'Don't test our patience,' North Korea tells U.S. as one-year anniversary of Singapore summit looms

Abstract: In the latest in a spate of increasingly threatening warnings by North Korea, the country’s Foreign Ministry has urged the U.S. to “change its current method of calculation” in nuclear negotiations or risk turning last year’s Singapore joint declaration into a “mere blank sheet of paper.” The statement by an unnamed ministry official carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) late Tuesday said the fate of the declaration that emerged from last June’s historic Singapore summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “will not be promising” if the United States “fails to carry out its obligation” and continues its “hostile policy” toward the country. “It is regrettable to see that the United States has become ever more undisguised during the past year in its scheme to annihilate us by force while deliberately turning its face away from the implementation of the DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement and only insisting on our unilateral surrender of nuclear weapons,” the statement said, using the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The North said its stance “remains unchanged” and that it will “cherish and implement in good faith the June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement personally signed by the supreme leaders of the DPRK and the U.S.” But, it said, whether the statement “will remain effective or turn out to be a mere blank sheet of paper will now be determined by how the U.S. would respond to our fair and reasonable stand.” “There is a limit to our patience,” it ominously concluded. The warning was the fifth published by KCNA since April 20 to take a similar tack on stalled nuclear talks with the U.S. Those negotiations have been deadlocked since the second Kim-Trump summit, in Hanoi in February, collapsed without a deal due to major differences over the scope of North Korea’s denuclearization and potential sanctions relief by the U.S. On May 24, the North warned that the nuclear talks “will never be resumed” unless Washington halts what Pyongyang said were “hostile acts” and demands of “unilateral disarmament,” warning of a “fiercer” response if those demands continued. The North has sought to heap pressure on the U.S. with tests of what the Pentagon said were short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and May 9. Those tests ended a more than 500-day pause in such launches that began in late 2017. Despite such test-firings being in violation of U.N. sanctions, Pyongyang has referred to them as “regular” military drills, and said that halting them would be “tantamount to a demand that the DPRK should give up its self-defensive right.” Trump, who has repeatedly touted the halt of the missile tests as one of his top foreign policy achievements, has played down the significance of those launches, calling them “very standard.” In an interview Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed aside the North Korean demands that the Trump administration soften its nuclear negotiating posture. “I hope we get another opportunity to sit down with them and have a serious conversation,” Pompeo told The Washington Times. Speaking at the end of a weeklong visit to Europe, Pompeo claimed that Kim had agreed to give up his nuclear arsenal at the Singapore summit. “They need to do what Chairman Kim said that they would do,” Pompeo said. “That’s been our posture since the beginning. We’re happy to talk about the best way to achieve that. We’re happy to talk about what the right tools and mechanisms are so we can facilitate that.” That claim has been disputed by experts, who say the vaguely worded pledge that emerged from the Singapore talks, in which the North said it would “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” was not a unilateral commitment to relinquish its nuclear weapons. Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. State Department official who worked on North Korean issues, said the North is using its Foreign Ministry to craft a narrative that Washington, not Pyongyang, is the recalcitrant partner in the nuclear negotiations. “They are sending a message at a sufficiently high level to mean something but not so high that the regime can’t walk away from it,” Oba said. “It is a way of putting pressure on the United States and publicly defining a narrative where North Korea is acting in good faith and the United States is the obstacle to progress. “The North Koreans have long been proactive and effective at using public statements to heighten their leverage,” he added. “That Washington is not is a huge detriment to our negotiating strategy.”

north korea
donald trump
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
kim-trump summit
u.s .
north korea nuclear crisis


Australian police raid public broadcaster ABC amid crackdown on leaks

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australian police raided the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp., the country’s public broadcaster, Wednesday in the second high-profile probe into news outlets in 24 hours, amid a crackdown on sensitive leaks. ABC executives said police searched the corporation’s offices in Sydney, targeting three journalists involved in a 2-year-old investigative report. In 2017, ABC obtained government documents that showed Australian special forces had killed innocent men and children in Afghanistan. The Australian Federal Police said the search was “in relation to allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914.” ABC Executive Editor John Lyons said the search warrant demands access to reporters’ handwritten notes, emails, story drafts, footage and passwords, among other things. “It is highly unusual for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way,” said Managing Director David Anderson as the organization tried to win legal redress. ABC Editorial Director Craig McMurtrie called the raids an uncomfortable development with implications for press freedom, according to the broadcaster’s website. A day earlier, police raided a journalist’s home in Canberra over a report that detailed the authorities’ bid to gain powers to spy on Australian citizens’ communications at home. Both stories involved sensitive and potentially classified materials and were embarrassing to the Australian authorities and the security services in particular. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tried to distance himself from the raids, which come just days after his re-election, insisting they were police, not government, matters. “Australia believes strongly in the freedom of the press and we have clear rules and protections for the freedom of the press,” he said during a visit to London. “There are also clear rules protecting Australia’s national security and everybody should operate in accordance with all of those laws passed by our parliament.” The shadow home affairs minister, the Labor Party’s Kristina Keneally, demanded an explanation about why the raids occurred: “Protecting our national security is complex work, but it always must have the right checks and balances.” Although the press in Australia can report largely free of political interference, strict defamation laws, court gag orders and state security statutes affect what can be said in print and broadcast. Australia’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union branded the raids a “disturbing attempt to intimidate legitimate news journalism that is in the public interest.” “Police raiding journalists is becoming normalized and it has to stop. … It seems that when the truth embarrasses the government, the result is the federal police will come knocking at your door.”

australia afghanistan media censorship military


Pakistan military agrees to rare budget cut amid economic woes

Abstract: ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s powerful military has agreed in a rare move to cut its hefty budget for a year to help ease the South Asian country’s “critical financial situation,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said. Pakistan has struck an agreement in principle with the International Monetary Fund for a $6 billion loan but Islamabad is expected to put in place measures to rein in a ballooning fiscal and current account deficits to get access to the funds. The IMF has said the primary budget deficit should be trimmed by the equivalent of $5 billion, but previous civilian rulers have rarely dared to trim defense spending for fear of stoking tension with the military. Unlike some other civilian leaders in Pakistan’s fragile democracy, Khan appears to have good relations with the generals who have ruled the nuclear-armed nation for nearly half its history since independence in 1947. Pakistan’s de facto finance chief, Hafeez Shaikh, on June 11 is due to announce spending plans for the financial year beginning in July. Under Pakistan’s devolved system, the federal government must hand over more than half its budget to the provinces, and the remainder is mostly eaten up by debt servicing and the military’s vast budget. Khan late on Tuesday tweeted that he appreciated the military’s “unprecedented voluntary initiative of stringent cuts in their defense expenditures” for next financial year because of the country’s “critical financial situation.” This will allow money to be spent on the development of the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, still recovering from more than a decade-long Islamist insurgency, and violence-racked Baluchistan province, Khan added. The previous government hiked military spending by 20 percent to 1.1 billion, but the military appears to have overshot that figure amid a flare up in tensions with arch-foe India. Khan did not say by how much defense spending would be trimmed. A military spokesman said the “voluntary cut” in the defense budget for a year would not be at the expense of security. “We shall (maintain) effective response potential to all threats,” he added on Twitter. Pakistan has one of the world’s largest armies but critics say the military’s spending is unnecessary and holds the country back in key areas such as health and education. More than 40 percent of the population is illiterate.


Nancy Pelosi promises U.S. will never forget Tiananmen

Abstract: WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Tuesday that the United States would preserve the memory of the crushed Tiananmen Square movement, as China imposed a wall of silence on the 30th anniversary. Pelosi, a longtime advocate for human rights in China, said she was making the promise to the families of the hundreds or more who were killed when tanks and troops forcibly put down the pro-democracy movement on June 4, 1989. “Today, and on all days, we assure these mothers that we remember, and that the heroism of their children will continue to be written in the official history of the United States Congress,” Pelosi told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which monitors human rights in the country. “We must remember, because China still tries to deny history,” Pelosi said, in a rare appearance by a House speaker before a congressional hearing. Pelosi voiced concern that China is “going in the opposite direction” on human rights. “It’s important for the world to know, 30 years later, that we haven’t forgotten what happened then and that we know what is happening now and it will have an impact in our relationship with China,” she said. Pelosi’s remarks come a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that China provide a full account of the Tiananmen crackdown and release political prisoners, saying that the United States had lost hope for improvements in China’s human rights record over the past 30 years. His statement prompted an unusually angry reprimand from China, which denounced his “lunatic ravings and babbling nonsense.” China went to great lengths to avoid commemorations of the anniversary, with authorities detaining activists and ramping up surveillance of the square itself, with livestreaming services suddenly down for “technical” reasons. Pelosi, whose district includes San Francisco’s Chinatown, infuriated Beijing on a visit as a rank-and-file lawmaker in 1991 when she unfurled a pro-democracy banner in Tiananmen Square to honor the victims.

nancy pelosi
tiananmen square
china
congress
mike pompeo
u.s .


