Aid effort brings little relief for migrants trapped in Libya limbo

Abstract: CAIRO - A bigger presence of relief agencies, U.N. workers and diplomats in Libya has done little to ease the plight of migrants abused in detention centers and blocked from crossing the Mediterranean, migrants and aid workers say. Migrant boat crossings from Libya dropped steeply from mid-2017 due an Italian-led push to disrupt smuggling networks and boost Libyan coast guard interceptions. Aid agencies have tried to partner with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), which was set up in 2016, to help those stranded inside the country. But the United Nations and rights groups say migrants are still frequently exposed to torture, forced labor and rape. Migrants picked up by the coast guard under EU-backed measures to try to stop them reaching the bloc are returned to detention centers nominally run by the GNA, one of Libya’s two rival governments, where they can languish for months while they plan for another crossing or seek repatriation or resettlement. Real control, however, often lies with local armed groups. “The police here do whatever they want to us. If they want to beat us they beat us … no one can protect us,” said one Eritrean migrant who was transferred from a center in Tripoli to the southern city of Sabha after being intercepted at sea in December 2017, and spoke to Reuters by phone. “In two days we get one meal. We drink saltwater, we don’t get any medical treatment.” A senior guard shot at migrants when they demanded food, injuring one of them in the hand, he said, echoing testimony reported by rights groups in the country. Migrants have sometimes been left underfed or deprived of assistance because of corruption or power struggles among guards and officials, aid workers say. During militia battles, migrants have been abandoned to their fate. Another Eritrean man held reached by phone at Tariq Siqqa center in Tripoli said some migrants won release by bribing guards or working for no pay. “They go and work in their homes and after that they go free. There is much corruption here.” Officials from the GNA’s interior ministry and its illegal immigration department did not respond or could not be reached for comment. In the past they have denied allegations of abuse and said migrants were detained for their own protection. The centers currently hold some 5,200 migrants, a fraction of the hundreds of thousands present in Libya, but numbers can suddenly swell due to new coastguard interceptions or clashes. The number of migrants held in the cities of Misrata and Khoms rose from 650 at the start of the year to 930, “leading to further deterioration of already dire detention conditions,” Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said last week. Many are suffering from malnutrition, hypothermia, or severe diarrhea, and some were systematically abused and tortured by traffickers before trying to cross by sea, MSF said. Human Rights Watch said last week that it had heard “disturbing accounts from both adults and children of violence by guards, including beatings, whippings and use of electric shocks” in detention centers in Misrata, Tajoura and Zuwara. Access to detention centers for humanitarian workers who provide basic supplies and health care, often through EU-funded programs, is unpredictable. Reuters has been unable to gain access to centers for more than a year. Media visits became rarer after CNN reported in November 2017 that migrants were being traded in slave auctions in Libya. The outrage sparked by the CNN story gave impetus to a “voluntary returns” program run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that flew nearly 16,500 migrants back to their home countries last year. Critics say the returns are not truly voluntary, given the only alternative is to stay in Libya. UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, has begun to process more asylum requests and resettle refugees, either directly from Libya or through Niger, but the program has been hampered by a lack of resettlement offers.


Migrants land in Sicily but fate of rescue ship and its crew uncertain

Abstract: CATANIA, ITALY - Forty-seven migrants disembarked in the Sicilian port of Catania on Thursday, where the crew of the charity ship that rescued them feared legal action as Italy’s far-right interior minister tries to stop new arrivals. The Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3, which had been waiting off the coast of Sicily with people it pulled to safety in the Mediterranean on Jan. 19, was finally given permission to anchor in Catania after six other countries agreed to take them in. The exhausted migrants, including 15 minors, cheered and hugged the crew as the ship sailed into the harbor, escorted by half a dozen coast guard and police boats. “I foresee that there may be problems with the authorities,” Sea Watch’s mission head, Kim Heaton-Heather, told AFPTV. “But I am also very, very certain that in the end, no matter what allegations are brought against the organization, the ship or the crew as whole, none of these allegations will stick and the truth of the matter will come out,” he said. France, Germany, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Luxembourg had said they would share care of the mainly sub-Saharan group of migrants. On Thursday, Lithuania said it would accept up to five of them, as long as they were not “economic migrants. It was not clear whether Italy would also host some of the migrants. The ship had been sheltering from a storm off the coastal town of Syracuse, which had been ready to welcome those saved. Italy’s hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has warned he is considering legal action against Sea Watch’s crew, accusing them of sailing straight for Italy rather than taking the migrants to closer ports in Libya or Tunisia. The German charity says it tried but failed to get a response from Tripoli or Tunis, and on Thursday launched an appeal for financial aid, tweeting “Help us with our legal costs!” Police boarded the ship in Catania to examine its papers and speak to the crew. People rescued at sea have frequently been left in limbo since Italy’s anti-immigration government came to power in July, and on Wednesday Salvini said he was looking to ban all ships with rescued migrants from entering Italian waters. The decision to send the ship to Catania raised red flags among migration and legal experts who said it might be impounded, as was the case with several rescue vessels previously in different Mediterranean ports. Should that happen, it would take the last rescue charity ship operating in the central Mediterranean out of action. The only charity-run rescue vessel left would be the Mare Jonio — a surveillance boat that aims to spot migrants in distress but is not equipped to rescue them. Catania prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro has made a name for himself as a legal thorn in the side of NGOs that rescue migrants at sea. In March 2018 he impounded the Open Arms ship as part of an investigation into the crew for allegedly aiding illegal migrants by refusing to hand them over to the Libyan coast guard. The ship was released after a month following a court ruling that Libya could not be considered a safe country because of a lack of safeguards for human rights, but the investigation continues. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee said in December that the Aquarius rescue ship would not sail again after “a relentless ongoing political, judicial and administrative campaign backed by several European states.” The rescue vessel had been stuck in a French port for two months following the revocation of its registration.

migrants
catania
italy
sea watch 3
matteo salvini
msf
eu
marine accidents


U.S. secretly shipped Cold War-era plutonium to Nevada, raising safety fears and riling lawmakers

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The U.S. government secretly shipped a large amount of deadly plutonium from a South Carolina site that produced the radioactive metal for nuclear bombs during the Cold War to Nevada, the Trump administration revealed on Wednesday. The Justice Department, on behalf of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a notice filed with a U.S. court in Nevada that it could reveal the shipment of half a metric ton (1,100 pounds) because sufficient time had elapsed after the transfer to protect national security. The shipment occurred before November 2018. The U.S. court in Nevada has been considering an effort by the state of Nevada to stop planned shipments of a metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina, that the Energy Department announced last August. The plutonium was shipped from the K-Reactor at the Savannah River Site, the oldest reactor at the facility, to the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site, about 70 miles (113 km) north of Las Vegas. The revelation angered politicians from Nevada, a sparsely populated state where the federal government has long wanted to store nuclear waste. U.S. Sen. Jack Rosen, a Democrat, said the NNSA misled a federal court “in a deceitful and unethical move, jeopardizing the health and safety of thousands of Nevadans and Americans who live in close proximity to shipment routes.” She said she and other state politicians were prepared to take action against the NNSA. Rep. Dina Titus, another Nevada Democrat, said the shipments would bolster opposition to the storage of spent fuel from nuclear power plant in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, a project on which billions of dollars has been spent that was closed by former President Barack Obama. The NNSA said that due to security reasons no public notice was given ahead of the shipment and the highway route was not revealed. The department did not reveal when the shipment was made, other than it occurred before November 2018, before Nevada had sued to stop the proposed shipments. The United States built the Savannah River Site during the 1950s to produce basic materials for nuclear weapons, mostly tritium and plutonium-239. In October the Trump administration killed plans to convert 34 tons of plutonium there into mixed oxide or MOX fuel for a specialized nuclear power reactor that has never been built in the United States. Like the Obama administration before it, the Trump administration wants to dilute and bury that plutonium, potentially in New Mexico.

cold war
plutonium
nevada
nuclear waste
u.s .
donald trump


Deadly Brazil dam collapse raises fears of environmental woes from metal-laced slurry

