Carlos Ghosn's successor, Hiroto Saikawa, under siege from within as Nissan profit sinks

Abstract: Carlos Ghosn’s arrest threw Nissan Motor Co. into a corporate tailspin with allegations of self-dealing, profligate spending and filing false statements. Now the automaker’s profits are falling off a cliff, and successor Hiroto Saikawa may go down with them. Troubled by slumping U.S. sales, aging models and a product cycle that’s out of sync, the Yokohama-based company is on track to announce on Tuesday its lowest annual operating profit in a decade, raising the possibility of a dividend cut. The outlook for the current fiscal year to March 2020 probably won’t be any more promising. Chief Executive Officer Saikawa has yet to announce a turnaround plan since the arrest of former Chairman Ghosn in November, and people familiar with the matter say there’s internal strife over whether he’s the right executive to fix Nissan. Alliance partner Renault SA may not look too favorably on Saikawa’s reappointment if he continues to oppose a merger said to be backed by its own Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who is also a Nissan director. In addition, the alliance partner said it would block Saikawa’s reappointment if he didn’t agree to a merger — a request made by Renault’s new chairman that Saikawa batted away, the Yomiuri newspaper reported last month. “A new management team and strategy may be the answer,” said Michael Dean, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” said Nicholas Maxfield, a Nissan spokesman. “The company’s focus is on stabilizing operations and strengthening its management structure, while addressing the weaknesses in governance that enabled this misconduct.” The surprise jailing of Ghosn, who led both carmakers for two decades, exposed rifts over control and decision-making. Since then, Ghosn was released and detained once again. Currently out on bail, Ghosn has denied all charges against him, saying his arrest was due to a “dirty game” played by some Nissan executives. He is now preparing for his trial, which may start later this year or next year. A pending litmus test for Saikawa’s job security will come next month, when Nissan’s directors are set to formally adopt new corporate governance rules that include creating a more independent board. In an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held last month to remove Ghosn from the board, Saikawa was peppered with questions as to why he wasn’t stepping down to take responsibility for Nissan’s poor governance. Saikawa said there are many ways to take responsibility and he believed the right thing for him to do now is to help Nissan rebuild, signaling his intention to stay on. Even so, Saikawa needs Renault’s vote from its 43 percent stake to back his reappointment, especially given that roughly half of minority shareholders have voted against his appointment since 2017. While the French automaker agreed in 2015 not to interfere in the appointment of top Nissan managers, Nissan’s financial weakness could give Renault an opening to push harder for a merger. The list of potential replacements include Chief Operating Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi, who sits on the board of Renault. His recent promotion preserves management ties between the automakers, who along with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. form the world’s biggest car alliance. A recent management shuffle also put the spotlight on executives who may also be in a position to lead the company. Hideyuki Sakamoto, in charge of manufacturing and supply-chain management, joined Nissan in 1980 as an engineer and has worked around the world, including the Nissan Technical Center in North America, Nissan’s largest affiliate supplier in Japan and Renault in Brazil. Jun Seki, formerly Nissan’s China chief, is now senior vice president overseeing “performance recovery.” “Nissan clearly had very bad corporate governance and an atmosphere where few felt they could question Mr. Ghosn,” said Janet Lewis, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) Ltd. “His departure will enable them to reboot, but it will take time to put a strong management team in place.” Nissan last month warned investors of bad times ahead as it cut preliminary profit for the year ended March to ¥318 billion ($2.8 billion), a 30 percent decline from the previous guidance, which itself had been lowered. That would mark the first time the Japanese carmaker earned less than Renault in a decade. An out-of-sync product cycle, aging lineup and poor consumer reviews “will take years, not months to fix,” Lewis said. Nissan also may announce that it’s paring the targets in its plan for the six years through fiscal 2022, the Asahi newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Nissan will lower its fiscal 2022 revenue target to about ¥14 trillion from the existing target of ¥16.5 trillion and cut operating margin target to about 6 percent from 8 percent, according to the newspaper. Nissan declined to comment on the Asahi report. Even lower midterm forecasts would fall short of analysts’ projections. Operating profits likely won’t recover to levels seen under Ghosn until 2023, meaning there will probably be no growth in the current six-year plan, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. “The impact may persist this fiscal year,” said Koji Endo, an auto analyst with SBI. “The downward revision it made in the past year wasn’t enough to push the all the bad things out of its door.”

carlos ghosn
hiroto saikawa
nissan
renault
carmakers
courts
corruption
scandals
financial results


Defiant Cuban LGBT activists hold unprecedented parade

Abstract: HAVANA - Cuban gay rights activists held an unauthorized independent pride parade in Havana on Saturday despite the communist government warning against it and calling it subversive, an unprecedented show of civil society in the one-party state. More than a hundred Cubans chanting “long live a diverse Cuba” and carrying rainbow flags joyfully marched nearly a kilometer from Havana’s Central Park down to the seafront boulevard before being stopped by dozens of security officials. At least three activists were arrested by plainclothes policemen; others were ordered to disperse because the activity did not have an official permit. “This moment marks a before and an after for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community but also for Cuban civil society more generally,” said independent journalist and LGBT activist Maykel Gonzalez Vivero. “Social media is playing its role and civil society demonstrated it has strength, and can go out onto the streets if necessary, and from now on the government will have to take that into account.” This was the second march organized independently of state institutions- hitherto a rare occurrence in Cuba- in just over a month, although the previous one, in defense of animal rights, had received a permit from local authorities. Activists called for their own parade after the state-run National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) earlier in the week abruptly canceled its 12th annual conga against homophobia- Cuba’s equivalent of gay pride. CENESEX, headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of Communist Party leader Raul Castro, said in a statement that certain groups were planning to use the event to undermine the government, emboldened by the escalation of aggression by the Trump administration against Cuba and its leftist ally Venezuela. The United States has for decades financed often covert programs to promote democracy on the island and undermine the government. But many LGBT activists said they felt the government was reacting more to pressure from evangelical churches, which have a growing following in Cuba and have campaigned against the expansion of gay rights. CENESEX denounced the alternative parade as a “provocation” and several activists say they received threats either anonymously on social media or from state security in person not to attend it- not that it stopped them. “This isn’t a political march, this is a celebration to give the LGBT community visibility,” said Myrna Rosa Padron Dickson. Activists promoted the march on social networks thanks to the expansion of the internet in Cuba in recent years that has more broadly seen increasing numbers of Cubans mobilize online over certain issues, sometimes apparently managing to influence policy. The government for example postponed the full implementation of a decree clamping down on the arts after an online campaign protesting the law, and stepped back on regulations governing the private sector after entrepreneurs and experts complained. So far, however, the government has retained tight control over physical public spaces, mostly restricting marches to expressions of support for the government, like the recent Labor Day parade. The conga in Havana was an exception that became a regular occurrence, and a reminder that the government, which once sent gays to work camps in the early days of Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, had made considerable advances in LGBT rights in recent years. The country guarantees rights such as free sex-change operations and forbids discrimination on the basis of sexuality, in a region where some countries still have anti-sodomy laws. Some LGBT activists say they felt the cancellation of the conga was a sign those rights are being eroded, possibly because a recent public consultation over a new constitution revealed that there was more opposition to the community than previously thought. Many Cubans expressed their opposition to a change in the draft constitution that would have explicitly opened the door to gay marriage. Evangelical churches also ran unprecedented campaigns against the change, which was eventually watered down.


