Boris Johnson faces fresh scrutiny over turbulent private life as he bids to be next British PM

Abstract: LONDON - Boris Johnson, the strong favorite to become Britain’s next prime minister, came under pressure from figures in his own party Sunday to explain reports of a domestic “row” that led to a police visit. Although still heavily backed to beat Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to become Conservative Party leader, and therefore prime minister, a snap poll published in the Mail on Sunday suggested that the incident had cut his support. The Guardian reported that police were alerted early Friday after a neighbor heard a loud altercation involving screams, shouts and bangs at the south London property, shortly after Johnson had secured his place in the final runoff to become prime minister. The paper said Johnson’s partner, Carrie Symonds, could be heard telling the former London mayor and foreign minister to “get off me” and “get out of my flat.” She is also heard saying Johnson had ruined a sofa by spilling red wine. Johnson, 55, is currently divorcing his second wife. Supporters of Johnson have said the action of his neighbor in releasing a recording of the row to the Guardian newspaper was politically motivated. Neighbor Tom Penn, 29, said in a statement he had called the police because he was “frightened and concerned for the welfare of those involved.” “Once clear that no one was harmed, I contacted the Guardian, as I felt it was of important public interest,” he said. “I believe it is reasonable for someone who is likely to become our next prime minister to be held accountable for all of their words, actions and behaviors.” Penn said he voted to remain in the European Union three years ago, but that was the extent of his involvement in politics. Johnson refused to answer questions about the incident on Saturday, the first day of the monthlong contest to win over Conservative grassroot members, saying, “I don’t think people want to hear about that kind of thing.” He instead tried to focus on his policies, saying, “We need to get Brexit done” and promising to prepare Britain for a no-deal exit from the EU if a deal cannot be reached. Hunt told Sky News on Sunday that “someone who wants to be prime minister should answer questions on everything.” Trade Minister Liam Fox — who is backing Hunt for leader — told BBC1’s “The Andrew Marr Show,” “I think it is always easier to just give an explanation.” Another Hunt supporter, Alan Duncan, the minister of state for Europe and the Americas, told the Guardian that his former boss now had a “big question mark over his head.” Johnson had shown a “lack of discipline” throughout his career, he added. According to the Survation poll in the Mail on Sunday, Hunt is now the preferred candidate to become prime minister among voters for all parties, after Johnson suffered a 7 percent decline in support. His lead over Hunt with Conservative voters had been slashed from 27 percent to 9 percent since Friday, the poll suggested. But only the Conservative Party’s 160,000 members get to choose between Johnson and Hunt. And their support for Johnson appeared undimmed Saturday at the first of a series of hustings — internal party debates to decide the new leader. The Conservative members in the central English city of Birmingham gave Johnson a standing ovation and loudly heckled interviewer Iain Dale as he quizzed Johnson over Friday’s domestic incident. “Stuff happens at home all the time. … Someone spills the wine — we can’t really be making headlines out of that,” said supporter Hasnain Ahmed, 23. “What’s important is what’s this guy going to be delivering for you in Brexit.” With Sunday marking the three-year anniversary of the vote to leave the EU, the issue still dominates British politics. Hunt also received a warm reception, promising that if he couldn’t strike a Brexit deal with the EU, “then I will leave without a deal.” “I was probably leaning towards Boris but I was very impressed with what Jeremy Hunt said today,” said Tory councilor Karen Shakespeare. “He surprised me with his directness and honesty, so I have to say I am now leaning very heavily towards Jeremy Hunt.” Johnson also came under scrutiny Sunday for his relationship with Steve Bannon, the controversial former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. Footage published by the Observer showed Bannon claiming that he had helped craft Johnson’s resignation speech as foreign minister last year. The pair got to know each other when both were in office, and were reported to have met again in an unofficial capacity last summer. Johnson said at the time that “the so-called relationship” with Bannon was a “lefty delusion” and his office dismissed the latest claims of a working relationship as “totally preposterous to the point of a conspiracy.”

boris johnson
jeremy hunt
eu
brexit
u.k .
domestic violence
theresa may


Billionaires from George Soros to Pritzker and Disney heirs call for U.S. wealth tax

Abstract: LONDON - Some of the richest people in the U.S. are calling for a federal wealth tax. Financier George Soros, heiresses Regan Pritzker and Abigail Disney and Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes are among those calling for the levy to help address income inequality and provide funding to address climate change and public health issues. “We are writing to call on all candidates for President, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, to support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest one-tenth of the richest 1 percent of Americans — on us,” according to a letter signed by 19 individuals — one anonymously — and posted online Monday. “The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans.” Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke support the idea, according to the letter. Warren’s proposal calls for a 2 percent tax on assets of $50 million or more, and a further 1 percent on assets over $1 billion. It is estimated to generate nearly $3 trillion in tax revenue over 10 years. The wealth tax isn’t embraced by all Democrats because many believe it would be difficult to assess objectively the value of wealth like artwork and jewels. There are also concerns that such a tax is unconstitutional because the federal government is prohibited from taxing property, only income. The New York Times reported on the letter earlier Monday.


