Pressure mounts on Tory lawmakers to back Brexit deal

Abstract: LONDON - U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond ramped up the pressure on Brexiteer Tory MPs as he warned they will trigger a long delay to leaving the European Union unless they support Theresa May’s proposed deal when it returns to Parliament. A growing number of Tories are now backing the prime minister’s agreement, he said, and the deal will only be put to another vote in the House of Commons this week if the government is confident of victory. The deal was defeated for the second time on Tuesday, and persuading opponents to switch their vote is “a work in progress,” Hammond said. “What’s happened since last Tuesday is a significant number of colleagues have changed their view on this, and decided the alternatives are so unpalatable to them that they, on reflection, think that the prime minister’s deal is the best way to deliver Brexit,” Hammond said in an interview with BBC TV on Sunday. “It’s absolutely vital that we get it through next week. It’s the final chance to do this deal without having a long extension,” he said. May has already conceded that her proposed exit date of March 29 will have to be pushed back and warned the delay could be much longer if Parliament refuses to back her agreement before Thursday’s meeting of the EU Council. That would mean the U.K. people would vote to elect members of the European Parliament in May. “EU leaders would require a clear purpose for any extension that was not merely technical,” May wrote in an article for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. “If the proposal were to go back to square one and negotiate a new deal, that would mean a much longer extension. The idea of the U.K. people going to the polls to elect MEPs three years after voting to leave the EU hardly bears thinking about. There could be no more potent symbol of Parliament’s collective political failure.” While an official said last week that Tuesday was the most likely day for another vote, Trade Secretary Liam Fox also said the deal May has negotiated will only return to Parliament if the prime minister believes she can win. “There’s no point in having a vote if we have no chance of winning,” Fox said in an interview with Sky News on Sunday. “It would be difficult to justify.” There was an indication of the shift among Tory MPs when Esther McVey, who quit the Cabinet to protest May’s agreement, said she now will be backing the deal. While she sill thinks it’s a bad agreement, McVey has come to the conclusion it’s “this deal or no deal whatsoever,” she told Sky News on Sunday morning. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which could deliver 10 crucial votes and help sway rebel Tories to back May’s deal, denied on Saturday that its talks with ministers revolved around cash for Northern Ireland. Hammond said discussions had concerned the Irish border, and he hadn’t been there to offer bribes. He did, however, point out that allocations for the province will soon be under consideration. “This isn’t about money, this is about political assurance,” Hammond said when asked about the talks. He then added that “we are coming up to a spending review and we will have to look at all budgets, including devolved block-grant budgets, in that spending review.” Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour opposition, said his party’s MPs are likely to be instructed to back an amendment calling for a referendum on any deal approved by Parliament. He said he might back leaving the EU in such a plebiscite if the deal was right, setting up a clash with pro-EU members of his party. The way he would vote in a referendum would “depend on the choice in front of us,” Corbyn told Sky News. “If we’ve got a good deal in which we could have a dynamic relationship with Europe, which was all the trading relationship and so on, then that might be a good way forward that unites the country.” Labour has attempted to straddle the U.K.’s Brexit divide as it needs the support of voters in “leave”-backing districts to win power. Corbyn reiterated his call for a general election, and said he may move a motion of no confidence in the government if May loses in the House of Commons again. Any referendum question “would obviously have to be a credible choice that’s real for both those that wanted to vote ‘leave,’ or did vote ‘leave’ in 2016, as well as those that voted ‘remain,'” Corbyn said. “We are appealing to people who voted both ‘leave’ and ‘remain,’ because at the end of the day it’s the social issues facing this country, the poverty, the insecure work, the homelessness and the growing inequality that are crucial.”

brexit
philip hammond
eu
theresa may
u.k .


It's just a flesh wound: Dutch leader likens May's Brexit tenacity to Monty Python character

Abstract: AMSTERDAM - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte used a Monty Python movie reference to describe British Prime Minister Theresa May’s tenacity on Brexit despite repeated defeats. “I have a lot of respect for Theresa May — she reminds me occasionally of that Monty Python character where all his arms and legs are cut off and then says to his opponent: let’s call it a draw,” Rutte said in an interview Sunday on the “WNL op Zondag” television talk show. The Dutch leader was referring to a scene from the 1975 movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in which the character of the Black Knight — played by John Cleese — refuses to yield in a battle with King Arthur, even after losing all of his limbs. Days before a crucial meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels, Rutte reiterated that if the U.K. asks the EU to delay Brexit, he wants to know how long a postponement would take and what London seeks to achieve. On Friday, after meeting European Council President Donald Tusk for breakfast in The Hague, Rutte tweeted that the current withdrawal agreement is the only deal on the table. “If the British ask for a delay, interesting, but that was also my irritation this week — what do you want with that delay?” he said Sunday. While the U.K. is “in a very bad position right now,” Rutte respects his counterpart in London. “She’s doing incredibly, she goes on and on.”

brexit
mark rutte
theresa may
eu
u.k .
netherlands


France uses Group of Seven presidency to issue sobering message urging a revamp of capitalism

Abstract: PARIS - France is sounding an alarm for the world’s advanced economies: Capitalism is tearing them apart. President Emmanuel Macron and his Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire are using France’s presidency of the Group of Seven to argue that the system fuels inequality, destroys the planet and is ineffective at delivering goals in the public interest. The country has already experienced some of the fallout firsthand in the yellow vest movement that erupted late last year. They’re pushing a reinvention that includes minimum global taxes and higher levies on tech giants like Amazon and Facebook. There are echoes of that in the self-proclaimed democratic socialists in the U.S. and firebrand Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who last week said “capitalism is irredeemable.” “If we don’t invent a new capitalism, absurd economic solutions will win over and sweep us straight into recession,” Le Maire said in an interview late last month. A key example for him is Italy, where the populist government came to power riding a wave of public anger. It quickly threw out the rule book on fiscal responsibility, sent bond yields higher and confidence lower, helping to push its economy into a slump. At 49, Le Maire is the youngest finance minister among his G-7 counterparts. His grand ambitions also involve combating income inequality, empowering governments to intervene in the economy, and forcing companies to be socially responsible and share more of their profits with workers. While some measures of income inequality have declined, the IMF says that reflects growth in many developing economies. Many still feel they aren’t getting a decent share because of pay disparities, huge wealth concentration and levels of in-work poverty. Le Maire’s call to arms reflects a panic spreading in Western democracies about voter anger. The next sting could come at European Parliament elections in May, when euro-skeptic politicians are set to make further gains. “Capitalism works when many people have a chance at doing reasonably in the market,” said Raghuram Rajan, former governor of India’s central bank, who’s written a book on “communities” and rethinking capitalism. “We wasted 10 years since the financial crisis not really focusing on these things and hoping that one stimulus after another will somehow elevate growth.” In France, the government’s knee-jerk response to the yellow vests was to throw money at the problem, but there’s also been a realization that that alone won’t cut it. Macron, barely polling ahead of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, started what he called a national “grand debate” that’s taken him and his ministers around the country to hear people’s concerns. “You can’t fight populism with promises of more of the same,” said Societe Generale chief economist Michala Marcussen. Le Maire has miscalculated before. Two years ago, as a presidential hopeful for the center-right Les Republicains, he proposed a version of Germany’s low-paid, part-time contracts known as mini-jobs, which he believed would at least get people into work and bring down unemployment. That, he now acknowledges, was an error. He crashed out of the presidential primary with less than 3 percent of the vote. So now he’s championing policies that bring meaning to work. A bill in the legislature aims to revamp a profit-sharing system invented by Charles de Gaulle, and could also force companies to publish average salaries to expose inequalities. “If we want capitalism to hold together work must be better-paid,” Le Maire said. “There comes a moment when workers won’t tolerate it any longer.” Alongside changing relations between labor and capital, Le Maire also wants a rethink of links between state and capital. But that comes with contradictions: He wants to clip the wings of global tech giants, while overturning competition law to allow the creation of European champions. Le Maire’s view is there’s little choice if Europe doesn’t want to be dependent on U.S. or Chinese giants. “To finance this new capitalist model, we lack money, it’s as simple as that,” Le Maire said. “It’s very nice to say we’ll be able to change the Chinese, but I think it’s above all the Chinese who will change us.”

france
group of seven
capitalism
bruno le maire


Saudi crown prince approved 'intervention' against dissidents, report says

Abstract: WASHINGTON - More than a year before the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved a secret campaign to silence dissenters, The New York Times reported on Sunday. The campaign included surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudis, said the report which cited U.S. officials who have read classified intelligence reports about the effort. American officials referred to it as the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group, the Times said. At least some of the clandestine missions were carried out by members of the team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi in October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suggesting his murder was part of a wider campaign against dissidents, the report said, citing the U.S. officials and associates of some Saudi victims. The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, generated global outrage including an order from U.S. senators for President Donald Trump to designate and punish those responsible. He did not comply. The senators, briefed by the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies, said they were convinced that Crown Prince Mohammed was responsible for the Khashoggi killing. Saudi Arabia has stressed the crown prince was not involved. The kingdom initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate but later blamed rogue agents for his death. Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder. Among its activities, the Rapid Intervention Group appears to have been involved in the detention and abuse of prominent women’s rights activists arrested last year, the Times said. The intervention team was so busy that in June its leader asked a top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed whether he would give them bonuses for Eid al-Fitr, a major holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Saudi officials declined to confirm or deny that such a team existed, or answer questions from the Times about its work. The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an AFP query for comment. The Rapid Intervention Group was authorized by Crown Prince Mohammed and overseen by Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court insider, American officials told the Times. U.S. intelligence reports did not specify how involved Crown Prince Mohammed was with the group’s work, but said that the operatives saw Qahtani as a “conduit” to the crown prince, the report said. Qahtani has been sacked over Khashoggi’s murder but Saudi authorities have not said if he was among those charged. Five of the accused face the death penalty.

