Four held over Northern Ireland car bomb as police link blast to dissident republican New IRA

Abstract: LONDONDERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND/LONDON - Four men were arrested Sunday following a car bombing in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry, according to police who believe dissident republican group the New IRA to be responsible. Two suspects in their 20s were arrested Sunday morning and two other men, aged 34 and 42, were taken into custody in the evening, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said. Attackers hijacked a pizza delivery vehicle, loaded it with explosives and left it outside the city-center courthouse on Saturday evening, the police service said. The device exploded at 8:10 p.m. local time, as police, who had spotted the suspicious vehicle, were evacuating the area. No one was injured by the blast. The force said a warning call was made to a charity hot line in England and passed on to local law enforcement minutes before the explosion. Police released surveillance camera footage of the car being parked in front of the courthouse, and of the driver sprinting away. Images also showed a group of young people walking past the car shortly before it blew up. Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said the bomb had been a “crude” and unstable device, and called the attack “incredibly reckless.” “Fortunately it didn’t kill anybody but clearly it was a very significant attempt to kill people here in this community,” the assistant chief constable told a news conference. Hamilton said the main focus of the investigation was on the New IRA — one of a small number of groups opposed to a 1998 peace deal that largely ended three decades of violence in the U.K.-run province. They have carried out sporadic attacks in recent years. “The New IRA, like most dissident republican groups in Northern Ireland, is small, largely unrepresentative, and determined to drag people back to somewhere they don’t want to be,” Hamilton added. “The people responsible for this attack have shown no regard for the community or local businesses. They care little about the damage to the area and the disruption they have caused.” Londonderry, also known as Derry, was a consistent flash point in the three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland known as the “troubles.” Campaigns of assassination and car bombing between republicans and unionists were largely brought to an end by the 1998 Good Friday peace accords. As part of the agreement, the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group decommissioned its last remaining weapons in 2005 and committed itself to pursuing its aim of a united Ireland through purely political means. But dissident paramilitaries remain active on both sides of the divide. Politicians from all sides on the island of Ireland condemned the incident. “This attempt to disrupt progress in Northern Ireland has rightly been met with utter condemnation from all parts of the community,” said Karen Bradley, Northern Ireland’s secretary of state. “The small number of people responsible have absolutely nothing to offer Northern Ireland’s future and will not prevail.” “This is intolerable violence and we want to look forward and build a peaceful future for all in Northern Ireland.” Arlene Foster, a former Northern Irish first minister who heads the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said: “This pointless act of terror must be condemned in the strongest terms. Only hurts the people of the city. “Perpetrated by people with no regard for life,” she added. She said the swift actions of the emergency services had helped ensure there were no fatalities or injuries. “Shame on you. Shame on you and stop,” said Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Irish republican party Sinn Fein. She told BBC Northern Ireland the blast was an “outrageous attack.” The Republic of Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney tweeted: “I utterly condemn the car bomb terrorist attack in Derry this evening. “There is no place and no justification possible for such acts of terror, which seek to drag Northern Ireland back to violence and conflict,” added Coveney, who is also deputy prime minister of the Irish Republic. The Northern Ireland police force said it was given only minutes to evacuate children and hundreds of hotel guests before the explosion. It said the device was highly unstable and could have detonated at any time. Officers spotted a suspicious vehicle at the scene at about 7:55 p.m. then received a warning five minutes later that a device had been left there, the force said. “We moved immediately to begin evacuating people from nearby buildings including hundreds of hotel guests, 150 people from the Masonic Hall and a large number of children from a church youth club,” Hamilton said earlier. The pizza delivery vehicle was destroyed by the blast 10 minutes after that. The van had been hijacked nearby by two armed men around two hours earlier, police said. CCTV footage released by police showed the driver running from the vehicle after leaving it outside the courthouse. Hamilton said he thought the attack marked a continuation of militants’ campaigns, rather than an escalation. The last fatal attack involving a car bomb was carried out in 2016 by the New IRA when a prison officer was fatally injured by a device left under his van in Belfast. About 3,600 people were killed in the conflict that was fought between mainly Protestant unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and predominantly Catholic nationalists. Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has been suspended for two years because of a dispute between the main Protestant and Catholic political parties. Police in Northern Ireland and European Union member Ireland have warned that a return to a hard border between the two after the British exit, complete with customs and other checks, could be a target for militant groups. “There is no doubt that in terms of the Brexit element, there will be a section within our communities who will want to exploit that and use that to further their own objectives but I wouldn’t put that as the sole purpose,” said Gary Middleton, a local DUP member of Northern Ireland’s devolved government. Elisha McCallion, the local member of U.K. Parliament from Sinn Fein, condemned the attack. “This incident has shocked the local community,” she said in a statement. “Thankfully, no one appears to have been injured. Derry is a city moving forward and no one wants this type of incident.” John Boyle, who is mayor of the city, said violence “is the past and it has to stay in the past.”

northern ireland
bombing
londonderry
terrorism
u.k .


Syria says it repelled Israeli air raid near Damascus, after Iron Dome stops rocket aimed at Golan Heights

Abstract: DAMASCUS - Syrian state media say air defenses repelled an Israeli air raid near the international airport south of Damascus on Sunday. Syrian state TV said the air defenses “prevented” the attack from achieving its goals. It said Israel fired six missiles on an area near Damascus International Airport, of which five were shot down and one diverted to nearby empty farmland. It marked a rare daytime raid, as most previous strikes have been at night. Residents of the capital said they heard five explosions early Sunday afternoon, apparently the sound of air defenses firing into the air. Israel’s army declined comment on the airstrike. It said that a rocket fired at Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome defense system. Israeli warplanes have used Lebanon’s airspace recently to strike deep inside Syria, including on a warehouse near Damascus International Airport earlier this month, according to Syrian state media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently confirmed that Israel has struck hundreds of targets in Syria linked to Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, including a weapons facility two weeks ago. Iran and Hezbollah are allied with the Syrian government in the civil war. Two hours after the reports that Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted a rocket fired toward the Golan Heights, Netanyahu, who currently is on a visit to Chad, said in a statement: “We have a defined policy: to harm Iranian entrenchment in Syria and to harm anyone who tries to harm us.” Earlier Sunday, a roadside bomb went off south of Damascus without causing casualties, state media reported. The SANA news agency says the blast targeted a military checkpoint on a main highway during rush hour. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the war, said the bomb targeted the vehicle of a “security personality” that it did not name. The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said it was unclear whether the individual was killed or wounded. “It was not a random act,” he added. Attacks have been rare in Damascus since Syrian government forces captured the last rebel-held neighborhoods and suburbs of the capital last year. Bombings have left hundreds dead over the course of the nearly eight-year civil war. In the northern Syrian town of Afrin, a blast aboard a bus killed at least three people. The attack came on the anniversary of a Turkish military operation that evicted Kurdish fighters from the town and displaced tens of thousands of its residents. The town now is under the control of Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters. The Observatory said three people were killed and nine wounded in the explosion. The Syrian Civil Defense, an opposition-linked group known as the White Helmets, said the blast killed “martyrs” and that others were wounded and rushed to hospitals.

damascus
iron dome
golan heights
israel
lebanon
benjamin netanyahu
iran
hezbollah
afrin
missile defense


China population growth continued to slow in 2018

Abstract: BEIJING - China’s population growth rate continued to slow in 2018, spelling possible trouble ahead as a swelling number of retirees pushes up against a shrinking labor pool. Numbers released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics put the population at 1.395 billion in 2018. That marked a growth rate of .381 percent, an addition of 15.23 million people, the bureau said. That’s nearly 2 million fewer than the year before. China for decades sought to slow its population growth, seeing a massive population as a drag on development, and it now joins Japan, South Korea and other East Asian nations in seeing a radical drop in its birthrate. The pace at which population growth has slowed has become a concern in recent years as the country’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of ready labor has declined. Better educated young Chinese face more complicated but also more varied job prospects and are less inclined than their parents to marry and start a family. “Many of us grew up as only children and we’re a little selfish about putting our own satisfaction above having kids,” said Mina Cai, 26, a Beijing office worker. The government estimates China’s population will peak at 1.442 billion in 2029 before beginning to decline the year after. That’s after decades of regulation seeking to hold most Chinese to one or two children. India, the world’s second-most populous nation, has also been experiencing slower population growth. Its total population stood at 1.362 billion this month based on United Nations estimates. Yet China also faces a unique dilemma: Its 2018 population total included 30 million more men than women, considered a long-time outcome of the recently abandoned one-child policy under which boys were favored over girls for cultural reasons. China added more than 17 million people to its population in 2016 and 2017 following the scrapping of the one-child policy, but the effect hasn’t endured. Care for the elderly is a rising government concern as the working-age population continues to fall as a percentage of the total. Chinese increasingly enjoy better living standards, education and health care, but a yawning gap between the wealthy and poor has experts saying the country will grow old before it grows rich. Also Monday, the government announced China’s 2018 economic growth fell to a three-decade low, adding to pressure on Beijing to settle a tariff war with Washington. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.6 percent from a year earlier, down from 2017’s 6.9 percent, official data showed. China’s ruling Communist Party is trying to steer China to slower, more self-sustaining growth based on consumer spending instead of trade and investment. But the deceleration has been sharper than expected, prompting Beijing to step up government spending and order banks to lend more to shore up growth and avoid politically dangerous job losses. For young Chinese like Cai, the country’s leaders may need to step in if they want to encourage further population growth. “The financial pressure of life in the city makes the idea of having a child almost impossible,” Cai said. “I think more needs to be done by the government.”