North Korea to pause 'mass games' after Kim scolds organizers over shortcomings

Abstract: SEOUL - Days after this year’s “mass games” debuted before North Korea’s top leadership, the huge pageant has been put on hold after leader Kim Jong Un expressed his dissatisfaction, foreign tour groups said on Wednesday. Kim and his wife were among the elite at the premiere of the games on Monday in Pyongyang, but North Korea’s leader was unhappy with the event’s organizers, state media said. The performances are being paused to allow organizers to fix the unspecified shortcomings, according to two Western companies that take foreign tourists to North Korea. “The mass games may be temporarily halted from June 10th due to Kim Jong Un dissatisfaction with the opening performance,” Young Pioneer Tours said on Twitter. Koryo Tours tweeted that “there will be a pause for some days/weeks while the show is adjusted before being launched again — we wait to see what will change and when it will restart.” It is unclear exactly what Kim objected to, said Simon Cockerell, general manager at Koryo Tours. “No ideas what part he didn’t like about it,” he told Reuters. “We have had people there for both nights it has run so far and they very much enjoyed it.” He said his company does not pay for mass games tickets in advance, so he expected minimum disruption to future tours. State news agency KCNA said Kim had “extended warm greetings” and thanks to the performers, many whom are children. He later called the creators and “seriously criticized them for their wrong spirit of creation and irresponsible work attitude, pointing to the contents and forms of works,” KCNA said. “Noting that the creators and artistes in the literature and art sector have a very important duty in socialist cultural construction, he set forth important tasks for correctly implementing the revolutionary policy of our Party on literature and art,” KCNA said. After reviving the huge performances last year to sell an image of international engagement and peace while raising much-needed foreign currency, North Korea told tour companies in March that it would be hosting the event again this year. Last September’s mass games were the first in five years and part of a carefully choreographed weekend of events designed to highlight Kim’s diplomatic campaign and plans for economic development. Those themes were present in this year’s show, but there were some changes, including for the first time huge images of Kim Jong Un alongside the usual portraits of his father and grandfather, according to attendees. The mass games are a major draw for tourists, most of them from China, but the inclusion of thousands of child performers has been criticized by rights groups as tantamount to forced child labor, and testimonies collected by defector groups describe harsh training regimes.


Measles quickly spreading in Japan, data shows

Abstract: The number of measles patients in Japan has been growing quickly since the beginning of this year, according to the latest data compiled by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The reported patient count came to 566 for the period between Jan. 1 and May 26, more than double the preliminary figure of 282 for the whole of 2018, the institute said Tuesday. Among the 47 prefectures, a total of 142 infected patients were reported in Osaka, followed by 96 in Tokyo, 54 in Mie, 50 in Kanagawa and 37 in Aichi. In just seven days from May 20, at least 20 new patients were reported across the country, including five in Kanagawa, four each in Saitama, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures and three in Miyagi Prefecture. As the disease is highly infectious, the institute is calling for thorough measures to prevent hospital-acquired infections.

national institute of infectious diseases


Rubber protective tape falls from helicopter onto school grounds in Okinawa, say U.S. Marines

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - The U.S. Marines in Okinawa said Wednesday that a piece of rubber protective tape attached to a wing blade of a U.S. military helicopter fell onto the grounds of a junior high school in Okinawa the previous day. It was the latest incident involving a part falling from a military aircraft in the southern island prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan. No one was injured in the latest occurrence. The tape, which landed on a tennis court at Uranishi Junior High School Tuesday afternoon, was initially described by school officials as a black rubber sheet around 12 centimeters long, about 18 cm wide and weighing 20 grams. The U.S. Marine Corps said that the rubber tape is used to protect the tip of a CH-53E large transport helicopter wing blade, adding it will inspect its helicopters and replace blade tape where necessary. The Okinawa Prefectural Government criticized the U.S. military for what it called “insufficient maintenance.” “One wrong step could lead to a serious incident. It stirs concern among people in the prefecture and is extremely deplorable,” Deputy Okinawa Gov. Kiichiro Jahana told reporters Wednesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference in Tokyo that the government will “strongly” demand that the U.S. military take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. The school is around 2 kilometers south of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located in a crowded residential area in Ginowan. More than 20 students were at the tennis court when the incident occurred at around 3:35 p.m. Tuesday. Many Okinawa residents are frustrated with noise, crimes and accidents linked to the presence of the U.S. military. In December 2017, a window from a CH-53E helicopter fell onto the playground of an elementary school adjacent to the Futenma base. A different CH-53 part was also found on the roof of a nursery school near Futenma the same month, but the U.S. military has denied that it fell off during flight.

okinawa
military
futenma
ginowan
u.s. bases
u.s. marines


Japan's government plans for My Number ID cards to be used for health insurance by 2023

Abstract: The government decided Tuesday to take more steps to enable people to use national identification cards in place of health insurance certificates at almost all hospitals by March 2023. The government plans to release a road map, possibly in August, containing a set of new programs for the use of My Number ID cards. The cards, introduced in 2016, have not proven as popular as was hoped. As of May 30, only around 17 million My Number ID cards — enough for around 13.3 percent of the population — had been issued. The use of the ID as a health insurance card will begin in earnest from March 2021. In a bid to increase the spread of the national identification system, which incorporates various personal data such as that related to tax and social security, the government plans to roll out a point-earning function in conjunction with the planned consumption tax hike this October. To avoid potential bottlenecks with distribution of the cards in fiscal 2022, each municipality will operate its own plan for issuing them. Applications for the cards will also be accepted at an increased number of locations, including public job placement offices, driver’s license centers and post offices, according to officials. The government also outlined plans to launch a portal website that will allow users to log in and review details such as their prescription history.


Parties step up pressure on lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama to quit over Russia war remarks

Abstract: Ruling and opposition parties submitted a resolution to the Diet on Wednesday, pressing a lawmaker to decide quickly whether to resign over remarks he made about waging war with Russia to regain control of disputed islands. The resolution against opposition lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama came after the government verified that the remarks were made and that his behavior was problematic when he participated in a visa-free exchange program between Japan and Russia in May. On a visit to one of four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, the 35-year-old lawmaker — who had been drinking heavily — asked the leader of a group of former Japanese residents, “Do you think there is any alternative to war (to recover the islands)?” The resolution is expected to be adopted by the Lower House on Thursday, with ruling and opposition parties seeking unanimous approval. However, the motion is not legally binding so it will remain up to Maruyama to decide whether to quit the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized Maruyama on Wednesday, saying, “It was extremely regrettable as (his remarks) deeply hurt the feelings of former island residents.” At a plenary session of the House of Councilors, Abe said the remarks “totally differ from the government’s policy that aims to seek a resolution through diplomatic negotiations.” But Abe dodged a question about whether Maruyama should resign, saying, “I will refrain from responding to that.” The government has confirmed Maruyama went to the home of a Russian family on Kunashiri Island, off Hokkaido, on May 11, and drank more than 10 glasses of cognac. After returning to his lodging, he also made remarks such as “Are those places with neon signs bars? … Are there women?” and “I want to go out to grope breasts.” When he was stopped by others who tried to prevent him from leaving his lodgings, he said, “I will not be arrested because I am immune from arrest.” The resolution states that his remarks, which run counter to Japan’s war-renouncing Constitution, were abusive and that his behavior hampered the smooth implementation of the exchange program as well as significantly damaging the national interest. “We have no choice but to conclude that (Maruyama) is not qualified to be a member of the Diet,” it said. Maruyama, elected three times from a constituency in Osaka Prefecture, has repeatedly said he will not resign. He has been expelled from Nippon Ishin no Kai. After opposition parties submitted a joint motion last month urging him to quit, Maruyama told reporters that the Diet, as a place for free speech, was “signing its own death warrant” with the motion. It is the first time that a resolution pressing a lawmaker to voluntarily resign has been submitted to the Diet, according to the secretariats for both its houses. The ruling and opposition parties will withdraw documents they had previously submitted separately to the Diet. Last month, the ruling parties submitted a resolution urging Maruyama to seriously reflect on his remarks. A resolution submitted by six opposition parties demanded his resignation. Maruyama’s comments caused uproar as the countries are in talks about how to resolve the long-standing territorial dispute over the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils. The dispute has prevented them from signing a peace treaty to officially end World War II. Japan maintains that the former Soviet Union seized the islands illegally following Tokyo’s 1945 surrender in the war, while Russia says it had a legitimate right to them in the wake of the conflict. Abe, who has made the return of the islands one of his top priorities, is seeking a breakthrough in talks with President Vladimir Putin.

hodaka maruyama
nippon ishin no kai
northern territories
southern kurils


Lawmaker Antonio Inoki plans to visit North Korea for six days from June 21

Abstract: Upper House lawmaker Antonio Inoki plans to make a six-day trip to North Korea from June 21 to meet officials there, sources familiar with the plan said Tuesday. The envisioned trip by the wrestler-turned-lawmaker, who has developed close ties with North Korea through sports exchanges, comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making efforts to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Abe has said since May that he is willing to meet Kim without preconditions, having shifted from his stance that any summit should yield progress on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. Still, prospects are slim for a first-ever summit between the two leaders, with North Korean state-run media on Sunday calling the offer “brazen” and criticizing Japan for reaching out while maintaining its economic sanctions on the country . According to the sources, Inoki, an independent lawmaker, is expected to leave Japan on June 21 and travel to North Korea via China. He previously visited North Korea in September last year. As lawmakers need permission from the Diet to make overseas trips while it is in session, Inoki submitted his plan to the parliamentary group in the House of Councilors of which he is a member. The current regular session ends on June 26. Inoki was punished for making an unauthorized trip to North Korea in November 2013. He was barred from attending the Diet for 30 days. The 76-year-old has repeatedly expressed his willingness to play a part in improving bilateral relations if requested by the Japanese government. Japan has no diplomatic relations with North Korea.

antonio inoki
shinzo abe
kim jong un
diet
nuclear weapons
north korea-japan relations


Japan and Italy affirm cooperation for Osaka G20 summit

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Wednesday confirmed their countries’ intentions to cooperate at the Group of 20 summit to be held in the city of Osaka on June 28 and 29. At their meeting in Tokyo, Abe told the visiting minister that Japan and Italy share universal values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Abe also said he looks forward to welcoming Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for the G20 summit. While praising Japan’s role in promoting free trade, the Italian minister stressed that his country has also been active as a champion of free trade in the European Union.