jamal khashoggi
saudi arabia
mohammed bin salman
murder
rights
media
turkey


Doomed jet's black boxes show 'clear similarities' with Indonesia crash, Ethiopia says

Abstract: ADDIS ABABA - Black box data recovered from an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last week show “clear similarities” with a recent crash in Indonesia of the same type of aircraft, Ethiopia’s transport minister said Sunday. While declining to give details, Dagmawit Moges told journalists the parallels would be the “subject of further study during the investigation,” with a preliminary report issued in “30 days. The announcement came a week after Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 plummeted into a field southeast of Addis Ababa minutes into its flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people onboard. The disaster caused the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft involved after aviation regulators noticed similarities with the October crash of an Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX 8 that killed all 189 passengers and crew. Both planes reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents as well as fluctuating airspeeds before crashing shortly after takeoff. Questions have honed in on an automated anti-stalling system introduced on the 737 MAX 8, designed to automatically point the nose of the plane downward if it is in danger of stalling. The pilots of Lion Air Flight 610 struggled to control the aircraft as the automated MCAS system repeatedly pushed the plane’s nose down following takeoff, according to the flight data recorder. In the case of the Ethiopian flight, the black boxes have been handed to France’s BEA air safety agency, which is working with American and Ethiopian investigators to determine what went wrong. While the cause remains to be determined, Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg on Sunday said the manufacturer is “finalizing its development of a previously-announced software update and pilot training revision” to address behavior of the MCAS “in response to erroneous sensor inputs.” Experts have questioned the U.S. aviation safety certification process after learning that American pilots had lodged serious complaints about MCAS. On Sunday the regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, said it followed “standard” procedures, which “have consistently produced safe aircraft designs,” in certifying the 737 MAX. The disaster in Ethiopia left families in 35 nations bereaved. On Sunday, Ethiopians gathered at Holy Trinity Cathedral in the capital Addis Ababa to bury 17 of their citizens killed in the crash, including the eight-person flight crew. Relatives of the deceased sobbed and held portraits of their loved ones as an Ethiopian Orthodox priest said the last rites. Wearing a T-shirt bearing a photo of Amma Tesfamariam in her flight attendant uniform, Meselech Petros said her 28-year-old sister was not supposed to work last Sunday, but came in to cover for a friend. “What I can’t forget is that she left an 8-month-old child and didn’t come back,” Meselech said. “We are broken and hurting very much. It’s very difficult,” added Amma’s brother Selamsew Mathias, 26. The funeral ceremony began when caskets draped in the Ethiopian flag were brought to the cathedral in a convoy of black hearses accompanied by hundreds of mourners. It was unclear what the coffins contained. Witnesses said the plane had nose-dived into the field, with the force of the impact leaving few bodies intact. On Thursday, grieving families and friends visiting the area where the plane went down were handed plastic water bottles filled with earth from the site. Ethiopia’s government has said it may take up to six months to identify the remains. “What makes us very sad is we didn’t find any of her remains,” said Teshome Legesse, whose 24-year-old niece, Ayantu Girma, was a flight attendant on the plane. Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s largest carrier and in many ways the international face of the nation. The deaths have shocked Africa’s second-most populous country, and the funeral attracted a wide range of mourners. “We all are children of Adam and Eve, even though our skin colors are different,” said Seyoum Kidanu, a retired police officer wearing full dress uniform and a sash in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. “When one person dies in this world, the grief belongs to everybody.”

indonesia
airlines
boeing 737 max 8
lion air
u.s .
air accidents
ethiopia airlines


South Korea says it's considering holding talks with North Korea

Abstract: SEOUL - South Korea said it’s considering holding talks with North Korea in efforts to help improve relations between the latter and the U.S. since their summit fell apart in Vietnam last month. South Korea’s Blue House presidential office confirmed a Yonhap news agency report that it’s mulling a meeting with its reclusive neighbor. Both the U.S. and North Korea “absolutely don’t want” to revert to the situation before 2017 when there was conflict and confrontation, Yonhap cited an unidentified high-level official at the Blue House as saying. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walked away from the negotiation table in February without a plan to denuclearize Pyongyang. Since then, North Korea has blamed the U.S.’s “gangster-like” demands for the breakdown in talks and threatened to halt further negotiations with Trump. The U.S. and North Korea have come too far to revert to its contentious past, and even though the Hanoi summit fell apart, the two parties have ‘clearly expressed talks will go on,” Yonhap said, citing the official.

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


South Korean defense chief says no signs of imminent North Korea missile launch

Abstract: SEOUL - It is premature to say whether recent activity at some of North Korea’s rocket facilities involved preparation for a missile launch, South Korea’s defense minister told a parliamentary hearing Monday. Early in March, several American think tanks and South Korean officials reported that satellite imagery showed possible preparations for a launch from the Sohae rocket launch site at Tongchang-ri, North Korea, which has been used in the past to launch satellites but not intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. “It’s hasty to call it missile-related activity,” Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told a parliamentary defense committee. “Tongchang-ri is a launch site but we don’t see any activity being carried out for a missile launch.” When asked if he could confirm whether Sohae was functionally restored, Jeong said it was inappropriate for intelligence authorities to comment on every media report one way or the other. He also said there were signs of continued nuclear activity in North Korea, without elaborating. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a separate parliamentary panel that it was possible that the recent developments at the missile site were to bolster North Korea’s leverage in negotiations. “But given North Korea’s continued work, thorough analysis is needed to find out its exact intentions,” Cho said. He said that there have been signs of reconstruction at Sohae since late last year and that the rebuilding has now been done to a “substantial level.” Analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California said they estimated that the rebuilding at Sohae appeared to begin in earnest shortly before U.S. President Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a summit in Hanoi late last month. The summit broke down over differences about U.S. demands for North Korea to denuclearize and North Korea’s demand for substantial relief from international sanctions, imposed on the country because of its nuclear and missile tests. On Friday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui told foreign diplomats and journalists in Pyongyang that Kim was considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a freeze on missile and nuclear tests unless the United States made concessions. Trump said after his first summit with Kim in Singapore last June that Kim had promised to dismantle the Sohae test site, a pledge the North Korean leader reiterated and expanded on at a summit with Moon in September. North Korea has used Sohae to launch satellites into space since 2011, and the United States says its work there has helped develop missile technology. A satellite launch in April 2012 killed off an Obama administration deal for a freeze in North Korean nuclear and missile testing reached weeks earlier. On Wednesday, 38 North, a group that monitors North Korea, reported that there had been no new activity at Sohae since March 8. On Friday, the group reported that satellite imagery showed no activity at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex, or at dismantled facilities at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

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


Hong Kong faces commuter chaos after rare train collision

Abstract: HONG KONG - A train collision disrupted services in Hong Kong on Monday, threatening commuter chaos during rush hour in the heart of the Asian financial hub, authorities said. The rare disruption on a network used by nearly 6 million people every weekday brought services to a halt between the stations of Central and Admiralty, rail operator MTR Corp. said. “The repair will take quite a long time and the service between Central and Admiralty … will not be available for the whole day,” its operations director, Lau Tin-shing, told a news briefing. An investigation into the incident has begun, although the trains carried no passengers at the time of the collision during the trial run of a new signal system. The drivers of both trains were taken to hospital, the network operator added, urging commuters to use other forms of travel or different rail routes. Shares of MTR fell more than 1 percent in early trade, lagging a gain of 0.3 percent in the benchmark index.


New gun laws will make New Zealand safer after mosque massacre, PM Jacinda Ardern says

