found himself not an inch closer to fulfilling his longtime ambition of amending the nation’s postwar Constitution. The heavy-handed way the ruling bloc tried to pass the revised immigration law has taken a toll, antagonizing opposition lawmakers so much that they have refused to sit down and reboot constitutional debate with pro-revision forces. “My desire to see a new Constitution take effect in 2020 remains unchanged,” Abe told a news conference Monday evening, repeating his previously proclaimed time line for amending the national charter. But when asked about the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s failure to fulfill Abe’s earlier demand that its own amendment proposals be submitted to the Diet this session, Abe stopped short of elaborating on what his amendment strategy might look like going forward. “The future schedule depends on the Diet,” he said. Abe instead said he expects “each political party to disclose details on what it thinks about revising the Constitution or what amendment proposal it has to deepen public debate on the matter.” He also expressed hopes that “a broad consensus across the wide political spectrum” will be formed over the topic. This extraordinary Diet session has been dominated by wrangling over the bill to overhaul the immigration law. On Monday, Abe said the new visa system under the revised law is an “urgent” priority at a time when many small firms across the country, especially in such industries as construction, agriculture and nursing care, grapple with an acute manpower crunch. “This is a necessary framework to make sure talented foreign workers will play a bigger role in Japan amid a nationwide labor shortage,” Abe said. “I want them to support Japan’s economy.” But the bill has often also led to escalated tensions with opposition lawmakers, who have slammed it as void of key details and claimed that too little time was spent deliberating it. The haste with which the ruling bloc pushed to enact the new law has done little to ease their path to the negotiating table on a possible constitutional amendment. As a result, the Commission on the Constitution — a Diet panel tasked with discussing the issue — wasn’t convened even once for any formal debate this session. “Things have been boisterous over this immigration bill, which I think has created a situation where we were hard-pressed to be nice (to the ruling bloc) on the Constitution front when we were so opposed” to the bill, said Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, at a news conference last month. From the get-go, Abe’s enthusiasm for speeding up discussions on constitutional change was evident in the way he tapped his conservative allies — former education minister Hakubun Shimomura and former internal affairs minister Yoshitaka Shindo — for key posts in the Commission on the Constitution. But Shimomura failed to stay on script, blurting out last month that opposition lawmakers were “abandoning their jobs,” in what was taken as a hostile dig at their refusal to comply with an early convening of the Constitution panel. Shimomura’s gaffe provided the opposition, which was already angry over the immigration bill, with fresh ammunition to protest, further stalling momentum for constitutional debate. In fact not only the opposition but also the LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, seemed cautious about the LDP’s push for an early start of Diet discussions on constitutional revision. Appearing on a program on Fuji TV, Kazuo Kitagawa, head of the party’s constitutional panel, said last month that so little time has been spent deliberating constitutional revision in the Diet that it is “inconceivable” to call a referendum — a prerequisite for any change to the charter — even during next year’s regular legislative session, which typically runs through the first half of the year. Kitagawa’s comment bodes ill for Abe, who needs Komeito’s support to even initiate a referendum. Without Komeito on board, LDP-led pro-revision forces — which also include fringe opposition support — would fall significantly short of controlling a two-thirds supermajority in the Upper House. The law stipulates approval by a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Diet as a condition for calling a referendum. While the fall Diet session came to a lackluster end in terms of amending the Constitution, it did pass some important bills. The Diet enacted a controversial law allowing private companies to run water supply services, a move the government says will facilitate efforts to update aging water facilities. Critics, however, caution that water bills may increase as a result of effective privatization. It also approved a bill to designate a one-off national holiday period to celebrate next year’s Imperial succession, creating a 10-day block of vacation for many from late April. With the fall Diet session over, the government is for now looking to approve a draft of the initial general account budget toward year-end, with a view to submitting it to the regular Diet session that will begin in January. Ruling parties are also set to agree on a tax reform package for fiscal 2019 by the end of this year.

constitution
immigration
shinzo abe
diet
ldp


Dollar slightly weaker around ¥112.40 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was marginally softer around ¥112.40 in Tokyo trading late Wednesday in tandem with a slide in Japanese shares. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥112.40-40, down from ¥112.52-52 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1397-1397, up from $1.1357-1357, and at ¥128.11-11, up from ¥127.80-80. A fall in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average and a drop in long-term U.S. interest rates in off-hours trading made currency market players risk averse, pushing down the dollar against the yen. The Nikkei closed below 21,000 for the first time since March 26. The yen made a rally against the dollar, but the rebound was limited due to news reports that U.S. President Donald Trump would allow a partial shutdown of government, an official at a foreign exchange brokerage house said. In late trading, market players waited to see the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting, due later on Wednesday. Players “are hard to tilt their positions either way” as an interest rate increase by the Fed is only 70 percent factored into the market, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.