A-bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow issues call for action in speech at alma mater in Canada

Abstract: TORONTO - Atomic bombing survivor and peace advocate Setsuko Thurlow called for action for the good of society in a graduation speech at her alma mater in Canada on Tuesday. Thurlow, 87, who survived the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, told graduates at the University of Toronto that she has acted to warn people of the danger of nuclear weapons out of her moral obligations as a hibakusha. Thurlow, who previously delivered a speech at the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, called on the audience to “get involved, take action, make things happen” and “persist and persevere” as part of her advice to them. “Rather than pity myself as a victim of the atomic bomb I have tried to understand the meaning of my experience and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening to anyone else,” she said. “To this end I have educated myself, worked with like-minded people, spoken out, and advocated for change. And in this ultimate David and Goliath scenario I have persevered through the difficult times,” she added. For her advocacy work with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, Thurlow was one of the representatives who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the campaign in 2017. Thurlow often spoke out at the United Nations about her experiences as an atomic bomb survivor, urging governments to ratify the U.N. treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. It marked the first time since 2009 that an entity or person had received the prize for work related to nuclear abolition, following then-U.S. President Barack Obama receiving the award for outlining his vision of a nuclear-free world. “The year 2017 brought a historic victory in a long struggle for nuclear weapon abolition,” Thurlow said, referring to the adoption that year of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations. “This ground-breaking treaty would outlaw nuclear weapons as a first step toward their total elimination.”

setsuko thurlow
atomic bombings
hiroshima
university of toronto
nuclear weapons
wwii
history


Shogi legend Yoshiharu Habu collects record 1,434th victory

Abstract: Professional shogi player Yoshiharu Habu earned his 1,434th win at a tournament in Tokyo on Tuesday, setting a record for victories in the traditional Japanese board game. The 48-year-old achieved the feat by beating Takuya Nagase, the 26-year-old Eio title holder, after last month matching the previous record set by the late Yasuharu Oyama in 1992. “This has been one of my major objectives of the year. I’m happy I was able to achieve this goal today,” Habu said after the win. A ninth-dan player, Habu set the record in his 2,027th match. He has a winning percentage of 70.8 percent, the highest rate among the top 10 professional shogi players in terms of career wins, according to the Japan Shogi Association. Oyama had previously set the record in his 2,216th match with a winning percentage of 64.7 percent. The match started at 10 a.m. Tuesday and finished around 7:45 p.m. with Nagase admitting defeat. A native of Saitama Prefecture, Habu became a professional shogi player when he was 15 and won his first title, the prestigious Ryuo, at age 19. In 1996, he became the first-ever player to dominate all seven major titles, and also became the first-ever lifetime holder of the seven titles in 2017. He received the People’s Honor Award last year, becoming the first recipient of the prize from the shogi-playing world.


Elderly driver, 81, and wife die after their speeding car slams into vehicle at intersection in Fukuoka

Abstract: FUKUOKA - An elderly driver and his wife died after their speeding car entered an intersection and hit a vehicle attempting to turn in the city of Fukuoka on Tuesday night, spurring an accident that involved at least four other vehicles, police said. A total of nine people were taken to hospitals, including Yoshimasa Kojima, 81, of Fukuoka, and his wife, Setsuko, 76, both of whom later died. Seven others, including one pedestrian, sustained injuries that were not life threatening in the accident, in which two of the cars involved careened onto a sidewalk, authorities said. At the intersection, which is located near Fujisaki Station on the Fukuoka City Subway network, parts of damaged vehicles were seen scattered about the road, with one vehicle flipped upside down in front of a cram school and the hood of another car heavily damaged. Police said Kojima’s car collided with a vehicle some 600 meters before the intersection. It traveled in the opposite lane before entering the intersection and no skid marks made by his car were found on the road surface, according to investigators. “I heard a loud bang, like something exploded,” said a 20-year-old woman who works at a restaurant near the scene. The accident occurred in an area where a number of restaurants and offices are located, in the city’s Sawara Ward. Acquaintances reported that Kojima had just recently commented on how he would likely need to hand in his driver’s license due to the number of accidents seen lately involving elderly drivers. One of them was Nobuyuki Kuroiwa, 77, who had known Kojima for more than a decade. He said he recently had a chat with him about quitting driving once and for all. “This came right out of the blue. It really hurts because he was a precious friend,” Kuroiwa said. A woman in her 40s who lived near the couple said Kojima served as the head of the neighborhood council and displayed much enthusiasm for community activities. “I can’t believe this happened to them,” she said in shock. Yukio Maeda, 64, another acquaintance, said Kojima “always cared about his health” because he wanted to continue golfing, his lifetime hobby, as long as he could. Tuesday’s accident came just days after the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission said it would revoke the driver’s license of an 87-year-old man whose car hit and killed a 31-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo in April. One in 4 people aged 80 or older still drive, according to a government survey released Tuesday on the transport habits of those aged 60 or above.


Labor minister opposes banning dress codes in Japan that force women to wear high heels

Abstract: The labor minister has indicated he will not support a drive to ban dress codes that force women to wear high heels at work. Employees’ health and safety need to be protected, but work is varied, said Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takumi Nemoto, who oversees the country’s workplace reforms. “It’s generally accepted by society that (wearing high heels) is necessary and reasonable in workplaces,” Nemoto said during a Diet committee session on Wednesday. His comments came after a group working against gender-based workplace discrimination submitted a petition with 18,800 signatures to the labor ministry on Monday calling for the government to ban companies from requiring women to wear high heels in the workplace, citing health and other issues. The group, led by actress and writer Yumi Ishikawa, is part of the #KuToo movement — an amalgamation of #MeToo and the Japanese words for shoes, kutsu , and pain, kutsū . Actress and writer Yumi Ishikawa has submitted a petition to the labor ministry calling for a ban on dress codes that force women to wear high heels at work. | KYODO Nemoto was responding to Kanako Otsuji, a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, who said forcing women to wear high heels at work is “outdated.” While Otsuji stressed that a dress code applied only to women amounts to harassment, Nemoto said it’s only “abuse of power if a worker with a hurt foot is forced (to wear high heels).” However, Emiko Takagai, a senior vice minister for Nemoto, said during the same session she does not believe women should be forced to wear high heels. Ishikawa said the #KuToo movement is a way to raise awareness about sexism. “It’s the view that appearances are more important for women at work than for men.” Like when wearing makeup on their face, a girl’s legs look better in heels, she said sarcastically, her feet in blue sneakers. Japan placed 110th in the latest World Economic Forum ranking on gender equality, which benchmarks 149 nations on their treatment of women based on measures such as educational attainment and health hazards. Women elsewhere, including in the U.S., Canada and Europe, have also protested dress and makeup requirements and having to wear heels. The red carpet at Cannes, infamous for its strict dress code, has seen celebrities walking barefoot in defiance of it. Ishikawa said she hoped to win fashion designers over to the idea of making more comfortable footwear that’s acceptable as formal wear. “Shoes are so everyday,” she said. “People can more directly see the issues of people’s dignity and rights, and so shoes may lead to a better world.”

women
yumi ishikawa
# kutoo
# metoo
shoes
jobs


LDP group mulls mandatory measures and law revisions to promote paternity leave

Abstract: Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers formed a group Wednesday to promote, including through the revision of laws, the creation of work environments where men can more easily take parenting leave. The lawmakers will aim to make paternity leave mandatory in Japan and will compile an interim report on related measures by the end of this month, said former education minister Hirokazu Matsuno, who chairs the group. The group plans to hold discussions with a view to revising the child care and family care leave law. “Taking paternity leave is the best way to get trained as ikumen ,” or men actively engaged in child-rearing, said Upper House member Rui Matsukawa of the LDP, who proposed the group’s creation. “Many men cannot take paternity leave even though they want to and we hope to change the situation,” she added. According to a survey detailed in a report released by the labor ministry Tuesday, the proportion of men employed at companies in Japan who took paternity leave in fiscal 2018 stood at 6.16 percent — up 1.02 percentage points from the previous year, but far short of the Japanese government target of 13 percent by 2020. “The increase is still not enough,” said Yoshiaki Wada, an LDP lawmaker in the House of Representatives, the lower of the two chambers. The group will discuss measures such as creating a system in which companies offer child care leave proactively, including to employees who do not apply for it. Also on the agenda will be measures to support small companies facing labor shortages and penalties for so-called paternity harassment, or the harassment of men who take parenting leave, including workplace discrimination.