Abstract: CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she would announce new gun laws within days, after at least 50 people were killed in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, where police said he was likely to face more charges. “Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” Ardern said at news conference after her Cabinet reached in principle decisions on gun reform laws in the wake of New Zealand’s worst-ever mass shooting. In addition to the 50 killed, dozens were wounded at two mosques in the South Island city during Friday prayers. The owner of a New Zealand gun store said the man charged with murder in the mosque shootings had bought firearms and ammunition online from the store, but it did not sell him the high-powered weapon used in the massacre. Gun City owner David Tipple said the alleged gunman bought four weapons and ammunition between December 2017 and March 2018. “The MSSA, military-style automatic, reportedly used by the alleged gunman was not purchased from Gun City. Gun City did not sell him an MSSA, only A-category firearms,” Tipple told a news conference in Christchurch. Under New Zealand gun laws, A-category weapons can be semi-automatic but limited to seven shots. Video of a gunman in one mosque showed a semi-automatic with a large magazine round. Tipple said the online purchases followed a police-verified online mail-order process and A-category firearms were bought in three or four purchases. “We detected nothing extraordinary about the licence holder. He was a brand new purchaser, with a brand new license,” he said. The shock of the attacks has led to calls for an immediate tightening of laws to restrict access to some firearms, particularly semi-automatic weapons. Tipple said he supported Ardern’s call for gun law reforms as the Christchurch shootings had raised legitimate concerns. New Zealand, a country of only 5 million people, has an estimated 1.5 million firearms. The minimum age for a gun license is 16, and 18 to own a semi-automatic weapon. A Radio New Zealand report, based on police data secured through an Official Information Act request, said more than 99 percent of people who applied for a firearms licence in 2017 were successful. A New Zealand standard A-category firearm license is issued after a police and background check. No licence is required to buy a large round magazine, which can be illegally modified for use in such a weapon. Only firearm owners are licensed, not weapons, so there is no monitoring of how many weapons a person may possess. New Zealand’s top online marketplace Trade Me Group said it was halting the sale of semi-automatic weapons in the wake of Friday’s attack. Ardern was the first signatory of a national condolence book for the country’s worst mass killing that she opened in the capital Wellington on Monday. “On behalf of all New Zealanders, we grieve together. We are one. They are us,” she wrote in the book. Frustration was building among the families of victims as under Islam it is custom to conduct burials within 24 hours, but bodies will not be released until postmortems are carried out. Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha said the first body was approved for release Sunday night, but the family was yet to take the body because another relative was also killed and they wanted to collect them together. He said there would be no burials Monday. “We’ve been working fairly hard through the night to ensure the process of returning the deceased to their loved ones is taking place expediently,” he said. The burial process, which usually involves washing with three kinds of water, salving wounds and scrubbing skin, would be complicated, volunteers in Christchurch said. Mo, a volunteer who had flown in from Brisbane to wash the bodies, said the people who died in the mosques were classified as martyrs. That meant there were different views as to whether they would be washed or not because he said Islamic jurisprudence said martyrs are not to be washed as their blood was witness to their martyrdom. “But some people have said because it was not a battlefield it is okay to wash the body. But it is at the discretion of the family,” said Mo. He asked to be identified by just one name. The two mosques involved in the shootings have been closed since the massacre, but are expected to reopen by Friday prayers after cleansing blessings were carried out, said Haumaha. Muslim leaders conveyed messages of love, compassion and appreciation for the community support they had received. Over the weekend and into Monday, tens of thousands of people flocked to memorial vigils around New Zealand and a victim support website raised more than 5.5 million New Zealand dollars ($3.8 million). Hundreds visited the sites of the shootings, performing songs, bringing flowers and food, and offering condolences. “Through all of this we try to remember that what we are bringing back to this tragedy, this horror, is a sense of compassion,” Rehanna Ali, coordinator of women’s affairs’ at the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, told a news conference. “The response to so much hate, has been love.”

guns
new zealand
christchurch
mass shootings
brenton tarrant
immigration
australia
jacinda arden


Chinese leader Xi to visit Europe in bid to boost trade amid row with U.S.

Abstract: HONG KONG - Chinese President Xi Jinping will make state visits to Europe from this week as he seeks to bolster trade relationships on the continent while trying to end a trade war with the U.S. Xi will travel to France, Italy and Monaco from Thursday to March 26, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The invitations were issued by French President Emmanuel Macron, Monaco leader Prince Albert II and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Lu said. Xi’s tour comes as European powers work to strike a delicate balance between concerns about Chinese influence with a desire for further investment. China last week vowed greater cooperation on “Belt and Road” ventures with U.S. and European firms, an attempt to counter growing criticism that the initiative aims to project Xi’s influence on host countries. Italy has been split over whether to sign a memorandum of understanding to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road trade and infrastructure program, and is working to solidify accords with Chinese companies in areas from banking to energy. The country’s willingness to consider doing business with China is fueling concerns in the U.S. and European Union about a Group of Seven country signing up for Belt and Road and allowing China’s interests into sectors like telecoms and ports. France, meanwhile, has said it will impose new checks on equipment makers including embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. The U.S. has also recently issued warnings about data theft sponsored by the Chinese state. There has been speculation that Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump would meet this month to sign an agreement to end the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, but that isn’t likely to happen until April at the earliest, three people familiar with the matter said.

trade
xi jinping
france
italy
monaco
china
belt and road


A squeezed hand offers glimmer of hope after New Zealand massacre

Abstract: CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - Lying outside a Christchurch mosque, bleeding from a gunshot wound that tore through his chest, Abbas Tahir Endrise was unable to muster any words in what he feared was a final phone call to his pregnant wife. Now, after intensive work by Christchurch doctors, he can breathe for himself and squeeze her hand. Abbas is one of 31 wounded survivors of Friday’s massacre being treated at the city’s hospital where teams of doctors, surgeons and nurses have worked around the clock to repair shattered bodies. Many of those brought to the hospital have been on and off of operating tables multiple times, while their devastated families pray for them to pull through as they absorb the enormity of the attack. Zeynia Endrise said she was at home cooking Friday when her phone rang, displaying her husband’s number. All she could hear was someone having difficulty breathing, desperately attempting speech. “He was trying to call, to talk to me but he couldn’t,” she said outside the hospital where she has kept a vigil by her husband’s bedside, willing him to survive for their 2-year-old son Rayyan and another baby on the way in June. She initially thought he had been in a road accident, given he walked to the Al Noor mosque every Friday for weekly prayers. But when she phoned back, a woman with a New Zealand accent answered. “She picked up the phone and said ‘Your husband was shot in his back.’ Oh my god, I was really shocked, shocked, shocked. I didn’t know what to do, crying and screaming,” Zeynia recalled. Abbas had been standing in the front row of worshippers, close to the door, where the alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant, a self-confessed white supremacist, burst in and sprayed semi-automatic rifle fire, according to witness Abdul Kadir Ababora. “He was on the left side on me, on the first line. There was no way to escape for him,” said Ababora, who miraculously emerged unscathed after wedging himself against a bookshelf that usually held Qurans. One of Tarrant’s bullets struck Abbas in his side, smashing through his ribs, tearing through the right lung and exiting out of his shoulder. The bullet passed so close to his head on the way out that it grazed his right ear. Somehow, Abbas managed to pull himself out of the mosque and call his wife, before collapsing. He was rushed to hospital, where doctors battled to save his life. The past three days have been an unending horror for Zeniya. She shuttles between her husband’s bedside, surrounded by flashing machines and tubes, briefings with doctors and then spends evenings fielding frantic calls from relatives — all the while looking after Rayyan. Abbas was desperately ill, in critical condition at the intensive care unit. But hope began to emerge late Sunday when he opened his eyes for the first time. Zeynia took his hand and he gently squeezed it. Then on Monday doctors withdrew his breathing tube. “They just took out the oxygen and he started to breathe right now. He’s opened his eyes, he can see me, hold my hand. But he still can’t talk to me,” she said. Zeynia, 34, arrived in Christchurch in 2010 from the northern Ethiopian town of Bahir Das. She worked long hours as a cleaner and eventually got citizenship. Abbas, from the nearby city of Gondar, came five years later, gaining permanent residency and was hoping to get citizenship soon. He had recently begun working Zeynia’s cleaning job as she looked after their toddler and prepared for the arrival of their next baby in the summer. Neither could have imagined anyone living in their usually welcoming adopted homeland might harbor such hatred toward Muslims. “We always thought we are safe,” she said. Zeynia once suggested they look at moving to Australia, where the pay tends to be a bit higher. But she said her husband was adamant they had found a place to call home. “I really like New Zealand, I want to stay here,” Zeynia remembered her husband saying when she floated the idea. “‘New Zealand is very safe, we are here forever,’ he said.” That feeling of safety has now been irrevocably changed. Unable to sleep late Friday night — and at that point uncertain if Abbas would make it — Zeynia decided she needed to see the video of the massacre that Tarrant had recorded and broadcast live on Facebook. It didn’t take her long to find it online and she watched in horror at what her husband and so many others went through. Asked whether she had anything to say to the shooter, she paused. “I don’t have any words to say. It’s not humanity. Babies killed, three or four of them, that’s not humanity. A boy three years (dead). I don’t have words.”

new zealand
christchurch
brenton tarrant
australia
guns
immigration
mass shootings


Activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan feel heat as China fears 'separatist' collusion