Iran says 'spy drone' violated airspace in May amid U.S. escalation

Abstract: TEHRAN - Iran said on Sunday a “spy drone” had encroached its airspace in May, about a month before it downed an American drone as part of a series of escalatory incidents between Tehran and Washington. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted a map saying the U.S.-made MQ9 Reaper drone — also widely used for carrying out military strikes — had entered his country’s airspace on May 26. Iran shot down a U.S. Global Hawk drone Thursday, saying it had violated its airspace near the strategic Strait of Hormuz — a claim the United States denies. U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned retaliatory military strike Friday, saying the response would not have been “proportionate,” with Tehran warning any attack would see Washington’s interests across the Middle East go up in flames. On Sunday U.S. national security adviser John Bolton cautioned Iran against misinterpreting the last-minute cancellation. “Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness,” Bolton said in Jerusalem. In Kuwait, the U.S. special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, urged “all nations to use their diplomatic effort to urge Iran to de-escalate and meet diplomacy with diplomacy.” The downing of the U.S. drone came after a series of attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf, which Washington has blamed on Tehran, exacerbated already-tense relations between the two countries. Iran has denied responsibility for those attacks. With the military option called off, Washington secretly launched cyberattacks against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network in response to the downed drone, according to U.S. media reports. U.S. media said the attack crippled computers used to control missile launchers and a spying group tracking ships in the Persian Gulf. Iran on Monday denied it had been hit by a U.S. cyberattack. Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi added that no cyberattack against his country had ever succeeded. He acknowledged that Iran has “been facing cyberterrorism such as Stuxnet and unilateralism such as sanctions.” Stuxnet is a virus that is believed to have been engineered by Israel and the U.S. to damage nuclear facilities in Iran. “We foiled last year not one attack but 33 million attacks with Dejpha shield,” Azari Jahromi said, referring to a new internet defense system. Trump, who spent Saturday huddling with his advisers, initially said he was keen to be Iran’s “best friend” — if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons. Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its program is for civilian purposes. A multinational accord reached by Tehran and world powers in 2015 sought to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. But Trump left that agreement more than a year ago and has imposed a robust slate of punitive economic sanctions designed to choke off Iranian oil sales and cripple its economy — which he now plans to expand. “We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday,” tweeted Trump, who has also deployed additional troops to the Middle East. “I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again — The sooner the better!” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added: “When the Iranian regime decides to forgo violence and meet our diplomacy with diplomacy, it knows how to reach us. Until then, our diplomatic isolation and economic pressure campaign against the regime will intensify.” A minister from Britain’s Foreign Office was in Tehran on Sunday to meet top Iranian diplomats for “urgent de-escalation” of tensions, yet the Iranian party said the talks were “repetitive.” Minister of State for the Middle East Andrew Murrison had the “usual talking points,” said Kamal Kharazi, the head of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations at Iran’s foreign ministry. These included saying a European payment mechanism to help Iran with U.S. sanctions “will soon become operational, that Britain has always supported the (nuclear deal) and has its own problems with America … such talks that have always been repetitive,” Kharazi added. With the U.S. out of the deal, Iran has said it would reduce some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining partners — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — help it circumvent U.S. sanctions and sell its oil. “#EconomicTerrorism brings tension,” Zarif tweeted, adding it was “prudence” that prevented a war breaking out between Tehran and Washington. A top Iranian military official warned Washington against any strikes. “Firing one bullet towards Iran will set fire to the interests of America and its allies” in the region, armed forces general staff spokesman Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi told the Tasnim news agency. “If the enemy — especially America and its allies in the region — make the military mistake of shooting the powder keg on which America’s interests lie, the region will be set on fire.” Following his comments, Iran said it had executed a contractor for the defense ministry’s aerospace organization who had been convicted of spying for the United States.