ldp
paternity leave
ikumen
child-rearing


Record 1-ton haul of stimulants seized on beach in central Japan

Abstract: Police have arrested seven Chinese men on suspicion of possessing around a ton of stimulants seized at a beach in central Japan, investigative sources said Wednesday. The record seizure for a single bust in Japan occurred in Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, earlier this week. The quantity of stimulants, with an estimated street value of around ¥60 billion ($560 million), was slightly less than the 1,138.6 kilograms of stimulants confiscated across the nation throughout last year, according to the National Police Agency. The country’s second-largest single stimulant drug seizure was 597 kg, which was found on a boat anchored at a port in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in 2016. The seven Chinese men in their 20s to 40s were arrested Monday and Tuesday as some of them were unloading the drugs from a boat. All of the men have denied the allegation, the sources said. The police suspect the involvement of a large international smuggling ring and believe the stimulants may have been transferred to the boat from another vessel while at sea, the sources said. Local residents had reported sightings of a suspicious boat over several years, prompting the police to mount a stakeout on the beach, the sources said.

stimulants
police
shizuoka prefecture
drugs


School affected by Kawasaki knife rampage reopens

Abstract: YOKOHAMA - An elementary school whose students were attacked in a deadly knife rampage last week in Kawasaki reopened Wednesday, with teachers and security guards keeping a lookout for pupils as they traveled to and from the school. Following the May 28 attack on children waiting for a school bus to Caritas Elementary School, the bus stop has been moved to a new location. Chartered public buses are now being used instead of vehicles carrying the name of the institution. Some parents, meanwhile, drove their children to the private Catholic school in the wake of the incident, in which a man fatally stabbed two people and injured 18 others before taking his own life. At the bus stop, which was heavily guarded by school officials, security officers and police, some students appeared delighted to be reunited with their friends. Some parents waved their children goodbye as a bus left for the school, while others got on the vehicle with the children in order to see them off at the school gates. The school operator said it has allowed students to wear normal clothes instead of uniforms, and has permitted parents to drop off and pick up their children following the attack. “We were worried about how the children would feel, but they didn’t seem to be too distressed, which is a relief,” said Hiroaki Takamatsu, the head of the school’s secretariat. On Tuesday, Takamatsu said that following a meeting held for parents the school “will make maximum efforts to provide mental care and secure safety” for students. At the meeting, school officials reportedly explained to parents that the school will charter the public buses to collect students at a different location so that they will not recall the incident. The school also said that a mental health counselor will be stationed at the institution everyday. The attack site continued to draw crowds more than a week later. A female junior high school student on her way to school presented a hymn and a letter as she prayed at the scene. “I find it difficult to send my own words, so decided to leave this hymn instead,” she wrote in the letter. Mourner Kenji Mimura, 44, said, “It was a shame that their lives were taken before they could fulfill their ambitions.” Hanako Kuribayashi, an 11-year-old Caritas Elementary School student, and Satoshi Oyama, a 39-year-old Foreign Ministry official and the father of another girl who attends the school, were killed in the incident. The attacker, 51-year-old Ryuichi Iwasaki, died of a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck shortly after the rampage. Police believe the attack was premeditated as Iwasaki had purchased knives months in advance. A man believed to be Iwasaki was also seen visiting the area four days before the attack. His motive remains unknown.

kawasaki
caritas elementary school
stabbing
ryuichi iwasaki


Actor-musician Pierre Taki of techno-pop duo Denki Groove pleads guilty to using cocaine

Abstract: Musician and actor Pierre Taki pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of using cocaine in violation of the narcotics control law. Taki, 52, whose real name is Masanori Taki, attended the opening session of his trial at Tokyo District Court. The prosecution sought an 18-month prison sentence. The trial was concluded within the day, and the verdict is due to be announced on June 18. Taki is accused of using a small amount of cocaine at his home in Tokyo on or around March 12. He told investigators that he began using cocaine while he was in his 20s and continued using it to relieve stress from his busy work life, according to investigative sources. His defense team requested a suspended sentence. “I was not strong-minded enough (to resist the urge to use the drug). I apologize for causing trouble to many people,” Taki, dressed in a black suit, said in the courtroom packed with reporters and other people. “I will keep my hands off drugs.” His detention in March sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, which has seen several drug-related arrests recently. Taki is also known as the Japanese voice of snowman Olaf in the hit Disney anime movie “Frozen” and has appeared in numerous films and dramas, including public broadcaster NHK’s major drama series “Idaten.” NHK has replaced him with a different actor. His techno-pop duo, Denki Groove, which was formed in 1989, was also popular and put on concert tours both inside and outside Japan. According to officials, 1,266 people lined up for the 21 available tickets for the court gallery seats from which observers could watch the session.

pierre taki
denki groove
drugs
music
scandals


Japanese offices add more greenery in bid to reduce stress and recruit staff

Abstract: An increasing number of offices in Japan are adding greenery, finding it a good way to reduce stress among employees and enhance their corporate image for potential recruits. Adding green refers not only to placing indoor plants but also involves various original and creative designs that seem to have an impact on employee wellbeing, companies say. Nextbeat Co., an information technology startup founded in 2013, has a vine tree covering a 2.5-meter-diameter ring hanging from the ceiling of the entrance at its head office in Tokyo. “You can see greenery everywhere,” said a woman visiting the office, referring to the green spaces on each floor. The sun appears to shine brighter due to the plants, she said. In the lounge where employees relax, a tree dubbed “everfresh,” which survived a typhoon in a forest in Okinawa, stands as a symbol of company vitality. “Greenery helps employees feel refreshed and improves concentration,” said Akane Hosokawa, a 34-year-old public relations official for the company. When a customer visits the office, “the greenery is often the first topic of conversation,” she added. Among the 60 new workers who joined Nextbeat in April, some attributed their choice to the green office environment. Companies are paying greater attention to working environments as they have been legally required to screen for stress-related illnesses since December 2015. They are finding that the promotion of employees’ health by adding plants to the workplace reduces stress and increases their productivity. Following the global financial crisis caused by the bankruptcy of U.S. financial services company Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008, many companies removed indoor plants from their offices to cut costs, according to Daiichi Engei Co., which creates green environments in offices and commercial facilities. Recently, however, the introduction of greenery is increasing as part of work-system reforms. An experiment led by Kahori Genjo, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Engineering of Nagasaki University, found that the presence of indoor greenery relaxes people and eases their drowsiness or discomfort because it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system — sometimes called the rest and digest system — in the autonomic nervous system. Daiichi Engei not only offers interior designs to create a green office, but it also suggests environments combining aromas and calming sounds — birds chirping on Yakushima, an island in Kagoshima Prefecture known for its wildlife and cedar forests, and the Shirakami Sanchi mountain range in northeast Japan, along with the sound of murmuring creeks. Prime Assistance Inc., a Tokyo-based provider of roadside assistance services, maintains a green reception area and customer call center and farms out the management of plants to experts who water and trim them or replace them twice a month. Although the service costs around ¥200,000 per month (about $1,800), the green environments “contribute to business activities by facilitating discussions among employees,” a company official said. Genjo, the associate professor, encourages companies to even use cheaper artificial plants that can have similar employee benefits. “Although it is costly to maintain and care for natural plants, using artificial foliage plants still generates definite favorable effects,” she said.