Abstract: HONG, KONG/TAIPEI - As Beijing grows wary of pro-independence groups seeking to forge closer ties in Hong Kong and Taiwan, activists say they are coming under increased surveillance and harassment from pro-China media outlets and unofficial “operatives.” Visits to Taiwan in January by several Hong Kong activists including Tony Chung generated heavy coverage by two pro-China newspapers, including detailed reports of their movements and meetings. The coverage prompted Taiwan to investigate the activities of the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao newspapers on “national security” grounds. The government found that the papers committed “unlawful” acts, including invasive surveillance, and spreading “fake news.” Officials said journalists from those papers would be banned from traveling to Taiwan for up to three years if the media outlets did not provide a “reasonable explanation” for their activities there. A Reuters examination of both papers’ articles show that at least 25 people linked to anti-China and independence causes have been the subject of intense coverage, including covert photography and the reporting of personal details, in Taiwan during the past three years. Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po did not respond to a request for comment. Such papers, which typically take a pro-Beijing stance, would be expected to pay close attention to activists pursuing causes that upset the Chinese government. But activists say their coverage stretches into the realm of harassment, including surveillance on overseas trips, and publishing details of their private lives, including homes, work and daily movements. “It’s obvious that there’s intervention from outside forces with an aim to intimidate people,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said, referring to the coverage from the pro-China papers. The coverage raised concerns about the activities of “Chinese and Hong Kong intelligence operatives” on the island, Chiu added, including people working for pro-China media outlets. Activists have also been physically attacked during trips to Taiwan. In July 2018, two Taiwanese were convicted of assaulting Hong Kong activists meeting with independence advocates in Taiwan. Three Hong Kong men were later named in Taiwanese media coverage as helping facilitate the attack. “I was followed until I almost left the airport,” Andy Chan, one of the Hong Kong activists, said of his time in Taiwan. “There are operatives for China everywhere.” China considers Hong Kong and Taiwan to be inalienable parts of its territory, and has branded pro-independence activists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as “separatists.” In an annual report to the U.S. Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission noted in November that since president Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Beijing has feared “collusion between ‘separatist forces’ in Taiwan and Hong Kong.” “Beijing is trying everything in its power to prevent this,” said a security source in the Taiwan government, who declined to be named given the sensitivity of the issue. The source and a second Taiwanese security official involved in national security say China has been quietly ramping up the number of intelligence operatives in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wu Jieh-min, a Taiwan scholar who has researched civil movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan, says he was barred from entering Hong Kong for an academic conference in late 2016. Beijing is “very worried about the exchange of ideas. If the ideas of civil society are not hindered, their power will be greatly enhanced,” said Wu, a research fellow with the government-backed Academia Sinica. Wu noted that mass, protracted protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2014 that railed against Chinese interference were a catalyst for deepening activist ties on both sides. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and main representative body in Hong Kong, the Liaison Office, did not respond to requests for comment. The Wen Wei Po has also paid close attention to foreigners in contact with Hong Kong activists. In December, Wen Wei Pao reporters and photographers covered the daily activities of Kevin Carrico, an Australia-based political scientist, during a visit to Hong Kong in which he met with independence advocates, and featured him on the front page. “I was a little creeped out by the fact that the article discussed my presentation. There were only 15 people there,” he said of a private meeting in the basement of a Hong Kong building. He said there had been “a real escalation of Beijing’s political operations in Hong Kong.” Activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan describe an increase in unknown individuals shadowing their meetings and events, sometimes taking photographs or recording their conversations. In some cases activists have been attacked, and the assailants identified. Two Taiwanese, Zhang Xiuye and Jhang Jhih-min, were found guilty last July of a 2016 assault on two Hong Kong independence activists, Andy Chan and Jason Chow, at a Taipei hotel. Zhang and Jhang were convicted of defamation and fined 6,000 New Taiwan dollars ($195) and NT$8,000 ($260) respectively; Jhang was also found guilty of “intimidating and endangering the safety” of Chan. Zhang and Jhang were among at least eight people who beat Chan and Chow and called them China “traitors” at the Caesar Park Hotel, according to Taipei court documents. Chan said he was at the hotel to meet with Ouyang Jin, a journalist with a little-known Hong Kong publication called Pacific Magazine. Zhang is a senior member of the Chinese Concentric Patriotism Party, which advocates unification of China and Taiwan, according to the group’s website. “It was purely an accident” that they ran into Chan at the hotel, Zhang said.

hong kong
taiwan
china
protests
rights
espionage


China says 13,000 'terrorists' arrested in Xinjiang since 2014

Abstract: BEIJING - Authorities in China have arrested almost 13,000 “terrorists” in the restive far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the government said Monday, in a lengthy policy paper again defending its controversial Islamic de-radicalization measures. China has faced growing international opprobrium for setting up facilities that United Nations experts describe as detention centers holding more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims. Beijing says it needs the measures to stem the threat of Islamist militancy, and calls them vocational training centers. Legal authorities have adopted a policy that “strikes the right balance between compassion and severity,” the government said in its white paper. The report said the government’s efforts have curbed religious extremism but as in past statements, gave little evidence of what crimes had occurred. The region is closed to outsiders, but former residents and activists abroad say Muslim identity itself is punished. Since 2014, Xinjiang has “destroyed 1,588 violent and terrorist gangs, arrested 12,995 terrorists, seized 2,052 explosive devices, punished 30,645 people for 4,858 illegal religious activities, and confiscated 345,229 copies of illegal religious materials,” it added. Only a small minority of people face strict punishment, such as ringleaders of terrorist groups, while those influenced by extremist thinking receive education and training to teach them the error of their ways, the paper said. The main exiled group, the World Uyghur Congress, swiftly denounced the white paper. “China is deliberately distorting the truth,” spokesman Dilxat Raxit said in an emailed statement. “Counterterrorism is a political excuse to suppress the Uighurs. The real aim of the so-called de-radicalization is to eliminate faith and thoroughly carry out Sinification.” The white paper said Xinjiang has faced a particular challenge since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, as East Turkestan extremists ramped up activities in China, referring to China’s term for extremists and separatists it says operate in Xinjiang. “They screamed the evil words of ‘getting into heaven by martyrdom with jihad,’ turning some people into extremists and terrorists who have been completely mind-controlled, and even turned into murderous devils.” Religious extremism under the banner of Islam runs counter to Islamic doctrines, and is not Islam, it added. In addition to addressing concerns about violence, experts and Uighur activists believe the camps are part of an aggressive government campaign to erode the identities of the Central Asian groups who called the region home long before waves of migrants from China’s Han majority arrived in recent decades. Monday’s paper sought to underplay Islam’s role in the region’s historical makeup, saying that while it “cannot be denied that Xinjiang received the influence of Islamic culture,” that did not change the “objective fact” that Xinjiang’s culture is merely a facet of Chinese culture. “Islam is not the natural faith of the Uighurs and other ethnicities, nor is it their only faith,” the report said. Xinjiang has long been an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and the Uighur ethnic group evolved from a long process of migration and ethnic integration, the paper said. “They are not descendants of the Turks.” Turkey is the only Islamic country that has regularly expressed concern about the situation in Xinjiang, due to close cultural links with the Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language. China has denounced Turkish concern as unwarranted and interference in its internal affairs.

china
xinjiang
uighurs
muslims
human rights
prisons


Livestreaming delays proposed as way to discourage more viral massacre videos

Abstract: NEW YORK - With the massacre of at least 50 people in New Zealand streamed live Friday, Facebook faced two problems: The immediacy of Facebook Live, and the fact that videos of any sort — including playbacks of live ones — can quickly explode globally. It might be time to force social media providers to delay live broadcasting or streaming, Tom Bossert, former homeland security adviser for President Donald Trump, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “It’ll require some time and money, but I think it’s something that we should consider,” Bossert said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she wants talks with Facebook on the issue of livestreaming. The video was up for 17 minutes before it came down. Facebook said it managed to prevent 1.2 million uploads of the massacre video in the first 24 hours, but 300,000 versions made it to the platform before being removed. Even after it was removed, some who had captured it re-posted on YouTube. A livestreaming delay to prevent similar situations could become one of the first concrete regulations of tech companies, which have strongly pushed back against any government control but have slowly conceded that their size and influence cannot go unregulated forever. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, with its live video app called Periscope, have all said they rely on video to drive revenue and user growth. Real-time streams speed up the process and defy the logic that videos need to be edited to go viral.

new zealand
facebook
social media
youtube
guns
immigration
australia
christchurch
mass shootings
brenton tarrant


Christchurch teenager charged with distributing mosque rampage livestream

Abstract: CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - An 18-year-old has appeared in a New Zealand court charged with distributing the livestream video of a deadly mass shooting at Christchurch’s Al Noor mosque. The teenager, whose name was suppressed by the judge, was also charged with publishing a photograph of the mosque with the message “target acquired,” and for inciting violence. He faces a maximum of 14 years in prison for each charge, prosecutors said. A judge did not grant him bail and he is due back in court on April 8. The hearing came after 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant allegedly carried out the shootings at Al Moor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch on Friday in which 50 people were killed and dozens more injured. Investigators had said that the teenager was so far not believed to be directly involved in his attacks. District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll added that details related to the charges were also to be suppressed.

christchurch
new zealand
mass shootings
brenton tarrant
guns
immigration


New Zealand gunman 'rational,' will represent himself: ex-lawyer

Abstract: CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - The Australian charged with murder in the mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques plans to represent himself and appears “rational,” his court-appointed lawyer said Monday. Brenton Tarrant was charged with one count of murder — though he may face other charges — and appeared at Christchurch District Court on Saturday after the rampage during Friday prayers that left at least 50 people dead. Duty lawyer Richard Peters, who represented him during the preliminary court hearing, said the 28-year-old “indicated he does not want a lawyer.” “He wants to be self-represented in this case,” said Peters, who played down suggestions that Tarrant may not be fit for trial. “The way he presented was rational and someone who was not suffering any mental disability. That’s how he appeared. He seemed to understand what was going on,” Peters said. Also Monday, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said Tarrant acted alone but may have had support. “We believe absolutely there was only one attacker responsible for this,” Bush told a news conference. But he added that the support of other people hasn’t been ruled out and is “a very, very important part of our investigation.”

new zealand
christchurch
mass shootings
brenton tarrant
guns
immigration
australia