70 years after blockade of city by Soviet forces, Berlin Airlift is recalled

Abstract: BERLIN - Germany on Sunday marked 70 years since the end of the Soviet blockade that sparked the Berlin Airlift, the spectacular humanitarian rescue mission that was the first major salvo of the Cold War. For almost a year, mainly American and British pilots created a lifeline to support war-ravaged West Berlin — encircled and blockaded by Soviet forces — with food and fuel. The unprecedented logistical effort, with hundreds of thousands of flights to save the city from starvation, cemented the postwar German-American friendship. But when American bombers started dropping tiny improvised parachutes loaded with candies into Berlin during the blockade, one little German girl wrote to complain. Mercedes Wild, now 78, recalled how she protested that the constant drone of airlift planes disturbed her chickens — and during the blockade, eggs were a valuable commodity. Then Gail Halvorsen, the U.S. pilot who dreamed up the candy drops, wrote back, enclosing sticks of chewing gum and a lollipop with his letter. His gesture sparked a long-lasting friendship between Halvorsen, Wild and their families, she said. “It wasn’t the sweets that impressed me, it was the letter,” she said. “I grew up fatherless, like a lot of (German) children at that time, so knowing that someone outside of Berlin was thinking of me gave me hope.” Halvorsen, now 98, was guest of honor at Sunday’s anniversary festivities. He insists that the real heroes of the airlift were inside the city. “The heroes of the Berlin Airlift were not the pilots, the heroes were the Germans — the parents and children on the ground,” he said. “They were the stalwarts of the confrontation with the Soviet Union, not the guys bringing in the food, it was the people (of West Berlin) standing up for themselves.” Here are three things to know about one of the greatest feats in aviation history. Blockade of a shattered city After Nazi Germany’s defeat, tensions between the West and the Soviet Union resurfaced to divide most of the world into two rival, nuclear-armed camps until the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1945, the victorious powers — the United States, Britain, France and Russia — split up defeated Germany into four occupation zones, a division mirrored in the capital, Berlin. This left West Berlin, controlled by the Western Allies, stranded like an island deep inside the Soviet sector, which would later become walled-off communist East Germany. To Western powers, West Berlin became a symbolic bulwark of freedom — a sentiment U.S. President John F. Kennedy would later express with the words “Ich bin ein Berliner” (“I am a Berliner”). Soviet dictator Josef Stalin wanted to push Western powers out of West Berlin — then a starved city of 2.2 million where entire blocks were reduced to rubble, people were scavenging for food and cigarettes were the black-market currency. The Western Allies, instead, opted in 1948 to unite their zones into a single economic area with a new deutschmark currency, paving the way for the creation of West Germany. In response, on June 24 Soviet troops launched a full blockade of West Berlin. Citing “technical reasons,” they closed all roads, railway lines and waterways to the city and shut off electricity. Spectacular rescue mission With fears rising that Europe was on the brink of World War III, the Western Allies launched an unprecedented rescue effort for the hugely symbolic city. Starting on June 26, they launched their airlift to fly food and fuel into the besieged city — a mission scaled up soon to see a landing or takeoff in Berlin every 90 seconds. To break the 322-day blockade, some 277,000 flights brought in more than 2 million tons of food packages and other relief goods. The planes traveled a combined total of 175 million kilometers (108 million miles) — the equivalent of flying around the Earth 4,400 times. During the operation, Berlin Mayor Ernst Reuter made a passionate appeal to the “people of the world,” telling them that “you should not — you cannot — abandon this city and this people!” Berliners fondly remember the buzzing propellers and the “Candy Bombers” — those pilots who dropped packages of sweet treats including chocolate, raisins and gum attached to parachutes made out of handkerchiefs. The first airman to do so was Halvorsen, whose signature aircraft tilt earned him the nickname “Uncle Wiggly Wings.” The Soviets finally lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949, though the flights continued for several more months. The daring airlift claimed at least 78 lives, mostly of U.S. and British pilots. Airport to urban playground West Berlin used several airstrips — and a river for water-planes — but the main air hub was Tempelhof, the giant terminal of which had been designed fit for the Nazis’ “1,000-year Reich.” It closed in 2008, replaced by two other airports, and two years later was declared a vast city park, with skaters and joggers speeding down its disused runways. Berliners voted to keep it that way, rejecting city development plans in a 2014 referendum. After Germany’s mass migrant influx, its buildings housed refugees from other wars, in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Today families fly kites where the planes once thundered through the sky, hipster gardeners grow organic vegetables, and a memorial honors the pilots who died to keep West Berlin alive.


Britain's Labour Party questions whether successor to leader Theresa May would honor Brexit deal

Abstract: LONDON - A major sticking point in talks between Britain’s government and opposition Labour Party is the lack of any guarantee that a successor to Prime Minister Theresa May would deliver on any Brexit agreement, Labour’s trade policy chief said Sunday. May, who has offered to quit if lawmakers accept her Brexit deal, opened cross-party talks with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party more than a month ago after Parliament rejected her European Union withdrawal deal three times. Barry Gardiner told Sky News: “We don’t know at this stage even if we could negotiate a deal, what we don’t know is whether the successor to Theresa May would actually deliver on it and that’s one of the big sticking points that we have.” His comments came as prisons minister Robert Buckland said the same day that May does not need to spell out a timetable for her departure, adding the leader had already announced she would leave office after the first phase of Brexit. May is under pressure to detail when she will leave office from angry Conservative lawmakers who want a new leader to try to improve the party’s fortunes. “The prime minister’s said that she is going to go once the first phase of Brexit has been delivered,” Buckland told Sky News, adding that meant after the deal agreed with the EU in November was ratified by Parliament. “If that can be done quickly, then we have that timetable set out already. I don’t think she needs to say any more about that. What we need to do is to get on with the job,” he said, adding that the deal could be passed in the next few months.


ANC keeps power in South Africa but scandals cost it votes

Abstract: PRETORIA - The African National Congress easily won South Africa’s general election Saturday, but its share of the vote fell, reflecting anger at corruption scandals and racial inequalities that remain entrenched a generation after the party took power. It was the worst electoral performance by the late Nelson Mandela’s former liberation movement, which has governed South Africa since the country’s first free election marked the end of white minority rule in 1994. The ANC had not previously won less than 60 percent of the vote in a national poll. The ANC’s victory secures it enough seats in parliament to give President Cyril Ramaphosa another five-year term in office but may leave him short of ammunition to battle party rivals who oppose his reforms to galvanize the economy and counter graft. “Let us now work together, black and white, men and women, young and old to build a South Africa that truly belongs to all that live in it,” he said in a speech after his party was declared the winner. Results showed the ANC secured 57.5 percent of the parliamentary vote, while the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), also saw its vote share fall. The DA picked up 20.8 percent and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters took 10.8 percent, the Independent Electoral Commission said on its website. In 2014, the ANC won 62 percent of votes, the DA 22 percent and the EFF 6 percent. The turnout for Wednesday’s vote was markedly lower than at the last election in 2014, falling to 66 percent from 73.5 percent, the electoral commission said. The ANC’s seats in the 400-member parliament fell to 230 from 249. The main opposition Democratic Alliance also saw its number of seats fall to 84 from 89, while the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters gained 19 seats to 44. South Africa uses a system of proportional representation. The DA’s communications director, Mabine Seabe, said the party viewed the outcome as “a positive result. We’ve grown in communities we’ve never grown before.” ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe said the party had received “another lifeline” from voters. He said the party had improved compared with the 54 percent it won in the 2016 local government poll. “So we are picking up from that disaster,” he said. Election officials said voting was generally smooth. But 27 smaller parties, of 48 that ran in total, alleged irregularities and threatened legal action, which the electoral commission said it would oppose. International observers said the elections were free and fair. Ramaphosa had sought to re-engage voters whose enthusiasm for the ANC has been eroded by its faltering efforts to address corruption, high unemployment and persistent racial disparities in housing, services and land distribution. Africa’s most advanced economy remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, according to the World Bank. The ruling party retained control of eight of South Africa’s nine provinces in separate elections also held on Wednesday, with the DA keeping hold of the Western Cape, home to Cape Town, where parliament resides. Analysts had said a poor showing by the ANC would embolden opponents of Ramaphosa and risk a challenge to his leadership. Fikile Mbalula, a former cabinet minister who was in charge of the ANC’s election campaign, said its 10 million votes were the result of hard work by its leadership. He hailed union leader turned business tycoon Ramaphosa’s role in starting to undo negative public perceptions. “People love him,” Mbalula said. “And from where we were, we were battered in terms of our image and he was a game-changer for the ANC.” The 66-year-old president was “very safe” from internal challenges, he said, adding: “The ANC is very strong in protecting their leadership. Even if there are remnants trying their thing, they will not succeed.” The ANC achieved its best parliamentary election result in 2004 under former President Thabo Mbeki, when it won 69 percent of the vote. Election analyst Wayne Sussman said the DA lost votes to the conservative Freedom Front party, which capitalized on plans to allow land expropriation without compensation. Whites, just 9 percent of the 56 million population, still own more than 70 percent of agricultural land. “The DA wasn’t speaking enough about safety for farmers and agriculture for some voters,” Sussman said. The Freedom Front, which says it aims to protect Afrikaners’ interests, campaigned under the slogan “fight back.” “In some upper-middle-class suburbs which traditionally vote DA, there was also a swing to the ANC. This can be attributed partly to the Ramaphosa effect,” Sussman added. The provisional results showed the ANC won a tight provincial race in Gauteng, where South Africa’s biggest city and commercial center, Johannesburg, and the administrative capital of Pretoria are located, with 50.19 percent of the vote. Losing control there would have been a blow to the president, who replaced scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma in February 2018. “The race for Gauteng was nail-biting, and the last two days have been sleepless nights,” said Snuki Zikalala, president of the ANC veterans’ league. “It’s a lesson that we should make sure that we win back the support of the middle class and skilled people. We used to say we don’t care for clever blacks, that was a mistake. Those are the people who run the economy.”

anc
south africa
elections
cyril ramaphosa


Brexit Party doubles lead in poll over upcoming European Parliament elections

Abstract: LONDON - The newly formed Brexit Party, which wants a clean break from the EU, has doubled its lead over other British parties in an opinion poll out Sunday on the European Parliament elections. The Opinium survey in The Observer newspaper put the Brexit Party of euroskeptic figurehead Nigel Farage on 34 percent, doubling its lead over the main opposition Labour Party to 13 points in a fortnight — and on course to get more votes than Britain’s two main parties put together. Labour, on 21 percent, has dropped 7 points, while the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats are in third place on 12 percent, up 5 points, on the corresponding poll from two weeks ago. Prime Minister Theresa May’s governing Conservatives are in fourth place on 11 percent. Had Britain left the European Union as planned on March 29, it would not be taking part in the European Parliament elections, which will be held in the U.K. on May 23. In the 2016 referendum on Britain’s EU membership, 52 percent voted to leave, while 48 percent voted to remain. Adam Drummond, head of political polling at Opinium, said “remain” voters were scattered among several parties. “While 63 percent of leavers say they will vote for the Brexit Party in the European elections, the most popular party among remainers (Labour) only has 31 percent, versus 22 percent for the Lib Dems and 14 percent for the Greens,” he said. Brexit voters have deserted the Conservatives to such an extent that they now have a higher share of remainers (12 percent) backing them than of leavers (11 percent), he added. In voting intentions for the next general election — which must be held by May 2022 — left-wing Labour is on 28 percent, the centre-right Conservatives on 22 percent, the Brexit Party on 21 percent and the centrist Liberal Democrats on 11 percent. Opinium Research conducted an online survey of 2,004 British adults between Wednesday and Friday. The results were weighted. A ComRes general election poll, which appears in The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, puts Labour on 27 percent, the Brexit Party on 20 percent and the Conservatives on 19 percent. The poll of 2,034 adults conducted on Thursday was commissioned by Brexit Express, a campaign group run by the Brexit Party’s biggest donor. May has pledged to step down once a Brexit divorce deal has been agreed upon by parliament. ComRes Chairman Andrew Hawkins said of those bidding to replace May: “If the Conservative leadership contenders are not careful, there will be no party for them to lead.”