U.S. fast-food chains embrace shift to 'alternative meat'

Abstract: NEW YORK - Burger King has become the latest fast-food chain in the United States to add an alternative meat option to its menu, joining an industry-wide push to appeal to growing numbers of health- and environment-conscious consumers. In early April, 59 of the fast-food giant’s restaurants in the St. Louis area started offering the Impossible Whopper, a vegetarian version of its signature burger priced about a dollar higher than the original. Following the successful test run, Burger King announced it would introduce the meatless option nationwide by the end of the year. “Restaurants are really trying to tap into some of the growing consumer movement around shifting some of their diet or (adopting a) plant-based diet,” said Aaron Adalja, assistant professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University. Amid soaring U.S. demand for meat substitutes — a market that grew 23 percent in 2018 to exceed $760 million (¥83.1 billion) in sales — companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have been leading the charge to develop plant-based products that look and taste like meat. The offerings of these two California companies target a growing population of “flexitarians,” people who, for health and environmental reasons, have turned to plant-based foods as a replacement for some or most of their regular meat intake. Founded in 2009, Beyond Meat uses a protein blend derived from mung beans, peas and brown rice in its Beyond Burger, with small amounts of beet and pomegranate for meat-like coloration. Mitsui & Co., an investor in the company since 2016, said it intends to sell plant-based meat alternatives in Japan, though it has not announced details of its plans yet. Impossible Foods was established in 2011 and debuted its Impossible Burger at the trendy New York restaurant Momofuku Nishi in 2016. The company uses soy and potato proteins in its burger, as well as an iron-containing molecule called heme that provides both a red color and a distinctive meaty flavor. Both companies have achieved prominence in a crowded market. Beyond Meat products are available in more than 30,000 outlets, including health-conscious grocer Whole Foods and the fast-food chain Carl’s Jr., while Impossible Foods items are used in some 5,000 restaurants in the United States and Asia and will come to supermarkets later this year. In April, Red Robin became the largest restaurant chain to roll out the Impossible Burger. White Castle also debuted the Impossible Slider that month, offering the plant-based version nationwide for $1.99 as compared to its $1 original slider. “More customers were telling us they were craving vegetarian options,” White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson said. “Impossible Foods is a great partner, and we are excited to be working with them.” The organic-focused chain Bareburger serves both the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger in all of its more than 30 U.S. locations, allowing customers to replace a meat patty with a plant-based one for a price increase of around $3. Although there are currently six Carl’s Jr. restaurants and two Bareburger locations in Japan, neither company plans to offer alternative meat options in the country in the immediate future. The former said it has not been able to secure a sufficient amount of plant-based meat product for its locations in Japan, while the latter raised the issue of cost as a barrier. There has also been pushback from critics amid the race to scale up mock-meat production. “Many of the novel products in the market are highly processed, and they contain components such as soy that has bad press,” said Ricardo San Martin, head of the Alternative Meats Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. “They are also high in salt or contain saturated fats, and the price is still high,” he said of the products, many of which use coconut or sunflower oils to mimic the fat content of beef. The use of new genetic engineering processes prior to data on long-term safety has drawn scrutiny as well, particularly in the case of Impossible Foods. Its signature ingredient — soy leghemoglobin, a protein that contains heme for a meat-like color and taste — is produced through the fermentation of genetically engineered yeast. In 2017, critics such as the ETC Group raised concerns over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s inconclusive findings on the safety of consuming the protein. After Impossible Foods conducted further studies, the FDA finally gave its stamp of approval last year. “I think getting over that hump of the perception that these meat alternatives are heavily processed is going to be a barrier to wider adoption,” Cornell’s Adalja said. “(But) I think the fact that a couple of major fast-food chains have started experimenting with it is certainly promising.”


China strikes defiant tone on trade in new white paper, blaming U.S. for 'unacceptable' demands

Abstract: BEIJING - China issued a report Sunday blaming the United States for a trade dispute and said it won’t back down on “major issues of principle.” The statement from the Cabinet spokesman’s office said that China has kept its word throughout 11 rounds of talks and will honor its commitments if a trade agreement is reached. “A country’s sovereignty and dignity must be respected, and any agreement reached by the two sides must be based on equality and mutual benefit,” it said. The U.S. has accused China of stealing trade secrets and forcing technology transfers. The Trump administration has imposed 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports and is planning to tax another $300 billion in imports that have so far been spared. It also escalated the stakes last month by putting the Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. on a blacklist that effectively bars U.S. companies from supplying it with computer chips, software and other components without government approval. Beijing responded by imposing tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. products, which went into effect Saturday. It also retaliated against the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei by announcing Friday that it will establish its own list of “unreliable entities” consisting of foreign businesses, corporations and individuals. Being published in eight languages, Sunday’s report lays out China’s argument for blaming Washington for the frictions as well as the costs to both sides. “Whatever the future might bring, China is confident of meeting challenges head on, turning risks into opportunities and opening new chapters,” it said. “China remains committed to its own cause no matter how the external environment changes.” “We still have sufficient room for fiscal and monetary policy maneuver” to maintain health of the Chinese economy amid frictions, it said. The escalating trade war has not “made America great again” and has instead damaged the American economy, the white paper said. “The (U.S.) tariff measures have not boosted American economic growth. Instead, they have done serious harm to the U.S. economy,” the paper said, pointing to what it described as increased production costs and consumer prices in the United States and threats to economic growth. Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said the United States overestimates the trade deficit between the two countries and China should not be blamed for job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Wang told a news conference the U.S. goods and services deficit with China is close to $150 billion — not the $410 billion quoted by U.S. officials. China’s processing trade with the United States should not be included in trade deficit calculations, he added. He also said China does not instruct domestic companies to acquire certain projects and technology. Wang said the commerce ministry is investigating reports of delays in customs checks, adding that the country will make efforts to cut the length of customs checks and reduce costs for importers. Wang said that it is “unacceptable” if some countries use rare earths from China to create products that limit China’s development, and he said China is willing to meet other countries’ requirements for rare earth consumption. At the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major regional security conference in Singapore, Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said China is not seeking to surpass the U.S. as the globe’s dominant power but is prepared to “fight to the end” if needed. “China has no intention, no power, to be the boss of this world, and against the United States to fight for this status,” Wei said Sunday. “Confrontation, including between China and the United States, is inconsistent with the interests of the two countries’ peoples and is not in the interest of the people of the world.” Wei added that China still wants to resolve escalating tensions through dialogue, but it won’t be bullied. “If the U.S. wants to talk, we will keep the door open,” Wei said. “If they want to fight, we will fight to the end.” A day earlier, Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told the gathering that the U.S. and China will eventually resolve their differences, downplaying the significance of escalating trade tensions even as he ripped Beijing’s leaders for behavior that “sows distrust” in Asia. Wang, who is also deputy international trade representative, said China had been forced to “take forceful measures in response” to U.S. actions and denied China had backtracked on its earlier commitments. “It is irresponsible of the U.S. to accuse and smear China,” Wang said. In negotiations “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” Wang said. He said the U.S. had made unacceptable demands, including on tariffs and compulsory requirements that infringed on Chinese sovereignty. He said of the U.S. tactics, “You give them an inch, they take a yard.”


U.S. Justice Department preparing antitrust probe of Google

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department is readying an investigation of Google’s business practices and whether they violate antitrust law — the Trump administration’s first major step to scrutinize the potentially anti-competitive conduct of a giant technology firm. The search giant was fined a record $2.72 billion by European regulators in 2017 for abusing its dominance of the online search market. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission made an antitrust investigation of Google but closed it in 2013 without taking action. Now the Justice Department has undertaken an antitrust probe of the company’s search and other businesses. Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., has faced mounting scrutiny as regulators around the world have focused on tech companies’ business practices over the past year. In addition to the 2017 record fine, European regulators also slapped a $1.7 billion penalty on the company in March for barring websites from selling ads from rivals alongside some Google-served ads near search results. Google says it has now ended that practice. The company made changes voluntarily when the FTC shut down its investigation, including letting advertisers use information from their Google ad campaigns to create campaigns with rivals. But an FTC staff report that was released years later showed that the agency staff had urged the presidentially appointed commissioners to bring a lawsuit against Google. That never happened. The Justice Department inquiry would be run by Makan Delrahim, the head of the antitrust division. In a speech delivered earlier this year at a technology conference, Delrahim cheered the success of large technology platforms. Without mentioning Google, he said the companies have grown because of “innovative and disruptive services.” “In my view, it’s no accident, and a point of pride, that a majority of these leading platforms are American companies,” he said at the time. American antitrust officials are under increasing pressure from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and advocates of tougher enforcement to step up scrutiny of technology giants. The federal government’s hands-off approach may be changing amid continuing criticism that lax enforcement in the U.S. has allowed tech platforms to dominate their markets. The FTC earlier this year set up a task force to examine the conduct of tech companies and their past mergers. President Donald Trump and many Republicans have complained that Facebook, Google and Twitter suppress conservative views. Last year, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with state officials about technology companies. His replacement, William Barr, said at his Senate confirmation hearing that he wanted to learn more about how “huge behemoths” in Silicon Valley “have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers.” Google commands the lead in revenue for digital advertising by a wide margin, controlling 31.1 percent of global digital ad dollars, according to eMarketer’s estimates this year. Facebook is a distant second with 20.2 percent. Politicians and outside antitrust analysts have expressed concern in recent years that Google controls too much of the digital ad process. It makes the technology, hosts the largest search site where ads appear and collects data from all ad campaigns that it runs. Its middleman role has long been a source of complaint for publishers, including News Corp., which publishes the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. Oracle Corp., which competes with Google in the digital advertising market, has also called on American enforcers to examine Google’s conduct. “Google is very clearly dominant in that market,’ Ken Glueck, an executive vice president at Oracle, said in an interview in April. “There is conduct that is exclusionary in the market and there are harms in that market.” Another longtime foe is Yelp Inc., which says Google unfairly promotes its own products, such as business listings, over other companies’ services. Google, known universally for its search engine, also has fingers in a number of other pies, like online advertising, email messaging and video. That gives U.S. antitrust enforcers lots to look at. Governments around the world are becoming increasingly unnerved by the power amassed by major technology companies — with the dominance of Google in search, Facebook in social networking and Amazon in e-commerce raising the sharpest concerns. In the most dramatic scenario, a case might be made for breaking the companies into smaller pieces. Here are some possible areas U.S. antitrust cops might poke into: Ads Google commands the lead in digital ad revenue by a wide margin. But the latest penalty from European regulators isn’t likely to have much effect on the firm’s business. The amount is just a fraction of the $31 billion in profit that its parent conglomerate made last year. Search results Google’s search engine handles 2 out of every 3 queries in the United States. European regulators have found that Google manipulated its search engine to gain an unfair advantage over other online shopping sites in the lucrative e-commerce market, fining the company nearly $2.8 billion. Google disputes those findings and is still appealing that 2017 decision. The FTC staff report released after the agency’s investigation showed that the staff legal recommendations rejected by the commissioners involved allegations of Google tinkering with its search results in a way that stifled competition. Lawmakers from both parties appear determined to examine whether Google rigs its search results to also promote its own political agenda. Android Another huge antitrust fine from the European overseers, $5 billion, came against Google in July 2018 for a finding that it abused the dominance of its Android operating system by forcing handset and tablet makers to install Google apps, reducing consumer choice. The company appealed the ruling and also made changes to avoid additional fines. It started this spring giving European Union smartphone users a choice of browsers and search apps on Android. Following an Android update, users will be shown two new screens giving them the new options. Android users who open the Google Play store after the update will be given the option to install as many as five search apps and five browsers. Apps are included based on their popularity and are shown in random order.