Aichi 5-year-old has waist-length hair shorn to help make wigs for sick kids

Abstract: A 5-year-old girl from Aichi Prefecture decided to have her waist-length hair cut in January so it can be made into wigs for children who have suffered hair loss from cancer or other illnesses. Momoko Kanda was prompted to donate her hair, which had never been cut since she was born, after recalling a girl she saw wearing a hat during a prolonged hospital stay last year. When Momoko was hospitalized for a month in April for a fever and rashes, she would often go to the play room with her mother. She often saw a girl wearing a hat there who was slightly older than her, quietly reading a book. The two didn’t have a chance to talk, but she could not forget her. “Why is she wearing a hat in the room?” Momoko asked her mother Ai, 31, when she returned to her room. Her mother told her there are children who lose their hair due to medical treatment, and that people can donate their own hair so wigs can be made for them. Momoko, who was undergoing medical treatment herself, immediately said: “I want to donate my hair, too!” Her mother was touched by the response. “Because I had taken good care of her hair, I was deeply touched by her decision to cut it for somebody else,” said Ai, who had been taking care of her daughter’s long hair morning and night. On Jan. 29, Momoko finally had her first hair cut at Mimpi, a hair salon in Okazaki in Aichi. Gazing at her shoulder-length hair, she smiled and exclaimed, “It’s short!” “I was a bit nervous, but I enjoyed it,” she said. “I want to grow my hair long again.” Four bundles of hair, each about 40 cm long, will be sent from the hair salon to Japan Hair Donation & Charity, a nonprofit organization in Osaka that makes wigs and offers them free of charge. The hair donation movement, which began in the United States, became widely known in Japan around 2015, when actress Ko Shibasaki donated her hair. There are several organizations that accept hair donations, but donated locks should be 31 cm or longer, in most cases. Dyed or permed hair can also be donated. Making each wig requires hair from about 20 to 30 people, and the process takes anywhere from several months to a year to complete.

aichi
wigs
children
cancer
japan hair donation & charity
hair donation


Rare ibis, gifted to Japan by China last year, lays first egg

Abstract: NIIGATA - A rare ibis gifted to Japan by China as a symbol of friendship last year has laid an egg for the first time, Niigata Prefectural Government said Sunday. The egg laid by Guan Guan, one of a pair gifted in October 2018, at the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Conservation Center is expected to hatch in mid-April if all goes smoothly. The female ibis arrived at the facility in Niigata Prefecture with the male Lou Lou on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ peace and friendship treaty. The offering by China of the internationally protected species to Japan was the first since 2007 after years of soured ties between the two countries over territorial and wartime issues. A worker at the conservation center noticed the egg on Saturday via a video monitor, and later confirmed that it had been laid before 5 p.m. the same day, according to the facility. The conservation center is planning to artificially incubate it to maximize the chick’s chances. Guan Guan and her three-year-old mate had been exhibiting the mating ritual of exchanging small branches since mid-February, according to the center. Japan-born ibises became extinct in 2003. Since then, Japan has been artificially breeding ibises by relying on Chinese donations, the first of which was in 1999, and preparing them for reintroduction into the wild. Those that have been released into the wild in the city of Sado are all descendants of five of the birds received earlier from China. The center believes that with the addition of Lou Lou and Guan Guan, the genetic diversity of its artificially bred ibises will increase.

china
niigata
conservation
endangered
china-japan relations


WWII veteran's flag delivered to family in Hyogo after five-year U.S.-Japanese search

Abstract: KAMIGORI, HYOGO PREF. - A rising sun flag left by a Japanese man who died during World War II was delivered Sunday to his family in Hyogo Prefecture after a municipal worker in Aomori Prefecture spent years trying to return it. Toshio Matsue died on Luzon in the Philippines in 1945, at the age of 36. “I’m full of emotion, because a photo of my father has been the only war memento we have of him,” said his eldest son, 78-year-old Jitsuo Matsue, as the flag was brought to the family in the town of Kamigori, Hyogo Prefecture. Shingo Takashima, 33, who works for the Mutsu Municipal Government in Aomori Prefecture, started working to find the man’s family after he was asked to do so by Amy Miller, a 32-year-old American who was working at Mutsu City Hall as a temporary worker in 2014. During the war, Miller’s grandfather was a U.S. Navy pilot in charge of airlift operations in areas including the Philippines. After her grandfather died, Miller found the carefully preserved flag among his belongings. Miller went back to Japan with the flag, and Takashima cooperated with her in the search. They toured the country, determined to find the family. After Miller returned to the United States last March, Takashima kept looking, and contacted Nippon Izokukai, an association that supports families of war veterans, late last year. With their assistance, he finally found the family last month. “I’m relieved, as my determination to deliver the flag to the family at any cost has borne fruit at last,” Takashima said.

wwii
conflict
history
u.s.-japan relations


Ex-mayor of Japan city who quit post over fiery verbal abuse re-elected to complete term, vows to run again

Abstract: KOBE - The former mayor of the city of Akashi in Hyogo Prefecture who quit last month over his abusive language toward a senior official was re-elected on Sunday, beating two other candidates. Fusaho Izumi, 55, stepped down from the mayoral post after being criticized for verbally attacking a city official and telling him to “burn down” a local building, out of frustration that its presence prevented the completion of a road project. Izumi ran against Hiroto Kitaguchi, 53, a Hyogo prefectural assemblyman and a former mayor of Akashi, who was affiliated with no party, and Michiyo Shimmachi, 71, a former prefectural assembly member from the Japanese Communist Party. Izumi will only serve until late April, when his original term ends, at which point a new mayoral election will be held. Kitaguchi called the latest election a “waste of taxpayers’ money,” while Izumi campaigned on his child care policy that had proven popular enough for civic groups to petition him to run despite the scandal. His verbal abuse of staff became public in late January, when a recording of his comments surfaced. On June 14, 2017, frustrated with the slow progress of road construction, Izumi also called the senior official in charge of negotiations over relocating buildings a “moron.” Izumi was forced to quit on Feb. 2 and apologized for his “unforgivable mistake.” He also told the public that he had started to study anger management. “I feel a deep responsibility for what I’ve done,” Izumi told supporters at his election office, referring to the abusive language, after being informed of his victory in the poll. He also signaled his intention to run in the fresh mayoral election in April, saying, “I’ll firmly convey my thoughts toward Akashi.” Izumi, formerly a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, was elected mayor of Akashi for the first time in April 2011 and won his second term in a vote in April 2015. His resignation as mayor over the verbal abuse came shortly before the end of his second term.


Japan to develop long-range, air-to-ship cruise missiles

Abstract: Japan has decided to develop for the first time long-range, air-to-ship cruise missiles that can be carried by fighter jets and are capable of attacking a warship from beyond the range of enemy weapons, government sources said Sunday. The plan is aimed at boosting deterrence by extending the range of available missiles to more than 400 kilometers, as China has been improving its naval capabilities, the sources said. Planned development work will be based on Japan’s existing supersonic XASM-3 air-to-ship missiles, which are said to have a range of not more than 200 km, they said. The Defense Ministry plans to include costs for the new project in its draft budget. At the Diet in January, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he believes long-range cruise missiles are not banned under the Constitution. Article 9 of the supreme law renounces war as a sovereign right of the state, banning the possession of military forces and other “war potential.”


Japan and U.S. to develop new radar system for Aegis warships: sources

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Japan and the United States are working toward the joint development of a new radar system for Aegis-equipped U.S. Navy warships, as part of efforts to improve defense capabilities, diplomatic sources said Sunday. Coordination between the two countries on the plan aimed at developing capabilities to counter new weapons, including hypersonic missiles currently being developed by China and Russia, has entered its final phase, the sources said. Japan, which also faces nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, is hoping to strengthen its security alliance with the United States through the joint development program. Tokyo regards the envisioned joint development as important to national defense, but its involvement in the project could cause concerns about the country being seen as encouraging an arms race between major powers, some observers have said. Japan’s development together with the United States of the SM-3 Block 2A interceptor completed this month, with the device now having moved into production. The new radar system, anticipated to provide 360 degree surveillance on the warships, is expected to be the next pillar of the nation’s defense collaboration with Washington. Two different types of air and missile defense radar are planned for the warships in the future, including the AN/SPY-6 — an upgraded radar system suitable for detecting high-altitude threats. The AN/SPY-6 system is on schedule to be delivered starting in 2020. Currently the AN/SPQ-9B system is used to detect and track low-flying threats, but it is a traditional rotating radar that makes blind spots unavoidable. The new radar eyed for development by Japan and the United States will be a nonrotating system, according to the sources. When placing a recent order for five AN/SPQ-9B units the U.S. Navy paid $21.5 million, according to U.S. media reports. The new system could be even more expensive.

defense
security
u.s .
u.s.-japan relations


Officials in Japan launch probe after university loses contact with 700 foreign students

Abstract: NAGOYA - A government investigation has been launched to probe the disappearance of about 700 foreign students who have stopped attending classes, and have been out of contact since last April, because some no longer hold valid visas, a university in Tokyo has said. Tokyo University of Social Welfare had 5,133 foreign nationals enrolled as of May 1, the second-largest foreign student body after Waseda University’s 5,412, according to the Japan Student Services Organization. But the private university attended by some 8,000 total students in total said last week it had lost touch with about 700 of the roughly 2,600 foreigners who had attended the university’s Oji campus in Kita Ward, Tokyo. The students were enrolled as researchers for the current academic year, which ends later this month. The students include nationals from Vietnam, Nepal, China and other countries, and have been removed from the university’s student register, according to its public relations office in Nagoya. The university said it also recorded 264 such disappearances in 2016 and 493 in 2017. In many cases, students went missing after attending classes several times and later stopped paying tuition. The school, established in 2000 in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, has four campuses, in Tokyo, Isesaki and Nagoya. In 2017, the Justice Ministry said dozens of foreign students registered with the university were found to be illegally staying in Japan even after their visas had expired.