Probe finds F-35's first crash was caused by manufacturing defect, in revelation that could affect Japan plans to buy aircraft

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The crash of a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B that temporarily grounded the entire fleet of next-generation jets in 2018 was caused by a manufacturing defect in a fuel tube made by a United Technologies subcontractor, according to congressional investigators. The defect “caused an engine fuel tube to rupture during flight, resulting in a loss of power to the engine,” the Government Accounting Office said last week in a report on major weapons systems that referred to the September crash in South Carolina. The Pentagon told the watchdog that it identified 117 aircraft — about 40 percent of the worldwide F-35 fleet at the time — with the same type of fuel tubes that had to be replaced. The disclosure was the first official information about the crash since the Pentagon program office in late October issued a status statement while the Marine Corps was still conducting its investigation. United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit “is fully responsible” for “the propulsion system and has the lead in working” the failure analyses, according to the statement at the time. A spokeswoman for the Pentagon F-35 program office deferred comment to Pratt & Whitney, whose spokesman, John Thomas, said the company had no comment. Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Chris Harrison said in a statement that the crash probe is continuing, and that the results will be released once complete. The marines have replaced all of the relevant fuel supply tubes and “we continue to strive each and every day to ensure the safety and readiness of our aircraft,” he added. The F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, at a projected cost of more than $428 billion. The Sept. 28 crash of the F-35B near Beaufort, South Carolina, was the first in the two-decade old program’s often-rocky history of delays, cost increases and technical glitches. Although the pilot safely ejected, the incident prompted concerns about the aircraft, which is being built by and sold to an international consortium of U.S. allies, including the U.K, Italy, Australia and Turkey. Japan currently plans to procure a total of 147 F-35 fighter jets, 105 of which are expected to be F-35A models. The rest will be F-35Bs, which are set to be deployed on two Izumo-class warships that the Defense Ministry plans to convert into multipurpose aircraft carriers. Last month, a Japanese F-35A crashed off Japan’s coast, with only portions of the jet’s wreckage found since then despite a monthlong search. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The jet’s pilot hasn’t been found. Japan has said that the crash would not affect its procurement plans, and it was unclear if the new revelations would spur any change. The Pentagon program office said last year that “more than 1,500 suppliers are on the F-35 program and this is an isolated incident which is quickly being addressed and fixed. Safety is our primary goal.” The defective part identified in the report provides operating pressure to the engine and fuel to the engine combustor. Aside from the defect, Pratt & Whitney’s recent track record delivering engines on time has been spotty. Deliveries surged to 81 in 2018 from 48 in 2012, according to the GAO — yet 86 percent of those were delivered late, up from 48 percent in late 2017. The delays were due in part to an increase in the “average number of quality issues per engine” — 941 in 2018 against 777 a year earlier, the GAO said. Pratt & Whitney told the GAO that “its late engine deliveries increased in 2018 partially due to a subcontractor that did not have all of the needed tooling in place to produce more F-35B engines,” according to the report.


Refugee Afghan entrepreneurs building successful businesses in Turkey

Abstract: BEYLIKDUZU, TURKEY - When Afghan businessman Haji Yakup Burhan fled the violence of his home country 30 years ago, he brought with him his family — and all his money. He headed to Saudi Arabia, where he opened a restaurant but, as refugees, his children had difficulty getting into a school. Then he moved to the United Arab Emirates, but Dubai’s costs seemed impossible. So, two years ago, he moved to Turkey and opened a restaurant in Istanbul’s Esenyurt neighborhood, taking advantage of the country’s relatively open business environment for refugees. “I have 15 people working for me in this restaurant. They are Afghans, Iranians and Turks. “I have invested about $120,000 in this restaurant so far,” Burhan, 52, said at his Afghan kebab establishment. “Over 60 percent of our customers are Afghans living here. The rest are Arabs, Iranians and Turks,” he added. Afghan refugee entrepreneurs appear to be increasingly successful in Turkey, where they bring to the local economy not only their savings but sought-after know-how, whether in restaurants, commerce or skilled crafts and specialities. In turn, Turkey offers refugees simplified administrative procedures for setting up a new business. Turkey hosts nearly 4 million refugees, with Syrians making up the largest group, but Afghans number more than 145,000, according to Amnesty International figures released last year. Some people in Turkey view refugees as a burden, but a different picture emerges in Burhan’s bustling Istanbul suburb, where refugees like him have made significant investments in the local economy. Inside Burhan’s restaurant, a TV blares Afghan channels showing Turkish soap operas over the hum of customers eating the popular Afghan dish “qabeli palaw” — rice with lamb meat and mixed with caramelized carrots, raisins and almond slivers. “We are the only Afghan restaurant in this neighborhood for now,” he said, sitting cross-legged on a mattress and sipping green tea. To attract more investment at a time when the Turkish economy was struggling last year, the government in September slashed from $1 million to $250,000 the threshold at which Turkish citizenship is offered to foreigners buying property. It sparked an 82 percent increase in foreigners buying real estate in the first quarter of this year, the Turkish Statistical Institute said. Afghans likely account for a small percentage of this hike — precise figures are unavailable — but not all those fleeing the war-ravaged country are destitute. Mehmet Yasin Hamidi, an Afghan who runs the Royalist real estate agency in Beylikduzu, on Istanbul’s outskirts, said that their sales of homes had doubled this year compared to the same period last year. “People cannot protect their lives and money in Afghanistan,” Hamidi, who has lots of Afghan nationals among his clients, said. “If you have money, you or your children could get kidnapped. The businessmen are threatened there. That is why they bring their money here.” Construction of new housing has exploded in Beylikduzu in recent years to meet a growing demand for real estate investment by foreigners. The Association of Housing Developers and Investors says that foreigners bought $4.6 billion worth of Turkish property in 2018 and the figure is expected to jump to $10 billion this year. Many refugees arriving in Turkey bring with them diverse skills and experience that allow them to make a contribution to the country’s workforce. Hadi Ekhlas, an engraver from Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic group, left the war-torn nation eight years ago. He first went to neighboring Pakistan to sell his skills. He then moved to Turkey, where he now engraves Islamic and Ottoman scripts on gemstone rings and semi-precious stones — a skill he learned from his grandfather — in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest covered markets. “In the past, some Turkish traders would import stones with engravings from other countries, but now I am making them here and taking orders,” Ekhlas said. Ekhlas has a Turkish partner, who helps him with marketing, and runs one of the 42 Afghan shops in the Grand Bazaar. “I plan to expand my business in the near future. I’d also like to teach my skills to other Turks here,” he said. In another corner of the Grand Bazaar, Khalil Nuri, an expert Afghan jeweler, sells rings, necklaces, pendants — just about anything that can be found in Kabul’s many curiosity shops. “I am a jeweler and an expert in handicrafts and I wanted to continue my profession here,” said Nuri, who fled Afghanistan and has been doing business for the past 12 years in Istanbul. Meanwhile, Burhan said that he hopes his business will continue to do well “because there are a lot of Afghans living here.” “There are also people who want to give the taste of Afghan cuisine a try.”

refugees entrepreneurs turkey istanbul afghanistan kabul


Germany considers 'mosque tax' to replace foreign funding

Abstract: BERLIN - Support is growing in Germany for a “mosque tax” to make Islamic institutions less dependent on potentially anti-democratic or “radical” foreign funding sources, a media report said Sunday. The federal government sees it as “a possible path,” according to an answer to a parliamentary query, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported. Several of Germany’s 16 states have also signaled support in principle for the idea which would mirror Germany’s voluntary Christian “church tax,” the newspaper said. Concern has grown in Germany about the influence of foreign funding sources on mosques for the country’s estimated 5 million Muslims, who hail mostly from Turkey and Arab countries. Some 900 mosques in Germany are run by the Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute for Religion, under the authority of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Imams are paid by the Turkish state, and the group has come under scrutiny with some of its members suspected of spying on Turkish dissidents living in Germany. At the height of a bitter row between Germany and Turkey in mid-2017, two German ministers warned in a Spiegel Online commentary that Erdogan’s “dangerous ideologies must not be imported to Germany via certain mosques.” In other cases, some mosques have come under police scrutiny or been closed for preaching radical and militant Islamist ideas. Welt am Sonntag said that, in the newspaper’s own survey, several states had affirmed that mosque communities in Germany should be able to finance themselves. The Interior Ministry of the regional state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had said it is open to “mosque financing based on the church model” to reduce foreign influence, including “the danger of possible radicalization.” A spokesman for the same ministry in Baden-Wuerttemberg state also pointed to the threat of outside influence “on theological content and political opinion.” “In the worst case,” the spokesman told the newspaper, this includes “radical Islamist or anti-democratic content or aspirations.”