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO - Nearly a week after a dam storing mining waste collapsed in southeast Brazil, the human cost is clear, with nearly 350 killed or missing, but the environmental impact is still being evaluated. Authorities fear the mineral-laced slurry released by the collapse could eventually pollute the Sao Francisco River, the second-longest in Brazil, which hosts various species of fish and has many towns along its banks. Daily tests carried out by Brazil’s national water agency ANA in the Paraopeba tributary, muddied along 200 kilometers (120 miles) by the dam burst, show the presence of metals in the water have spiked to unhealthy levels. Residents along the riverbanks have already said fish they relied on for food were floating to the surface, dead. “Most of us here are very rural, riverside people, so we use the Paraopeba River to feed ourselves. It gives us fish, we use it to water our plants, and now we can’t do this anymore, so many people have been affected by the dam breaking,” one local, Leda de Oliveira, 31, said. The latest ANA results showed iron, magnesium and aluminum at worrying levels. It added that although trace levels of lead and mercury had initially spiked, they had since fallen to normal counts. Arsenic — another impurity often found in iron ore waste — was not a problem, according to the tests. But those measured just water quality, and not the way the elements were being absorbed in sediment, food chains and the general ecosystem. Experts say the real long-term effects of the dam break at the mine, located near the town of Brumadinho and owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, may not be evident for years. “Right now there are many unknowns — how toxic is the waste? How mobile are the toxins? Will the waste move again? It is only when these things are known that we will really know how bad this will be,” professor David Petley, an expert in landslides at Britain’s University of Sheffield, said. Immediate action, “very expensive if done properly,” is needed to contain the pollution, he said, adding: “There is a lot of waste in the river. There is a risk that this now moves downstream in floods, or that toxins that it releases might move.” While Brumadinho is now considered Brazil’s worst-ever industrial accident, given its high likely final death toll, a similar mining dam collapse three years earlier in the same region, near the town of Mariana, remains the country’s worst environmental disaster. Its effects are still being measured today. The dam near Mariana was part of a facility jointly owned by Vale. Nineteen people were killed. Pollution extended for 650 kilometers (400 miles) along a river, as far as the Atlantic Ocean. The 60 million tons of waste it released were more than four times greater than the 13 million tons held back by the Brumadinho dam. Whole ecosystems affected by the Mariana sludge were killed off. Both disasters resulted from ruptures of tailings dams — reservoirs of detritus left over from the process of extracting iron ore. Such dams are the cheapest ways to store mining waste, but also the riskiest, as the two successive disasters showed. Petley said it is to be hoped that measures to contain pollution are better now, but added that both disasters were “scandalous failures.” Vale started decommissioning its tailings dams in Brazil after the 2015 Mariana disaster, and has now accelerated the process for its remaining 10 dams. But for Brumadinho, where many inhabitants worked at Vale, that process proved tragically slow. Almost all of the dead and missing were workers at the mine, many buried by the sludge as they were having lunch in the facility’s on-site cafeteria. Many residents accuse the mining giant of putting profits over lives. Graffiti saying “Vale, murderer” has been scrawled on several walls in Brumadinho, and in mud at Vale’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. “We are all shaken. This should never have happened. There was a lot of recklessness. Today all of Brumadinho is in mourning,” said Gustavo Franca, a 25-year-old real estate agent who lost many friends. Vale paid dearly for Mariana. It and its partner in the joint venture, Anglo-Australian miner BHP, forked out $6 billion in compensation payments and fines. But, while 20 executives were charged, none ever went to trial and to date no one has been convicted. Authorities have frozen $3 billion of Vale’s assets to pay for damages from the latest disaster. Lawsuits are bound to follow. It has also already lost around 20 percent of its value on the stock market this week. For the mining company, the world’s third-biggest, the blows are harsh. But with 2017 revenues of $34 billion yielding profits of $5.5 billion, Vale will survive.

brazil dams mining pollution rivers accidents environment


With his eye on celestial billboards, Russian entrepreneur sparks debate about who owns the heavens

Abstract: LONDON - Some day soon, stargazers searching for answers in the night sky might see the logo of a soft drink company blazing past the Milky Way, or a promotional message from a fast food restaurant. That at least that is the hope of StartRocket, a Russian startup aiming to put billboards in space. The firm plans to turn hundreds of tiny satellites into a massive display visible from Earth — something its CEO, Vlad Sitnikov, said will make him the first man to draw in space since the ancient Greeks grouped stars into constellations. “New ages demand new gods,” the advertising expert said, adding that the world is no longer ruled by Greek deities but by brands and events. From space hotels to asteroid mining, the ambitious project is the latest in a series of ventures, often backed by capital and technology from Silicon Valley, looking at outer space as a new business frontier. But since it was announced in January, the initiative has angered astronomers and raised questions about the need to better regulate who owns the skies — and what is in them. “It might be a good starting point to re-examine the whole nature of regulation of space activity,” said Christopher Newman, a professor of space law at Northumbria University in Britain. Sitnikov said he came up with the space billboard idea last year after U.S.-New Zealand rocket propulsion company Rocket Lab launched a shiny disco ball called Humanity Star into orbit, where it remained visible to the human eye for months. “It was the first time somebody made entertainment in space . . . and advertising is part of entertainment,” he said via Skype from Moscow. To work out technical details he teamed up with experts from Skoltech, a private university in Moscow, he said. The team aims to put 200 tiny satellites, known as CubeSats, at an altitude of about 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) in the lower orbit by 2021. The satellites, each equipped with a sun-reflecting sail, will fly close together to comprise the pixels of a giant screen that can be switched on and off to display short words or logos. Besides brands, the system could be used to promote big events, like the Olympics or the Super Bowl, and even deliver emergency messages in remote, cut-off or disaster-hit areas, where normal means of communication will not work, he said. The project is technically challenging but feasible — provided the company finds investors to foot the bill, Sitnikov said. Production costs alone are expected to be more than $150 million, he said. The firm plans to charge about $200,000 for every eight hours of advertising. Since the initiative was advertised with a promotional video earlier last month, Sitnikov said he has received thousands of calls from all over the world, including about a dozen from potential customers. However, most messages came from disgruntled citizens, he said. “People hate me because they think in two years the whole sky will be covered in advertising,” he said, explaining he does not plan for the technology to be that intrusive. The display will look roughly the size of a half moon and be visible for six minutes at a time, potentially from anywhere. But to make ads worthwhile the firm intents to target mostly big cities — where light pollution is already high — at dusk or dawn, when people are out in the streets, Sitnikov said. Among those unhappy with the idea are astronomers, worried that space billboards could impede research. “Advertising in space seems to be simply a wasteful and expensive way of ruining the view of the night sky,” said Robert Massey, deputy executive director of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society. “Light pollution on the ground makes it difficult enough already to see the sky — the stars and the Milky Way — from many locations, and advertising in space is a way of destroying that beautiful vista from the remaining unsullied sites.” Yet, from a legal standpoint, there is not much they can do about it, according to law experts. Life far from Earth is mainly regulated by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Drafted during the Cold War, it deals mostly with peace and exploration, and says nothing about advertising, said Newman, of Northumbria University. “We know that the use of outer space for positioning nuclear weapons is prohibited, but there is no such prohibition on the placing of giant billboards,” he said. The treaty bans countries from claiming space and celestial bodies for themselves but allows for their use — opening the door to business exploitation by StartRocket and others. “In principle, activities like that would be permitted,” said Christopher Johnson, space law adviser at the Secure World Foundation, a U.S. think tank. But StartRocket shows space is about to become much more crowded than it was in the 1960s — and new global rules to balance conflicting interests might soon come in handy, said Newman. “Space is now becoming an area where everyone has an interest — not just superpowers, but private companies, private citizens, governments; it is an area where there is an ever-increasing amount of activity,” he said. “There is a need to look at these novel uses of outer space that really people haven’t though of before.” To date, the United States and Luxembourg are the only countries to have passed domestic legislation on the commercial exploitation of celestial bodies. By easing investors’ anxiety about their rights beyond Earth, regulations could be a boon for business and research, said Johnson — something Sitnikov accepts. “All new things have to be regulated when they start to become commodities,” Sitnikov said. “It would be great if space was to become more a commodity for us . . . but so far there is no regulation at all.”

startrocket
startups
space
vlad sitnikov
advertising


U.S. doctor who survived Ebola honored for service in Liberia

Abstract: HOLDEN, MASSACHUSETTS - Almost five years have passed since he nearly died of Ebola in Liberia, but Richard Sacra has never wavered from his commitment to the struggling West African nation. The 56-year-old family doctor from Massachusetts was among a handful of Americans treated and cured of Ebola during West Africa’s deadly epidemic in 2014, which was the worst ever outbreak of the virus, claiming more than 11,000 lives over two years, primarily in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Sacra contracted the virus while delivering babies at ELWA, a missionary hospital in the Liberian capital of Monrovia where he’s worked for more than two decades. He was evacuated and treated in Omaha, Nebraska, but within months, Sacra was back at ELWA — which stands for “Eternal Love Winning Africa” — treating patients. The devout Christian, who says he dreamed of becoming a missionary since he was a child, hasn’t stopped going back since. “It’s our adopted home,” Sacra said Wednesday as he and his wife Debbie took a rare break at their home outside Worcester, Massachusetts, where he’s on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “My wife and I have been going to Liberia since 1987. Our kids grew up there. So the idea of not going would be harder for me than the idea of going back.” Sacra was honored Thursday by the African Mission Healthcare Foundation for his work in Liberia, a nation founded as a colony of freed African American slaves in the 19th century. The organization awarded him the L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service at a ceremony in New York City. The annual prize comes with a $500,000 gift. Sacra said the money will be used at ELWA to build an intensive care unit, install solar panels and build out a training program for family physicians that he founded in 2017. The 107-bed hospital was founded in 1965 and is run by SIM, an evangelical Christian organization based in North Carolina. Increasing the ranks of family doctors is a small but critical piece in rebuilding the nation, which had never fully recovered from more than a decade of civil war before Ebola struck, Sacra said. “One of the things the Ebola crisis really highlighted was how weak the health system in Liberia was. The whole system just collapsed because there were too few trained doctors and nurses,” he said. “So one of our goals as a mission is to strengthen that health system. To not just bring over doctors, but to train local physicians and build up their capacity so that something like this won’t happen again.” Ebola has continued to flare up in other parts of Africa, particularly the Congo, where more than 300 have died since last summer. But Sacra believes Liberia is better prepared than it was five years ago. More doctors are graduating from local medical programs, the national government has established a public health monitoring and education system, and an experimental Ebola vaccine is being tested. “Building a health system from scratch is not something you can do in a year or two,” Sacra said. “It’s a generation long project.” With their three sons now in their 20s and beginning their own careers, Sacra says he and his wife are committed to being a part of those efforts for the foreseeable future. “We’re just grateful God gave us a second chance to continue to make an impact,” he said.