google
internet
computers
business ethics


Cocokara Fine and Sugi agree to enter merger talks to create Japan's largest drugstore

Abstract: Drugstore chain Cocokara Fine Inc. said Saturday that it has agreed with rival Sugi Holdings Co. to enter talks to merge their operations. The merger, if it happens, will create the largest drugstore chain in Japan with annual sales of some ¥900 billion. The two companies hope to boost their competitiveness through economy of scale. They aim to conclude a basic merger agreement around July 31. Cocokara Fine said it will continue its separate tie-up negotiations with another rival, Matsumotokiyoshi Holdings Co. Cocokara Fine received a merger proposal from Sugi after it announced the start of its tie-up negotiations with Matsumotokiyoshi in April, according to Cocokara Fine. A Matsumotokiyoshi official said the company will continue its tie-up talks with Cocokara Fine.


Mexico City to decriminalize sex work and aim to cut trafficking

Abstract: MEXICO CITY - Mexico City lawmakers have given the green light to decriminalize sex work in the capital, hoping it will be a first step to a crackdown on sex trafficking that traps thousands of Mexican women and children. Lawmakers in Mexico City’s Congress on Friday voted 38-0, with eight abstentions, in favor of a bill to remove a line in the Civic Culture Law that said prostitutes and their clients can be fined or arrested if neighbors complained. Temistocles Villanueva, a local representative with the ruling center-left Morena party, said the new law recognizes that people have the right to engage in sex work. “It’s a first step that has to lead to regulation of sex work, to fight human trafficking and strengthen the rights of sex workers,” he said. “Exercising sexuality in our country is still a taboo topic that few of us dare to talk about.” Sex work is allowed in much of Mexico, but states have different and sometimes unclear rules, meaning workers frequently operate in legal vacuums that can leave them vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking by crime gangs. Mexico is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, with women and children the most at risk from sex trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department. Mexico is listed as a Tier 2 nation in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, meaning it does not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but it is making significant efforts to do so. The report said observers had made links between women’s disappearances and murders and trafficking by organized criminal groups. Elvira Madrid, founder of the sex work rights group Brigada Callejera, said the change to the law is welcome but there now needs to be a legal framework that protects workers. Debate over the legal status of sex work in Mexico and elsewhere is controversial, particularly among some anti-slavery groups who argue that decriminalization provides a cover for human traffickers. But sex worker and other human rights groups in Mexico say criminalization only sends the problem deeper underground, and exposes an already vulnerable group to abuses by police and organized crime. Friday’s bill came after an earlier version was criticized by sex worker and human rights groups. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum’s office sent it back to Congress with suggested modifications that were taken up. Eduardo Santillan, also a Morena Mexico City Congressman, said that now that sex work is decriminalized, anti-trafficking public policy should be strengthened. “We think that the big challenge of this Congress will be making both of these fundamental principles compatible,” he said.

mexico
mexico city
sex
women
prostitution
human trafficking


New breast cancer drug found to boost survival rates by 30%

Abstract: CHICAGO - A new form of drug drastically improves survival rates of younger women with the most common type of breast cancer, researchers said Saturday, citing the results of an international clinical trial. The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, showed that the addition of cell-cycle inhibitor ribociclib increased survival rates to 70 percent after 3½ years. The mortality rate was 29 percent less than when patients, all under 59 and pre-menopausal, were randomly assigned a placebo. Lead author Sara Hurvitz said the study focused on a form of breast cancer that is fueled by the hormone estrogen and accounts for two-thirds of all cases among younger women. It is generally treated by therapies that block the hormone’s production. “You actually can get synergy … by adding one of these cell-cycle inhibitors” on top of the hormone-blocking therapy, said Hurvitz. The drug works by inhibiting the activity of cancer-cell promoting enzymes. The treatment is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy because it more selectively targets cancerous cells, blocking their ability to multiply. An estimated 268,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2019. The advanced form of the disease is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women ages 20 to 59. Though advanced breast cancer is less common among younger women, its incidence grew 2 percent per year in the U.S. between 1978 and 2008 for women ages 20 to 39, according to a previous study. The new trial, which looked at more than 670 cases, included only women who had advanced cancer — stage four — for which they had not received prior hormone-blocking therapy. “These are patients who tend to be diagnosed later, at a later stage in their disease, because we don’t have great screening modalities for young women,” said Hurvitz. In addition, patients who develop breast cancer early tend to have more complex cases. “That’s what makes us so excited, because it’s a therapy that’s affecting so many patients with advanced disease,” added Hurvitz. A pill is administered daily for 21 days followed by seven days off to allow the body time to recover, since two-thirds of patients have a moderate to severe drop in white cell count. Jamie Bennett, a spokeswoman for Novartis, which markets the drug under the brand name Kisqali and funded the research, said it cost $12,553 for a 28-day dose. But, she added, “the majority of patients in the U.S. with commercial insurance will pay $0 per month for their Kisqali prescription.” There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer and the majority of the women on the drug will require some form of therapy for the rest of their lives. Oncologist Harold Burstein, who was not involved in the research, said it was “an important study,” having established that the use of cyclin inhibitors “translates into a significant survival benefit for women.” Burstein is with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “Hopefully, these data will enable access for this product for more women around the world, particularly in health care systems which assess value rigorously as part of their decisions for national access to drugs,” Burstein added. Moving forward, Hurvitz said she was interested in investigating whether ribociclib could help nip cancer in the bud at an earlier stage. “We want to go and look at those women diagnosed with early stage disease, small tumors, tumors that haven’t gone to the lymph nodes or haven’t gone to other parts of the body and see if we can stop it from returning later from metastasizing,” she said. A new global clinical trial is now under way.


Immunotherapy boosts survival outlook for lung cancer patients

Abstract: CHICAGO - An immunotherapy treatment helped significantly boost survival rates among patients suffering from advanced lung cancer, according to the results of a clinical trial cited by researchers on Saturday. Almost 25 percent of patients who received the drug pembrolizumab and had not previously received chemotherapy were alive after five years, said the study which was presented at annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The figure dropped to just over 15 percent for patients who had previously received chemotherapy. “The uniformly negative outlook that has been associated with a diagnosis of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is certainly no longer appropriate,” said lead author Edward Garon, an associate professor at UCLA. The five-year survival rate was 5.5 percent in the pre-immunotherapy era. Unlike chemotherapy, immunotherapy works by leveraging the body’s own immune system to fight disease. In this case, the drug acts by turning off a brake in the immune system, a protein called PD-1, which then allows cancer-fighting T-cells to attack faster and more effectively. “I describe it as sort of changing the thermostat, in terms of how willing the immune system is to tolerate something versus reject it,” Garon told AFP. David Graham, an oncologist at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina who was not involved with the study, said: “It’s truly remarkable that for more patients than ever before, we no longer have to count survival in months. “However, we still have a long way to go to improve outcomes for all NSCLC patients.” According to Garon, the trial proved there are groups of patients “who do have long-term survival prospect, and that does change the way we talk to our patients about the disease.” Moving forward, his team would like to identify other biomarkers to target to further improve survival rates. “I think we’re all hopeful that these are the early days of immunotherapy,” he told AFP. “But I think what this indicates is that even in those early days, there are clear instances in difficult diseases where we can really transform the management of the diseases.”


Did a gun's 'silencer' make a difference in the Virginia Beach carnage?