North Korea warns U.S. human rights criticism pushing it in a direction Washington 'does not want to see'

Abstract: North Korea has lashed out at the United States for criticizing it over human rights abuses, with the country’s Foreign Ministry warning such moves were pushing Pyongyang in “a direction where the U.S. does not want to see.” A senior official with the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies was quoted by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency late Saturday as saying that a recent U.S. State Department statement addressing the dire rights situation in the North was “full of falsehoods and fabrications, which stems from a sinister political purpose to tarnish the dignified image” of the country. “Although the U.S. is making desperate and foolish efforts to bring us down by clinging to the ‘human rights’ racket along with the ‘maximum pressure’ aimed at destroying our system, it should bear in mind that such an attempt will never work against us but instead push us dynamically to a direction where the U.S. does not want to see,” the unidentified Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying. The warning came amid growing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which launched a series of short-range missiles over five days earlier this month, bringing a period of more than 500 days without a missile test to an end. In a statement released last week, the State Department said it was recognizing “the efforts of the North Korean defector and human rights community to continue to shine a spotlight on the dire human right(s) situation” in the country. “For decades, the regime in North Korea has subjected its people to egregious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” it went on. “Approximately 100,000 individuals languish in political prison camps and their family members and children often suffer by their sides. Further, those trying to flee this oppressive environment, if caught, are often tortured or killed. “We remain gravely concerned and deeply troubled by these abuses,” it added. But by bringing up the issue of rights in the North, the Foreign Ministry official said that the U.S. is “turning its back on the June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement committing to establish new bilateral relations,” a reference to a vaguely worded pledge “to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” that was released after last June’s landmark summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “This has laid bare the American ulterior intention that it does not want the improved DPRK-U.S. relations really, but seeks only to overthrow our system,” the official said, calling the State Department statement “clear evidence that the present Administration follows in the footsteps of the previous Administrations in regard of the policy hostile to the DPRK.” Speaking at a U.N. event on North Korean abductions on Friday, U.S. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen, the acting permanent representative to the to the United Nations, said the North “remains one of the most repressive states in the world,” calling its human rights situation “deplorable.” “The North Korean government continues to commit arbitrary and unlawful killings, forced disappearances, torture, and other forms of abuse, including sexual violence,” he said. “The regime interferes with nearly all aspects of its citizens’ lives and benefits through the exploitation of its people by operating an economy based on a system of forced labor.” On Thursday, North Korea — facing fierce criticism of its rights record at the United Nations — denied the existence of political prison camps in the country. In rare remarks at the U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomats from Pyongyang defended the regime against a barrage of accusations. “There are still some that persistently insist that political prison camps are operated in our country,” media reports quoted Pak Kwang Ho, a councilor at the North’s central court as saying. “There is no such thing as a political prisoner, or a political prison camp, in the vocabulary of the criminal law and the criminal procedure law of the DPRK,” he added. The North was appearing at its Universal Periodic Review, a session during which nations face human rights scrutiny every five years. A landmark 2014 report by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry documented rampant human rights abuses in the North, ranging from rape, torture and extrajudicial killings to the operation of political prisons. The regime is estimated to have up to 120,000 people in the camps, where many are said to have been jailed merely for being related to individuals deemed a threat to the state, rather than being convicted of internationally recognized criminal offenses. Human rights issues have largely been brushed aside as the Trump administration focuses on nuclear negotiations with the North. Those talks have stalled due to large differences over the scope of the denuclearization plan and offers of sanctions relief by the U.S. Japan, which still lists 17 of its citizens as having been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, has long been a strong proponent of holding Pyongyang accountable for its abuses, though it has tempered its criticism of the Kim regime as the U.S. continues to engage in diplomacy with the North.

north korea
rights
donald trump
kim jong un
abductions
u.s .
nuclear weapons
north korea nuclear crisis
north korea-japan relations
kim-trump summit


Separatist gunmen storm five-star hotel in Pakistan, killing at least one

Abstract: QUETTA, PAKISTAN - Gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan’s southwestern port city of Gwadar on Saturday, killing at least one guard and battling security forces inside, officials and the army said. Baluchistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said most guests were evacuated from the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, which helicopters circled as fighting was under way. Police said that in addition to the guard killed by the attackers, at least two other people were wounded but there was no final casualty total. The military said at least three gunmen killed a guard at the entrance to the hotel when they entered. Security forces cordoned off the area and cornered the attackers in a staircase leading to the top floor, the military said in a statement. The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a group fighting for greater autonomy in Pakistan’s poorest province whose resources it says are exploited for outside interests, claimed responsibility in an emailed statement that said the attack was aimed at “Chinese and other foreign investors.” A Twitter account apparently run by the insurgents said the attackers had “achieved all their targets” but there was no official confirmation that the fighting was over and officials said security forces were ensuring no surviving attackers remained concealed. Prime Minister Imran Khan issued a statement condemning the attack. “Such attempts, especially in Baluchistan are an effort to sabotage our economic projects and prosperity,” he said. Gwadar is a strategic port on the Arabian Sea that is being developed as part of the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project. The Pearl Continental Hotel, on a hillside near the port, is used by foreign guests, including Chinese project staff, but there were none in the building at the time of the attack, Langove said. The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad condemned the attack and said “the heroic action of Pakistani army and law enforcement agencies is highly appreciated.” Pakistani officials have said the security forces were on alert for attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began in early May. Security across most of Pakistan has improved over recent years following a major crackdown after the country’s worst attack, when some 150 people, most of them children, were killed in an assault on a school in the western city of Peshawar in 2014. But Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest province, remains an exception and there have been several attacks this year, with at least 14 people killed last month in an attack on buses traveling between the southern city of Karachi and Gwadar. The province is rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies, with several militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban group Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baluchistan Liberation Army and the Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Saturday’s incident follows a bombing this week that targeted police outside a major Sufi shrine in Lahore, in the east of Pakistan, that killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20, officials said.


Chinese woman's secret arrest in U.S. hints that sanctions probe goes beyond just Huawei

Abstract: NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities were sitting on a sensitive secret last fall when Canada detained a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive on charges that her company misled banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran. Two months earlier, the U.S. had arrested another Chinese national on similar suspicions and was holding her at a grim jail in Washington. An employee of an unidentified Chinese technology company, she had been nabbed on vacation in California. The employee, Liu “Willow” Yang, 29, ultimately pleaded guilty and went back to China. But unlike the legal spectacle in Canada over the extradition and prosecution of Huawei’s chief technology officer, the Yang matter remains largely under wraps in the U.S. Yang had at least one co-conspirator, according to newly unsealed portions of the case and court transcripts reviewed by Bloomberg News, suggesting that the U.S. may be pursuing a wider crackdown on sanctions violations than was previously known. The prosecution of Yang is the third known instance of the U.S. going after Chinese technology companies or their employees for trading with Iran and other countries blacklisted by the U.S. on terrorism, national security or human rights grounds. Besides Huawei, ZTE Corp. was forced to pay $1.2 billion to U.S. authorities to settle allegations that it violated U.S. laws restricting sales to Iran and North Korea. The Chinese technology company that employed Yang wasn’t disclosed in court records, and it wasn’t accused of wrongdoing. It was unclear whether the U.S. technology sold to Iran had a potential military application, which would heighten U.S. ire. “I’m sure there will be widespread publicity about this case,” Liu’s lawyer, Melissa Madrigal, said during her sentencing hearing. “I’m sure Your Honor has seen the Huawei case and the publicity that case has received.” A representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington declined to comment. Typically, criminal investigations become public at the point when people are charged or after cooperators have pleaded guilty. The Yang case, by contrast, was fully sealed until last month, and large portions are still hidden from public view, including basic court records such as the one outlining the evidence and allegations against Yang and the record of her guilty plea. In a Washington courtroom where U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan sometimes covered the windows, Yang admitted to helping ship more than $870,000 worth of American electronics to Iran over a six-year period. The judge went easy on Yang, sentencing her to time served. Chutkan cited Yang’s arrest while on vacation, the poor conditions at the jail and the impact on her family — including two young children, one of them an infant suffering from a brain tumor at the time of Yang’s detention. The U.S. sanctions investigations are unspooling at a time of heightened sensitivity in relations between the two world powers. Trade negotiations are hanging in the balance as the White House continues to try to economically and politically isolate Iran, a top Chinese trading partner. On Friday, President Donald Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion in goods from China as he sought to extract concessions in trade negotiations taking place in Washington between U.S. officials and China’s top trade envoy, Liu He. As the U.S. has sought to choke off a key source of Iranian state revenue — oil exports — China has resisted American demands to reduce purchases of oil from Iran, a major supplier for the country. “Historically there’s been a real reluctance to pursue either penalty enforcement or sanctions designations against Chinese companies. Now I think you’re seeing a much greater willingness to do that,” said Carlton Greene, a Crowell & Morning partner who previously directed sanctions investigations at the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. In the highest-profile sanctions case, the CTO of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, was detained in Canada in December on a U.S. warrant after authorities concluded she had played an intimate role in Huawei’s Iran business, including misleading banks and others about the extent of it. The company, its U.S. subsidiary and Meng were indicted by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in January, and the U.S. has blocked government use of Huawei technology, saying it could provide a backdoor for Chinese espionage. Huawei has vigorously denied the accusations. Meng’s lawyers argued in court on Wednesday that her constitutional rights were violated when she was detained at the Vancouver airport before her arrest at the request of U.S. authorities. They also plan to question whether the U.S. bank-fraud charges against her constitute a crime in Canada. As for Yang, much about her activities remain unknown. After her arrest in California, she was quickly transferred to Washington, where she acknowledged her role in the scheme and agreed to plead guilty, according to court records. The records indicate she began working with a co-conspirator whom she had met through her employment, and took on additional duties to make extra money. The duties involved organizing transshipments — routing deliveries through intermediate destinations, a technique often used to hide the origin or destination of illicit transactions. Even after she became aware that the deals violated U.S. sanctions laws, she continued to do it anyway, the filings say. “Liu didn’t realize or appreciate the seriousness of her actions or the risk she was taking by facilitating these transactions,” Madrigal, Yang’s lawyer, said during her sentencing hearing. Liu earned $25,000 from the trades over the course of the scheme, which she agreed to forfeit to U.S. authorities. Though she could have received five years in prison, federal prosecutors from the national security unit of the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington recommended a lighter sentence because she “assisted authorities in the investigation and prosecution of this matter,” Chutkan, the judge, said during her sentencing hearing. Prosecutors and defense lawyers filed a joint motion seeking an order to have Yang deported home as soon as her sentence was imposed, to which the judge agreed — noting Yang was “not the mastermind of the conspiracy.”