ebola
liberia
richard sacra
epidemic
elwa


Juan Guaido says Venezuelan police squad accused of killings paid home visit to spook his family

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said a special police squad accused of extrajudicial killings visited his home Thursday, days after the authoritarian regime restricted his travel. The force’s commander denied it happened. During a news conference on the opposition’s economic plans, Guaido, who is gathering international support in his bid to unseat President Nicolas Maduro, abruptly announced that the feared Special Action Force had come to his house. “They came into my home asking for Fabiana,” Guaido said, referring to his partner, who accompanied him on stage. “I hold the armed forces and the police responsible for anything that happens to my baby, who is just 20 months old.” The authoritarian regime has left Guaido free to hold meetings and press his case that he is the nation’s rightful leader, though this week it said it would bar him from leaving the country and that it had frozen his bank account. As Guaido has rallied international support to his side, officials from other countries have warned the Maduro regime not to harm him. “There will be serious consequences for those who attempt to subvert democracy and harm Guaido,” U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a tweet this week. The European Union on Thursday said it would consider sanctions if Venezuela doesn’t move toward new and fair elections. The U.S. and more than a dozen other nations have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader and are pressuring Maduro to step down, accusing him of rigging his re-election last year and leading the once-rich country into ruinous poverty. Spain, Germany and France on Jan. 26 pledged to recognize Guaido if elections aren’t called within eight days. Maduro has made offers of talks with the opposition, which has spurned them as a bad-faith offer. Meanwhile, the police unit, known by the Spanish acronym FAES, has been conducting nighttime raids in the barrios to find his supporters. It has been accused of dozens of extrajudicial killings in the past two weeks. After Thursday’s event, the 35-year-old congressmen and dozens of journalists traveled to the east Caracas neighborhood of Santa Fe. Guaido entered his home and reappeared minutes later cradling his child in his arms. “Even the mafia has its code,” Guaido told the reporters,”and one of them is that family is sacred.” The head of Venezuela’s national police denied that FAES had gone to the house. “Totally FALSE,” Police Commander Carlos Alfredo Perez Ampueda said in a Twitter post. But according to Guaido, four policemen came by truck and a motorcycle to the apartment complex and asked security guards for his family. There were no signs of a break-in. The masked members of FAES, all in black, have been descending on neighborhood by night to attack demonstrators with weapons, including tear gas, firearms and even grenades. They settle long-standing scores and rob residents’ homes, eyewitnesses have said. At least 35 people have died amid demonstrations that began this month after Guaido claimed the presidency. That adds to scores of deaths in two years of unrest.

juan guaido
venezuela
police
nicolas maduro
special action force
john bolton
u.s .


Robert Mueller's Russia probe filing suggests broader case against Trump ally Roger Stone

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The investigation into President Donald Trump’s longtime political consultant Roger Stone could broaden from the charges of lying, obstruction and witness-tampering on which he was arrested last week, according to a court filing by special counsel Robert Mueller Thursday. The prosecutor asked the federal court in Washington to give his team and the defense more time to review “terabytes” of evidence, including multiple communications devices and hard drives, email and cloud computing accounts, and bank and financial records going back years. Investigators already appeared to have sufficient email and witness evidence to press last Friday’s indictment of Stone on five counts of lying to Congress over his contacts with WikiLeaks, and one count each of obstruction and witness tampering. The need to sift through that much more material suggested that Mueller, who leads the Russia meddling probe, is casting his net wider in terms of offenses and investigation targets. “Perhaps they want Stone to have this information now because there could be additional charges down the line, or because they think his knowledge that they possess this information could encourage him to flip,” said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Mueller has charged six former aides of Trump, including his lawyer, Michael Cohen, campaign chair Paul Manafort, and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, in the 20-month-old investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russians. All have been accused of lying to investigators, and some also of financial and tax-related charges. But none has yet been charged with any crime involving collusion with Russia, and Mueller has given no indication on whether any such charges could be forthcoming. The Stone case is the closest Mueller has gotten to suggesting there was an illegal conspiracy to collude — yet that was not among the charges. Stone allegedly lied about contacts with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published embarrassing documents from Trump’s election rival Hillary Clinton that were allegedly hacked by Russian intelligence. In a news conference Thursday, Stone said his alleged lies were simply memory lapses and were immaterial to the Russia collusion investigation. “I’m not accused of collaboration, I’m not accused of conspiracy,” he said. “There is no underlying crime.”

robert mueller
russia probe
roger stone
donald trump


U.S. border agency claims biggest-ever fentanyl bust in Arizona truck check

Abstract: PHOENIX, ARIZONA - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced Thursday their biggest fentanyl bust ever, saying they captured nearly 254 pounds (114 kg) of the deadly synthetic opioid from a secret compartment inside a load of Mexican produce heading into Arizona. The drug was found hidden Saturday morning in a compartment under the rear floor of a tractor-trailer after a scan during secondary inspection indicated “some anomalies” in the load, and the agency’s police dog team alerted officers to the presence of drugs, Nogales CBP Port Director Michael Humphries said. Most of the seized fentanyl with an overall street value of about $3.5 million was in white powder form, but about 2 pounds of it (1 kg) was contained in pills. Agents also seized nearly 395 pounds (179 kg) of methamphetamine with a street value of $1.18 million, Humphries said. “It is said that a quarter-milligram, or the size of a few grains of salt, of fentanyl, which is a dangerous opioid, can kill a person very quickly,” Humphries said. The seizure, he said, had prevented an immeasurable number of doses of the drug “that could have harmed so many families.” Mexican traffickers have been increasingly smuggling the drug into the United States, mostly hidden in passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers trying to head through ports of entry in the Nogales, Arizona, and San Diego areas. Fentanyl has caused a surge in fatal overdoses around the U.S., including the 2016 accidental death of pop music legend Prince, who consumed the opioid in counterfeit pills that looked like the narcotic analgesic Vicodin. U.S. law enforcement officials say the illicit version of the painkiller is now seen mostly as a white powder that can be mixed with heroin for an extra kick as well as blue pills that are counterfeits of prescription drugs like oxycodone. The legal prescription form of the drug is used mostly to provide relief to cancer patients suffering unbearable pain at the end of their lives. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have said that while 85 percent of the illicit fentanyl entering the United States from Mexico is seized at San Diego-area border crossings, an increasing amount is being detected on the border with Arizona, a state where the Sinaloa cartel controls the drug trade and fatal fentanyl overdoses are rising. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a recent report that fentanyl is now the drug most often involved in fatal overdoses across the country, accounting for more than 18,000, or almost 29 percent, of the 63,000 overdose fatalities in 2016.

fentanyl
arizona
opioids
drugs
mexico
sinaloa cartel
u.s .
u.s.-mexico border


Paris police pair convicted of raping Canadian tourist in former HQ

Abstract: PARIS - Two French policemen have been convicted of gang rape and sentenced to seven years in prison after a Canadian tourist reported being assaulted at the Paris police headquarters, the city’s public prosecutor’s office said Thursday. The case centered on an assault at 36 Quai des Orfevres, a famous address depicted in many crime movies and novels. Emily Spanton said she met a group of officers in an Irish pub in April 2014 and they invited her for a night tour of police headquarters. There, she claimed she was forced to drink whisky, perform oral sex and was raped several times. The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sexual violence unless they agree to be named or come forward voluntarily and identify themselves, as Spanton did. Spanton first said that she had been raped by four officers before revising her testimony to three. Only two policemen have been brought to court. The officers, both members of the BRI force that specializes in serious criminal cases such as armed robbery, denied any wrongdoing and claim the alleged victim consented to sexual interactions during a booze-fueled evening. Judges initially threw out the case but the Paris prosecutor and Spanton won their appeal to have it brought before a jury.

paris
police
rape
emily spanton
france
canada
tourism


Zimbabwean women live in fear after being raped allegedly by soldiers and police

Abstract: HARARE - A 33-year-old Zimbabwean unemployed mother of two tearfully narrates how four men in military uniform ordered her to open her door at midnight before two of them raped her. On Jan. 17, the men forced their way into her house in a poor township on the outskirts of Harare and searched the property to check she was alone. “One of them ordered me to lie on the bed, then he raped me. A second one raped me. The other two, holding firearms, just stood there,” the woman told AFP. “After these people finished, I just sat on my bed and cried. Then around 4:00 a.m., I went to wake up my landlord’s daughter and told her what had happened. I stayed in her room until sunrise.” Several women have sought help in the Zimbabwean capital, saying they were raped by soldiers and police who have enforced a brutal crackdown to crush public unrest after violent nationwide protests on Jan. 14 over fuel price rises. Justice for Women’s Rights Zimbabwe, a local NGO, said it had nine confirmed cases of women from Harare’s townships who have sought medical help. All were too scared to go to the police. “The women just do not trust the system,” said Karen Mukwazi, an activist with the NGO. “One woman simply said after they (the assailants) left, she went to bath and waited for her husband. There are more women out there who just decided to take a bath and try to forget it (but) you cannot forget rape,” she said. Another woman told the NGO that she had kept her assault a secret from her husband. “We live in a society that blames the victim especially when it comes to the issue of sexual violence,” said Talent Jumo, director of Katswe-Sistahood, a Harare sexual rights clinic. “In this case it’s even more complex because the alleged perpetrators belong to the same institutions where the victim are actually supposed to run to for refuge, for support.” Zimbabwean authorities have promised that police will treat women with respect, saying each police station has a female-led unit to record allegations. “All affected women will be treated with empathy,” Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said, adding that the government “won’t accept any criminal behavior by any member of society particularly those in positions of trust.” The army and police have denied any misconduct and said some criminal gangs may have stolen uniforms to commit abuses. The rape allegations have heightened international anger over the security crackdown, which has damaged President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s claims to have opened a new chapter for Zimbabwe after the repression and state violence of his successor Robert Mugabe. “Political and sexual violence is unjust,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. “We support rape survivors and urge authorities to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable.” On Wednesday, some women in Harare wore black as a public protest against rapes and called for the new independent system be set up to handle complaints. Rita Nyamupinga, a veteran gender activist in Zimbabwe, bemoaned that soldiers and police had targeted their own citizens. “These are people who are supposed to give protection to the citizens of their country — regardless of where they are coming from, politically, socially,” she said. At least 12 people have been killed and hundreds injured, with 78 people sustaining gunshot wounds, in the crackdown. Police have arrested more than 1,100 people, including opposition lawmakers, trade unionists and some children. The rape victim who spoke to AFP said she was hoping to soon receive some medical care. “It’s painful that these are the people who are supposed to protect us and they do such an act,” she said. “But there’s nothing we can do.”