Nikkei ends below 21,000 for first time in nine months

Abstract: The benchmark Nikkei average closed below 21,000 for the first time in nearly nine months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday amid concerns over a slowdown in the global economy. The 225-issue Nikkei average shed 127.53 points, or 0.60 percent, to 20,987.92, its first finish below 21,000 since March 26. On Tuesday, the index tumbled 391.43 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues was down 6.36 points, or 0.41 percent, at 1,556.15, its lowest finish since May 18, 2017. It dropped 31.69 points on Tuesday. Investor sentiment was also battered by major mobile phone carrier SoftBank’s weak debut on the TSE’s first section, market sources said. A fall in European equities and only a slight rebound in U.S. stocks on Tuesday reinforced worries about a possible slump in the global economy, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said. “Mainstay issues met with position-adjustment selling by foreign investors ahead of the Christmas holidays,” the official said. The official said that SoftBank’s sluggish performance reflected “the recent poor market sentiment.” SoftBank’s stock fetched an initial price of ¥1,463, 2.5 percent lower than its initial public offering price, and closed at ¥1,282. In the broader market, active buying of dips was held in check as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting due later on Wednesday. “Funds are hard to enter” the market before the Fed meeting is over, said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,171 to 883 in the TSE’s first section, while 75 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.739 billion shares from 1.625 billion shares Tuesday. Oil companies Inpex Corp., JXTG Holdings Inc., Idemitsu Kosan Co. and Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. fell on lower crude oil prices. Other major losers included clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. and semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron. By contrast, factory automation-related issues, such as Yaskawa Electric Corp., Fanuc Corp. and Keyence Corp., were buoyant on hopes for possible economic stimulus measures in China, brokers said. Also on the plus side were cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the March contract on the Nikkei average sagged 150 points to end at 20,920.


U.S. seeks to expedite aid for North Korea amid stalled nuclear talks

Abstract: SEOUL - U.S. officials will try to expedite humanitarian aid to North Korea, a U.S. envoy said on Wednesday, as Washington and Pyongyang struggle to find a breakthrough in stalled talks aimed at ending the North’s nuclear program. Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, made the announcement as he arrived in Seoul for four days of talks with South Korean officials. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to work toward denuclearization at his landmark summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June but the two sides have since made little progress. With Washington doubling down on sanctions enforcement, humanitarian aid for North Korea has nearly ground to a halt this year, despite warnings of a potential food crisis and improving relations with Pyongyang, aid groups say. International sanctions imposed over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs technically do not cover humanitarian activities, and over the summer the United Nations adopted a U.S. proposal designed to streamline approval for aid shipments. But strict interpretations of U.N. sanctions curtailing banking and shipping transactions with Pyongyang, as well as a travel ban for U.S. citizens, have effectively shut down the North Korea operations of most relief groups, according to a dozen officials at U.N. agencies and civilian organizations. “I’ll be sitting down with American aid groups early in the new year to discuss how we can better ensure the delivery of appropriate assistance, particularly through the course of the coming winter,” Biegun told reporters in Seoul, noting that the United States would work with the United Nations in reviewing how it grants sanctions exemptions for aid. He acknowledged that the travel ban — which requires American aid workers to obtain special permission from the U.S. State Department before traveling to North Korea — “may have impacted the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” Early next year, U.S. officials will review how they grant that permission for the “purposes of facilitating the delivery of aid,” Biegun said. Part of the catalyst for the review was the expulsion of an American citizen who had illegally entered North Korea in October, he said. North Korea handled the man’s case “expeditiously and with great discretion,” giving American officials “greater confidence about the safety and security of Americans traveling” to North Korea, Biegun said. Biegun’s visit to Seoul comes as negotiations between the United States and North Korea appear stalled, with the two sides yet to reschedule talks between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol after abruptly cancelling a meeting in November. Trump has said a second summit with Kim is likely to take place in January or February, though he wrote on Twitter last week that he is “in no hurry.” North Korea has for years pursued nuclear and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions but the bellicose rhetoric from both Pyongyang and Trump that raised fears of war has eased this year. The stalled negotiations have also had an impact on inter-Korean ties, with the North aloof towards the South’s plan to host Kim Jong Un in Seoul this month as agreed at his summit with President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang in September. Kim’s trip was unlikely to take place this year, Moon’s press secretary said last week. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, who is due to meet Biegun on Friday, said the nuclear talks would face a critical moment between February and March. “I think it is fair to say that the denuclearization process is not yet on track in earnest,” Cho was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as telling reporters. “Next year, we can see whether they will have a chance to get closer to the objectives.” North Korean state media has credited Trump for his “willingness” to continue dialogue but has also slammed Washington for stepping up sanctions, accusing the State Department of being “bent on bringing the DPRK-U.S. relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire.” The report referred to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The State Department said communication between both sides was “ongoing” but sanctions relief would come after they achieved the goal of a “final, fully verified denuclearization.” “The sooner North Korea denuclearizes, the sooner sanctions can be lifted,” deputy spokesman Robert Palladino told a news briefing on Tuesday in Washington. Biegun was scheduled to hold talks on Thursday with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, ahead of their session on Friday of a working group launched last month to boost coordination on North Korean policy. Biegun is expected to discuss inter-Korean issues with Cho amid U.S. concerns that Seoul may be moving too quickly with Pyongyang relative to the lackluster progress on denuclearization. The two Koreas plan to hold a ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday for their project to reconnect rail and road links, which would need U.S. sanctions exemptions.