huawei
china
courts
donald trump
meng wanzhou
espionage
u.s .


Lawmaker Takeshi Shina to quit DPP after it merged with Liberal Party

Abstract: MORIOKA, IWATE PREF. - A lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party for the People said Saturday that he will leave his party following its merger with the Liberal Party, another opposition party, last month. Takeshi Shina, a member of the House of Representatives from Iwate Prefecture, made the announcement at a meeting of the DPP’s chapter in the prefectural capital, Morioka. Shina had opposed the merger with the Liberal Party, headed by Ichiro Ozawa, a heavyweight Lower House member also elected from Iwate. With the DPP performing poorly in public opinion polls, other politicians may follow Shina out of the party, watchers say. “I want to create a framework where I can put policies first, not politics,” Shina told reporters after the meeting, giving a reason for quitting the DPP. Another reason he cited was the failure of opposition forces to unite and chose the chapter’s leader, Toru Kikawada, as their unified candidate in the Iwate prefectural constituency in the upcoming House of Councilors election. Shina has been frustrated with the Liberal Party, which agreed with the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, to put up a former Paralympian as their candidate in the Upper House constituency. Kikawada, a former Lower House member, will also leave the DPP.

takeshi shina
dpp
liberal party
ichiro ozawa


Agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa calls on China and South Korea to lift food import bans

Abstract: NIIGATA - Agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa on Sunday requested China and South Korea lift their import bans on food produced in Fukushima and some other prefectures. Yoshikawa made the request to his Chinese counterpart, Han Changfu, and South Korean Agriculture Minister Lee Gae-ho at bilateral meetings in the city of Niigata. Yoshikawa also confirmed cooperation with Beijing and Seoul in battling African swine fever, which is raging in China, during meetings held on the sidelines of the two-day gathering of the Group of 20 agriculture ministers from Saturday. The two neighbors of Japan introduced the bans due to the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 power plant triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. China bans imports of food from 10 prefectures including Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki, while South Korea’s ban covers fishery products from eight prefectures including Fukushima, Aomori and Iwate. Yoshikawa and Han confirmed again that their countries will discuss an easing of the Chinese restriction based on scientific grounds. Yoshikawa explained to Lee that ending the country’s ban will support the reconstruction of disaster-affected areas. However, it is unlikely any progress was made. Japan filed a complaint against South Korea’s ban with the World Trade Organization. Last month, the WTO overturned its earlier ruling to effectively tolerate the ban. The judgment has made it necessary for Japan to change its export strategy for food and agricultural, forestry and fishery products, as Tokyo aimed to use the earlier ruling as a lever to make other countries ease or remove import restrictions on such items.

takamori yoshikawa
fukushima
han changfu
lee gae-ho
fukushima no . 1
radiation


G20 farm ministers urge high-tech push, cross-sector cooperation to feed world's hungry

Abstract: NIIGATA - The Group of Twenty Agriculture Ministers Meeting concluded Sunday with calls to feed a growing global population and promote sustainable agriculture through new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and drones, and to increase cooperation among farmers, nonfarm businesses and academia. Separately, a meeting between the U.S. and Japanese farm ministers Saturday failed to produce any breakthrough on lowering agricultural tariffs in Japan, which the U.S. wants reduced. “The G20 meeting confirmed the importance of encouraging innovation in agriculture through the utilization of advanced technologies, including the latest information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, and robotics,” said Japan’s minister of agriculture, Takamori Yoshikawa, at a news conference Sunday after the meeting. The United Nations currently estimates the world’s population at 7.7 billion, and predicts it will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Japan, facing the opposite problem, used the Niigata meeting to showcase high-tech developments that are being applied to solve problems in its own agriculture sector. “In Japan, we face pressing issues like population decline as well as the rapid aging of society. Initiatives introduced at this meeting, in terms of best practices, include the development of new technologies such as ‘autonomous driving’ tractors and drones to survey fields,” Yoshikawa said. Set up outside the meeting room were displays from dozens of Japanese firms demonstrating their software and hardware technologies for the agriculture industry. In addition to unmanned tractors, there were drones for monitoring crops, a tomato-harvesting robot and a “wearable robot’ — a backpack-like contraption that makes it easier for people to pick up and put down heavy loads without straining their backs. The ministerial meeting took place about a week after a stark warning by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services that predicted up to 1 million plant and animal species face extinction within the coming decades, due at least partially to the rapid development of agriculture. Crop and livestock operations currently co-opt more than 33 percent of Earth’s land surface and 75 percent of its freshwater resources, the report said. It added that agricultural activities are responsible for nearly 35 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions due to the widespread use of fertilizers and the ongoing razing of tropical forests to raise livestock. In their declaration, the ministers noted briefly that the loss of biodiversity is one of the great global challenges that make agriculture vulnerable, but expressed particular concern about climate change. To help farmers mitigate crop damage due to uncertain weather patterns as well as floods, droughts and typhoons, the use of new climate-smart technologies, including software that allows faster, easier access to the latest weather data, was encouraged. The other issue of much discussion, and of specific importance to Japan in particular, was how to get younger people to join the agriculture sector. At Sunday’s news conference, Luis Miguel Etcheveherearge, Argentina’s state secretary of agro-industry, said while new technologies can attract younger people, it’s the bottom line that counts, and open markets are the key. “If you want to see young people get into farming, it has to be profitable. In general, in order to be profitable, farming products around the world must have market access,” he said. On the sidelines of the G20 conference, the issue of bilateral market access for agricultural process was discussed. At Saturday’s Japan-U.S. meeting, the allies remained divided over the question of lowering Japanese tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Japan from May 25 to 28, and concluding a bilateral trade treaty is at the top of the agenda. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told reporters Saturday the U.S. is focusing on tariff levels on U.S. farm products as a way to reduce its $70 billion trade deficit with Japan. But Yoshikawa would only say that the U.S. agriculture market is an important one for Japan, and a reliable supplier of agricultural products.


'Outdated' general curriculum taught at high schools set to be revamped

Abstract: The curriculum for general courses taught in high schools, which has remained untouched since the current system was established after World War II, will be reformed as part of a plan to drastically revamp secondary education. The general course structure is expected to be split into a number of categories, with emphases placed on math and science education or developing skills that could benefit local communities, according to officials familiar with reform discussions. Japanese high schools currently teach general courses, as well as providing specialized education options to some students, such as those that cover agriculture and engineering studies. In 1994, this integrated course system was created to allow students to choose from a broad range of subjects both in general and specialized subjects. At present, about 70 percent of students are enrolled in general courses. Hiroyuki Yoshiie, a member of a special group within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Headquarters for the Revitalization of Education, has called for a speedy reform of the current high school education system, which he said was outdated. “This is completely a Showa system,” he said, referring to the Showa Era which lasted from 1926 to 1989. In particular, the general course has one-size-fits-all educational content, and most students select high schools according to their junior high school grades and test scores instead of choosing schools from the perspective of what they want to study, Yoshiie said. The forthcoming reform reflects a sense of crisis among educational authorities about declines in the amount of time that high school students spend studying and their willingness to study. According to surveys conducted by the education ministry and others with children who were born in 2001, 9.3 percent of first-year junior high school students said they do not study at all after school on weekdays, with the figure rising to 25.4 percent for first-year high school students. The surveys also showed that 37.7 percent of first-year junior high school students think that studying at school will be very useful for their futures, while the figure fell to 27.4 percent for first-year high school students. The LDP lawmakers in the education group and the government’s Education Rebuilding Implementation Council plan to work out proposals for high school education reform by the end of this month. Some members involved in the discussions have called for scrapping the general course system altogether. The lawmakers tasked with studying education reform, however, concluded that the framework should be maintained in order to provide a general education that would benefit society. Following the proposals, the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education minister, will discuss specific categories for the revised general course. The ministry hopes to amend high school standards after the panel reaches a conclusion. Also included in the high school education reform discussions was how to prevent the dropping of difficult subjects, such as the sciences, in favor of liberal arts by students who believe doing so will help them pass university entrance exams, according to Yoshiie. Therefore, devising a system to encourage students to study liberal arts and sciences in a balanced way is expected to be a key topic of the discussions.