zimbabwe
rape
soldiers
emmerson mnangagwa


U.S. court finds Assad regime liable for journalist Marie Colvin's 2012 killing, sets damages at $302 million

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A U.S. judge has ruled that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government is liable for at least $302.5 million in damages for its role in the 2012 death of renowned American journalist Marie Colvin while covering the Syrian civil war. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling made public on Wednesday that the Syrian government “engaged in an act of extrajudicial killing of a United States national.” Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs while reporting on the Syrian conflict. The lawsuit filed by Colvin’s family in 2016 accused officials in Assad’s government of deliberately targeting rockets against a makeshift broadcast studio where Colvin and other reporters were living and working. Jackson wrote that “a targeted attack on a media center hosting foreign journalists that resulted in two fatalities and multiple injuries … is an unconscionable act.” The judge ruled that compensatory damages to be awarded in addition to the $300 million in punitive damages would be calculated at a later date. A biographical film about Colvin, called “A Private War” and starring British actress Rosamund Pike, was released last year, bringing fresh attention to her career.

marie colvin
bashar assad
a private war
u.s .
syria
airstrikes


Frustrated Trump says a wall 'is a WALL!' but Nancy Pelosi says no funds for whatever he wants to call it

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Donald Trump’s frustration over his campaign to fence off the U.S.-Mexican border spilled into linguistic territory Thursday when the president declared himself fed up with people dancing around what to call his dreamed-of barrier. “Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!” Trump tweeted. In other tweets, he signaled that he’s in no mood to compromise as Congress debates on providing construction funds. “The Wall is getting done one way or the other!” he vowed. He also said: “More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals…. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!” Hours later, the head Democrat in the lower house of Congress, Nancy Pelosi, shot back with an equally emphatic statement that “there’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.” The saga of Trump’s troubled plan to boost defenses along the Mexican border has seen politicians and the president maneuver repeatedly in search of the right terminology. Originally, Trump reveled in the word “wall,” leading chants at rallies of “build the wall!” But as Democrats in Congress pushed back, accusing Trump of demonizing immigrants and promoting “medieval” wall technology, he tried to soften the message, referring to “a barrier.” Also, instead of a solid concrete structure, Trump began to emphasize that he was really asking for steel slats. “Artistically designed steel slats,” he specified in December. Despite the word games, Democrats remained steadfast in declining to back the president’s signature project. This led to a standoff in which Trump refused to fully fund government, shutting down swaths of federal jobs for five weeks. Democrats and Republicans in Congress are now trying to come up with a border security compromise — though Pelosi’s tough statement Thursday did not augur well. If they don’t agree to provide wall funding before a Feb. 15 deadline, Trump says he’ll impose another shutdown or bypass Congress by seeking emergency funds. Yet another Trump tweet Thursday indicated that he might already be resigned to Congress failing to satisfy him on “the DESPERATELY needed WALL.” “I don’t expect much help!” he said. In an interview Wednesday with right-leaning website The Daily Caller, Trump made clear that declaring a national emergency at the border is very much on the cards. “We declare a national emergency if this doesn’t work out,” he said. Democrats have said they would likely seek a court injunction to halt use of emergency funds at the border, arguing that Trump has exaggerated the seriousness of the situation and that there is no emergency.

nancy pelosi
donald trump
congress
u.s.-mexico border wall


Guaido rules out risk of civil war in Venezuela, says people want Maduro to just step down

Abstract: MADRID - Venezuela’s self-proclaimed acting president, Juan Guaido, ruled out the possibility of civil war in his country, saying the overwhelming majority of his compatriots wanted Nicolas Maduro to step down. In an interview to Spain’s El Pais newspaper published Thursday, Guaido repeated an appeal to Venezuela’s armed forces to take his side. “The risk of a civil war in Venezuela does not exist, despite what certain people want to believe or want to let us believe. Why? Because 90 percent of the population wants a change,” he said. But there was “a risk of violence” from Maduro’s government, which he said used specialized police forces and “paramilitaries” to quash opponents. “They have killed dozens of youths in one week. Over 140 in 2017,” he said. Guiado, the head of Venezuela’s congress, proclaimed himself interim president on Jan. 23, saying the constitution entitled him to serve as chief of state because Maduro’s re-election last May was invalid as his strongest opponents were barred from running. “I am convinced that at a certain moment … the army will end up manifesting its discontent, and take this opportunity to stand on the side of the constitution. And not only because we propose an amnesty,” he said. Guaido has been recognized as Venezuela’s president by the United States and several Latin American countries. Six European Union nations — Spain, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal — have said they will also recognize him as president unless Maduro calls fresh presidential elections by Sunday.

venezuela
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
europe
u.s .


As Democrats target Trump's tax returns, his IRS audit claims loom large in potential legal fight

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats exploring ways to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns may target the adequacy of the Internal Revenue Service audit that Trump often cites as his reason for not making the returns public, according to sources familiar with the matter. Such a strategy, focused more on the IRS than on Trump, could help Democrats craft an iron-clad legal argument for what would likely follow from such a request — an unprecedented court battle over the tax records of a sitting president. Targeting the audit would put the request for the returns squarely within the oversight authority of the House of Representatives tax committee, which oversees the IRS, and deflect Republican accusations of a fishing expedition by Democrats unfairly targeting the president, the sources said. House tax committee Chairman Richard Neal, who has vowed to request Trump’s returns, said this week that the long-standing audit claim could be the basis on which the committee ultimately decides whether to go to court to obtain the returns. The returns are expected to become an issue soon. A subcommittee of Neal’s panel on Thursday set a hearing for Feb. 7 on issues related to “presidential and vice-presidential tax returns.” Also planned is a hearing on the Democrats’ “H.R. 1,” a bill that would require presidential candidates to release their tax records for elections. Another strategy for House Democrats might be to probe whether Trump profited from the Republican tax overhaul that he signed into law in 2017, or how his income could be affected by amendments to the tax code likely to come before the committee in months ahead. No decisions have been made, and sources with knowledge of the discussions could not say how much weight House officials working on the issue might give to any proposal. The deliberations reflect the caution Democrats are taking in launching investigations of Trump, his businesses and his presidency, now that they have majority control of the House. “The president has repeatedly said on the campaign trail and then after becoming president, he intended to do this, to release them, except that he was under audit,” said Neal, the only House member authorized by law to request Trump’s returns from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “So that’s the basis we proceed on,” Neal told reporters on Tuesday. “If we can’t have a voluntary submission, then we use the legal apparatus that’s available to us.” A Democratic spokesman for the committee declined comment. A spokeswoman for the Treasury, which supervises the Internal Revenue Service, said Mnuchin will review the legality of any request for Trump’s returns with the department’s legal counsel. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, Trump broke with decades of precedent by refusing to release his returns, saying they were being audited by the IRS. Many tax experts have replied that an IRS audit does not preclude their release. As president, Trump has retained ownership of extensive hotel interests and other business ventures. For this reason, House Democrats say his returns would be a linchpin for oversight investigations of potential ties between the president and Russia and other conflicts of interest. Federal law gives the chairmen of the House tax panel, the Senate Finance Committee and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the authority to request any return and says that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” it. Trump and Mnuchin are widely expected to fight any such action. The law has been used to obtain tax records, which are normally held in strict secrecy by the IRS. But in the interests of transparency, modern presidents have routinely disclosed their returns to the public voluntarily. Progressive Democrats and outside groups have ramped up pressure on Neal to act swiftly to obtain Trump’s returns and eventually release them to the public. “The law is very clear that we’re entitled to get those returns,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett told CNN on Thursday. “If the Treasury secretary … refuses to do it, then we will have to take some court action,” said Doggett, a senior Democratic member of Neal’s Ways and Means Committee. Experts say an approach without careful justification could leave Democrats vulnerable to Republican claims of overreach. “It sets a very, very bad precedent. If they can demand that the public see the president’s tax returns, what’s going to keep them from demanding to see anyone’s tax returns,” said Rep. Kenny Marchant, a Republican on Neal’s panel. The legal strategy of focusing on IRS audits of Trump is only one option at Neal’s disposal. “There’s a variety of legitimate reasons for why Ways and Means would seek the president’s tax returns,” said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center think tank.