On doctor's orders, Japan alpinist Yuichiro Miura, 86, abandons bid to scale South America's highest peak

Abstract: Yuichiro Miura, an 86-year-old Japanese alpinist and professional skier, has given up on his attempt to conquer the 6,959-meter Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America, on doctor’s orders, his office in Tokyo said Monday. “I was confident that I could climb to the top, but decided to follow the doctor’s order,” Miura was quoted as saying by the office. The alpinist, who had reached the camp at Plaza Colera, at an altitude of about 6,000 meters, is in good health and has already descended the mountain, the office said. Miura, who became the oldest person to conquer Mount Everest at age 80 in 2013, had been waiting at Plaza Colera since Friday local time for favorable weather conditions. He summited Aconcagua, whose peak is located in Argentina, in 1985. But Miura’s doctor, Kazue Oshiro, who accompanied him on the journey, concluded he was physically taxed from the long stay at the 6,000-meter altitude and that climbing even higher could trigger heart failure. The climber left Japan on Jan. 2 and had been acclimatizing his body at a base camp at 4,200 meters since Jan. 10. After arriving at the 5,580-meter level from the camp by a helicopter on Friday, he climbed to Plaza Colera on foot. “Biologically speaking, this altitude was the limit for an 86-year-old climber. I made the decision to order him to descend the mountain so that he can return home alive,” Oshiro said. Miura’s son, Gota, 49, who was with his father for the attempt on Aconcagua, added, “(The ascent to the summit) appeared to be difficult both physically and mentally,” according to the office. “A few hours ago, he was determined to climb the mountain, saying over the phone he was feeling ‘never better,’ ” said Miura’s daughter, Emiri, 58, at the office. “I think (my father) is the one who is most disappointed.” In 2003 and 2008, at age 70 and 75, Miura successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest, which is 8,848 meters above sea level. He returned to the peak again in 2013 to set the record as the oldest to do so after recovering from a serious injury sustained in a skiing accident when he was 76 as well as heart surgeries for an irregular heartbeat.

yuichiro miura
mount aconcagua
mountaineering
mountaineering
mount everest
argentina
mountains


T Card customer data handed to police and prosecutors without court approval since 2012, operator says

Abstract: The operator of T Card, one of the most popular reward cards in Japan, said Monday it started responding to requests from police and prosecutors to provide personal information on card holders without court approval in 2012. Culture Convenience Club Co., which manages the card and the Tsutaya movie rental and bookshop chain, said it had required court approval for such information requests until 2012, providing the “minimum personal information required only if there was a warrant” at the time. But as the number of holders continued to increase and personal data obtained through card operations “became more valuable as a social information infrastructure,” the company said it decided to provide such data to the police without court approval. “We have cooperated with investigative organizations to further contribute to society,” Culture Convenience Club said on its website. The company made the comments after investigative sources said Sunday that the company has regularly provided personal information on T Card holders to the police and prosecutors at their request without court approval. Culture Convenience Club does not clearly state in its terms of service the possibility of their personal information being used when it needs to cooperate with investigative authorities. Because of this, members of the reward system, which started in 2003, will have had no knowledge that their shopping and rental records may have been given to police and prosecutors. The company said Monday that it will notify card holders of its policy on personal information. The number of T Card holders is about 67 million, more than half of Japan’s population, and personal information given to investigative authorities included their names, birth dates and phone numbers, as well as shopping and movie rental records. The police and prosecutors ask for personal data very frequently, and there was a case in which dozens of requests at once were filed with the company in one day, the source said. Under the program, T Card holders can accumulate reward points by spending money at the company’s chain outlets and a range of other locations, including convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations and hotels. Masatomo Suzuki, a professor of information law at Niigata University, said the personal beliefs and preferences of consumers can be traced by reward card records, and obtaining such information without court warrants in advance could lead to the infringement of human rights. Even if Japan’s Criminal Procedure Law permits this sort of approach as a means of investigation, the professor said, it is “inappropriate” as the information can be obtained and used without external checks. The Tokyo-based company, meanwhile, told Kyodo News, “In response to requests from investigative authorities and as a result of discussions over many years, we have decided to provide necessary information only if disclosures are deemed appropriate based on laws, regulations and guidelines.” According to the sources, investigators have limited their point of contact to a certain section of the company’s head office.

t card
police
personal information
culture convenience club


Emperor and Empress mourn for civilian sailors slain during WWII

Abstract: YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA PREF. - Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko mourned on Monday tens of thousands of civilian mariners who lost their lives in attacks by the Allied powers during World War II. The Emperor, who will abdicate in April, and his wife prayed for peace and offered a bouquet of white chrysanthemums at a cenotaph in Kannonzaki Park in the port city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, before traveling to the Imperial villa in Hayama. They will return to Tokyo on Friday. During the war, most civilian vessels were requisitioned by the military, and their crews were forced to transport weapons or conduct maritime surveillance. Few battleships were available to defend them, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by the Allied forces. More than 2,000 ships were destroyed and 60,000 people were killed, according to the government and a Tokyo-based foundation honoring sailors who died in the line of duty. Around 30 percent of the victims were in their teens, they said. It was the Imperial Couple’s eighth visit to the memorial. They first visited when they attended the memorial service held to mark the establishment of the cenotaph in 1971, when they were Crown Prince and Crown Princess. Emperor Akihito touched on the subject of the sailors during a news conference prior to his birthday in 2015. “As an example of nonmilitary people who sacrificed their lives in the war, the sailors who served on civilian vessels come to mind,” he said. “These people, who may have dreamed of one day becoming sailors on international routes, went to work as crews of civilian ships that had been requisitioned to transport soldiers and military goods, and lost their lives in enemy attacks.” “In those days, Japan lacked command of the air and no battleships were available to escort the transport vessels. It gives me great pain to think of the feelings of the sailors who had to engage in transport operations under such conditions.”

wwii
yokosuka
emperor akihito
mariners
cenotaph


Hundreds of Russians attend rally to defend ownership of disputed territory days before Abe's summit in Moscow

Abstract: MOSCOW - Hundreds of Russians protested against a feared giveaway of strategic islands to Japan on Sunday, two days before a key summit between the countries’ leaders in Moscow. Between 300 and 500 people gathered on Suvorovskaya Square, just outside Moscow’s city center, for an authorized rally called by several nationalist politicians who are opposed to any move to cede any of the three islands and group of islets administered by Moscow and claimed by Tokyo. The Soviet Army claimed the territory, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, in the closing days of World War II. The dispute over their sovereignty has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty, in a situation President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to rectify last year. Abe is set to hold talks on the issue with Putin on Tuesday, following a meeting last week between Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Taro Kono. Moscow has said the islands’ sovereignty is not a bargaining chip and that the Kurils will remain Russian territory, but many people distrust official rhetoric and suspect a different line of negotiations behind the scenes. Some protesters carried signs saying “The Kurils are Russian land” and “Giving away the Kurils is state treason.” The Kremlin has ridden a wave of nationalism following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and any attempt to structure an agreement with Japan around a territorial compromise would likely be poorly received. Protester Svetlana Fedosova, 26, said ceding the islands would be seen as a “weakness” by Russia’s enemies and would lead to Russia’s undoing. “Other countries will also demand re-addressing the results of World War II,” she said. “Then we’ll have to give away Karelia, Kaliningrad, and all the lands we’ve conquered,” she said, referring to Russia’s western regions that previously belonged to Finland and Germany. “People demand a stop to backstage talks with Japan,” one of the rally’s organizers, leftist politician Sergei Udaltsov, wrote on Twitter after the rally.

russia
protests
northern territories
vladimir putin
shinzo abe
disputed islands
hokkaido
russia-japan relations


Tokyo terminates working level talks with Seoul after revealing new evidence on radar lock-on dispute