Abstract: NEW YORK - The shooter who killed 12 people in a government office building in Virginia Beach used a firearm equipped with a suppressor that muffles the sound of gunfire. It’s the nightmare scenario that gun-control advocates have warned about amid efforts in recent years to ease restrictions on the devices, which they say can help shooters escape detection and inflict more carnage. But gun-rights advocates and most law enforcement experts say DeWayne Craddock’s use of a suppressor likely had no bearing on his ability to kill so many people in so little time Friday. Virginia is among 42 states that allow residents to purchase and possess suppressors, though some cities and towns — including Virginia Beach — prohibit them. Known colloquially as a “silencer,” a suppressor was attached to the .45-caliber handgun that police say the shooter used to kill a dozen people on three floors of the building where he worked before police closed in and, after a protracted gunbattle, fatally shot him. That could at least partially explain why survivors of the attack said they were caught off guard and initially puzzled by what was happening. One described hearing something that sounded like a nail gun. “This is the concern we were talking about when Republicans were trying to deregulate silencers as ‘ear protection,'” said David Chipman, a retired agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and now the senior policy adviser with Giffords, a gun-control lobbying group. “Especially on a handgun, a suppressor will distort the sound in such a way that it would not immediately be recognizable as gunfire to people who sort of know what that sound is.” Others say the shooter’s use of a silencer was less of a factor in enabling him to carry out the rampage than was his familiarity with the building and even possibly his military background, both of which may have given him a tactical advantage. “A suppressor does not alter the lethality of the weapon at all. All it does is just limit the noise it makes,” said Gregory Shaffer, a retired FBI agent who was a member of the bureau’s elite Hostage Response Team. “It doesn’t increase the rate of fire. It doesn’t do anything other than make it more comfortable to shoot because it’s not so loud.” It’s not immediately clear how long Friday’s attack lasted, or how much time passed before the first police officers arrived. The police department is in the same complex as the building where the shooting took place. It also wasn’t yet known how Craddock got the suppressor he used on his handgun, though authorities have said he legally purchased multiple firearms recently. Authorities have three days to conduct a background check when someone is buying a firearm. But suppressors are regulated by the National Firearms Act, which also governs the sale of machine guns, and the extensive background check can take upward of eight months or more before the sale can go through. Despite the barriers, suppressors have gained in popularity. In 2008, when West Valley City, Utah-based SilencerCo. was formed, about 18,000 of the devices were being sold each year. The company, which controls an estimated 70 percent of the market, sells roughly that many each month. Nicknamed “cans,” the devices were invented in the early 1900s by MIT-educated Hiram Percy Maxim, who also invented a muffler for gasoline engines. They were brought under NFA regulations after Depression-era game wardens expressed concern that hunters would use them to poach. A suppressor does not eliminate the sound a gun makes but generally diminishes it by 20 to 35 decibels, leaving most guns still louder than your average ambulance siren. “Clearly this was an individual who did understand and have experience with firearms and had given potentially some forethought into the advantage that using a suppressor would offer him, particularly the suppressor coupled with the caliber of weapon he was using,” said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association and a retired law enforcement officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department, where he oversaw a SWAT division. Some have questioned how secure the building was where police say the shooter and all but one of his victims worked. A government facility, the building is open to the public, but security passes are required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas, officials said. As a current employee, the shooter would have had such a pass and would have known the floor plan, areas that were “easy to control,” where the best places to hide were and how to move quickly from one area to another, Eells said. While responding police might have had some familiarity with the building, it’s very possible the shooter knew it a lot better after working there for years. His protracted gunfight with law enforcement officers would indicate that he “was in a place that was difficult for officers to access or engage,” Eells said. “Whether that was happenstance or intentional, it’s too early to tell.”

guns
virginia
police
murder
mass shootings


Iraqi court sentences two French Islamic State members to death

Abstract: BAGHDAD - A court in Baghdad on Sunday sentenced two French citizens to death for being members of the Islamic State group, including one who last week said he was subjected to torture while in detention, an Iraqi judicial official said. The sentencings in Iraq come amid controversy about the legal treatment of thousands of foreign fighters who had joined IS at the height of its power in Syria and Iraq, when the militant group declared its self-styled caliphate. Human rights groups are concerned these defendants are being rushed through Iraqi counterterrorism courts in trials that raise questions over whether justice is being done. Convictions are often based on confessions that defendants and rights groups say are extracted by intimidation, torture and abuse and without due process. The judicial official said the court sentenced to death Fadil Hamad Abdallah, 33, of Moroccan origin, and Vianney Jamal Abdelqader, 29. Abdallah, who was known within the group as Abu Mariam, told the court last week that he was subjected to torture. He was then referred to a medical committee that, after examining him, said he had made false claims about torture. The judicial official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. France has said it will do all it can to spare the group from execution in Iraq. Although it has made no effort to bring back the captured fighters, France has taken an outspoken stance against the death penalty worldwide. Although European IS members have been sentenced to death, none have actually been executed in Iraq. The new sentences raise the number of French citizens given death sentences over the past two weeks to nine. Those sentenced are among a group of 12 French citizens who were detained by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in neighboring Syria and handed over to Iraq in January. The Kurdish-led group spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria and has handed hundreds of suspected IS members over to Iraq in recent months. An Iraqi intelligence official said that the SDF handed over to Syria 1,142 Iraqi IS members, of which 157 were sentenced to death. He added that five other foreigners were transferred to Iraq, including two Iranians, two Tunisians and a Chinese national. He, too, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.


Pompeo says U.S. is ready to talk to Iran with 'no preconditions'

Abstract: BELLINZONA, SWITZERLAND - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the Trump administration is ready for unconditional discussions with Iran in an effort to ease rising tensions that have sparked fears of conflict. However, the United States will not relent in trying to pressure the Islamic Republic to change its behavior in the Middle East, America’s top diplomat said. Pompeo repeated long-standing U.S. accusations that Iran is bent on destabilizing the region, but he also held out the possibility of talks as President Donald Trump has suggested. “We’re prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions,” Pompeo told reporters at a news conference with Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, his Swiss counterpart. “We’re ready to sit down with them, but the American effort to fundamentally reverse the malign activity of this Islamic Republic, this revolutionary force, is going to continue.” Pompeo’s meeting with Cassis in the southern Swiss town of Bellinzona came amid concerns about the potential for escalation and miscalculation with Iran — a situation that has many in Europe and the Middle East on edge. Cassis, whose country represents U.S. interests in Iran and has been an intermediary between the two before, made no secret of that nervousness. “The situation is very tense and we are fully aware these tensions. Switzerland, of course, wishes there to be no escalation no escalation to violence with Iran,” he said. “Both parties are now increasing the pressure and this is a worry for us.” Cassis said Switzerland would be pleased to serve as an intermediary, but not a “mediator,” between the United States and Iran. To do so, however, will require requests from both sides, he said. Neither he nor Pompeo would say if such requests had been made to the Swiss. Pompeo thanked Switzerland, which serves as the “protecting power” for the United States in Iran, for looking after Americans detained there. Trump administration officials have suggested they would look positively at any move to release at least five American citizens and at least two permanent U.S. residents currently imprisoned in Iran. Pompeo declined to comment on whether he had made a specific request to the Swiss about the detainees. But he said the release of unjustly jailed Americans in Iran and elsewhere is a U.S. priority. Pompeo was in Switzerland on the second leg after Germany of a four-nation European tour in which he is seeking to assure leaders that the U.S. does not want war with Iran. He is also stressing that the U.S. will defend itself and not relent in raising pressure on Iran with economic sanctions. Despite that stance, Trump has signaled a willingness to talk with Iran’s leadership. Iranian officials have hinted at the possibility but also insisted they will not be bullied. “If they want to talk, I’m available,” Trump said last week, even as Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton, were stepping up warnings that any attack on American interests by Iran or its proxies would draw a rapid and significant U.S. response. The U.S. is sending hundreds of additional troops to the region after blaming Iran and Iranian proxies for recent sabotage to tankers in the Persian Gulf and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure.

iran
switzerland
mike pompeo
middle east
u.s .