democrats
irs
donald trump
u.s. congress
steve mnuchin


U.S.-backed Kurdish forces holding German Islamic State jihadist in Syria, his wives say

Abstract: BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces have detained German jihadi Martin Lemke after he fled the last pocket held by the Islamic State group in Syria, two of his wives said Thursday. His third wife, a German national who gave her name as Leonora, told AFP at a screening center in the province of Deir Ezzor that Lemke, his second wife and herself fled the fighting together. “We gave up together,” the 19-year-old said in English, adding that Lemke arrived with her at the center run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-Arab outfit that has spearheaded the fight against IS. The jihadi group is only hanging on to a tiny rump of its once sprawling “caliphate” and many of its residents are fleeing and turning themselves in before a final offensive. The SDF separate civilians from suspected active IS members during the screening. Leonora said Lemke had a health problem which meant he could not fight and claimed he had worked mostly as a technician for IS. However investigations published in German newspapers portray Lemke, who is now believed to be 28, as an influential figure among foreign jihadis in Syria. A report in German newspaper Die Zeit in December 2017 said Lemke arrived in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the jihadi proto-state, in November 2014 and joined the Hisbah (Islamic police). He is then believed to have become a member of the feared “Amniyat,” the IS intelligence service. According to Leonora, they married three days after she arrived in IS-held territory, when she was only 15. The young woman, who was cradling her 2-week-old baby, as she spoke from a windswept SDF screening area near the village of Baghouz, said she hoped to return to her family in Germany. Lemke’s second wife, another German national who said her name was Sabina and aged 34, was less willing to speak but confirmed that she fled the last IS pocket with her husband. SDF officers on the ground refused to comment on the identities of the suspected jihadis being screened and detained at the center.

islamic state
syria
martin lemke
syrian democratic forces
u.s .
terrorism
kurds


Spy novels, daigou and democracy: The many lives of Yang Hengjun, Australian writer held in China

Abstract: BEIJING/SYDNEY - A Chinese-born Australian writer detained by authorities in Beijing for suspected espionage has long been a divisive figure among overseas Chinese dissidents and activists. To his supporters, Yang Hengjun is a dedicated democracy activist who believed that China’s autocratic system would, with time, necessarily liberalize. His detractors say he had long since abandoned criticizing the Communist Party in favor of protecting his personal and business interests. Yang, 53, whose legal name is Yang Jun, was detained in southern China’s Guangzhou while waiting for a transfer to Shanghai in January after flying in from New York. He was taken to Beijing, where China has said the city’s State Security Bureau is holding him under “coercive measures” as he is investigated on suspicion of “endangering state security.” Yang’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said his client was suspected of “espionage” and was being held under “residential surveillance at a designated location,” a special detention measure that allows authorities to interrogate suspects without necessarily granting access to legal representation. Although his recent writing has mostly avoid Chinese politics, Yang first became prominent in the early 2000s when he earned the nickname of “democracy peddler.” Before censorship of China’s microblogs intensified, Yang’s essays on topics ranging from Chinese nationalism to the fate of ethnic minorities in Tibet made him a popular commentator. He also wrote a trilogy of spy novels set in China. More recently, Yang had largely steered clear of issues deemed sensitive by the Communist Party, only occasionally writing about U.S. politics, and instead had thrown his energy into a daigou business, procuring overseas products for Chinese buyers. His store on China’s popular mobile platform WeChat sold U.S.-made luxury bags, vitamins, baby formula and watches. An employee of the store said Yang started it at the request of his readers, who wanted to buy real and fairly priced goods. Asked what would happen to the store now, he said he was waiting for instructions. For the last two years, Yang, whom friends describe as an affable, jocular but academic figure, had been living in New York as a visiting scholar at Columbia University. “He was quite aloof from politics and tended to keep his personal news to himself,” said Yang’s former landlord, New York-based businessman Yi Gai. “About 75 percent of his energy and time was spent on his daigou work,” added Yi, who is also a friend of Yang’s. Another friend, who hadn’t spoken to Yang in several months, said the Australian writer believed his views were not a challenge to China’s rulers: “He played within the system. He had never called for the bottom to rise up. He wants reform only.” Feng Chongyi, an academic at the University of Technology in Sydney, who was himself detained during a 2017 visit to China, said he believed Yang’s detention was related to his international connections. Tensions have risen in recent weeks between China and some Western countries after two Canadians — a diplomat on unpaid leave and a consultant — were arrested in China on suspicion of endangering state security. Those arrests were widely seen in the West as retaliation by China for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a senior Huawei Technologies executive, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Australian officials have called on China to handle the matter “transparently and fairly” but have downplayed the connection between Yang’s case and those of the Canadians. “He is well-connected in China and internationally. He knows high-profile people in the Communist Party, and he believed that meant he could travel to China with relative impunity,” Feng said. Yang came from a poor background in China but studied political economy at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University, according to his own accounts. Yang had often told friends that, before his writing career, he worked for the Foreign Ministry. But ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said he had never been employed there. He would also tell friends that he knew Wang Huning, the Communist Party’s chief of ideology, while at Fudan, according to two sources. Friends say he became an Australian citizen in the early 2000s. Xia Yeliang, a former professor at Peking University who now lives in Virginia, said Yang is a controversial figure among China’s overseas dissident community. Yang was believed in recent years to have married a well-known nationalist blogger, Yuan Ruijuan, souring his reputation among overseas democracy activists, Xia said. At times Yang had said his spy novels, which were serialized on his website, were based on his abundant personal experience within the Chinese system, Xia added. The novels pit China’s spy agency against the CIA and FBI and include double agents, clones and a main character who, like Yang, wrote fictional spy novels and attended Fudan University. Yi, the landlord and friend, said Yang “was not willing to keep in close contact with radical dissidents, and definitely wouldn’t cooperate with them, so it’s natural that radical dissidents would be suspicious and speculate about him.” Before Yang left for China, Yi and some friends met him and the topic of his security came up, but everyone thought he would be fine. “It looks like we misjudged,” he said.

yang hengjun
china
espionage
censorship
australia
books


Hong Kong seizes record 8 tons of endangered pangolin scales

Abstract: HONG KONG - Hong Kong customs officers unveiled a record seizure of pangolin scales on Friday, the latest huge haul to underscore the city’s central role in the lucrative and booming illegal wildlife trade. Officials said they conducted a joint investigation with mainland customs officers on Jan. 16, seizing 8,300 kilograms of pangolin scales and 2,100 kilograms of ivory tusks hidden inside a container at a customs facility. “This is a record high in quantity for a seizure of pangolin scales,” the customs department said in a statement. Customs officers displayed dozens of sacks filled with scales to the media on Friday as well as hundreds of uncarved tusks, in an acrid-smelling room. Officials estimated the value of the haul at 62 million Hong Kong dollars ($8 million). The announcement came less than two weeks after a coalition of local conservation groups called on Hong Kong to do more to crack down on illegal wildlife smuggling by ending legal loopholes and lenient sentences. In a landmark report analyzing seizures and convictions, conservationists said the southern Chinese financial hub played a “disproportionate” role in wildlife crime — accounting for around a fifth of all global ivory seizures and nearly half of all pangolins seized in the last decade. Warning that the amount of contraband flooding through Hong Kong’s ports was likely between five and 10 times the amount seized, they called on authorities to list wildlife trafficking offenses under the city’s organized crime legislation targeting drug traffickers and triad gangs Hong Kong recently increased the maximum penalties on smuggling to 10 years in jail and a HK$10 million fine. Historically the few who are caught have rarely face stiff penalties. The timid and nocturnal pangolin, which rolls into a ball when threatened — making them defenceless against poachers — is one of the most heavily trafficked mammals. It is sought after for its meat and the unproven medicinal properties of their scales — which are made from nothing more than keratin, the same material that makes up human fingernails and hair. Pangolin populations have been decimated by a surge in demand, particularly in mainland China. China finally banned the ivory trade a year ago while Hong Kong began phasing it out a few months later. But demand is still fueled by a thriving black market.

endangered pangolins conservation animals


Researchers warn China's 'Belt and Road' initiative may aid spread of invasive species