universities
immigration
education
foreign workers


Japan's 'Olympic ojiisan' dies with Tokyo 2020 dream unfulfilled

Abstract: An Olympic mega-fan who attended every Summer Games since Tokyo in 1964 has died, just over a year before his home city was set to host its second Olympics. Tokyo businessman Naotoshi Yamada, 92, who died on March 9 from heart failure, was a national celebrity known for his repeated, gleeful appearances in Olympic stands. “Olympic ojiisan ” (“Olympic Grandad”), as he came to be known, was an omnipresent fixture for TV viewers in the nation as they cheered on their national team at the “Greatest Show On Earth.” Often sporting a gold top hat, a kimono and a beaming smile, Yamada also became a darling of the international media. “After spending 92 years of his life cheering, Naotoshi Yamada, international Olympic cheerleader, was called to eternal rest on March 9, 2019,” said his website, managed by a firm he founded. Born in 1926, Yamada built a successful wire rope manufacturing business, and also expanded his portfolio to include the hotel and real estate sectors. But away from work, his passion was for sport — particularly the Olympics. He had not missed a Summer Games since 1964, taking in Mexico City, Munich, Montreal, Moscow, Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro. For good measure, he also attended the Winter Games when it rolled into Nagano in 1998, and told local media of his strong desire to attend the 2020 Tokyo Games. Sad to hear the news of the death of ‘Uncle Olympics’, Naotoshi Yamada at the age of 92. He was a real ‘super’ fan watching every edition of the Games from Tokyo 64 onwards. We will all miss him in Tokyo next year! – Thomas Bach, IOC President pic.twitter.com/XOlmVhrAVy — Olympics (@Olympics) March 18, 2019 Yamada saw the first Tokyo Olympics when he was 38. But his passion was truly ignited during the 1968 Mexico City Games, according to his website. He donned a kimono and a sombrero hat and loudly cheered for a Mexican 5000-meter runner, mistaking him for a Japanese athlete. Local spectators embraced the scene and loudly cheered for Japanese athletes in return, leading to an electrifying show of support that went beyond nationality, his website said. “He saw the awesome power of cheering, and was mesmerized by it ever since,” it said.

olympics
olympic ojiisan
naotoshi yamada
2020 tokyo olympics
obituaries


Japan to begin discussions on Imperial succession system, including creation of female branches of royal family

Abstract: The government will soon start discussing how to achieve a stable Imperial succession, including the creation of female branches of the royal family. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said during a Diet committee session Monday that the government will study whether to allow female members to remain in the Imperial family even when they marry commoners. The process will start immediately after Crown Prince Naruhito succeeds Emperor Akihito on May 1, he said. The Imperial House Law stipulates that only males can ascend the throne and requires women marrying outside the Imperial family to abandon their royal status. The government has held discussions in the past on whether a female member can ascend the throne, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been reluctant about changing the law to allow female monarchs. Abe said in the Diet committee session, “Because this is an extremely important issue related to the foundation of the nation, we have to give careful consideration to the matter.” The Emperor, who is 85 years old, will be Japan’s first living monarch in around two centuries to abdicate. The date has been set for April 30. A one-off law was enacted in June 2017 allowing him to pass his status to his 59-year-old son after he indicated his desire to step down in a rare video message. While the government-led process stopped short of resuming a debate on female succession, the Diet adopted a nonbinding resolution requesting that the government consider how to ensure stable succession. There are currently 18 Imperial family members, 13 of whom are female. After the Crown Prince ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne, there will be only three male heirs — the Crown Prince’s younger brother, Prince Akishino, 53, the Emperor’s only grandson, Prince Hisahito, 12, and Prince Hitachi, 83, the younger brother of the Emperor.

succession
imperial family
emperor akihito
women
royalty
emperor naruhito


Education ministry urges local governments to promote school enrollment of foreign students

Abstract: The education ministry urged local governments Monday to promote the school enrollment of foreign students, and to cooperate in the country’s planned April investigation regarding their enrollment. The urging comes at a time before the arrival of a large number of foreign workers after the new visa system starts in April. The ministry currently has no figures for the number of elementary- and junior-high-school-aged foreign children who are registered as residents and yet not enrolled in school. According to the Mainichi Shimbun, there are more than 16,000 foreign children who have not been confirmed as enrollees by the municipalities in which they reside. “Expecting an influx of foreign workers from this April, the ministry considers this to be a good time to conduct research,” a ministry spokesman said. A planned investigation will be conducted nationwide for the first time in April with the cooperation of each municipality and newly introduced immigration offices. The investigation would likely involve counting how many foreign children are enrolled versus how many are not. In Japan, parents are obliged by law to send their children to school during their elementary and junior high school years, but that law is not currently applicable to foreign parents. The education ministry accepts foreign students who wish to enroll in school of their own free will under the International Covenants on Human Rights . The notification that the ministry sent to local governments on Monday also requests that municipalities send school entry information to foreign parents and that schools be flexible on which grade children will be enrolled, and ensure that foreign students enroll in classes that meet their Japanese language abilities. A similar notification was sent in 2012 after the amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law came into effect — the time when the residence card system was newly introduced in Japan after the alien registration system had been abolished. The notification’s goal was to make the handling of foreign students more coherent. Currently, support systems for foreign students vary widely in each municipality. In Yokohama, for example, where more than 1,600 pupils are said to need Japanese-language assistance, schools with more than five students that have a low level of Japanese proficiency are required to attend a language assistance class called an “international class,” in which pupils learn Japanese, while their Japanese peers take classes that require high Japanese skills, such as literature and sociology.

education
schools
foreign workers
immigration


Tokyo artwork exhibitors referred to prosecutors over 2016 fire that killed boy

Abstract: Six organizers and exhibitors involved with an outdoor Tokyo art festival in 2016 were referred to prosecutors Monday, over a fire at the event that killed a 5-year-old boy in a wooden jungle gym-like art installation. The six, two of whom are university students, are suspected of professional negligence resulting in the death of the kindergartner, and injuries to two others, due to allegedly insufficient fire prevention measures. Police believe the fire was caused by an incandescent light bulb set inside the object. The artwork, which was made by a student group at the Nippon Institute of Technology, contained wood chips that police concluded were ignited by the light, causing fire to spread throughout the structure. The boy’s father and a man visiting the site of Tokyo Design Week in the Meiji Jingu Gaien area in November 2016 sustained injuries while trying to help the boy escape the burning object. The victim’s name was withheld at the request of his parents. The two university students have admitted to setting the incandescent light inside the artwork and told investigators they turned it on because it became dark, according to the police. In addition to the students, their teacher and three executives of an advertising company that organized the event were also referred to prosecutors. The teacher said the university had failed to supervise the two, while the executives, including the 70-year-old president of the company, said they understood the college was responsible for maintenance of the artwork, according to investigative sources. The object, which was 3 meters high, about 5 meters wide and around 2 meters long, was described as a free interactive artwork. The boy’s parents said through their lawyer that they believe referring the six to prosecutors is “a significant step forward” in getting to the bottom of the accident. Kenichi Narita, president of the university, offered a fresh apology over the incident, and pledged to boost safety education so as not to repeat similar accidents, in comments released on the school website. The festival, which was first held in 1997, featured works of art and architecture. It has not been held since the fire. In an experiment conducted by the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, wood chips started to generate smoke about 20 seconds after they were placed on a 450-watt incandescent light and caught fire about two minutes later. Accidents believed to have been caused by incandescent lights between fiscal 2011 and 2015 in Japan totaled 100, of which 49 cases led to a fire, according to the NITE.

fires
nippon institute of technology
courts


Two Japanese men arrested in Cambodia for allegedly killing taxi driver

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Two Japanese men in their 20s were arrested in Cambodia late Sunday on suspicion of killing a taxi driver in the north of the country, a local police official has said. The men were identified as Reimon Ishida, 23, originally from Chiba Prefecture, and Ryuji Nakakuki, also 23, originally from Fukushima Prefecture. The two are said to have admitted killing Him Chan, 40, with a knife at around 5 p.m. Sunday in order to steal his taxi, which they planned to use to commit further crimes, according to Huot Sothy, deputy police chief in Siem Reap Province. The pair arrived in Siem Reap on Saturday via Thailand. On Sunday morning, they allegedly hired a car and driver to take them to the neighboring province of Banteay Meanchey with the intention of stealing the vehicle. They decided not to steal the car after discovering it was equipped with a camera, police said. They are alleged to have then hired a taxi driver on the way back to Siem Reap before killing him and stealing his car, the official said. After allegedly stealing the car, the suspects almost immediately collided with a truck and came to a halt in front of a house about 300 meters away, police said. The incident occurred in a village in Puok District, about 18 kilometers from the town of Siem Reap. The victim lived in Siem Reap and was a father of four, according to the official. Under Cambodian law, the suspects could face somewhere between 15 and 30 years in prison if convicted.