Abstract: The Defense Ministry announced Monday it will terminate talks with its South Korean counterpart over the radar lock-on dispute, while revealing what it claims are sounds, converted from radio waves, of the fire-control radar system of a South Korean destroyer. The 18-second audio file, if genuine, reportedly shows that continuous, intense radar waves were directed at the P-1 anti-submarine patrol airplane operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force on Dec. 20 in the Sea of Japan. Japanese defense officials said the wave patterns are completely different from surface search radar waves that Seoul claimed were being used by the South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto destroyer. “We believe a third party would be convinced that what we have said is true if they examine the sounds, a video footage and other materials in a comprehensive way,” said a senior Defense Ministry official who briefed reporters at the ministry, referring in particular to 13 minutes of video footage. The video footage also included the voice of the pilot of the MSDF P-1 aircraft, who the ministry said heard the same radar sounds while flying near the destroyer. Japanese officials said that they had identified FC (fire control) waves as being directed from the STIR-180 fire control system of the South Korean destroyer. However, it is not yet clear — and is perhaps unlikely — that the newly-revealed evidence will put an end to the Tokyo-Seoul dispute. “We express deep regrets over its decision to stop consultations designed to verify the facts,” Choi Hyun-soo, a spokeswoman for Seoul’s defense ministry, said of Tokyo’s move, according to Yonhap News Agency. “The sounds that the Japanese side presented are just mechanical sounds from which we can never verify the pieces of information we have demanded — the detection date, angle and traits of electromagnetic waves,” she added. Japanese officials said they processed the sound waves to protect sensitive military technical details relating to the STIR-180 radar system used by the South Korean destroyer, because it is used also by other countries including Thailand, Canada and Taiwan. Tokyo also needs to limit wider knowledge of the abilities of its own equipment that received and analyzed the waveforms, as well, they said. Thus the sounds alone are not a smoking gun that proves the alleged radar direction by the South Korean destroyer. But together with the video footage and other materials Tokyo has revealed, the sound patterns would serve as evidence powerful enough to convince third-party countries that Japan’s claim is correct, the senior Defense Ministry official argued. Shortly after 5 p.m., the Defense Ministry uploaded the audio file and briefing materials in English and Korean onto its website. In the statement, the ministry said it would terminate its working level talks with its South Korean counterpart over the radar dispute because South Korea “has been repeating claims that … differ from truth” and “an objective and neutral determination of facts based on the principle of reciprocity must (now) be deemed difficult.” Tokyo had proposed that Japan and South Korea simultaneously present the radar data records to each other in a closed meeting, to determine whether what Japan detected were radio waves from the FC radar system in question. But Seoul has rejected this proposal, according to Japanese officials. South Korea has meanwhile claimed the P-1 aircraft was flying near the destroyer, saying it conducted “a threateningly low-altitude flight” against the South Korean vessel. On Monday Japan’s Defense Ministry also revealed the detailed altitudes and flying courses of the P-1 aircraft at that time, saying the MSDF P-1 maintained a sufficiently safe altitude of about 150 meters and a distance of 500 meters from the destroyer even at its closest. The P-1 did not conduct a flight that may interrupt the destroyer’s activities, either, the ministry also said. Even prior to this incident, the MSDF had conducted similar flights and photographed the same South Korean destroyer in question three times. But South Korean authorities did not express concerns over any of those flights, the ministry said. The MSDF took those photographs on April 27, April, 28, and Aug. 23 last year, at the altitude of 150 meters each time, according to the defense ministry. It did not reveal their locations. The response of South Korean officials were not immediately available. Japan’s Defense Ministry “had requested additional objective evidence to support ROK’s claim at the working-level meetings, but the ROK has failed to provide such evidence, and has repeatedly responded with claims that entirely lack objectivity,” the ministry said in the statement. ROK is the acronym of the formal name of South Korea, or Republic of Korea. “That being said, our stance remains unchanged in that Japan-ROK and Japan-ROK-U.S. defense cooperation is extremely important, and is indispensable in confronting security challenges such as the nuclear and missile issue in North Korea and maintaining the stability of the security environment in East Asia. We hope that this announcement will lead to the prevention of similar incidents in the future,” the ministry said.

radar
defense ministry
msdf
south korea-japan relations


Japan's Taro Kono and U.S. top envoy Mike Pompeo to meet ahead of Trump-Kim summit to keep pressure on Pyongyang

Abstract: Foreign Minister Taro Kono and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Monday to coordinate closely in addressing North Korea’s denuclearization, and to meet in mid-February ahead of a second U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled to take place late next month. Pompeo briefed Kono by phone on progress in negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang and details about his recent meeting with Kim Yong Chol, a close aide to the North Korean leader, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. The phone conversation came after the White House said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold their second summit near the end of February at a location to be announced at a later date. To achieve North Korea’s denuclearization, Kono and Pompeo confirmed the need to maintain U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and continue bilateral as well as trilateral cooperation with South Korea. Japan and the United States will also work closely on resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the ministry.

taro kono
mike pompeo
north korea
donald trump
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
u.s.-japan relations


Japan may accept Russia peace pact if handover of 'realistic' two islands is secured

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is en route to Moscow for summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is leaning toward accepting a postwar peace treaty with Russia if Moscow hands over two of the four islands contested by the two countries, Japanese government sources said Sunday. Abe, who is hoping to reach a broad agreement on the peace treaty issue later this year, said he wanted to take as much as time as possible to hold “candid” talks with Putin, as he left for Moscow on Monday afternoon. The new approach now under consideration to settle the territorial dispute marks a departure from Tokyo’s long-held position of aiming for the return of all of the islands off Hokkaido, which the Soviet Union seized after Japan’s surrender in World War II in 1945. The territorial dispute over the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, has kept the two countries from signing a postwar peace deal. “It is not realistic,” a senior government official said, referring to whether it is possible to persuade Russia to also hand over Etorofu and Kunashiri, two of the islands which account for 93 percent of the total area of the four in dispute. Abe, who is looking to leave a diplomatic legacy by settling the long-running dispute, will hold his 25th summit with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. During a meeting in Singapore in November, Abe and Putin agreed to step up talks based on a 1956 joint declaration that states Shikotan and the Habomai islet group would be transferred to Japan by the Soviet Union following the conclusion of a postwar peace treaty. The agreement between Abe and Putin drew speculation at the time that Abe would focus on the handover of Shikotan and the Habomai islet group before turning his focus to the two larger islands. But a senior official close to Abe said, “There is no way that Mr. Putin would approve this” and suggested that the prime minister is becoming increasingly pessimistic about securing the transfer of the two smaller islands first and the rest later. Abe seems to have accepted that continuing to call for the return of Etorofu and Kunashiri could stagnate the ongoing talks, and perhaps even dampen the prospect of the two smaller islands being transferred to Japan. But he could face a backlash from his support base, with many Japanese deeming the new approach as giving up on Etorofu and Kunashiri — both of which the government has claimed to be an inherent part of Japan’s territory. After assessing public opinion, Abe is expected to make a final judgment as to whether Japan should strike a deal with Russia on the basis of securing the handover of the two smaller islands. Abe is seeking a broad agreement with Russia in June when Putin is expected to visit Japan for a summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies. During the previous meeting, Abe touched on the 1956 declaration and told Putin that the contents of the document are Japan’s “nonnegotiable line,” according to the sources. Putin is said to have shown understanding toward the proposal. But it is unclear whether the negotiations will go smoothly; Putin has also suggested that even if the two islands are handed over to Japan, that does not necessarily mean their sovereignty will also be transferred. The president has claimed the joint declaration does not specify whose sovereignty the two islands would fall under. In mid-January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters it would be difficult to make progress in the peace treaty talks without Japan’s acceptance of the outcome of World War II, including Russia’s sovereignty over the islands. Lavrov’s remarks following a meeting in Moscow with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono signaled that Abe may face significant challenges at his 25th summit. Security could also be a key topic in the talks as Moscow has been concerned that U.S. troops could be deployed on the islands if they were handed over to Tokyo. Tokyo and Moscow have promoted confidence-building steps centering on economic cooperation in recent years, making little progress on a peace treaty. Following the summit, Abe will travel to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.

shinzo abe
vladimir putin
northern territories
kurils
disputed islands
russia-japan relations


Senior Japanese and U.S. diplomats to discuss North Korea during meeting in Sweden

Abstract: Senior Japanese and U.S. diplomats will discuss North Korea when they meet in Sweden early this week, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, as Washington and Pyongyang prepare for a second summit next month. Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, hopes to be updated on arrangements for the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his talks with Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea. Biegun and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui have already arrived in Sweden to hold working-level talks for the upcoming summit on the sidelines of an international meeting set to run through Tuesday. The White House said Friday that Trump will hold a second summit with Kim “near the end of February.” The location is still to be confirmed, but is reported by Bloomberg to be Vietnam. The announcement came after Trump met with Kim Yong Chol, a close aide to the North Korean leader, in the Oval Office. The United States and North Korea have remained apart over the process for Pyongyang to scrap its weapons programs, despite Kim pledging to work toward “complete” denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the first-ever summit between the two countries last June in Singapore.

kenji kanasugi
stephen biegun
norh korea


Government plans extra seabed reinforcement for new U.S. base, but Okinawa expected to resist

Abstract: The government is set to alter part of the plan to build a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, to add seabed reinforcement work, government sources said Monday, possibly delaying the construction schedule. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki is likely to reject the central government’s application for the additional work, given his strong opposition to the plan. The central and Okinawa governments have been at odds over the planned transfer of the base from a crowded residential area in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district of Nago. Under the plan, the move requires some 157 hectares of land reclamation and a V-shaped runway to be constructed. The central government plans to complete in five years the land reclamation stage of the construction work, which started in April 2017 with the building of dikes, based on a Japan-U.S. agreement made in 2013 that stipulated that the transfer would be carried out over a period of nine years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration claims the plan is the only solution for removing the dangers posed by the base without undermining the deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S. security alliance. The local government, however, believes Okinawa bears an unfair burden in hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan and wants the base moved out of the prefecture altogether. The central government started the core part of the land reclamation work in December, dumping earth into an area surrounded by a dike. It is now seeking to alter the construction plan for the eastern part of the landfill site. Drilling surveys are said to have shown the Defense Ministry that multiple areas of the seabed require reinforcement. While the government intends to continue moving forward where no such additional work is necessary, the project overall will likely take longer to complete if Tamaki refuses to accept the application for the change in the construction plan. The relocation project originated from an agreement reached between the Japanese and U.S. governments in 1996, but progress has been slower than planned due to local opposition.

okinawa
futenma
henoko
nago
u.s. military
u.s. bases


Three who dressed as policemen in ¥750 million gold bar theft in Fukuoka get prison terms

Abstract: FUKUOKA - A court on Monday sentenced three men to up to seven years in prison over the theft of gold bars worth ¥750 million ($6.8 million) in July 2016 in Fukuoka. The Fukuoka District Court ordered seven years in prison for Tomonori Shiraishi, 36, and 5½ years for both Takahiro Shirane, 28, and Takumi Uchida, 26. Prosecutors had sought a 9-year term for Shiraishi and eight years for Shirane and Uchida. The three pleaded not guilty, arguing that there was a prior arrangement to transport the gold. According to the indictments, two men carrying the gold bars in attache cases to a cash-for-gold store near Hakata Station were approached by several men, including the three defendants, wearing fake police uniforms. The group stole the gold bars, which weighed about 160 kilograms, after telling the two men the bars had to be inspected at a police station because they were suspected of having been smuggled into Japan. In handing down the ruling, the presiding judge, Koji Hiratsuka, dismissed the defendants’ claim, concluding that because they were disguised as police officers and fled by car, the crime was premeditated theft. “It was a planned, systematically committed crime,” Hiratsuka said. “The financial damage is large and it is malicious.” While the prison terms were justified using the financial damage and maliciousness of the crime, Hiratsuka also said the three men followed the directions of two others and did not play principal roles. A total of seven people related to the theft were indicted. A ruling for Kazuki Noguchi, 43, and his brother Naoki, 45, who are believed to have been the key culprits, is scheduled to handed down on Tuesday. During the investigation, a police officer in Aichi Prefecture was suspected of having leaked information about the investigation into the gold theft to an acquaintance of Noguchi, who was living in Aichi at the time. But the Aichi police concluded in September 2018 following an internal probe that no leaks related to the theft were made.