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A major new trade route organized by China and spanning 123 countries could accelerate the spread of invasive species like never before, researchers warn. China’s “Belt and Road” initiative was launched five years ago and aims to include about half the planet. Yiming Li, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wondered years ago about Beijing’s promise that the project would be a “green” initiative. In particular, what would be the consequences for amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals? “Perhaps the focus of the authorities has been more on pests and diseases in agriculture, and invasive species is not a popular topic,” he said. Li and colleagues in China and Britain developed a model overlapping the regions of the world that will be linked by the new routes, based on trade values, and their climates and habitats, in order to predict where 816 types of vertebrates were most likely to be introduced and stick around. Their study, published in the journal Current Biology, identifies 14 major hot spots where there is a high risk of invasive species becoming established. On their map, these hot spots appear on all continents — from Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines to parts of the Mediterranean to southern Chile and the Caribbean. In Africa, countries like Algeria, Nigeria and Cameroon are also on the list. “What we’re most concerned about is the six large economic corridors” spanning Asia and Europe, said Li. Because of the high traffic, “there is a high probability of introduction and local conditions are suitable for the survival of alien species. We refer to these places as invasive hot spots.” “Invasions are continually happening all over the place,” said co-author Tim Blackburn, a professor of invasion biology at University College London. Europeans exported rats to the Americas. At the start of the 20th century, an Asian fungus wiped out North America’s chestnut forests. New Zealand, which was home to no native land mammals before the arrival of humans, now has 25 species, including rats, mice, hedgehogs and ferrets. “This will be different, just because of the extent of it and the volumes of trade potentially involved,” Blackburn said. Like bugs and fungi, rats, frogs, snakes and birds can hitch a ride in trucks, trains, ships and even airplanes. So can domestic pets, which are then sometimes let go in nature. Already, the common myna, a bird native to Russia and Kazakhstan, has made its way into Xinjiang in northwest China, destroying the nests of local birds. The American bullfrog has been eating Chinese amphibians for years — along with many elsewhere — and is considered “the most invasive amphibian in the world,” said Li. So what can be done? Researcher say the solution is bio-security, including measures such as surveillance of containers, monitoring contents of shipments, instituting quarantines and programs designed to protect biodiversity. According to Jeffrey Dukes, a professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University, the analysis is “interesting” but “it’s necessarily pretty coarse in some ways,” since it does not go into detail about which invasive species are likely, or where they may end up. “This paper is great as a wake-up call,” added Dukes, who was not involved in the study. “Invasive species are very hard to eradicate. But if you prevent them, if you prevent the problem from happening in the first place, then you save yourself not just headaches, but you know, dollars and potentially species.”

china
belt and road
trade
nature
animals
_focus


Philippines ready and able to create its own space agency, minister says

Abstract: MANILA - The Philippines is ripe to establish its own space agency, the country’s science and technology minister said Thursday. Citing a sufficient pool of manpower and facilities, and actual utilization of space technology, Secretary Fortunato de la Pena told a news conference, “We are proud to say that we are capable and ready for a Philippine Space Agency.” A bill creating the agency was passed in the House of Representatives last December, while counterpart legislation is pending in the Senate. De la Pena said the agency would yield “national added security, improved hazard management, progressive climate studies, refined space research, and modernized farming and environmental monitoring, among others” for the country. He said the Department of Science and Technology has already “assembled the infrastructure, the human resources and the programs and projects needed in the establishment” of a space agency. Since 2010, he said, the department has already spent 7.48 billion Philippine pesos (nearly $144 million) for space research and development, supported almost 5,500 scholars, produced more than 1,000 experts in space science and established 25 facilities across the country. “At the turn of the millennium, we saw an acceleration in the initiatives taken by the Philippines towards a more active participation in space-related endeavors,” he said, citing linkages set up with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The country then took a “giant leap” by initiating the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite Program in 2014, in collaboration with Japan’s Hokkaido University and Tohoku University, among others. That program has since produced three fully functional microsatellites, the Diwata 1, Diwata 2 and Maya 1. “With this milestone, we are now able to receive information that can be translated to the enhancement of our capabilities in weather forecasting, disaster management and preparedness, national security, industry building, research, education and international cooperation,” the department’s Undersecretary Rowena Guevara told the same gathering. “In the area of national security and development, one of the greatest benefits of space is to have a panoramic view of the entire Philippine territory. From images captured in space, we could assess security threats,” de la Pena added. Guevara said that in pushing for the establishment of the Philippine Space Agency, the department is proposing a budget of 24 billion pesos for the first 10 years of its operation. While it may not initially include a capability to launch rockets into space as NASA and JAXA do, the space agency would hopefully be able to do so in the future, officials said.


To challenge China's influence in Pacific, Australia turns to rugby league in soft-power offensive

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australia will direct more foreign aid to develop the sport of rugby league in the Pacific, officials say, bolstering a soft power offensive against China’s growing influence in the region. The plan, backed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, aims to tap into a shared passion for the bruising game — which differs from its more globally popular cousin, rugby union — by funding more coaching clinics and exhibition matches on far-flung Pacific islands being wooed by China. “The prime minister sees rugby league as a central component of his soft-power plan as China’s influence in the Pacific grows,” said a senior rugby league official. Declaring the Pacific “our patch,” Australia is stepping up its diplomatic and trade efforts in the region, uneasy at China’s bid for influence through infrastructure loans and its version of soft power — “pingpong” diplomacy. China’s encouragement has helped table tennis gain a foothold in Papua New Guinea but it is unlikely to challenge the island’s love affair with rugby league. Such is the region’s passion for the game that when Australia played a friendly match in PNG in 2016, thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the visitors. League-obsessed fans also follow their players in Australia, where athletes of Pacific island or Maori descent made up 44 percent of National Rugby League (NRL) rosters in 2017. Australia’s Pacific Outreach Program, which includes programs developed along with the NRL, will expand to include smaller but strategically important islands, officials said. “Together with the government we have plans to expand into the Cook Islands, Niue and Vanuatu,” said Frank Puletua, senior manager of international strategy at the NRL. The three island nations have signed up to China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, which promotes expanding land and sea links between Asia, Africa and Europe, with billions of dollars for infrastructure development. The NRL already runs programs in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, all of which have joined “Belt and Road.” In response to China’s investment push, Australia has promised Pacific neighbors up to 3 billion Australian dollars ($2.16 billion) in cheap infrastructure loans and grants, but the new fund is not expected to be operational until July. Unable to match China’s deeper pockets and its willingness to fund projects that Australia will not — such as a new road in PNG — Australia has dialed up a playbook that promotes its cultural ties with the region. It expanded a Pacific jobs scheme that allows men and women from several island nations to work in Australia. Morrison, on a tour of the Pacific, also promised to relax curbs on imports of kava — a mildly intoxicating brew that is deeply embedded in the social fabric of Pacific islanders. During a trip to Fiji, Morrison said his government will pay the travel costs for a Fijian rugby league team to compete in the second tier of Australia’s national competition, joining a team from PNG that has competed since 2013. The NRL also plans a series of pre-season games in the Pacific region. “One thing we have greatly in common is our passion for sport,” Morrison said in Fiji’s capital, Suva. “Our shared passion has a practical element to the relationship between our countries.”

china
pacific
australia
rugby
rugby league
belt and road


Jailed Reuters journalists appeal to Myanmar's top court as rights group decries 'fear'

Abstract: YANGON - Lawyers for two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar for breaking a colonial-era official secrets law appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday against their conviction, as a rights group said the government wielded repressive laws against peaceful critics. The appeal, citing evidence of a police setup and lack of proof of a crime, came as New York-based Human Rights Watch said Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government had dashed hopes for Myanmar’s first democratic leader in decades to protect free speech. “Our petition asks the Supreme Court to finally provide justice to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, reverse the lower courts’ errors, and order the release of our journalists,” Reuters said in a statement. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were jailed for seven years after being convicted in September in a landmark case that has raised questions about Myanmar’s progress toward democracy and sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates. Also on Friday, Myanmar released from prison a policeman who told a court last year how officers had planted secret documents on the two reporters in order to “entrap” them. The policeman, Moe Yan Naing, criticized the law under which he was punished. “This police disciplinary law is one of the laws we must amend while we are marching on the path toward democracy,” Moe Yan Naing, said on his release after serving about nine months of a one-year jail sentence for violating police discipline. “This law can cause police much suffering because it is outdated,” he told reporters outside Insein prison, on the outskirts of the commercial capital, Yangon. Asked how he felt about the people who ordered his arrest, he said he would console himself through religion. “I am a Buddhist, I can find peace with that through our Buddhist way,” he said, and that he felt “sorry” for the two reporters still behind bars. Human Rights Watch said in a report freedom of expression had been deteriorating since Suu Kyi’s administration came to power in 2016, with prosecutions creating a “climate of fear” among journalists. “Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy promised a new Myanmar but the government still prosecutes peaceful speech and protests and has failed to revise old oppressive laws,” the report’s author, Linda Lakhdhir, said in a statement. The report quoted figures from Myanmar free-speech group Athan showing that prosecution for peaceful speech featured in at least half of about 140 cases filed since 2016 under the Telecommunications Act, which prescribes up to two years in jail for anyone who “defames” someone using a telecoms network. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has had a real opportunity to abolish the tools of oppression used by the military juntas, but has instead used them against peaceful critics and protesters,” Lakhdhir said. In September, Suu Kyi said the jailing of the Reuters reporters had nothing to do with freedom of expression. The week after their conviction, she said they were sentenced for handling official secrets and “were not jailed because they were journalists.” Reuters could not immediately reach government spokesman Zaw Htay for comment. Before their arrest, the reporters had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017. The operation sent more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, according to U.N. estimates. Last month, the high court rejected an initial appeal against the reporters’ convictions, saying they had behaved in a way that showed they intended to harm the country. In response to that ruling, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the decision was deeply troubling and showed Myanmar’s courts “failing a basic test in democracy.” In their initial appeal, defence lawyers asserted the lower court that tried the case had wrongly placed the burden of proof on the defendants. The defence also said prosecutors had failed to prove the reporters gathered and collected secret information, sent information to an enemy or intended to harm national security. At the time of the reporters’ trial, Moe Yan Naing, a police captain, gave details of the hours prior to their Dec. 12, 2017, arrest and said police had arranged a “set-up.” Shortly after his court appearance in April, Moe Yan Naing was sentenced to prison for violating the Police Disciplinary Act by having previously spoken to Wa Lone. His family was also evicted from police housing in the capital, Naypyitaw. At the time, police spokesman Colonel Myo Thu Soe told Reuters Moe Yan Naing had been punished “according to the police disciplinary act.” Police said the eviction order was not related to Moe Yan Naing’s testimony at the reporters’ trial.