Chinese court slaps Japanese man with 5½-year prison term for spying

Abstract: BEIJING - A Chinese court has sentenced a Japanese man to 5½ years in prison and ordered the confiscation of his property worth 200,000 yuan (¥3.2 million) for spying, informed sources have said. The Dalian Intermediate People’s Court in the northeastern province of Liaoning handed down the sentence to the man in his 60s on Friday, the sources said the following day. The Japanese government has confirmed that the man was detained in Dalian in May 2017 and arrested in September the same year. Details of his spying allegations were not disclosed. Since 2015, China has detained at least nine Japanese nationals on spying or other charges. The man is the fifth to receive a court ruling.


Reiwa calligraphy to be stored at National Archives, made available for commercial use

Abstract: The government plans to preserve the original calligraphic work Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga displayed when announcing the new era name of Reiwa at the National Archives of Japan, according to government sources. The archived material will be made public from the spring of 2021. The National Archives will scan and digitize the work for display in its online archives. Digital prints will be freely downloadable and be available for corporations to use for commercial purposes, the sources said Saturday. The work was written by a Cabinet Office specialist in calligraphy on April 1, the same day the announcement was made that it would replace the Heisei Era name on May 1. According to guidelines for the management of government records, the preservation period is set to start April 1, 2020. The government will transfer the work to the National Archives as a specified historical public record after the preservation period, which is expected to last one year if no special circumstances arise, the sources said. Several copies of the writing were made immediately after the announcement of Reiwa. The work is now carefully preserved and no further copies of the original will be made to prevent it from deteriorating. The original Heisei calligraphy, first presented to the public in 1989 by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi at a news conference to announce the new era name during the changeover from Showa, is also kept at the archives..

reiwa
yoshihide suga
heisei
imperial family
abdication


Trade row deepens as China announces retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. products

Abstract: BEIJING - Deepening a trade battle and sending financial markets spinning, China announced Monday it was raising tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods in retaliation for the latest hike in U.S. tariffs on its exports. The Finance Ministry said Monday the new penalty duties of 5 percent to 25 percent on hundreds of U.S. products including batteries, spinach and coffee will take effect June 1. That followed Trump’s increase on Friday of duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent after charging that China had backtracked on commitments it made in earlier negotiations in a dispute over Beijing’s technology ambitions and perennial trade surplus. Resuming his messages over Twitter early Monday, President Donald Trump warned Chinese President Xi Jinping that China “will be hurt very badly” if it doesn’t agree to a trade deal. Trump tweeted China “had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out!” Trump insisted the tariffs the U.S. has placed on Chinese goods don’t hurt American consumers, saying there is “no reason for the U.S. Consumer to pay the Tariffs.” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that U.S. consumers and businesses pay the tariffs. “Both sides will pay,” he told Fox News. China had vowed “necessary countermeasures” on Friday against Trump’s escalation of the tariff conflict. Beijing is running out of U.S. imports for penalties due to the lopsided trade balance between the world’s two largest economies. Regulators have targeted American companies in China by slowing down customs clearance for shipments and processing of business licenses. The new tariffs are likely to hurt exporters on both sides, as well as European and Asian companies that trade between the United States and China or supply components and raw materials to their manufacturers. The increases already in place have disrupted trade in goods from soybeans to medical equipment and sent shock waves through other Asian economies that supply Chinese factories. Forecasters have warned that the U.S. tariff hikes could disrupt a Chinese recovery that had appeared to be gaining traction. Growth in the world’s second-largest economy held steady at 6.4 percent over a year earlier in January-March, supported by higher government spending and bank lending. The tensions “raise fresh doubts about this recovery path,” Morgan Stanley economists Robin Xing, Jenny Zheng and Zhipeng Cai said in a report. The latest U.S. charges could knock 0.5 percentage points off annual Chinese economic growth and that loss could widen to 1 percentage point if both sides extend penalties to all of each other’s exports, economists say. That would pull annual growth below 6%, raising the risk of politically dangerous job losses. The latest talks ended with no word of progress on Friday. Chinese officials said they hoped that the U.S. side would meet them halfway, describing the standoff as just a “setback.” Trump might meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi, during next month’s meeting of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka, said Kudlow, his economic adviser. Chinese officials have invited the top U.S. envoys — Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin-to Beijing, Kudlow said on Fox News. But he said there were no “definite plans.” China’s state media has sought to reassure businesses and consumers that the ruling Communist Party has the resources and policy tools to respond to the dispute with Washington. “There is nothing to be afraid of,” said the party newspaper People’s Daily. “The U.S.-instigated trade war against China is just a hurdle in China’s development process. It is no big deal.” Trump started raising tariffs last July over complaints China steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Washington wants Beijing to roll back government support for Chinese companies striving to become global leaders in robotics and other technology. The U.S. and other trading partners say such efforts violate Beijing’s free-trade commitments. A stumbling block has been U.S. insistence on an enforcement mechanism with penalties to ensure Beijing carries out its commitments. Economists say Chinese leaders probably reject that as a violation of Chinese sovereignty. The abruptness of Trump’s announcement on May 5, just days before the last round of talks, about raising tariffs to 25 percent made companies see doing business in China as more uncertain, said Jake Parker, vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, an industry group. No matter what Washington and Beijing decide, “there is an enormous risk in the background that tariffs could come back into play at any moment,” he said.

china
tariffs
exports
imports
donald trump
trade war
u.s .


Facebook takes down dodgy Italian accounts ahead of EU election

Abstract: MILAN, ITALY - Facebook said on Sunday it had taken down numerous Italian accounts on its platform that were false or were spreading fake news ahead of a European parliamentary election later this month. The European Union has warned of foreign interference in campaigning for the vote of May 23-26, and in April the European Commission urged Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to tackle fake news before the poll. “We have removed a series of false and duplicated accounts which violated our authenticity policy, as well as several pages due to violation of rules on name changing,” a spokesman for Facebook in Italy said in an emailed statement. “We also took action against some pages that repeatedly spread incorrect information,” he said, adding that an investigation by online activist group Avaaz had prompted the decision. Avaaz said on Sunday that Facebook had taken down 23 Italian accounts with a total of more than 2.46 million followers that were spreading “false information and divisive content” over issues such as migration and vaccines as well as anti-Semitism. More than half the accounts taken down supported either the 5-Star or the League, the two parties in the Rome government coalition, Avaaz said. Keen to avoid more heavy-handed regulation, the tech giants had pledged in October to fight the spread of fake news. “We’re committed to protecting the integrity of elections within the European Union and in the whole world,” the Facebook spokesman said.

facebook
italy
eu
elections
fake news
google
twitter
avaaz
europe


Key index points to Japanese economic downturn for first time in six years

Abstract: The government said Monday its key composite index of economic indicators shows the economy “worsening” for the first time in more than six years, reinforcing the view that Japan may have entered a recession. The Cabinet Office’s coincident index of business conditions for March fell 0.9 point from the previous month to 99.6 against the 2015 base of 100, according to a government survey. An economic downturn would be a major setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as his government is poised to raise the consumption tax in October to 10 percent from the current 8 percent, a move that could dampen consumer spending and hurt the economy. The lowered assessment of the key index by the Cabinet Office came after a recent spate of sluggish economic data, including a 0.9 percent drop in industrial output in March amid slowing demand for exports of automobiles and manufacturing equipment. The Cabinet Office used the weakest of its five expressions for assessing the key index in describing the economy as “worsening.” It last used that description between October 2012 and January 2013. It cut its economic assessment of the index in January from “weakening” to “signaling a possible turning point” in the economy. The move raised doubts about the government’s assertion that growth from December 2012 had likely surpassed the Izanami Boom, a 73-month streak from 2002 to 2008. A government panel will formally decide the length of the economic cycle after analyzing more data, a process that can take more than a year. Attention is now focused on whether the government will revise its official view of economic conditions in its monthly economic report for May, to be released later in the month. In the monthly report, the government has maintained that the economy is “recovering at a moderate pace” but added in March that “weakness is seen recently in exports and industrial production in some sectors.”

economic indicators
economy
cabinet
shinzo abe
consumption tax


Finance chief Taro Aso reiterates Japan's commitment to October tax hike amid speculation of delay

Abstract: Finance Minister Taro Aso reiterated Monday the government’s intention to raise the consumption tax from 8 percent to 10 percent in October as planned. Although exports are sluggish due to the Chinese economic slowdown, the employment situation and incomes are improving, Aso said at a meeting of the Lower House Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration. He said he hopes consumption will recover. The possibility of delaying the hike was floated last month by Koichi Hagiuda, a close aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Hagiuda told an online TV program: “We would not take the people toward a cliff. There could be a different development.” His remark triggered much speculation, with some saying Abe might be thinking about delaying the hike for a third time. Abe has twice pushed back the consumption tax rise. It was last raised in 2014, when it increased from 5 percent.