Factory night views of Yokkaichi a tourist draw and a bitter legacy of pollution

Abstract: Factory night view cruises in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, are recently attracting visitors from across the nation. While the city’s tourism association hopes the tour will help make the city become a major tourist destination, people who suffered from industrial pollution in the 1960s say they don’t want the negative history to be forgotten. One day in late November, participants of a night cruise in Yokkaichi were enthusiastically taking pictures of intricately tangled pipe-work and steam trailing from chimneys glowing in the dark on the riverbanks. “It looks like Disneyland,” said a woman who joined the 90-minute tour on a 24.5-meter-long boat for 125 passengers. Factory viewing gained popularity with tourists around 2007, when “Kojo Moe,” a photo-book featuring factories nationwide, was published. Hoping to get rid of the district’s image as a polluted city, Yokkaichi’s tourism association launched a factory night view cruise in 2010. In the initial fiscal year, there were 1,123 passengers, but the figure rose more than fivefold to 5,944 in fiscal 2017. Some people have mixed feelings about the factories being used to promote tourism in the city. In Yokkaichi, many people suffered from asthma in the 1960s caused by soot and smoke from petrochemical complexes. The pollution was blamed for 1,046 deaths and six suicides. As of the end of October, there are still 350 asthma patients in the city designated by the government as air pollution victims. “The factory lights look like my daughter’s tears,” said Teruko Tanida, an 84-year-old resident of Komono, Mie, who lost her daughter, Naoko, at the age of 9 due to pollution. “I still shed tears when I speak (about the pollution) in front of elementary school children, who are about the same age as my daughter (at the time).” Yukikazu Noda, an 87-year-old resident of Yokkaichi and the only living patient plaintiff of a lawsuit filed by asthma sufferers and disease-stricken families in 1967 against petrochemical complex operators, said: “I can’t think well of the night views of the factories that made me suffer. Fewer people know the history (of pollution) now, and I feel the pressure of not being able to say anything about the factories except that they are beautiful.” Officials of the city’s tourism association said university students who are writing about factory night view tours for their graduation theses started visiting the association from in and out of the prefecture in 2017. Six students visited the association, but not many questions were asked about the pollution, according to the officials. “What is important in tourism is to make people feel happy. We consider pollution and tourism as different things,” one official said. Factory night view tours are proving popular in other areas as well. Kawasaki, the most well-known for factory night viewing, attracts some 50,000 visitors yearly to its cruise and bus tours. In 2011, Yokkaichi and Kawasaki, along with Muroran in Hokkaido and Kitakyushu, began promoting themselves as the top four factory night viewing areas. “Factory night views offer an opportunity for people to become interested in those areas,” said Masaaki Okada, a professor of Kindai University’s faculty of science and engineering who is well-versed in landscape engineering. “Local governments should lead efforts by the whole community to create a system to raise public awareness of the history of pollution.” Okada suggested holding tours that include not only factory viewing at nights but also visits to a museum that show panels and videos on the history of pollution and other tourism spots in the city. “Nowadays even locals show little interest in the areas they live in,” Okada said. “Local people should be the first to make this phenomenon the opportunity to learn about history.”

factories yokkaichi pollution mie tourism


Southeast Asia wary of China's Belt and Road project, skeptical of U.S. commitment: survey

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Southeast Asian countries should be cautious in negotiating with China on its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to avoid being trapped in unsustainable debt, 70 percent of respondents said in a policy survey released on Monday. Southeast Asia is increasingly skeptical of U.S. commitment to the region as a strategic partner and a source of security, while China’s reach is seen as growing both politically and economically, the study also showed. “The conventional wisdom that China holds sway in the economic realm while the United States wields its influence in the political-strategic domain will … need to be revisited in light of the survey results,” it said. The survey by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, affiliated with the Singapore government, polled 1,008 respondents from all 10 nations of the ASEAN grouping, drawn from government, academic and business communities, civil society and the media. Nearly half of the respondents said President Xi Jinping’s hallmark Belt and Road initiative would bring ASEAN “closer into China’s orbit,” while a third said the project lacked transparency and 16 percent predicted it would fail. A large majority, or 70 percent, said their governments “should be cautious in negotiating BRI projects, to avoid getting into unsustainable financial debts with China,” a view strongest in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Some Western governments have accused China of pulling countries into a debt trap with the initiative, an accusation China has denied. China was seen by 73 percent of the respondents as having the greatest economic influence in the region and was also believed to have more influence politically and strategically than the United States. Six out of 10 respondents said U.S. influence globally had deteriorated from a year ago and two-thirds believed U.S. engagement with Southeast Asia declined. About a third said they had little or no confidence in the U.S. as a strategic partner and provider of regional security. Fewer than 1 in 10 saw China as “a benign and benevolent power,” with nearly a half saying Beijing possessed “an intent to turn Southeast Asia into its sphere of influence.” The study’s authors wrote, “This result … is a wake-up call for China to burnish its negative image across Southeast Asia despite Beijing’s repeated assurance of its benign and peaceful rise.” There was a call for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to play a more active role in Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, although a majority of the respondents sought mediation rather than diplomatic pressure. The United Nations says 730,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since the military’s crackdown on insurgent attacks. U.N.-mandated investigators have accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out killings, gang rape and arson with “genocidal intent,” an allegation the military has denied.

southeast asia
china
belt and road
iseas-yusof ishak institute
asean
u.s .


France presses Renault over executive compensation paid via Dutch holding firm

Abstract: PARIS - The French government has told Renault to provide more details on compensation paid to senior executives via a Dutch holding company jointly owned with alliance partner Nissan, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday. Le Maire made the demand after France’s CGT trade Union voiced concerns over payments made to certain high-ranking executives via the alliance’s Renault-Nissan BV (RNBV) Dutch venture and called for more transparency at the carmaker. Corporate governance inside the alliance has come under tight scrutiny after Japanese authorities arrested its chairman, Carlos Ghosn, in mid-November on suspicion of under-reporting his income at Nissan. The French state is Renault’s biggest shareholder. Le Maire told CNews television that the government had written to Renault’s leadership to “request all details necessary for full transparency on these compensation payments. “I want to know who these payments were made to, if they were declared and therefore whether … the Renault board was aware of them.” A Renault spokesman did not immediately return calls and messages seeking comment. The Ghosn affair, sparked by a Nissan internal investigation, has rocked the auto industry, strained Nissan’s ties with Renault and complicated diplomatic relations between Japan and the France. A one-time titan of the auto industry, Ghosn, who has since been ousted as Nissan chairman, is also accused of aggravated breach of trust in transferring personal investment losses to Nissan. Ghosn denies all the charges against him. Renault board members including the French state’s representatives have yet to be given full access to Nissan’s findings against Ghosn, which have been shared with Renault’s lawyers. The restrictions are justified by judicial confidentiality, the company has said. Executives from both carmakers — including Renault General Secretary Mouna Sepehri, who oversees communications with the board — had looked at least twice at legal ways to pay Ghosn undisclosed income through RNBV or other shared finances, Reuters revealed last month. Those two efforts were ultimately abandoned. Immediately after Ghosn’s Nov. 19 arrest, however, Nissan told Renault privately it was extending its internal investigation to cover their Dutch-registered alliance holdings. Ghosn will make his first public appearance in seven weeks at a Tokyo court on Tuesday after he requested an open hearing for an explanation on his continued detention. Ghosn’s son, Anthony, told the Journal du Dimanche that Japanese prosecutors wanted his father to sign a confession.

france
renault
nissan
bruno le maire
japan
carlos ghosn


With nearly $900 billion in cash at the ready, Japan's M&A spending spree likely to continue