north korea
kim jong un
donald trump
nuclear weapons
moon jae-in
u.s .
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis
kim-trump summit


As tumultuous year comes to a close, Xi's defiant remarks indicate the U.S.-China trade war is far from over

Abstract: BEIJING - Anyone betting that Chinese President Xi Jinping would back down quickly in a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump better think again. Xi told a Beijing crowd including some of China’s most influential political, military and business figures on Tuesday that the country’s growing wealth and power had validated the Communist Party’s — and thus his own — leadership. “No one is in the position to dictate to the Chinese people what should and should not be done,” Xi said. Xi’s speech — an 80-minute recitation of party achievements — outlined no new economic policies that might assuage investor concerns about market access or the slowing economy. Instead, he reaffirmed China’s pursuit of “indigenous innovation” in “core technologies.” The event was intended to mark the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening up,” a campaign that unleashed an industrial boom that helped China outlast the Soviet Union and become the world’s second-largest economy. But coming at the end of Xi’s most tumultuous year since taking power in 2012, it also served to assert his own rule at home and push back against critics abroad, such as the U.S. president. Over the past 12 months, Xi pushed through a repeal of Deng-era term limits — the sole legal check on his tenure — only to find himself locked in an unprecedented trade war with Trump. He decided to play down plans to dominate high-tech industries and revise his signature “Belt and Road” trade-and-infrastructure initiative amid whispers about whether Xi had prematurely abandoned Deng’s advice for China to hide its strength and bide its time. “2018 has been a very difficult year for Xi Jinping,” said Trey McArver, co-founder of Beijing-based research firm Trivium China. “The question going forward is how the system responds to all these troubles bubbling up. Will the system adjust? Or will these problems open up cracks in the system and undermine Xi’s authority and his grand project?” Rather than retreat, Xi vowed to press on. He offered long passages about the party’s supremacy and the need to promote Marxist ideology. Hard power “What and how to reform must be based on the overarching goal of improving and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and modernizing the country’s governance system and governance capacity,” Xi said. “We will resolutely reform what should or can be changed, but will never reform what cannot be changed.” A ceremony honoring contributors to China’s reform era on Tuesday emphasized hard power as much as economic gains, celebrating people who supported Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea and the development of an aircraft carrier fleet. Meanwhile, the democratically run island of Taiwan reported that Chinese warplanes entered nearby airspace, while several foreign media outlets reported allegations of forced labor at internment camps housing ethnic minorities in China’s far western region of Xinjiang. The events cast a different light on recent Chinese efforts to patch up frayed ties with rivals such as India and Japan, or tone down initiatives that have drawn U.S. criticism, like Made in China 2025 and the Belt and Road initiative. Viewed through the lens of Xi’s rhetoric to his own party, they seem more like tactical shifts to minimize conflict than course corrections. ‘Crisis delayed’ Indeed, Xi has so far managed to consolidate more power than any Chinese leader in a generation and keep the country’s economic slowdown from getting out of control. His gestures on trade were enough to secure a 90-day tariff cease-fire from Trump during their summit in Argentina earlier this month. The U.S. and China are planning to hold meetings next month to negotiate a broader truce, although they’re unlikely to have any face-to-face contact before then, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. “Despite significant economic headwinds, including the eruption of a trade war with the U.S., Xi and his economic team managed to steer clear of a significant slowdown or collapse of investor confidence,” said Jude Blanchette, who analyses Chinese politics at Crumpton Group, an international advisory firm in Arlington, Virginia. “But for Xi and China’s economy, a crisis averted is but a crisis delayed.” The boom unleashed by Deng’s reforms helped give rise to many of the problems China faces today, including severe pollution, a mountain of debt and a massive middle class with increasing demands for health care and other services. Failure to control China’s economic slowdown could undermine a key pillar of the party’s rule. One Chinese official said that concerns about the economy had deflated public interest in celebrating the anniversary. Many people are worried the private sector is in retreat as the government steers policy support toward state-owned enterprises, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing their personal views. China’s rise has also provoked new challenges from the U.S. and other major economies, which increasingly see the country as a competitor, rather than a cheap source of labor and goods. Its military might has spurred an arms build-up among its neighbors. “China has stepped into the center of global competition for wealth, power and other interests,” said Zhu Feng, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Nanjing University. “Now the biggest problem for China’s foreign policy is being too high-profile. China needs to bear in mind that the point when it becomes a major power is also when other countries start being tough.”

china
trade
xi jinping
donald trump
belt and road
u.s .