Japan's Diet passes record ¥101 trillion budget with spending hikes for defense and social security

Abstract: The Diet on Wednesday enacted a record ¥101.46 trillion ($920 billion) budget for fiscal 2019 that will boost spending on social security and defense and include stimulus measures to buoy the economy after a planned consumption tax hike. The budget cleared the chamber in the afternoon following approval by the Upper House, which is controlled by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. While the government routinely draws up supplementary budgets later in the fiscal year to cover any additional spending, this is the first time the general account budget has topped ¥100 trillion from the start. Key to the budget for the year starting April 1 is a ¥2.03 trillion stimulus package that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes will underpin domestic demand after the consumption tax is increased to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October. The package includes a rebate program for purchases made by credit cards and other cashless means, shopping vouchers for households with low incomes or small children, and public works spending to shore up infrastructure against natural disasters. As in past years, the largest chunk of the budget, a record ¥34.06 trillion, has been set aside for social security outlays including on health care and pensions, with such costs swelling amid a rapidly aging population. Defense spending accounted for a record ¥5.26 trillion, due in part to purchases of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system and six F-35A stealth fighters. The budget, the enactment of which had already been guaranteed after clearing the more powerful Lower House on March 1, has been the subject of some drama. After Abe’s Cabinet signed off on a draft of the budget late last year, it came to light that government officials had been publishing faulty jobs data for nearly 15 years. This led to the underpayment of work-related benefits to more than 20 million people, necessitating the addition of ¥650 million to the budget to cover payouts. A steady rise in government spending — the initial budget has marked record highs for the past seven years — means Japan, despite higher tax revenue, remains far from consolidating its battered fiscal health. The country’s fiscal health is the worst among major industrialized economies, with public debt more than twice the size of gross domestic product. The government expects a record ¥62.50 trillion in tax revenue during fiscal 2019, with issuance of new government bonds falling slightly to ¥32.66 trillion.

diet
budget
shinzo abe
health care
pensions
ldp
abenomics
social welfare


Miyakoshi, the first Japanese firm into postwar China, hopes for a real estate-driven comeback

Abstract: When it comes to China, Kunimasa Miyakoshi has at least two claims to fame. Some four decades ago, when he was only 37, the businessman led the first Japanese company to get a permit to do business in the country after World War II. And today, his Miyakoshi Holdings Inc. is the only stock in Japan’s benchmark Topix index that generates 100 percent of sales from China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Miyakoshi, once an electronics manufacturer, has changed course to become a real estate developer, and it’s about to take the next step in its long relationship with the communist country. The company is working to cement a $1.1 billion deal, Miyakoshi says, that will grant it the rights to build office towers — which it calls innovation centers — in the technology hub Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. “We are about to begin something extremely challenging,” Miyakoshi said in an interview at the firm’s headquarters in Tokyo. But “this is going to be huge.” While Japan and China have had a fraught diplomatic relationship, business ties run deep. China was Japan’s largest trading partner in 2018, taking in about $142 billion worth of exports. Still, few Japanese have Miyakoshi’s history with the country. Miyakoshi, who established his own business when he was 25, was asked by the Chinese government to go to the country in 1977 to help it make cassette tape recorders. “I was a young man,” Miyakoshi said. “I didn’t have a clue what kind of high-profile people I was dealing with. But we went to China, just like that.” In those days, China lacked the infrastructure and technology to mass-produce products such as tape recorders, which it wanted to use in education. “About 40 big shots attended the negotiations,” Miyakoshi said. “You wouldn’t believe it.” When Miyakoshi flew back from meeting the Chinese officials, Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, was waiting at the airport, he recalls. The business permit Miyakoshi eventually received was labeled No. 11. The first 10 all went to Hong Kong companies, according to Miyakoshi. The business made losses at first, which China offered to write off. Miyakoshi said it was his responsibility to cover them. That was the beginning of a 40-year relationship, which he says is paving the way for the Shenzhen project. Miyakoshi is betting that his plans to build at least four skyscrapers and bring in hundreds of medical and health care technology companies from Japan and other countries to the southern Chinese city will get full backing from the local authorities. The Shenzhen government has outlined its ambitions to develop the city under a plan that stretches to 2035. The project will have four stages. Most of the money for the first stage will come from the company and its affiliates’ existing capital, according to the businessman. The company is hoping to generate tens of millions of dollars in rent revenue once construction of the first building is completed, which is scheduled for 2021. It’s also considering investing in tenant companies. By the end of this month, the company plans to gather a group of about 35 Japanese firms that are interested in setting up shop in Shenzhen, Miyakoshi said. The company will seek a construction permit from the Shenzhen government this summer, he said. Calls to government officials to verify Miyakoshi’s plans weren’t answered. “On the permit, it’s like, which comes first, the chicken or the egg,” said Masahiro Terada, a business development leader with PwC Consulting in Tokyo who’s advising Miyakoshi on the project. “The government will want to see what kind of development plan is underway and who will be coming as tenants.” Miyakoshi Holdings has only 50 employees (down from 7,600 at the start of the 1990s), and had sales of just ¥1.3 billion ($11.6 million) last fiscal year. No analysts cover the stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But it’s listed on the main board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where its shares doubled from April to May last year before paring some of those gains. “The challenge is whether this plan will resonate with Japanese companies,” Terada said. It’s a question of “how many are willing to start from scratch to crack a new market.” Terada says that winning a permit from the Chinese government shouldn’t be difficult. JBCC Holdings Inc., a technology services company based in Tokyo, is one of the several companies currently in talks with Miyakoshi to become a potential tenant. “We’ve visited the site a few times — it’s a really good spot,” said Toru Kubo, an official at the China arm of JBCC. “It’s a good business chance for us as quality companies will gather from around the globe.” For Miyakoshi, the Shenzhen project is a chance to reinvent his company after it quit its failing electronics business in 2016, yielding to stiff competition from local manufacturers. While time will tell whether he’ll succeed, the 78-year-old is confident in his chances. “Our business here will really change,” he said. “We’ll be a completely different company.”

miyakoshi
china
real estate
shenzhen
investments
china-japan relations


EU demands scrutiny of 5G risks but no bloc-wide Huawei ban

Abstract: STRASBOURG, FRANCE - EU nations will be required to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of the year, the European Commission said on Tuesday, shunning U.S. calls to ban China’s Huawei Technologies across the bloc. The aim is to use tools available under existing security rules plus cross-border cooperation, the bloc’s executive body said, leaving it to individual EU countries to decide whether they want to ban any company on national security grounds. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Portugal are all preparing to auction 5G licenses this year while six other countries will do so next year. The European Union move came despite U.S. pressure to boycott Huawei, citing fears of China using the company’s equipment for espionage. Huawei has strongly rejected the allegations and launched a lawsuit against the U.S. government. The EU provided additional detail on the plans first reported by Reuters on March 22, with European digital chief Andrus Ansip saying that the measures announced on Tuesday aimed to address concerns about foreign governments using companies for espionage. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe was wakening up to potential Chinese dominance in the region. Ansip said that 5G technology would transform the economy and society, but that this cannot happen without full security built in. “It is therefore essential that 5G infrastructures in the EU are resilient and fully secure from technical or legal backdoors,” Ansip said in a statement. EU countries have until the end of June to assess cybersecurity risks related to 5G, leading to a bloc-wide assessment by Oct. 1. Using this, EU countries would then have to agree measures to mitigate risks by the end of the year. Such measures could include certification requirements and tests of products or suppliers regarded as potential security risks. The bloc will decide by Oct. 1, 2020, whether to take further action. The EU has already passed a new law to give permanent status to the EU Cybersecurity Agency and to guide on cybersecurity certification. Huawei described the EU’s approach as objective and proportionate. Its comments were echoed by telecoms lobby group GSMA, which includes 300 operators worldwide, while the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association emphasized the importance of a fact-based and harmonized policy. Deutsche Telekom, meanwhile, said it is open to exchanging data with other operators to improve network security as the industry moves toward super-fast 5G technology. Large telecoms operators, which view 5G as the next big money-spinner, oppose a Huawei ban, saying that such a move could set back 5G deployment by years. World No.1 telecoms equipment maker Huawei, which competes with Sweden’s Ericsson and Finnish company Nokia, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations that its equipment could be used for spying. Australia and New Zealand have stopped operators using Huawei equipment in their 5G networks. But in a separate boost for Huawei on Tuesday, it was announced that Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, plans to roll out a commercial 5G mobile network by June, partly using Huawei technology.

eu
5g
huawei
cybersecurity
espionage
emmanuel macron
u.s .


Google launches global council to advise on AI and tech ethics

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - Alphabet Inc.’s Google said on Tuesday it was launching a global advisory council to consider ethical issues around artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. The council, which is slated to publish a report at the end of 2019, includes technology experts, digital ethicists, and people with public policy backgrounds, Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president for global affairs, said at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology conference. The group is meant to provide recommendations for Google and other companies and researchers working in areas such as facial recognition software, a form of automation that has prompted concerns about racial bias and other limitations. “We want to have the most informed and thoughtful conversations we can,” Walker said on stage at the MIT Technology Review event in San Francisco. “We want to sit down with the council and see what agenda they want to set.” Google already has its own internal AI principles, which, among other provisions, bars the California-based tech firm from using AI to develop weapons. The eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council includes Joanna Bryson, an associate professor in computing at the University of Bath; William J. Burns, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state; and Dyan Gibbens, chief executive of Houston-based drone startup Trumbull, according to a Google blog post. The council will meet four times, beginning in April, the blog post said.

google
ai
tech
ethics
alphabet
facial recognition
mit


Sony to conduct tests on remotely driven cars with NTT Docomo

Abstract: Sony Corp. and NTT Docomo Inc. said Wednesday they will start conducting joint tests in Guam this summer on remotely driven cars using next-generation 5G services. The New Concept Cart SC-1 developed by Sony will be tested at Docomo 5G Open Lab GUAM — NTT Docomo’s first overseas 5G verification facility. Sony and NTT Docomo plan to use the remotely driven vehicles at commercial facilities and airports. The cars can carry three passengers and do not have a steering wheel. Instead, the vehicles have been designed to be controlled from a remote location, with a maximum speed of 19 kilometers per hour. A built-in sensor will automatically stop the car from colliding with people or obstacles, while a 4K monitor within the vehicle transmits images, including advertisements, to the passengers.