myanmar
aung san suu kyi
wa lone
censorship
journalism rights
kyaw soe oo f


Former South Korea presidential hopeful jailed in #MeToo case

Abstract: SEOUL - A former South Korean presidential contender was jailed for three and a half years on Friday in an appeal trial stemming from allegations he raped his female aide — overturning his controversial acquittal by a lower court last year. The case involving Ahn Hee-jung, who before the scandal was seen as a strong candidate to replace President Moon Jae-in when his term ends in 2022, is by far the highest-profile individual to be named in the country’s ongoing #MeToo movement. He was found guilty at Seoul’s High Court of a total of nine charges, including sexual intercourse by abuse of authority — a move welcomed by women’s activists who were left infuriated by his acquittal last year. Ahn was accused by his former female secretary of raping her several times between 2017 and February last year, while she was working for him. Kim Ji-eun remained in silence until she went public with a live television appearance in March — a rarity in a still conservative society where female victims of sexual assault are often reluctant to come forward to due to fears of shaming. Ahn was acquitted last year of all charges including sexual abuse, with the lower court saying it saw “little evidence” that Ahn used his authority to force Kim into sex. It concluded that the evidence presented by the prosecution was “not sufficient to prove that Kim’s sexual freedom was violated against her will.” The lower court also claimed Kim’s behavior — including going to a wine bar with Ahn the day after she claimed he raped her during a business trip — made her claims “unconvincing.” Ahn has always insisted that the sex was consensual. However, the court on Friday concluded that Ahn did abuse his powerful position as a prominent politician, as well as Kim’s superior at work, to force her into sex. He has never been formally charged or convicted of rape. “It seems evident that Ahn was aware of the power imbalance between him and Kim,” said judge Hong Dong-ki of the Seoul High Court. “Kim’s testimonies are consistent and align with those of other witnesses.” Following the delivery of the verdict, Ahn was taken into custody immediately. When asked if wanted to make any comments, Ahn responded: “No.” The ongoing scandal was an astonishing fall from grace for Ahn, who had enjoyed huge popularity among young, liberal voters. He came second to the current president Moon Jae-in in the contest for the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2017 and was seen as a favorite for the next elections. The verdict comes a week after a former senior prosecutor was jailed for abuse of power in connection with a high-profile case that triggered South Korea’s #MeToo movement. Kim welcomed the higher court’s decision Friday, saying she can now finally say goodbye to her “painful days where I felt like a witch to be burned at the stake.” The verdict was also welcomed by a coalition of some 158 human rights and women’s groups in the country. “We still have work to do,” said the groups in a joint statement. “What we need is a society where all victims of sexual violence can receive social and legal protection without having to risk losing everything by making a media appearance.”


Unconscionable globally, 'indispensable' locally, Japanese whalers call industry 'a way of life'

Abstract: MINAMIBOSO, CHIBA PREF. - Neatly lining up sliced whale meat to make jerky in the wintry sea breeze, Tetsuya Masaki says whaling is just part of daily life in his tiny community of Minamiboso. Japan sparked outrage in December when it decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission and return to commercial whaling this year, citing the industry as being part of its cultural heritage. Perhaps no municipality exemplifies that heritage more than Minamiboso, a town in Chiba Prefecture on the Pacific coast some 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Tokyo that is home to Gaibo Hogei, one of a handful of remaining local whaling companies. Masaki, 32, a processing factory worker for Gaibo Hogei, admits that the local whaling industry has shrunk but says it is still an “indispensable” part of the town — especially during the summer whaling season. The firm allows local residents and tourists to watch whales being processed at its abattoir as part of efforts to maintain the region’s 400-year-old whaling history. Local schoolchildren also come to the seaside facility where they can get a closer look at the rare sight of workers stripping the flesh from the thick skin of whales with special choppers. Gaibo Hogei’s president, 57-year-old Yoshinori Shoji, said Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC was “far too late but the right answer,” adding that he backed it “100 percent.” Shoji’s firm annually harpoons 26 giant beaked whales — a type not covered by the IWC but subject to domestic Japanese quotas — and lands them at Wada port, one of the country’s five bases for coastal whaling. He said he was gearing up “as a matter of course” to resume commercial whaling of minke whales — protected under the treaty — once Tokyo formally leaves the IWC in June. Tokyo’s decision sparked a firestorm of criticism from environmentalists and anti-whaling countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It was a rare piece of provocative diplomacy by Japan, which has generally pursued an uncontroversial foreign policy since its World War II defeat. But a poll in January by NHK suggested that a majority (53 percent) of people backed the withdrawal decision, compared with 37 percent opposed. The country vowed to forge ahead with commercial whaling of minke and other whales off its coast but said it was stopping its most provocative whaling — annual Antarctic expeditions that used an IWC loophole that permits hunting for scientific research. The country makes little secret of the fact that much of the meat from the “research” ends up on the dinner plate, and local Minamiboso resident Kazuo Tachikawa is proud that whale meat is a “regional speciality.” “You can buy whale meat at all supermarkets and seafood shops here,” the 70-year-old said at a roadside station, where a huge model of a blue whale skeleton stands alongside harpoon guns. But other locals appeared unmoved by the controversy. “I would be concerned if it were tuna or other fish,” said Sadae Nakamura, a 67-year-old housewife. “I even don’t know the difference between research whaling and commercial whaling,” she said, laughing. “It’s all politics that is beyond people like me.” In terms of politics, many members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party are supporters of whaling, and he himself comes from a constituency where whale hunting remains popular. Japan has hunted whales for centuries and the meat was a key source of protein in the immediate years after WWII, when the country was desperately poor. But consumption has declined significantly in recent decades, with much of the population saying they rarely or never eat whale meat. “Those who have interest in eating whale meat are extremely limited,” said Hisayo Takada, program director at Greenpeace Japan, adding that Tokyo appears to be hitting back in an emotional way over foreign pressure over the practice. “It’s hard to believe the decision will lead to a rapid expansion of Japan’s whaling industry,” which is much smaller than fishing, added Takada. At a Tokyo restaurant serving up whale sushi and cutlets, 70-year-old pensioner Kunio Adachi admits that he only dines on whale out of “nostalgia.” “I support the status quo,” he added.


Real-time map shows pollen counts across Japan

Abstract: The Environment Ministry on Friday published real-time airborne pollen counts across Japan for the first time this year, via an online map. The service will be available through the end of May at kafun.taiki.go.jp . “I want people to use it to avoid developing hay fever and take preventive measures,” a ministry official said. The map, updated hourly, displays data from 120 locations across the country, collected by instruments that measure the amount of pollen per cubic meter, according to the ministry. The map also shows wind speed and direction. At 3 p.m. Friday, Shinjuku Ward in Tokyo had a pollen grain count of 16, while in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, the count was zero per cubic meter. Data for the Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions was first released Friday, while data for the Tohoku region will be added on Feb. 15 followed by Hokkaido in mid-March. The observation system, which has been named “Hanako-san,” began operating in 2002 in the Kanto region, expanding nationwide in 2007. Each year the data is released to the public, with officials hoping the data can help people avoid areas with high pollen counts.

pollen
environment ministry
hay fever
data


Hyogo mayor who called senior official 'stupid' over stalled evictions to make way for road quits

Abstract: KOBE - A Hyogo Prefecture mayor submitted a letter of resignation Friday after facing criticism for calling a senior city official “stupid” and suggesting he “burn down” a local building that stood in the way a road project, officials said. “I apologize again for what happened. I lack the qualities of a leader,” Akashi Mayor Fusaho Izumi said at a news conference after submitting the letter to the chairperson of the municipal assembly. “I should not be forgiven for what I said. I am deeply responsible,” Izumi was quoted earlier by the officials as saying. “I apologize to the citizens for making Akashi appear in the media in such a way.” In the heated exchange in June 2017 a raging Izumi reportedly told the official to burn the building, which was home to businesses and residences. While not literally asking the official to set fire to the building, he was instructing him to use all means possible to evict the tenants and move the project forward. Izumi, 55, said Tuesday that he had apologized Monday to the official, acknowledging that his behavior was an abuse of power resulting from an angry outburst. The mayor’s outburst was reportedly sparked because authorities had failed to make progress in negotiations to evict the building’s tenants over a period of approximately five years.

hyogo
akashi
fusaho izumi
local government
gaffes


Net migration into Tokyo from elsewhere in Japan continues, government data shows

Abstract: The number of people moving into the Tokyo metropolitan region in 2018 exceeded the number moving out by nearly 140,000, a government report showed Thursday, despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to reverse the trend by 2020 and revive rural areas. Growth in the populations of Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures was up 14,338 from the previous year to hit 139,868, according to the report by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. From 2018, the report began covering the number of foreigners moving within the nation’s 47 prefectures in addition to Japanese nationals. When only Japanese nationals were counted, net population growth in the Tokyo metropolitan area was seen rising for the 23rd consecutive year, the report showed. In addition to those four prefectures, Aichi, Shiga, Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures also logged more arrivals than departures. Tokyo had the largest net increase of 79,844, followed by Saitama at 24,652 and Kanagawa at 23,483. Of the country’s 47 prefectures, 39 lost more people than they gained, with Ibaraki seeing the biggest decline of 7,744, followed by Fukushima at 7,421 and Niigata at 6,901. Of all 1,719 municipalities in Japan, 72.1 percent saw more people leaving than entering. The report was compiled based on resident registries maintained by municipalities across the country.