Abstract: Japan outmuscled China to dominate mergers and acquisitions in Asia last year, and with companies in possession of more than $890 billion in cash, the spending spree is likely to continue in 2019. Japanese companies announced more than 1,000 offshore acquisitions totaling a record $191 billion last year, led by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s blockbuster takeover of Shire PLC, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The last time Japan overtook China by that measure was in 2012. Faced with the shrinking population and stagnant economy, Japanese businesses have been increasingly looking overseas as trade tensions depress stock prices and bolster the value of the safe-haven yen. Combine that with the massive war chest that firms from SoftBank Group Corp. to Toshiba Corp. have amassed, and bankers are preparing for a prosperous year. Japanese companies are poised to have the “biggest year ever” in terms of the number of offshore deals, Koichiro Doi, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Japan M&A head, said in an interview. The U.S. will be the most sought-after destination, partly because it’s the largest market that’s growing, according to Doi, who said 2018 was the busiest year he’s had in his career spanning two decades. The number of purchases is bound to increase from industrial, consumer and technology firms, but Japan Inc. is unlikely to spend as much in aggregate, or pull off a deal the size of Takeda’s this year, Doi said. Takeda’s purchase of Shire, scheduled for completion this week, was the world’s largest takeover announced last year. This year, an even bigger deal may be in the offing with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s recent agreement to acquire Celgene Corp. Japanese businesses have long been looking to expand overseas through acquisitions, but their track record in terms of M&A prowess hasn’t been too flattering. In the ’80s, as soaring stock prices fueled hubris, Japanese companies snapped up everything from the iconic Rockefeller Center in Manhattan to California’s Pebble Beach golf course and Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting. Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. bought Hollywood studios. Many of those investments ended up being sold at a fraction of their cost after the asset bubble burst. Then there were the acquisitive years at the turn of the century, when buyers including NTT DoCoMo Inc., Toshiba and Nomura Holdings Inc. splashed out on overseas trophies such as AT&T Inc.’s wireless unit. The result was billions of dollars in write-downs and a gun-shy approach to foreign deals. There are signs Japanese companies have learned from their mistakes and are striking harder bargains. Last year, they typically paid about 23 percent more than market value, the lowest premium since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Also, there’s only so much cash companies can hoard before coming under fire from investors. “Japanese corporations are getting pressure from shareholders to spend money more efficiently,” said Akifusa Takada, head of the M&A practice at the Baker McKenzie law firm in Tokyo. “Not many Japanese companies are very willing to distribute cash to shareholders as dividends. They see these fund as resources to expand business overseas.” Companies sitting on excess cash are now more likely to become a target for activist investors, so there’s an incentive for boards to spend surplus funds on takeovers, said Zuhair Khan, an analyst at Jefferies Japan Ltd. Among last year’s targets was Toshiba Corp., which was urged by hedge fund King Street Capital Management to buy back $10 billion of stock. At $892 billion, cash and cash equivalents at nonfinancial companies listed on the Nikkei 225 stock average have surged from $690 billion in three years, Bloomberg data show. There are plenty of sellers to choose from. Once-mighty General Electric Co. continues to sell assets, while Chinese conglomerates such as HNA Group Co. and Anbang Insurance Group Co. are unwinding their empires after the government began cracking down on capital outflows by targeting the country’s most prominent acquirers. Health care remains a hot sector, even after the Takeda-Shire deal. Bristol-Myers’ bid for Celgene may fuel more consolidation in the sector, according to analysts. Then there are falling share prices, which may fall further yet. Concerns about global growth this year have taken hold as China’s economy slows and the U.S.-China trade war drags on. Indexes from Asia to Europe have slumped, while U.S. stocks in 2018 had their worst year since the financial crisis. That’s good news for Japanese companies looking for acquisitions, according to Khan. “It could be a very good year for overseas M&A,” he said. “To the extent there’s a pullback in valuation multiples, it’ll make overseas M&A much easier.”


Japan business chiefs say U.S.-China trade fight is hurting global economy

Abstract: The trade conflict between the United States and China has been gradually but steadily hurting the world economy, the head of Japan’s biggest business lobby warned Monday. “I’m truly feeling some of the impact” from the tariff battle between the world’s two largest economies, Keidanren Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi said at his new year news conference. Japanese firms also face downside risks to the domestic economy in 2019, most notably the planned consumption tax hike in October, which could slow household spending. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who attended a meeting of business leaders earlier in the day, said the government will take sufficient measures to ease the impact of the tax increase and keep the economy on track. He also asked the executives to raise wages at their upcoming annual talks with labor unions. At the news conference jointly held by Japan’s three major lobbies, Akio Mimura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “We have no measures to reduce the impact on the economy,” referring to Britain’s planned departure from the European Union as well as the U.S.-China trade row.

china
trade
keidanren
hiroaki nakanishi
u.s .


Nikkei regains 20,000 line following sharp rebound on Wall Street

Abstract: The Nikkei 225 stock index briefly rose more than 3 percent Monday and closed above the 20,000 line as investors’ risk appetite grew on firm U.S. jobs data and a sharp rebound on Wall Street late last week. The Nikkei ended 477.01 points, or 2.44 percent, higher from Friday at 20,038.97. The broader Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 41.37 points, or 2.81 percent, higher at 1,512.53. Every industry category gained ground, led by electric appliance, real estate and miscellaneous product issues. The Nikkei ended above 20,000 for the first time since Dec. 28, the last trading day of 2018, after U.S. shares on Friday surged on December nonfarm payrolls data that were stronger than expected. Market sentiment also improved on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks Friday in which he said the central bank was “prepared to adjust policy quickly and flexibly,” indicating it could pause interest rate hikes if necessary. “The market immediately welcomed Powell’s remarks that hinted at a possible halt in rate hikes, while strong U.S. jobs data in December rekindled investors’ risk appetite,” said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute. However, the dollar’s retreat against the yen during Tokyo trading hours somewhat limited gains among export-related issues, as a stronger yen reduces exporters’ overseas profits when repatriated. Sengoku added that investors will also be keeping close tabs on the outcome of the U.S.-China trade talks ending Tuesday. “Market sentiment would deteriorate if the two countries fail to strike any deal,” he said. On the first section, advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1,964 to 142, while 23 ended the day unchanged. Companies with relatively high exposure to the Chinese market jumped after the People’s Bank of China announced additional monetary stimulus on Friday to support the world’s second-largest economy. The Chinese central bank said it will cut the amount of cash that large banks must hold as reserves by 1.0 percentage point. Hitachi Construction Machinery rose ¥126, or 5.2 percent, to ¥2,545, while Komatsu climbed ¥157.50, or 6.9 percent, to ¥2,445.50. Technology issues drew buying following a firm rebound of U.S. counterparts in New York on Friday. Screen Holdings gained ¥275, or 6.3 percent, to ¥4,620, while Tokyo Electron advanced ¥755, or 6.4 percent, to ¥12,640. Trading volume on the main section fell to 1.424 billion shares from Friday’s 1.551 billion.


Dollar firmer around ¥108.20 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar was firmer around ¥108.20 in late Tokyo trading Monday, although active buying was held in check amid a growing wait-and-see mood. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥108.17-17, up from ¥107.84-85 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1436-1437, up from $1.1407-1407, and at ¥123.72-72, up from ¥123.02-03. After topping ¥108.50 in the early morning, the dollar gradually lost ground, coming close to ¥108.00 on position adjustment selling toward noon. But the U.S. currency resisted falling further, supported by buybacks. In late afternoon trading, the greenback moved narrowly around ¥108.20, with players increasingly retreating to the sidelines to wait for the outcome of crucial trade talks between the United States and China that started in Beijing on Monday for a two-day run, traders said. Better than expected official U.S. jobs data for December and “dovish” remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell led to a sharp rebound in the Nikkei 225 stock average, which encouraged dollar purchases against the yen in the morning. But the dollar turned top-heavy later, as the bearish view grew that the Fed may slow down the speed of its interest rate increase and, as a result, the Japan-U.S. rate gap is unlikely to widen much further, market sources said.


Tokyo stocks take sharp upturn on Wall Street rally

Abstract: Stocks rebounded sharply Monday in the wake of a Wall Street surge, with the Nikkei 225 average rising back above the 20,000 threshold. The Nikkei soared 477.01 points, or 2.44 percent, to end at 20,038.97 after gaining more than 700 points in morning trading. In the first 2019 session Friday, the key market gauge tumbled 452.81 points to end below the 20,000 line. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 41.37 points, or 2.81 percent, higher at 1,512.53. It lost 22.93 points the previous trading day. A wide range of issues attracted purchases from the outset, as a risk-off mood receded after the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 746.94 points Friday thanks to “dovish” remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and better than expected job data released by the U.S. government. The start of crucial U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing on Monday also helped ease investors’ concerns over the course of the global economy and let them move to buy in Japan as well as other parts of the world, brokers said. But after the initial spurt, the market lost steam in tandem with the dollar-yen pair amid a dearth of fresh buying incentives, confining both the Nikkei and the Topix in narrow ranges for the rest of the day. The positive news from abroad changed the market’s mood “dramatically,” an official of a Japanese brokerage firm said, adding that stocks had fallen excessively. Hiroaki Hiwada, strategist at Toyo Securities Co., pointed out that the day’s market reacted to “buybacks amid the presence of fewer players.” Some investors “waited for fresh incentives,” including the outcome of the trade talks between the world’s two largest economies, Hiwada also said. Rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,964 to 142 in the first section, while 23 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.424 billion shares, from 1.551 billion Friday. China-linked issues attracted repurchases on hopes for an improvement in U.S.-China trade ties. Among them, construction machinery maker Komatsu went up 6.88 percent, industrial robot producer Fanuc 4.36 percent and Yaskawa Electric 3.57 percent. Mega-bank groups Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui benefited from a rise in U.S. long-term interest rates on Powell’s comments and the U.S. employment data. Other major winners included semiconductor-related Tokyo Electron, clothing retailer Fast Retailing and drugmaker Takeda. Meanwhile, power utility Tepco met with selling after a sharp rally Friday. Also on the negative side were convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny and mobile phone carrier KDDI.