Tokyo stocks fall back on ex-dividend impact

Abstract: JIJI Stocks turned lower on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, pressured by selling a day after the deadline for securing rights to fiscal 2018 year-end dividends. The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 49.66 points, or 0.23 percent, to end at 21,378.73. On Tuesday, the key market gauge surged 451.28 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues was down 8.45 points, or 0.52 percent, at 1,609.49, after rising 40.53 points the previous day. Stocks going ex-dividend contributed to falls of some 170 points in the Nikkei average and some 17.5 points in the Topix index, brokers said. Despite the ex-dividend impact, stocks avoided a serious setback, supported by buybacks following an overnight rise in U.S. equities and the yen’s fall against the dollar, brokers said. “Considering the ex-dividend impact, Japanese stocks were effectively solid,” said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co. But many analysts took a cautious stance on the outlook. It is difficult to expect the Nikkei to gain further upward momentum, as Japanese companies are expected to offer conservative forecasts at the upcoming earnings reporting season, a brokerage official said. “There are no fresh incentives strong enough for the Nikkei to test its recent high of around 21,800,” Tabei said. He added that there are many factors to watch, citing Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, U.S.-China trade tensions and planned Japan-U.S. trade talks. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,266 to 792 in the TSE’s first section, while 67 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.311 billion shares from 1.741 billion shares on Tuesday. Shares of companies with high dividend yields fell sharply. Matsui Securities fell 8.54 percent, and insurer Dai-ichi Life dropped 3.23 percent. Automakers met with selling. Toyota lost 2.03 percent, and Nissan declined 3.50 percent. Isuzu was down 1.67 percent. Other major losers included mobile phone carrier KDDI and Advantest, a maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. On the other hand, Nidec gained 3.12 percent after Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. raised its investment rating and target stock price for the motor-maker. Also on the plus side were employment information service firm Recruit and clothing retailer Fast Retailing. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average rose 230 points to end at 21,380.


Dollar firmer around ¥110.65 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was firmer around ¥110.65 in Tokyo trading on Wednesday thanks to buying to adjust positions, as a wait-and-see mood prevailed due to a lack of fresh incentives. “Marker players are keeping a close eye on the next moves on Britain’s planned exit from the European Union and U.S.-China trade talks,” an official at a bank-affiliated securities house said. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.67-67, up from ¥110.19-19 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1251-1252, down from $1.1312-1312, and at ¥124.51-52, down from ¥124.65-65. An official of a Japanese bank said the dollar’s downside was solid. “Buybacks were observed when the dollar fell and approached the psychologically important line of ¥110.30,” the official said. But dealers agreed that market players “found it difficult to trade actively during Tokyo hours,” an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. A fall in U.S. long-term interest rates has weighed on the dollar, a currency broker said. But relatively high U.S. short-term interest rates have discouraged players to sell the dollar,” an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.


Renault wants merger with Nissan and Fiat Chrysler: report

Abstract: Renault SA is aiming to restart merger talks with Nissan Motor Co. within 12 months as the first step toward the creation of a bigger auto conglomerate that will involve a bid by both companies for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. The creation of a new alliance board led by Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has improved confidence that the two sides can push ahead with merger plans, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified people familiar with both sides’ thinking. A combination of Renault, Nissan, Fiat and Chrysler would create an automaker that could better compete against global competitors such as Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Renault and Nissan who was arrested in Tokyo in November on charges of financial wrongdoing, had held talks about merging Renault with Fiat Chrysler two to three years ago, the Financial Times reported, citing two unidentified sources. Ghosn’s proposal was stopped by the French government, the newspaper said. Ghosn, who is free on bail pending his trial, has denied the charges against him. Fiat Chrysler itself is seeking a partnership or merger, and Chairman John Elkann has met with other rivals including Peugeot-maker PSA Group of France to gauge the possibility of a deal, the newspaper reported. Spokesmen for Renault, Nissan and Fiat Chrysler declined to comment on the report.


Carlos Ghosn's unusual Nissan perk: $601,000 Stanford tuition fees for his kids

Abstract: PARIS - Nissan Motor Co. paid tuition for all four of ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn’s children when they attended Stanford University between 2004 and 2015, according to people familiar with the matter. The perk was part of Ghosn’s employment contract from 1999, when he was hired as chief executive officer of the carmaker, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The benefit, which isn’t common among top executives, would have been worth at least $601,000, according to fee schedules published by Stanford during the years his children were enrolled. In a statement, Nissan declined comment on the details of executive compensation packages. A spokesman for the family said Ghosn’s contract was approved by Nissan and also included payment of pre-university tuition fees. The children graduated at or near the top of their high school classes, he said. A spokesman for Stanford in California said U.S. law prevented the university from giving out information about tuition payments. Ghosn, 65, has been charged in Japan with underreporting his income by billions of yen at Nissan and misusing company funds. He has denied wrongdoing and is awaiting trial on bail after spending 108 days in a Tokyo prison. The Stanford tuition adds to a list of lavish extras Ghosn enjoyed as the head of Nissan and its alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., including luxury residences on four continents and a wedding party at the Palace of Versailles. The advantage of wealth in gaining access to elite U.S. universities has emerged as a hot topic following recent allegations that rich parents bribed university administrators and coaches at top schools to gain admission for their children. While no such payments are alleged in Ghosn’s case, it’s “highly unusual” that Nissan would pay his kids’ university fees, according to Robin Ferracone, chief executive of Farient Advisors, an executive-compensation consulting firm based in New York City and Los Angeles. “Typically you only see tuition reimbursements as part of expatriate assignments, and those are for kids below university age,” Ferracone said. Nissan’s official filings in Japan and the U.S., where its shares trade as American depositary receipts, didn’t include any information about Ghosn’s benefits. Under U.S. law, executives’ benefits are treated as taxable compensation, and U.S. public companies must report them to investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into whether Yokohama-based Nissan accurately disclosed executive compensation. Nissan has said it is cooperating. In Japan, companies are required to disclose compensation for highly paid executives in their financial reports but aren’t required to spell out the benefits they receive. Nissan has said that Ghosn, besides collecting salaries totaling $16.9 million in 2017 from Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi, received $8.9 million in compensation from a Dutch joint venture, Nissan-Mitsubishi BV, without approval from either company. Two other Dutch-based ventures financed by the alliance are under scrutiny for buying and renovating luxury homes for Ghosn to use in Beirut and Rio de Janeiro, and for subsidizing an extended weekend at Rio’s Carnival celebration last year for Ghosn, his wife, and eight other couples. Separately, Renault found that Ghosn received a “personal benefit” of €50,000 ($57,000) for his Marie-Antoinette-themed wedding party at Versailles in 2016 after Renault made a charitable donation to the chateau. Ghosn has said he’ll reimburse the expense. The Renault-Nissan alliance also made philanthropic donations to a private high school near Paris attended by at least two of Ghosn’s children and to a debutante ball where two of his daughters were presented to society. Ghosn’s eldest, Caroline, graduated from Stanford in 2008, followed by daughters Nadine and Maya, in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and son, Anthony, in 2015. Renault made at least one charitable donation to Stanford. A university website lists the French company as a corporate donor during the 2016-2017 academic year but it doesn’t specify the amount given or whether any was given while Ghosn’s children were students. Renault didn’t respond to questions about any donations while Stanford confirmed one was made, but declined to provide details. “Stanford regards gifts as confidential transactions between the donor and the university and we do not share information about a gift without the permission of the donor,” the university said in an email. The donation was separate from another financial link between Stanford and Paris-based Renault, which has no commercial operations in the U.S. but has research labs in Silicon Valley near the university campus. Along with Nissan, Mitsubishi and 35 other companies, it’s an ‘affiliate partner’ at the Stanford engineering school’s Center for Automotive Research, founded in 2008. Each company pays $32,000 per year to support the center’s research. Ghosn is a frequent public speaker. While he’s spoken at other universities, he made at least five public appearances at Stanford during the years his children attended. Those include speeches at the graduate school of business in 2007, 2010 and 2014, a presentation to an economic-policy research institute in 2011, and a talk at the Center for Automotive Research in 2013, according to the school’s website.

carlos ghosn
nissan
stanford
tuition
income
renault
u.s. sec


Fine sought for Citigroup unit over alleged rigging of Japanese government bond futures

Abstract: The nation’s securities watchdog is seeking a ¥133 million fine for a unit of U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc. for the alleged rigging of Japanese government bond futures prices. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission on Tuesday recommended the Financial Services Agency impose the fine on the London-based unit, Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. In October last year, a company dealer placed JGB futures orders on the Osaka Exchange without the intention of executing them, leading to a manipulation of prices and unjust profits, according to the SESC. The transactions in question were carried out during night trading hours, when prices tend to be volatile due to low market liquidity, the SESC also said. In July last year, the FSA imposed ¥218 million in fines on Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. for JGB futures manipulations.

securities and exchange surveillance commission