All eyes on Uber's second day of trading after debut flop amid Trump trade war and Lyft's drag

Abstract: NEW YORK - Uber’s bruised investors have had the weekend to prep for what looks like a rough Monday for markets, partly because the escalation of President Donald Trump’s tariff spat with China is set to hammer sentiment. Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. resume trading Monday 7.6 percent below their offering price after Friday’s flop. Among the factors that buffeted the biggest IPO of the year: a broad stock market selloff in the morning and a weak earnings report posted by Uber’s primary rival, Lyft Inc. Uber opened at $42, or 6.7 percent below its $45 IPO price. Shortly after, it slid to $41.06. While the company briefly reclaimed almost all its losses by early afternoon, the comeback proved short-lived. “While the trade war has caused overall stock market volatility, we believe that the poor trading in Lyft was the major factor impacting Uber,” said Kathleen Smith, co-founder of Renaissance Capital and manager of the IPO exchange-traded fund. “Investors are applying the valuation multiples of Lyft to Uber. And as the Lyft stock dropped, so did Uber.” Over the last three trading days, Lyft retreated 13.9 percent to an all-time low. Meanwhile, the Renaissance IPO ETF added 0.5 percent, outpacing the S&P 500. So while Uber and Lyft are going through some “tough price discovery,” and may continue to do so in the coming days, the rest of the IPO market appears to be healthy, Smith said. In the first hour of the ride-sharing company’s IPO, retail investors at TD Ameritrade executed 1.8-times more trades than in Lyft’s first 2.5 hours, according to TD Ameritrade’s Alyson Nikulicz. Uber had made up 10 percent of Friday’s equity trades as of 1:28 p.m. in New York at TD Ameritrade. Before Uber’s debut, out of a total of 60 companies, only four IPOs of a billion dollars or more had a decline of at least 5 percent since the start of the decade. Only seven ended the first day of trading in the red. “We believe this is kind of a near-term speed bump, we don’t view this as a Lyft 2.0,” Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities managing director, said on Bloomberg TV. “This continues to be a ‘show me’ story.” For now, the story is set to be one of volatility as traders dump equities and other riskier assets. The weekend’s back-and-forth between Trump and China suggests U.S. Treasuries and currencies such as the yen and Swiss franc will be seeing a lot of action on Monday.

uber
trade war
lyft
donald trump
ipos
stocks
u.s .


Retired Lebanese soldiers picket central bank over wage and benefit cuts

Abstract: BEIRUT - Retired soldiers in Lebanon started picketing the Central Bank building late on Sunday in protest at draft budget proposals to cut the state wage bill, saying they aimed to stop workers entering on Monday morning. As about 100 protesters gathered outside the Central Bank, Lebanon’s coalition government began holding its latest meeting to try to agree to a budget that would reduce the fiscal deficit in the heavily indebted state. The retired soldiers have blocked the Central Bank’s three entrances, including the one for vehicles, said a Reuters video journalist who was there. Gen. Sami Ramah, a spokesman for the retired soldiers, said they would stay at the bank, stopping employees from entering, until their demand of no cuts to the military budget was met. There was no immediate Central Bank statement on whether the protest would affect its work on Monday. Retired soldiers have been among the most vocal opponents of reported cuts in the draft budget, blocking roads with burning tires to protest any cuts to their pensions and benefits. The government said on Friday it had agreed to tighten the allocation of financial incentives that are intended for soldiers on front-line duty but applied more widely in practice. Central Bank workers went on strike early last week over proposed cuts in the wage bill, causing the Beirut Stock Exchange to suspend trading for two days because the transaction clearance and settlement process could not be completed on time. Workers at other state institutions including the national power producer, telecom firm Ogero and the port of Beirut held strikes for several days last week. With Lebanon suffering from years of low economic growth, long-stalled reforms are seen as more pressing than ever. But the strikes and protests point to the political difficulties facing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s unity government as it seeks to agree a budget to narrow a gaping deficit. The public-sector wage bill is the government’s biggest expense followed by debt servicing costs and the big subsidies paid annually to the state-owned power producer. Lebanon has public debt equivalent to 150 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The draft budget aims to reduce the deficit to below 9 percent of GDP from 11.2 percent in 2018.


Bayer apologizes for Monsanto PR firm's media list

Abstract: BERLIN - Germany’s Bayer apologized Sunday after revelations in France that its subsidiary Monsanto had a PR agency collate lists of politicians, scientists and journalists and their views on pesticides and GM crops. The German agro-chemicals and drugs giant, which finalized the acquisition of the U.S. company Monsanto last year, said that “following an initial review, we understand that this initiative has raised concerns and criticism. “This is not the way Bayer seeks dialogue with society and stakeholders. We apologize for this behavior,” it said in a statement, adding that it had no indication that the lists had “violated any legal provisions. French authorities have opened a preliminary inquiry into claims Monsanto had information illegally collected on the views and pliability of hundreds of high-profile figures and media outlets. Monsanto allegedly had public relations agency FleishmanHillard draw up files on their opinions on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate and on genetically modified crops. Bayer said it had suspended cooperation with the external service provider for now. It also pledged to ask a law firm to evaluate the allegations, to fully inform all the persons involved, and to “fully support” the French public prosecutor’s office. Paris judicial police has said it would carry out the probe following a complaint by the daily Le Monde and one of its journalists, whose names appear on the list, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Two anti-pesticide NGOs — Foodwatch and Generations Futures — were also preparing to lodge legal complaints. The investigators will look into the possible “collection of personal information by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means. Information was collected on their views on pesticides and on Monsanto as well as their leisure pursuits, addresses and phone numbers, according to the France 2 public television. Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup — their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users. Bayer announced last month that over 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller had been launched in the U.S.

bayer monsanto media glyphosate roundup europe food gmos


Dollar weakens to below ¥109.70 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar moved on a weak note below ¥109.70 in Tokyo late Monday as investors retreated to the sidelines to see the course of U.S.-China trade negotiations. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥109.64-64, down from ¥109.76-76 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1229-1230, up from $1.1225-1226, and at ¥123.11-12, down from ¥123.21-22. The dollar eased to levels below ¥109.70 in early trading following a drop in U.S. stock index futures in off-hours trading, traders said. The greenback briefly fell below ¥109.60 after a weak start of the Nikkei 225 stock average. But the dollar rose above ¥109.70 in midmorning trading thanks to buying by Japanese importers, traders said. “A pause in Tokyo stock falls also triggered (dollar) buybacks,” an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The U.S. currency fluctuated mostly around ¥109.70-80 in the afternoon amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives, traders said. “Investors refrained from active trading amid a strong wait-and-see mood” ahead of the planned U.S. announcement later Monday of details about additional tariffs on all imports from China. An analyst at a bank-affiliated securities firm said that the dollar-yen rate may remain on a weak note, noting possible prolonged trade friction between the world’s two largest economies.


Tokyo stocks end lower sixth straight session

Abstract: Stocks finished lower for the sixth straight trading session Monday amid heightening concerns over a prolonged U.S.-China trade war. The Nikkei 225 average fell 153.64 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 21,191.28. On Friday, it sank 57.21 points. The Topix, which covers all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 8.28 points, or 0.53 percent, lower at 1,541.14 after a loss of 1.29 points Friday. The Nikkei got off to a sluggish start after the United States and China failed to find a solution to their trade dispute in two days of ministerial negotiations in Washington through Friday. While the key index temporarily dropped some 216 points right after the opening bell, the downside was limited by buybacks, according to brokers. The Nikkei then moved in negative territory without direction for the remainder of the session as investors adopted a wait-and-see stance before the U.S. announced details about additional tariffs on all imports from China later Monday. Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., said Japanese investors were waiting to see how the Dow Jones Industrial Average reacts to the tariff announcement. Most investors agree that the Dow will likely fall as the additional tariffs will hinder improvement in the global economy due to the expected large impact on China, according to Miura. He said he expects the Dow to drop between 200 and 300 points in its Monday trading and the Nikkei to fall to around 21,000 on Tuesday. On the other hand, a handful of market players expect the Dow to rise, noting that the additional tariffs are expected to have smaller effects on the U.S. than on China. Meanwhile, Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co., stressed that while the U.S.-China trade talks ended without an agreement, negotiations will continue. Indicating that the future of the trade conflict will be left up to an envisioned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Tabei said the Nikkei “will not climb unless the date of the summit is decided.” Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,491 to 589 in the first section, while 60 issues were unchanged. Volumes fell to 1.420 billion shares from 1.740 billion Friday. Sumitomo Electric fell 1.15 percent after its group operating profit forecast for the business year until March 2020, announced Friday, fell short of the market’s expectations. Restaurant operator Pepper Food Service plunged 9.16 percent after it released on Friday unfavorable group operating profit for the January-March quarter. Other major losers included Taisho Pharmaceutical, clothing store chain Fast Retailing and chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron. On the other hand, mobile game app developer DeNA surged 14.44 percent, aided by the company’s plan announced Friday to repurchase its own shares, brokers said. Toyo Tire enjoyed its first rise in nine trading days after hitting a year-to-date low Friday, due to investor belief that the negative trading factors have run out, according to brokers.