Seven Bank to use facial recognition to let people open accounts at ATMs across Japan

Abstract: Seven Bank will equip its ATMs with facial recognition technology, possibly starting this fall, as a way to identify customers and let people open bank accounts on the spot, sources said Monday. The new ATM operated by Seven Bank, a unit of retailer Seven & I Holdings Co., would be able to confirm the identity of someone wanting to set up a bank account in a few seconds by scanning a photo ID and taking a picture through a high-precision camera, they said. At present, a person needs to send a copy of an identification document, such as a driver’s license, to open a bank account. Seven Bank is also considering offering services to open accounts via the new ATMs for other online banks and regional banks, they said. Seven Bank has over 24,000 ATMs at convenience stores, public facilities and elsewhere nationwide. Several thousand of the new ATMs are expected to be installed by summer 2020 in large cities, they said.


Bailed out or not, Carlos Ghosn's role at Renault becomes more untenable

Abstract: Carlos Ghosn will get a chance Tuesday to make his case to the Tokyo District Court that he should be released on bail from his 50-day detention. But 9,500 km away in Paris, his future as head of Renault SA is increasingly in doubt. The French government, the carmaker’s biggest shareholder, is calling into question if Ghosn can remain at the helm of one of the country’s most important manufacturers, according to a senior government official. Ghosn would spend most of his time defending himself against accusations of financial improprieties rather than running a company, and his position at Renault is seen as unrecoverable, according to sources close to Renault’s leadership team who asked not to be identified discussing internal company matters. Ghosn held pivotal roles in Japan and France as chairman of Nissan Motor Co. and chief of Renault, as well as head of the alliance that binds together both carmakers. Nissan, where allegations of wrongdoing surfaced, moved swiftly to remove him from his post after his arrest Nov. 19, while Renault nominally kept him in place as it awaits more evidence of malfeasance. Ghosn has disputed the allegations through his lawyer, though prosecutors have doubled down, re-arresting him last month and bringing new accusations that range from hiding investment losses to misuse of company funds. Renault officials didn’t respond to requests for comment. How to proceed is a tough choice for Renault and the French government. The thinking goes that on the one hand, Ghosn deserves fair treatment and an opportunity to defend himself, particularly given his long service to Renault. But on the other hand, the government doesn’t want to be seen shielding an executive who enjoyed the trappings of large salaries at a time when France is being rocked by violent protests against rising costs of living and tax cuts for the wealthy. “There is a presumption of innocence. I have nothing in hand that lets me demand Ghosn’s departure,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday in an interview on French radio Europe1. “This principle of the presumption of innocence in a democracy is not negotiable.” Only if Ghosn is definitively prevented from returning would the government seek to replace him, Le Maire said. The government has sought more information on the allegations of improper payments, he said. “If and only if he were blocked lastingly would we draw conclusions. But we aren’t there today,” Le Maire said. Ghosn is scheduled to attend a session at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday, according to his chief lawyer, Motonari Otsuru. The session was called after Ghosn’s legal team requested an explanation of why he remains in Tokyo Detention House after having had his detention repeatedly extended. His arrest came after a lengthy investigation by Nissan into his conduct, a probe that was kept from its French partner. If proven, each of Ghosn’s alleged offenses may carry a sentence of as much as 10 years, prosecutors have said. Tuesday’s court session may provide a catalyst for action in France, where Ghosn has been kept nominally in place as CEO of Renault while the company is run by Thierry Bollore, who was made interim CEO, with independent director Philippe Lagayette as acting chairman. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux declined to comment on topics that might interfere with a judicial inquiry and reiterated the importance of stability at Renault. He declined to say whether Ghosn should be stripped of his mandates at the end of the inquiry. Renault is “strongly managed at this stage, and is also benefiting from strategies that have been implemented for many years” by Ghosn, Griveaux told reporters Friday in Paris. Despite all demands to give Ghosn a fair shake, President Emmanuel Macron has been at odds with the executive and with Nissan since obtaining greater government control over Renault as economy minister a few years ago. Macron asked his administration last month to crack down on executives who avoid paying taxes in the country. At the same time, Renault, which benefits from the status quo that Ghosn enforced at the alliance, has been wary of making changes under pressure that could potentially increase the clout of Nissan, which has said that the structure of the alliance should be reviewed. As Ghosn’s position becomes increasingly untenable at Renault, France has started to shortlist potential successors as chairman, with Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard as front-runner, a person familiar with the matter said last month. Ghosn’s detention was last extended on Dec. 31, allowing authorities to keep him behind bars until at least Jan. 11. And even if he is released on bail this week, Ghosn’s hardly going back to the globe-trotting days he relished in more than a decade atop the alliance. Instead, his movements would likely be restricted to his home or a hotel, and he would need court permission to leave the country, legal experts have said — hardly a sustainable position for a manager who like few others has epitomized a jet-setting business aristocracy with multiple salaries and residences across the world.

carlos ghosn
renault
nissan
emmanuel macron


After Shire acquisition, Japanese drugmaker Takeda expects annual sales to double

Abstract: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said Monday it expects its annual consolidated sales to nearly double to $31.3 billion after acquiring Irish drugmaker Shire PLC, a move that will make it a global top 10 company in the industry. The company also said it will issue approximately 770 million new shares, which, along with cash, will be used to obtain shares in Shire held by its shareholders. The acquisition will enable Takeda to be “a leading company in bio-pharmaceutical,” President Christophe Weber said Monday in Tokyo. It is the biggest-ever Japanese acquisition of a foreign firm. Takeda’s group sales stood at about ¥1.77 trillion in the business year ending March last year. While the deal is expected to raise the company’s sales to about ¥3.4 trillion, it will also increase Takeda’s net interest-bearing debt to more than ¥5 trillion, about 10 times the amount before the acquisition. Through the acquisition to be completed Tuesday, Takeda aims to boost sales in medicines for rare diseases such as hemophilia and expand its business in the key U.S. market.


Italy and Malta rebuff pope after pontiff urges EU leaders to show solidarity with stranded migrants

Abstract: VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Sunday urged EU leaders to show “concrete solidarity” with 49 migrants stranded on NGO ships off the coast of Malta who have been refused permission to land. But both Italy and Malta, which have refused port access to the rescue ships, on Sunday reiterated their positions. “Forty-nine migrants rescued in the Mediterranean by two NGO ships have been onboard for several days now, waiting to be able to disembark,” Francis told thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter’s square in Rome. “I address a pressing appeal to European leaders that they show some concrete solidarity with respect to these people.” The European Commission also urged EU member states to admit them earlier this week as concern grows over their plight, with some of the migrants stranded at sea for more than two weeks. This is not the first time the Argentinian pope, himself descended from Italian immigrants, has appealed to European leaders to open their borders. But there was no sign of Italy changing its policy. “In Italy, no more people are arriving,” far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told the Sunday paper Il Messaggero. “That’s the line and it will not change.” And he rammed the message home on Twitter, saying “Italy’s ports are and will stay closed.” While not quite as categorical, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also set out his reservations on Sunday. “This is an issue that might set a precedent and we should be vigilant about it,” he told Malta’s Radio One station. “It is easy to play the Christmas Saint with everyone, but then come January, February and the summer period we would be told to do the same.” If Malta let in migrants from the two rescue ships, “the bullies would have won,” he added. “That is why we are stressing that we do not want this case to set a precedent.” The small island state of Malta, which has a population of just 450,000, sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, not far from the Libyan coast. Relations between Italy and Malta have been strained since Salvini’s decision to close Italian ports to the migrants, accusing the rights groups who rescue them of running a migrant “taxi service.” Salvini has called on Malta to assume its responsibilities and take in the rescue boats, arguing that they are the closest. Muscat said that Malta’s own naval vessels had in recent days rescued 250 migrants, with the government saying some of them were pulled to safety closer to Italian waters. The Netherlands and Germany have already offered to take some of the migrants if their EU partners do the same. But the European Union’s long-running deadlock over sharing responsibility for migrants has yet to be resolved. There are 17 people on board the German NGO Sea-Eye vessel, with another 32 on the Sea-Watch. Among them are a 1-year-old baby and two children, aged 6 and 7.

italy
malta
eu
migrants
vatican
pope francis
matteo salvini


Sudanese flood Khartoum's streets, demand president's ouster as police fire tear gas