tokyo
population
tokyo metropolitan area


At Davos, a continued push for gender equality in global leadership positions

Abstract: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - When world political and business leaders gather these days, trade, globalization and Brexit dominate the discussions, and the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held last week was no exception. But with many female executives present at the meeting at a ski resort nestled among snow-capped mountains in Davos, gender equality also stirred up passionate discussions, reminding many that, even in 2019, parity is still far from reach. The number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies actually shrank to 24 in 2018 from 32 in 2017, representing a 25 percent decrease. At the current rate of change, the WEF’s annual gender gap report released in December says it will take 108 years to narrow the overall gender gap and 202 years to bring about parity in the workplace. There are undoubtedly many reasons behind the slow progress. But some participants in the Davos meeting, which attracted more than 3,000 top CEOs, civil society representatives and more than 60 heads of state, argued that how society views women in leadership could be an important factor. In one of the sessions, Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former president of Chile, revealed that she was often asked unprofessional questions during her presidency. Bachelet said she was asked how she would take care of children, about her domestic affairs and to whom she would turn to when she faced challenges. “Have you ever asked that kind of stuff to a man?” Bachelet told the audience at the session, named “Female Leadership at a Tipping Point.” “I will not be perfect because there is no such thing as a superwoman. But I will do my best,” she said, adding that bias against female leaders is ingrained in people’s minds. Silvana Koch-Mehrin, founder and president of Women Political Leaders (WPL), a global network of female politicians, echoed Bachelet’s sentiments. “Every woman who is a leader has her own personal experiences about being questioned about her leadership ability. No matter which country it is, women have been confronted with totally unprofessional questions, remarks and criticism, which are gender-based, not performance-based,” Koch-Mehrin, who served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2014, told The Japan Times in an interview. In the first study of its kind, WPL and Kantar Public, a data research and consultancy company, jointly conducted research in September and October on 1,000 working-age adults aged 18 to 64 in each of the Group of Seven countries to find out whether men and women are viewed equally in terms of suitability for positions of power. The survey showed that, compared to other industrialized nations, both Japanese men and women were uncomfortable having female leaders, demonstrating that their mindset may be hindering gender parity. In an index that measures people’s perceptions of specific genders in leadership, G7 women scored 67 and men scored 61, meaning women are more likely to perceive both sexes as being equally suitable for leadership. A score of 100 would indicate that there is complete agreement that men and women are equally suited to lead in all sectors. Michelle Harrison, Global CEO of Kantar Public, said the report shows that Japanese men have been the most resistant to having women in any form of leadership across all professional sectors. According to the survey, 52 percent of British men feel comfortable with a woman as the head of government, the highest figure in the G7. Only 23 percent of men in Japan and 20 percent of men in Germany shared that view. Meanwhile, 65 percent of women in Canada and Britain said they feel comfortable with having a woman as the head of the government in their country, while Japanese women scored the lowest, with just 26 percent. It also showed Japanese women on a whole feel uncomfortable with having a woman as the CEO of a major company. While 70 percent of American women are comfortable with having females lead top firms, the highest rate among G7 women, only 28 percent of Japanese women felt the same way. “So that’s the issue. … It captures the way women also have prejudice as well as men,” Harrison said in an interview. However, it is not only Japan that has such perceptions toward women. Germany also has certain expectations for women that hinder their effort to join the workforce, according to Koch-Mehrin, who is from Germany. “If you become a mother, and if you don’t stay at home for the first three years (with a child), you are seen as a bad mother,” she lamented. She also stressed the importance of female role models. Reflecting on a scandal in which Tokyo Medical University was found to have rejected many women by deducting their exam scores, she said, “In Japan, there are few women doctors. If you don’t have women doctors, people don’t think of women as doctors. “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Both Kochi-Mehrin and Harrison said that compiling the index is just the first step in their attempt to show the reality of people’s perceptions. “We haven’t gotten to the point where we can say ‘here is the series of actions that we need to start.’ But It makes me confident that it needs to be a combination of leaders from many different sectors taking this forward together. It won’t get fixed just by governments or industries,” Harrison said. Kochi-Mehrin also stressed that it is important to inform the people who came to Davos about their survey because they hold enormous influence and power. “We wanted to do a little bit of a wake-up call here because the discussions have been around for so long and nothing has really happened,” she said.

switzerland
world economic forum
women
discrimination


Beppu hot springs may accept tattooed visitors during Japan's Rugby World Cup and beyond

Abstract: BEPPU, OITA PREF. - Hotels in the famed hot spring resort of Beppu, Oita Prefecture, are considering accepting tattooed visitors in October during the 2019 Rugby World Cup and possibly afterward, according to local industry sources. Beppu onsen hotels have been generally reluctant to accept tattooed visitors, with some of them restricting those visitors from using spa facilities, as many people in Japan still associate tattoos with those perceived negatively such as yakuza. Overseas, tattoos are more widely accepted as forms of culture, tradition and fashion, and many foreign athletes have tattoos. After Japan was selected in July 2009 to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the Beppu hot spring industry saw a rise in the number of inquiries and bookings made from France, Australia, Britain and other countries. Five matches are scheduled to take place in Oita, including a first-round match between Canada and defending champion New Zealand. An association of ryokan inns and hotels in the city of Beppu, including the hot spring district, plans to draw up guidelines for accepting tattooed visitors as early as this month, following a recent survey of its more than 100 members. “The association will set only a framework and each hotel should voluntarily decide (whether to accept tattooed visitors),” said Seiji Hori, a senior official of the local association. “But we hope to allow as many foreign visitors as possible to be accepted.” In 2018, the Beppu resort was visited by about 590,000 people from abroad, mainly those from other parts of Asia. The local industry regards the forthcoming Rugby World Cup as a great opportunity to appeal to foreign tourists. It might continue to accept tattooed visitors after the event, local sources said. “We hope to inform (foreign tourists) more about the benefits of hot springs in Japan,” Hori said. “They’re not just large bath tubs. They have many positive health effects.”

beppu
tattoo
oita
2019 rugby world cup
onsen
tourism


U.S. base relocation referendum to cover all Okinawa voters

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - All eligible voters in Okinawa will be able to take part in a referendum on the relocation plan for a key U.S. air base later this month, as three cities that were opposed to it announced Friday they have changed their position. The Feb. 24 referendum will ask people to vote on the controversial U.S.-Japan plan, with Gov. Denny Tamaki hoping its outcome, although not legally binding, will further demonstrate Okinawa’s opposition to the project. The current ordinance on Okinawa referendums calls on governors to respect outcomes supported by at least a quarter of eligible voters. Five cities, including the final three holdouts, had objected to the original referendum plan, in which voters would cast ballots of only “yes” and “no” on the transfer of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded residential area of Ginowan to the less populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, arguing that residents have various opinions on the matter. After the prefectural assembly passed a bill on Tuesday to revise the ordinance on the referendum and allow voters to pick “neither,” two mayors expressed their willingness by Thursday to take part. They were followed by the other three on Friday. Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama told reporters, after the municipal assembly on Friday adopted a budget related to the vote, that the city will cooperate with the prefecture on the poll. Ginowan Mayor Masanori Matsugawa said his city values the addition of the third choice for voters. “I appreciate that some assembly members who had been against (the referendum) finally showed understanding,” Okinawa Mayor Sachio Kuwae said. “I think the Okinawa people are very pleased” with the cities’ decision, Tamaki told reporters. Tamaki, who won a gubernatorial election last September on an anti-base platform, had feared a low turnout could undermine the validity of the referendum results, and had urged the five cities to join the vote. Some of the five municipalities had initially said they would take part if the prefectural assembly unanimously approved a revision of the ordinance. As there were objections to the bill from some Liberal Democratic Party members close to the central government’s policy of pushing forward the planned base relocation, it was unclear whether the referendum would cover all eligible voters. Many residents of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, are frustrated with noise, crime and accidents linked to them and want the Futenma base to be moved outside the prefecture.

okinawa
denny tamaki
futenma
henoko
u.s. military bases


Senior diplomats from Japan and China vow to work on restoring trust in security affairs

Abstract: BEIJING - Senior diplomats from Japan and China pledged Friday to try to bolster mutual trust over security affairs, as the two countries remain at odds — despite improved political ties — over a group of East China Sea islands that both claim. At the outset of their security dialogue in Beijing, Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori said, “It is true that there are concerns over security policy between Japan and China, but it is important to deepen mutual trust and concretely promote exchanges.” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou told Mori that China “will make efforts to strengthen our relations of trust while interacting (with Japan) without reserve.” Bilateral security dialogue was held for the first time since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a summit in Beijing in October, asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve the situation surrounding the disputed islands. Political ties between the two countries have been improving recently, with 2018 — the 40th anniversary of the signing and entering into force of the bilateral Treaty of Peace and Friendship — serving as an incentive to foster improved links. But the two neighbors are still mired in a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands — a group of uninhabited islets controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing and called Diaoyu in China. Strains intensified in particular after Japan’s government — then led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Abe’s immediate predecessor — brought the islands under state control in September 2012. Since that time, Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly sailed into waters around the islands, sparking concern over the possibility of an unintended clash between Japanese and Chinese vessels. Along with Mori and Kong, senior defense officials from the two countries attended Friday’s meeting. Similar security dialogue was last held in Tokyo in October 2017.

china
shinzo abe
xi jinping
senkaku islands
china-japan relations