Lawyer for Ghosn says ex-Nissan boss received no money via Oman in bank accounts

Abstract: Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn did not receive any money sent by the automaker through Oman to his personal accounts, according to his lawyer. “He doesn’t have a company, he doesn’t control a company there, formally or effectively,” Junichiro Hironaka, the former global auto executive’s attorney, said in an interview Sunday on TV Asahi when asked about payments made though the Middle Eastern country. “Ghosn told me that is impossible.” After Ghosn’s first arrest in November, Nissan and Renault uncovered payments made through companies in Oman and Lebanon that allegedly were used for Ghosn’s personal benefit, including a yacht and his son’s startup. When Ghosn was arrested for a second time in April, prosecutors alleged that he used foreign corporate entities in 2017 and 2018 to funnel the money into accounts that he controlled. While Ghosn was initially arrested for charges including breach of trust and misreporting income, the Oman-related allegations are the first to suggest that the former chairman — who also once led the alliance between Nissan, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. — transferred money from Nissan for his own gain. Ghosn, who is now free on bail again, has refuted all of the charges and has said that prosecutors were “aided and abetted by certain Nissan conspirators.” He has maintained his innocence of all charges filed against him since November, when his shock arrest jolted the auto industry and triggered sweeping changes at the three-company auto alliance. Ghosn is now preparing for his trial, which may begin later this year or next. The former auto executive is planning to attend a pre-trial hearing scheduled for May 23, Hironaka said.

nissan
carlos ghosn
junichiro hironaka
courts
corruption
scandals
carmakers


KDDI rolls out new 'price down' smartphone plans for Japan amid government push for lower rates

Abstract: KDDI Corp. unveiled new “price down” data plans for its smartphone users Monday amid pressure from the government to facilitate competition among the major mobile network carriers. The operator of the au brand rolled out three new choices targeting all types of subscribers. One is a metered plan with a two-year contract for light users that starts at ¥2,980 per month if their data usage does not exceed 1 gigabyte. An additional ¥1,000 discount will be offered to customers who have two or more family members using KDDI smartphones. Ahead of other rivals, KDDI introduced a metered data plan in 2017, but “we are striving to provide an even lower rate plan,” Takashi Shoji, senior managing executive officer director, said during a news event in Tokyo. With the family discount, KDDI said the new plan, which will be available June 1, will lower the rates of some users subscribing to a 1 GB flat plan introduced before 2017 by as much as 40 percent. KDDI is apparently catching up to a move made by NTT Docomo Inc. last month. Docomo also unveiled new data plans, including a metered one that starts at ¥1,980 for those who use less than 1 GB of data a month and includes a ¥1,000 family discount. Docomo also claims that its new plans can reduce customers’ bills by up to 40 percent. A “40 percent price cut” has been a key phrase in the industry since Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in an apparent aim to heat up competition, mentioned last August that phone bills could be lowered by that much. SoftBank Corp. said last week that its plans are competitive enough for now, but its sub-brand Ymobile will come out with new plans by September. KDDI will also start providing an unlimited high-speed data plan for its smartphone users that the firm claims is the first of its kind among Japan’s mega-carriers. The plan will have a monthly price of ¥8,980 and be available starting around this summer. The family discount can be applied as well, while KDDI home broadband internet users will be able to receive an additional ¥1,000 discount. Docomo and SoftBank provide plans for heavy users, but Docomo’s plan has a limit of 30 GB while SoftBank’s is 50 GB. “This is the first unlimited data plan in the industry, so we are confident that it stands out compared to rivals,” Shoji said. KDDI’s move may prompt Docomo and SoftBank to come up with an unlimited plan or something similar. The third KDDI plan offers 7 GB monthly for ¥5,480 while data used when accessing popular social network services such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram won’t be counted. The rates for these two plans are also based on a two-year commitment.


Nissan pushes back on Renault's renewed efforts to merge

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co. is opposing renewed efforts by alliance partner Renault SA to merge under a holding company because such a structure won’t help turn it around, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. Talks have been ongoing since Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard first made an informal proposal to Nissan Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa in April, the source said, asking not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public. Nissan rebuffed the idea then and has continued to oppose it, the source said. News of the talks comes as Nissan was set to report on Tuesday its lowest annual operating profit in a decade, hurt by slumping U.S. sales, aging models and a product cycle that’s out of sync. The merger proposal came after the most tumultuous few months in the companies’ two-decade partnership, which was shaken by the shock arrest of the alliance’s chief architect and former chairman, Carlos Ghosn. Nissan declined to comment on the discussions. Representatives for Renault didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A merger under a holding company won’t help solve Nissan’s current operational issues, such as high fixed-costs, unprofitable models and flawed Datsun and Infiniti brand strategies, the source said, adding that a new structure will cause delays in addressing these issues because of logistical and regulatory hurdles. Combining the companies under a single entity won’t add benefits of scale because they already share purchasing and development costs, the source added. TBS reported earlier Monday that Renault had made a formal offer to merge with Nissan under a holding company structure, citing unidentified people. The broadcaster didn’t elaborate on what it meant by formal, or when the proposal was made. The Japanese government has also spurned efforts by Renault to engage in merger talks, according to The Financial Times. No formal proposal has been made to Nissan, according to a source close to Renault. The Japanese carmaker hasn’t received a formal merger proposal from Renault, Nissan executive Hitoshi Kawaguchi said. Although the French automaker agreed in 2015 not to interfere in its decision-making, Nissan’s financial weakness could give Renault an opening to push harder for a merger. The combination would give Renault and Nissan heft as the industry is going through a radical shift toward electric and self-driving vehicles. The proposal revived by Senard calls for a holding-company structure, which would provide for equal ownership and board representation for Renault and Nissan, people familiar with the situation have said. While the aim of such a structure is to gain Nissan’s support, Saikawa reportedly rejected a request last month by Senard to reconsider a merger. The French and Japanese manufacturers, along with third partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp., make 10.8 million cars each year — nearly double Ford Motor Co.’s global deliveries. The alliance — currently held together by a series of cross-shareholdings — would be second only to Germany’s Volkswagen AG, with Toyota Motor Corp. a close third. Auto manufacturers are grappling with investments needed to keep pace in the race to develop self-driving and electric vehicles, while ride-sharing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. leech away customers and trade tensions roil markets. Nissan last month warned investors of bad times ahead as it cut preliminary profit for the year ended March to ¥318 billion, a 30 percent decline from the previous guidance, which itself had been lowered. That would mark the first time the Japanese carmaker earned less than Renault in a decade. Nissan may also announce that it’s paring its midterm revenue targets, according to a source familiar with the matter who didn’t want to be identified discussing company business. The carmaker will lower its fiscal 2022 revenue target to about ¥14 trillion from the existing target of ¥16.5 trillion and cut its operating margin target to about 6 percent from 8 percent, the source said, confirming an earlier report in the Asahi Shimbun. Nissan declined to comment on the Asahi report. Renault is treading carefully in its relations with Nissan. Their cross-shareholding is governed by an agreement known as Rama, which was last updated in 2015 with extensive governance provisions that have never been made public. Any unilateral move by either Renault or Nissan to tip the balance could trigger an all-out war for control. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan — the bigger partner — which in turn owns 15 percent of Renault, with no voting rights. The 2015 agreement granted Nissan guarantees preventing Renault from interfering in its governance, a move Nissan considered necessary because the French government is Renault’s most powerful shareholder.

nissan
renault
mergers
carmakers
mitsubishi
toyota
financial results


Japan auto association chief says outlook bleak amid U.S.-China trade spat

Abstract: The head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Monday that the outlook for the industry is cloudy due to “too many uncertainties” in the global economy amid the escalating trade fight between the United States and China. “It is true that protectionist ideas are spreading,” Akio Toyoda, also president of Toyota Motor Corp., told a news conference in Tokyo as the United States’ tit-for-tat trade war with China spurs concerns about its potential impact on the global economy and financial markets. “There is a thick layer of cloud and we still cannot see sunshine,” Toyoda said. The Trump administration stepped up pressure on China on Friday by raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent and threatening to hike tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports if no deal is struck. Beijing responded by pledging to take “necessary countermeasures.” The U.S. and China have been the top two markets helping the Japanese auto industry to sustain its growth over the past 30 years as the domestic market has shrunk, Toyoda said. The Japanese auto industry is also bracing for the outcome of trade talks between Tokyo and Washington in which Japan’s automobile exports to the United States is a key issue.

japan automobile manufacturers association


Toshiba net profit up 26% in fiscal 2018 after selling chip unit

Abstract: Toshiba Corp. said Monday its group net profit in the year ended March rose 26 percent to a record ¥1.01 trillion after selling its prized chip unit in June. The technology conglomerate’s bottom line was boosted by the ¥2 trillion ($18 billion) sale of Toshiba Memory Corp. to an international consortium including U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital LP, Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. Bain holds 49.9 percent of the voting rights in the chip company, while Toshiba has 40.2 percent of the rights and optical glass maker Hoya Corp. has 9.9 percent. Hynix and Apple also own stakes without voting rights. Toshiba’s group operating profit fell 58.9 percent to ¥35.45 billion from the previous year on sales of ¥3.69 trillion, down 6.4 percent. The company expects its group operating profit to jump 295 percent to ¥140 billion for the year through next March while its group sales will fall 7.9 percent to ¥3.4 trillion.