Abstract: CAIRO - Thousands took to the streets in the Sudanese capital on Sunday to call for President Omar al-Bashir to step down, the latest in nearly three weeks of demonstrations against his 29-year autocratic rule. Protesters gathered at several points across Khartoum before they began to march on al-Bashir’s Nile-side palace in the city center. They chanted: “Freedom, peace and justice; Revolution is the people’s choice.” Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who would regroup and resume the march only to be attacked by tear gas again. A video clip shared by activists online purported to show policemen chasing protesters as they pointed their tear gas guns skyward before firing them. Another clip showed protesters running away from the police, seeking shelter in side streets to avoid arrest and the tear gas. “I am fully confident that we will succeed in bringing down this regime and live the life that we deserve,” said Mohammed, an unemployed 25-year-old who declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals. “My confidence comes from the fact that most protesters are young and persistent like me,” he said after screaming at fellow protesters not to run away from the tear gas. Another activist, Romaisa, 40, was out of breath as she ran to escape arrest. “We will triumph at the end despite the excessive use of violence and because we insist on demonstrating,” she said. She also declined to give her full name for fear of arrest. The activists said police on Sunday blocked a bridge over the Nile that links Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman to the capital’s center in a bid to prevent protesters from joining forces. They said unusually large numbers of police and plainclothes security men were deployed across Khartoum in anticipation of Sunday’s protests, which began at 1 p.m. Police have meanwhile arrested at least five Khartoum university lecturers after they staged a brief, on campus protest Sunday in solidarity with the demonstrators, according to activists reached in the Sudanese capital. Authorities have detained scores of activists and opposition leaders during the last two weeks. There were also protests Sunday in the town of Wad Madani south of Khartoum, where police also used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse protesters. There were also protests in Atbara, a railway city north of the capital and a traditional hotbed of dissent. Al-Bashir, an Islamist, has been in power since he led a military coup 29 years ago. He has shown no signs that he might step down anytime soon and continues to blame the country’s problems on international sanctions and plots against its Islamic “experience.” His rule has been defined by turmoil and conflict while the economy lurched from one crisis to another. The secession of the mostly animist and Christian south of the country in 2011 deprived Sudan of about three quarters of the country’s oil wealth. The 74-year-old leader has spoken in public on at least five occasions since the start of the protests, initially sparked by worsening economic conditions but soon shifted to calls for al-Bashir to quit. He has used his speaking engagements to try and placate the Sudanese, promising them better days ahead and seeking to justify on religious grounds the killing of protesters — up to 40 have reportedly died. In addition to using violence to quash the protests, authorities have imposed emergency laws and nighttime curfews in some cities and suspended classes at schools and universities across much of Sudan. Internet sites have also been blocked and journalists are barred from covering the protests on the streets.


Social issues related to Brexit become source of inspiration for British novelists

Abstract: LONDON - With Britain’s decision to leave the EU exposing fault lines across society, fiction writers are responding with an increasing array of Brexit-infused work — from state-of-the-nation novels to futuristic satire. Brexit’s influence has spread to books by established authors like Ali Smith and Jonathan Coe as well as those of debut novelists, pushing writers to examine often overlooked parts of the country and social themes. The genre — dubbed “Brex-lit” by the Financial Times — spans dystopian visions based on the angst of europhiles and more reflective novels probing the apparent divides. “I have noticed that in the last few years, more and more (submissions) tend to be either fairly dark dystopia or relatively young nostalgia,” Daniel Hiscocks, the founder of a small, independent publishing house, said. “I see this as reflective of where, increasingly, pub conversations tend to be headed too,” he added. Last year, Hiscocks published Douglas Board’s “Time of Lies,” which is set in a 2020 Britain that has elected its own version of U.S. President Donald Trump. Board, a former civil servant-turned-writer, said Brexit had compelled him to write “about ignorance and contempt between ruling class and ruled.” “I think there’s an opportunity for novels to really be playing on a completely different radio wavelength than the news media,” he said. Some of the authors said they wanted to use storytelling simply to highlight the divides laid bare by the 2016 referendum. Commissioned by European publisher Peirene to write something in response, Anthony Cartwright’s short novel “The Cut” depicts an urbane documentary-maker’s short-lived and ill-fated romance with a laborer. Set in a working class corner of the West Midlands, the pair struggle to comprehend each other and their respective worlds. “We need to at least try to understand people on the other side of whatever divisions we face,” said Cartwright. “It’s my concern that we are not doing that well enough. “What novels can do is observe a situation, offer some reflection of the national mood.” Other chroniclers of these tumultuous times felt compelled to write out of sheer anger. “Brexit influenced me enormously and the book is very much a reaction against it,” said James Silvester, whose “Blood, White and Blue” debut claims to be the first “post-Brexit” novel. Married to a Slovak national working in Britain’s emergency services who has faced a spike in racist abuse since 2016, Silvester wanted to “encourage people to think about the reality of Brexit … what it’s doing to people, the pain it has caused and continues to cause.” In the book, the main character is “a half-Czech spy fighting for a country that hates her in the chaos of Brexit.” Some of the books are set in parts of Britain often ignored in literature — like the Brexit heartlands of eastern England in Adam Thorpe’s “Missing Fay” and the West Midlands, where much of Coe’s state-of-the-nation tome “Middle England” is set. Thorpe’s novel centers around the disappearance of a teenager from a run-down housing project. His portrayal of life in a small Lincolnshire town was written mostly before the referendum. It only became a “Brexit novel” because the “poverty and sense of hopelessness” depicted in it had helped explain the result, Thorpe said. “Novelists who want to reflect their times have to have finely tuned antennae, picking up signals that the population in general ignore,” he said. He nonetheless remained cautious about letting too much politics into the story. “I wanted the novel to be a litmus test of a nation at a certain moment more than a political statement,” he said. Still, British novelists are starting to make a much-needed return to “forcing people to think and feel about stuff that’s quite uncomfortable,” said author Amanda Craig. Her account of a marriage in crisis in “The Lie of the Land” offers a more subtle take on the forces fueling Brexit — with the pinch on family budgets and the urban-rural divide looming large in the background. “The reason why fiction has lost a lot of its power in social terms is because too few of us are doing what people like (Charles) Dickens did,” Craig said. “I do think that we’ve lost that sense of moral purpose. Fiction is there to entertain and to move and to delight, but it’s also there to make you think.”


Gabon thwarts military coup attempt in president's absence

Abstract: LIBREVILLE - Gabon foiled an attempted military coup Monday, arresting several plotters just hours after they took over state radio in a bid to end 50 years of rule by President Ali Bongo’s family. Government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou said four of the five officers involved were arrested in the capital Libreville. A fifth officer fled and is being pursued, he said. In a radio message at 4:30 a.m., Lt. Kelly Ondo Obiang, who described himself as an officer in the Republican Guard, said Bongo’s New Year’s Eve address from Morocco, where he is recovering from a stroke, “reinforced doubts about the president’s ability to continue to carry out of the responsibilities of his office.” In one of his first television appearances since he suffered the stroke in Saudi Arabia in October, Bongo, 59, slurred his speech and he appeared unable to move his right arm. It is unclear if he is able to walk. He has been in Morocco since November to continue treatment. Outside the radio station, loyalist soldiers fired teargas to disperse about 300 people who had come out into the streets to support the coup attempt, a witness said. Helicopters circled overhead. Most of the capital was quiet, however, and a government spokesman said the situation was under control after the arrests. “The government is in place. The institutions are in place,” Mapangou told France 24. The Bongo family has ruled the oil-producing country since 1967. Bongo has been president since succeeding his father, Omar, who died in 2009. His re-election in 2016 was marred by claims of fraud and violent protest. The economy was long buoyed by oil revenues, much of which went to a moneyed elite while most of the 2 million population live in deep poverty. In Libreville, expensive Western hotels overlook the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the capital’s hillside shanties to the east. A sharp drop in oil production and prices in recent years has squeezed revenues and stoked discontent. Oil workers’ strikes have become increasingly common. The international community condemned the coup attempt, including former colonial ruler France which urged its 8,900 citizens registered in Gabon to avoid moving around Libreville. “Gabon’s stability can only be ensured in strict compliance with the provisions of its constitution,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said. In a tweet Monday, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat reaffirmed “the AU’s total rejection of all unconstitutional changes of power.” In a video on social media, Ondo is seen in a radio studio wearing military fatigues and a green beret as he reads the statement. Two other soldiers with rifles stand behind him. Ondo said the coup was being carried out by a group called the Patriotic Movement of the Defense and Security Forces of Gabon against “those who, in a cowardly way, assassinated our young compatriots on the night of Aug. 31, 2016,” a reference to violence that erupted after Bongo was declared winner of the disputed election. Bongo won the poll by fewer than 6,000 votes, sparking deadly clashes between protesters and police during which the parliament was torched. The military officer said the coup attempt was carried out by one unit under the command of a high-ranking officer but that other units were monitoring the situation. “President Bongo’s record as defence minister under his father lowers the possibility that current military leadership is supportive of his ouster,” said Judd Devermont of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. France has a permanent force of 300 soldiers in Gabon. The United States also sent about 80 soldiers to Gabon last week in response to possible violence in Democratic Republic of Congo after a presidential election there. Bongo and members of his government have faced repeated suspicions by foreign governments of corruption. They have denied the accusations. During his father’s rule, Gabon was a pillar of “La Francafrique,” a web of diplomacy, trade and French military might giving French companies favored access to African autocrats. Gabon’s dollar-denominated sovereign debt tumbled in early trading, with both outstanding bonds losing around 3 cents to the dollar. However, prices recovered in late morning, with bonds trading around half a cent lower.