In first, German poll shows Greens' support rate besting nation's two heavyweight parties

Abstract: BERLIN - Germany’s Greens may be leading the country’s two traditional main parties for the first time, a national poll suggested Saturday. The poll, from Forsa poll for broadcasters RTL and n-tv, suggested they had moved ahead of the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and coalition partner the Social Democrats (SPD) with 27 percent of voter intentions. It came just a week after the party unexpectedly came second in the European elections, with 20.5 percent of the vote. This poll puts the Greens 9 points up on polls from a week earlier, with the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian regional partner Christian Social Union (CSU) down 2 points at 26 percent. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU were the largest party in the EU polls, but on 28.9 percent — their worst-ever score in a national election. The SPD, an unhappy partner in the national government, and two years out from the next scheduled general elections, was down 5 points down in the latest poll at just 12 percent. In the EU vote the SPD obtained 15.8 percent. SPD chief Andrea Nahles said Sunday that she would resign as well give up her position as head of its parliamentary group, saying she did not have the support she needed to lead it. “The discussions within the parliamentary faction and feedback from within the party have shown me that I no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties,” Nahles said in a statement released by the SPD. The politician said she would resign as head of the SPD on Monday and quit as leader of the party in parliament on Tuesday. Nahles was due to face a vote on her leadership position on Tuesday after her decision to stay in the coalition with Merkel’s conservatives was criticized by the party’s left. Earlier, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he had ruled out entering another grand coalition as the Social Democrats seek to regroup after losses during the European parliamentary elections. “Three grand coalitions in a row would not do democracy in Germany any good,” Scholz told a German paper in an interview published on Sunday before Nahles announced she would resign. Former SPD leader Martin Schulz said he would not run against Nahles in the leadership vote on Tuesday but declined to answer whether he would seek to be re-elected leader thereafter. The new opinion poll also showed the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) moving to within 1 point of the SPD on 11 points, which is what they scored in the European elections. State broadcaster ARD television has in recent days reported that climate change has become a priority for 46 percent of voters — up 26 percentage points since the 2014 European elections. Recent polls also suggest a generational split, with the Greens leading the CDU among those 18 to 44 years old, and those over 60 favoring Merkel. Young voters in particular — energized by the Fridays for Future school strikes, anti-coal protests and a passionate campaign from leading YouTube stars — abandoned the mainstream CDU/CSU and SPD parties in droves. In the wake of her party’s comparatively poor showing in the European elections, Merkel on Wednesday promised a new climate strategy by September.

germany
elections
angela merkel
climate change
environment


Pre-Inca, myth-generating funerary towers restored in Bolivia

Abstract: CONDOR AMAYA, BOLIVIA - Unique quadrangular pre-Inca towers made of earth and straw dot the landscape at Condor Amaya on the Bolivian altiplano, giving rise to myths and legends. These eight chullpas , standing almost side by side, are funerary towers that have been built with a technique unique to this site in the Bolivian Andes. Severina Flores, a skilled wool weaver and sheep breeder, remembers that she was scared of the towers when she was young. “Before, when I was wawa (a child), we would never approach them because when we did we would fall ill,” the 29-year-old mother of four said. The chullpas measure between 2 and 8 meters tall and 2 to 4 meters wide. They all have a small entrance door facing the rising sun in the east. That gave rise to myths and legends relating to the sun. A story told by a Don Estanislao Colque claims that the pre-Inca towers “lived with the moon” and “walked on the Earth” many generations ago. But the Earth changed position and the sun stopped rising in the west to be born again sometime later in the east, “burning” all those chullpas facing the other way. Greek archaeologist Irene Delaveris said, “It’s a myth but valuable, because mythology is also part of heritage.” Another explanation for the doors’ orientation: wind and rain arriving from the west. The towers were built during two cultural periods: the pre-Inca Aymara kingdoms and the Inca-Pacajes period, conservation expert Guido Mamani said. The oldest of these towers were built in the 15th century, according to Delaveris. Chullpas were first built in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Aymara kingdoms following the end of the Tiwanaku culture. The practice continued through the Inca period until the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. They were used for the burials of royalty, military officials or wealthy people. Condor Amaya — known as Kuntur Amaya in the Aymara language — is a small village of 40 families around 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the south of La Paz. It has 11 funerary towers restored by the culture ministry in collaboration with the government of Switzerland. There are 39 chullpas in the area, some in ruins, ravaged by time and the unforgiving climate. In the La Paz department there are around 300 overall. There are also similar funerary structures in neighboring Peru, but those are circular. “For me it’s an expression of engineering that is unique in the world, because these constructions were not built in any other part of the world with this technique,” said Delaveris. The walls appear to be made from “a mix of whole straw with mud” which “generates a material-like fabric,” she added. However, there is a secret organic ingredient as well, yet to be identified, that “could be the collagen in llama bones or a local plant that gave it that hardness that has allowed it to be preserved over centuries.”


Cruise ship loses control in Venice, slams into wharf and damages tourist boat

Abstract: ROME - A cruise ship lost control as it was coming in to dock in Venice on Sunday, crashing into the wharf and hitting a tourist boat, Italian media reported. Tourists on land could be seen running away as the MSC Opera scraped along the dockside, its engine blaring, before knocking into the Michelangelo tourist boat, amateur video footage posted on Twitter showed. Two people were lightly injured in the accident at San Basilio-Zattere in Venice’s Giudecca Canal, according to media reports. Another two were taken to hospital for check-ups. Their nationalities were not known, the reports said. The crash may have happened after a cable used to link cruise ships to the tug boats that pull them into the city’s canals broke, the Corriere della Sera daily said. The Opera was then unable to stop because of the strong currents pulling it toward the dock, it said. MSC Cruises, founded in Italy in 1960, is a global line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva. The Opera, built 15 years ago, is registered in Panama and has a capacity for 2,679 passengers.


After USS John S. McCain incident, Pentagon tells White House to stop politicizing military

Abstract: SEOUL - Amid a furor over a Trump administration order to have the U.S. Navy ship named for the late Sen. John McCain hidden from view during a recent presidential visit to Japan, the Pentagon has told the White House to stop politicizing the military. A defense official said Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is also considering sending out formal guidance to military units in order to avoid similar problems in the future. Shanahan, who was traveling to South Korea on Sunday, confirmed details about a navy email that said the White House military office wanted the USS John McCain kept “out of sight” when President Donald Trump visited Yokosuka, in Kanagawa Prefecture, about a week ago. The internal navy email came to light last week, triggering a storm of outrage. Trump, who long feuded with McCain, has said he knew nothing about the request, but added that “somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say.” Shanahan told reporters traveling with him to Seoul that he is not planning to seek an investigation by the inspector-general into the matter, “because there was nothing carried out” by the navy. He added that he still needs to gather more information about exactly what happened and what service members did. “How did the people receiving the information — how did they treat it,” Shanahan said. “That would give me an understanding on the next steps” to take. Shanahan did not detail what the next steps could be, but a defense official said Shanahan is considering a clearer directive to the military about avoiding political situations. The goal would be to ensure there is less ambiguity about how the military should support VIP events and how service members should respond to such political requests, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Shanahan also said that he spoke with McCain’s wife, Cindy, about the incident a couple of days ago, but he declined to provide any details. The order to keep the navy destroyer out of sight reflected what appears to be an extraordinary White House effort to avoid offending an unpredictable president known for holding a grudge, including a particularly bitter one against McCain. The McCain incident has dogged Shanahan throughout his weeklong trip to Asia, even as he tried to deal with critical national security issues involving the eroding U.S. relationship with China and the continuing threat from North Korea. Shanahan, who has been serving in an acting capacity since Jan. 1, has yet to be formally nominated by Trump as permanent defense chief. His speech to a major national security conference in Singapore on Saturday was a chance to audition for the job on the international stage. A formal nomination has been expected, and Congress members have said they believe there will be a hearing on his nomination in the next month or so. According to Shanahan spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino, Shanahan told his chief of staff on Friday to speak with the White House military office “and reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized.” Buccino said the chief of staff reported back that he delivered the message. Asked what he has gleaned about the incident so far, Shanahan said he was told that despite the White House request, the navy did not move the ship and that a barge moored in front of it was moved before Trump arrived. He said that a tarp that had been draped over the ship’s name was removed, but that it had been put there for maintenance, not to obscure its identity. Asked directly if his senior staff was aware of the White House request before the president’s visit, Shanahan said he has been told they did not know. He also has said he was not aware of the request and that he would never have authorized it.

white house
politics
john mccain
patrick shanahan
donald trump
yokosuka
u.s .


Blasts at Russian military explosives plant injure dozens

Abstract: MOSCOW - Seventy-nine people were injured when several blasts at the explosives plant Kristall shook the central Russian town of Dzerzhinsk on Saturday, the Russian health ministry said. The blasts around midday were heard all over the town of more than 230,000 residents and shock waves smashed or damaged windows in around 180 buildings, city authorities told TASS news agency. Russian state TV Rossiya 24 showed footage of a plume of smoke rising over the explosives factory. The Kristall plant said that its director had been fired “literally a day before” the blasts for violating industrial safety rules earlier in the year, Interfax reported. He was blamed for an explosion that occurred in April and also destroyed a section of the plant. Thirty-eight of the injured were at the plant when the blasts occurred but 41 local residents from outside the factory, many hit by broken glass, also requested medical help. The health ministry said that 15 of all the injured were taken to hospitals, mostly with fragment wounds. One of them, a woman, suffers a severe injury. Local authorities declared a state of emergency in Dzerzhinsk and three neighboring settlements, Russian agencies said. A local deputy governor told Rossiya 24 TV channel that two people went missing after the blasts but later he said that the information had not been confirmed. Dzerzhinsk is close to the city of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow. Founded in Soviet times, the Kristall scientific institute is one of the major Russian developers of explosives technology for military and civilian use. The plant is part of Russia’s Rostec, a state conglomerate which has been affected by Western sanctions over Russian policy toward Ukraine. A section of the building where the blasts occurred was partially destroyed and a fire broke out at the facility, where explosives and ammunition, including aerial bombs, were stored, Russian news agencies said. A neighboring building and a nearby forest also caught fire and the Russian emergency ministry reported that firefighters had managed to douse it around six hours after the blasts, Russian agencies said.