Saudi women to be told of divorce by text message under new law, are urged to check website

Abstract: LONDON/BEIRUT - Women in Saudi Arabia will be notified by text message if they are divorced under a new law designed to protect them from having their marriage ended without their knowledge, the government said on Sunday. The new law, which came into effect on Sunday, was seen as a way to end secret divorces and ensure women are fully aware of their marital status so they can protect rights such as alimony. The move comes as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has started to give women more rights in the conservative kingdom, which included lifting a ban on women driving last year. “Saudi courts have started to send such (divorce) notifications … a step aimed at protecting the rights of female clients,” the Saudi Ministry of Justice said in a statement on their website. It said women could check their marital status on the ministry’s website or visit the relevant court to get a copy of divorce papers. “In most Arab countries, men can just divorce their wives,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh from global rights group, Equality Now. “At least women will know whether they are divorced or not. It is a tiny step, but it is a step in the right direction,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. But Abu-Dayyeh said knowing about a divorce does not mean a woman will get alimony or the custody of her children. In recent years women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to enter sports stadiums for the first time, vote in local elections, and take a greater role in the workforce as Saudi Arabia tries to diversify its oil-dependent economy. But many Saudi women have taken to social media to push from more freedom, including protesting against the country’s strict dress codes with women required to wear an abaya — a loose, all-covering robe — when in public. Campaigners said the main sticking point remained Saudi Arabia’s guardianship policy, whereby women must have permission from a male relative to work, travel, marry, and even get some medical treatment. “The male guardianship system is a core issue and it must be dismantled. It controls women in each and every step of their lives. This system strangles Saudi women,” said Abu-Dayyeh. Although many have hailed the Saudi government’s reforms, these have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent with about a dozen female activists arrested. In November, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia of torturing and sexually harassing some detained female activists — allegations denied by a Saudi official to Reuters. A group of British parliamentarians and lawyers on Wednesday requested an “urgent response” from the Saudi ambassador by Jan. 9 to allow them to speak with the detained activists.

women
divorce
saudi arabia
mohammed bin salman


Trump confirms key plotter in USS Cole attack has been killed in Yemen strike

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that the U.S. military has killed one of the architects of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that left 17 American servicemen dead. The military said Friday that al-Qaida operative Jamal al-Badawi was believed to have been killed in a precision strike in Yemen. “Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole,” Trump tweeted. “We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi. “We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!” On Oct. 12, 2000, a rubber boat loaded with explosives blew up as it rounded the bow of the guided-missile destroyer, which had just pulled into Aden for a refueling stop. Seventeen American sailors were killed as well as the two perpetrators of the attack that was claimed by al-Qaida, in an early success for the terror group and its founder, Osama bin Laden. The chief suspect in the attack, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is being held in the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Badawi was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2003 and charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel. He was said to have supplied boats and explosives for the attack on the destroyer. Badawi was also charged with attempting with co-conspirators to attack a U.S. Navy vessel in January 2000, and was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. According to the agency, he was captured by Yemeni authorities but escaped from prison in April 2003. He was recaptured in March 2004, but again escaped in February 2006.

uss cole
yemen
donald trump
al-qaida
jamal al-badawi
terrorism
osama bin laden


Trump digs in on Mexico border wall as shutdown enters week three and threatens to invoke emergency powers

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump stood firm Sunday on his demand for billions of dollars to fund a border wall with Mexico, claiming “tremendous” support inside his camp on the contentious issue which has forced a government shutdown now entering its third week. “We have to build the wall,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for the Camp David presidential retreat. “It’s about safety, it’s about security for our country. The president warned once more that he may invoke emergency powers to get a wall built without congressional approval. “I may declare a national emergency, dependent on what’s going to happen over the next few days,” he said. One prominent House Democrat, Adam Schiff, immediately rejected the talk of a national emergency. He noted that when former President Harry Truman used such language in an attempt to nationalize the steel industry and end a labor strike during the Korean War, he was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. “So that’s a nonstarter,” Schiff said on CNN. He said Trump had painted himself into a corner and needs to “figure out how he unpaints himself from that corner.” An impasse with lawmakers over funding for the border wall — Trump is demanding $5.6 billion, while Senate Democrats have offered $1.3 billion — has partially shut down the federal government since Dec. 22. Trump said Friday that the standoff could last “months or even years.” The shutdown has left some 800,000 federal workers sent home or working without pay. Large numbers of federal contractors are also losing pay in what is already one of the longest shutdowns in U.S. history. Talks aimed at ending the shutdown were to resume Sunday afternoon in Vice President Mike Pence’s office, a day after a meeting involving him and representatives of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the top two Democrats in Congress, made little headway. Trump indicated, however, that he was not expecting a weekend breakthrough, saying there would be “very serious talks come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.” Trump repeated his claim that many furloughed federal workers “agree 100 percent” with his demands, while asserting he also had “tremendous support within the Republican Party.” But Democrats, who now control the House of Representatives, seem in no mood to make concessions on a border wall Pelosi has described as an “immorality.” Pelosi said in an interview that aired Sunday if the president “doesn’t care whether people’s needs are met, or that public employees are paid or that we can have a legitimate discussion, then we have a problem.” Reflecting the depth of the divide, she added on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” that Trump sometimes gave the impression that “he would like to not only close government, build a wall, but also abolish Congress, so the only voice that mattered was his own.” Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, told CNN on Sunday that Democratic negotiators seemed to have come to the talks Saturday “to stall.” Both Democrats and Republicans have attempted to pin the blame on the other side for the shutdown — a disruptive political ritual almost unique to the American system. “This shutdown could end tomorrow and it could also go on for a long time,” Trump said. “It really depends on the Democrats.” Trump’s fellow Republicans control the U.S. Senate but are short of the 60 votes needed to pass budget laws, so some Democratic support will be needed for any move to end the impasse. Building a wall along the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico border was a central plank in the 2016 election campaign of Trump, who has sought to equate immigrants with crime, drugs and gangs. Mulvaney said he had concluded that Democrats “think they are winning this battle politically and they’re vehement because they think the president is paying a price politically. That’s unfortunate.” But a leading Democrat involved in the negotiations, Sen. Dick Durbin, pushed back. “I can’t say that we’re close (to a solution),” he told CBS, “because the president’s made it clear he doesn’t care.” As the impact of the shutdown spreads — with reports that it may affect food subsidies for the poor and the tax refunds many people depend on each year — Trump insisted that Americans, even those directly affected, understood his stance. “I can relate and I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments — they always do — and people understand.” The shutdown has left transportation security agents and FBI employees, among many others, working without pay. The popular Smithsonian museums, just blocks from the White House, have been forced to close, while national parks have seen trash pile up and bathrooms go uncleaned.

donald trump
congress
democrats
adam schiff
mick mulvaney


New Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez says it's 'great' to be underestimated by critics, and calls Trump 'racist'

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended her ambitious, progressive policy proposals and sometimes combative presence on social media as risky but worth it, saying it is “great” to be underestimated by her opponents. In a wide-ranging interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night, the youngest woman ever to be sworn into Congress stayed true to form by declaring President Donald Trump a racist and tweaking fellow Democrats who call some of her proposals unrealistic. The 29-year-old Bronx, New York, politician’s appearance on the venerable news show capped a weekend in which she continued to burnish her standing as a key voice for a new and diverse generation on issues from income equality to climate change. Her come-from-nowhere 2018 Democratic primary win and 3.5 million combined followers on Twitter and Instagram have given the new lawmaker an electric presence in Washington. She’d already grabbed headlines from the interview with the early release of remarks calling for a sharp tax hike on the highest incomes to fund a massive “Green New Deal.” That led to a weekend of Twitter exchanges with Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican. “Absolutely risky,” she conceded of some of her tactics. She angered even fellow Democrats when she encouraged primary challenges of party members who accept corporate money or oppose progressive policies. “It requires risk to try something new,” she explained. “We know so much of — of what we’ve tried in the past hasn’t worked, either.” She also supports universal health care, tuition-free public college and massive government investment to combat climate change. During the interview, she laughed when asked if what she has in mind is the type of socialism found in the former Soviet Union, Cuba or Venezuela. “Of course not. What we have in mind — and what my — and my policies most closely re-resemble (are) what we see in the U.K., in Norway, in Finland, in Sweden,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She bristled when questioned how to fund the programs. “No one asks how we’re going to pay for this Space Force,” she said, referring to Trump’s proposed new branch of the U.S. military. “No one asked how we paid for a $2 trillion tax cut. We only ask how we pay for it on issues of housing, health care and education.” “How do we pay for it? With the same exact mechanisms that we pay for military increases for this Space Force. For all of these — ambitious policies.” Ocasio-Cortez addressed those in her own party who worry that pushing for policies that some may deem unrealistic will make it harder for Democrats to make a credible case of governing again. “What makes it unrealistic?” she asked. “We pay more per capita in health care and education for lower outcomes than many other nations. And so for me, what’s unrealistic is — is what we’re living in right now.” In her most contentious remarks in the interview, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that she doesn’t talk much about Trump. “I think he’s a symptom of a problem,” she said. “The president certainly didn’t invent racism. But he’s certainly given a voice to it and expanded it and created a platform for those things,” she said. Asked directly if she believes he is a racist, she answered, “No question.” “When you look at the words that he uses, which are historic dog whistles of white supremacy. When you look at how he reacted to the Charlottesville incident, where neo-Nazis murdered a woman, versus how he manufactures crises like immigrants seeking legal refuge on our borders, it’s — it’s night and day,” she said. CBS said it contacted the White House about those comments before airing them, and that a spokesman responded that Trump has repeatedly condemned bigotry and racism in all forms. Ocasio-Cortez described herself as someone who really understands the frustrations of working people, even amid an economy that appears to be operating at record levels. “There’s a frustration that says, ‘Well, the economy’s good for who?'” she said. Noting she’s worked as a he waitress and bartender, and like many members of her generation, had student loans to pay and no health insurance, she said unemployment at record lows doesn’t “tell the whole story.” She also dismissed those who suggest she does not know how the game is played in Washington. “It’s really great for people to keep thinking that,” she said. Underestimating her is how she won the primary in an upset over longtime Democratic lawmaker Joe Crowley in a safe Democratic seat that meant her election to Congress was assured.

congress
alexandria ocasio-cortez
donald trump
democrats
u.s .