iran
drones
shipping
oil
u.s .
gas
hormuz tanker attack


Europe braces for summer scorcher as winds from Sahara send mercury soaring

Abstract: PARIS - Temperatures were climbing on Sunday as Europe braced for a blistering heatwave with the mercury set to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) as summer kicks in on the back of a wave of hot air from North Africa. Europeans are set to bake in what forecasters are warning will likely be record-breaking temperatures for June with the mercury set to peak midweek. Hot and humid nights can be expected, officials say, with many issuing guidelines for surviving the scorcher, and local authorities and hospitals on high alert for a surge in cases of dehydration, heatstroke and other weather-related conditions. They are also warning that the extreme heat could bring on violent storms. Spain’s AEMET weather agency issued a “yellow alert” for severe weather on Sunday, but said it expected the heat to peak later in the week with temperatures soaring over 40 degrees Celsius, particularly inland. “Temperatures may exceed 42 degrees” in the northeastern Ebro valley area from Thursday until Saturday, the agency said, indicating the heat could persist into early next week. Britain’s MetOffice said it was particularly concerned that the heatwave could trigger “violent storms” and warned Britons to expect “hot, humid and unstable” weather. It issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday, saying the highest temperatures were expected later in the week rising into the 30s in central and southwest England. In Germany, forecasters said they were expecting a week-long heatwave with temperatures that could break the 2015 record of 40.3 degrees, blaming it on a front of “warm air coming from the Sahara. And after last summer’s heatwave, farmers are again fearful the high temperatures could damage crops. “Should we get tropical temperatures of 35 degrees or more, that would depress the crop yields,” farmers’ spokesman Joachim Rukwied told DPA news agency, saying grain crops had received just enough rainfall last month and were going through an “important growing phase. And Meteo France also warned of a “hot, humid and unstable” weather front that could push the mercury up to 40 degrees from Tuesday. The authorities activated an action plan for children, the sick and elderly as well as for homeless people. France is wary of a repeat of the intense heatwave of summer 2003, when nearly 15,000 died over a two-week period, most of them elderly. In Paris, officials pledged to open “cool rooms” inside public buildings, set up temporary water fountains, and leave the city’s parks and gardens unlocked and accessible at night. City workers would also distribute water to the homeless and install fans in schools and nurseries. In Belgium, the Royal Meteorological Institute also issued a severe heat warning, saying it was expecting temperatures in the range of 34 to 35 degrees Celsius from Tuesday, with similar hot weather also expected in Switzerland. Greece was expected to record blistering temperatures this weekend, with forecasters warning of highs of 39 degrees Celsius in some areas although they were seen falling earlier next week. In the Balkans, soaring temperatures saw many people flocking to rivers, lakes and swimming pools to cool down last week, although a weekend of stormy weather helped take the edge off the heat. This latest intense heatwave again shows the impact of global warming on the planet, and such weather conditions are likely to become more frequent, meteorologists said.


Iran crisis could 'spin out of control,' says ex-U.S. military aide

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A former top U.S. military adviser warned Sunday that tensions with Iran “could spin out of control” after President Donald Trump’s last-minute cancellation of airstrikes on the Islamic republic. Washington and Tehran have traded accusations since Iran shot down a U.S. spy drone last week, prompting a plan for retaliatory strikes that was shelved when Trump decided the resulting mass casualties would not be “proportionate.” “My biggest concern is the president is running out of room, running out of options and while rhetoric goes back and forth on how close we came to hitting Iran just the other day, that this thing could spin out of control,” former chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen told ABC’s “This Week.” “The last thing in the world we need right now is a war with Iran.” Trump has labeled Iran a danger and in May last year pulled the U.S. out of an international accord on rewarding the country for allowing verification of its nuclear industry. Trump has repeatedly sought to downplay moments of tension, repeating his reluctance to see the dispute escalate to military conflict. He has announced new sanctions beginning Monday and U.S. cyberforces reportedly struck Iranian military computer systems. But some of his closest aides, such as national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are said to favor a far more muscular U.S. strategy. Mullen, who served under George W. Bush and then Barack Obama from 2007 to 2011, said politicians need to use diplomacy to prevent Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “That’s our system here and I think the politicians need to figure out a way to achieve the objective, which is Iran without a nuclear weapon — and, from my perspective, without regime change, without going to war,” he said. Trump tweeted on Friday that U.S. forces were “cocked and loaded” to retaliate after the downing of the drone but that he called them back in order to avoid mass casualties. Republican House Armed Services ranking member Mac Thornberry was among a delegation of congressional leaders being briefed at the White House as events unfolded. “If they go back to mining tankers, shooting at American aircraft, the sort of pattern of activity we’ve seen since April, then obviously the president has a whole range of additional responses that he could employ,” he told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “But he’s given himself a lot of headroom, if you will.” But Sen. Cory Booker, a Democratic presidential candidate and member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told the show the president was “taking a belligerent course of escalation and provocation with Iran.”

iran
donald trump
mike mullen
conflict
cory booker
u.s .


Turkey unafraid of U.S. sanctions over S-400 deal with Russia: minister

Abstract: ANKARA - Turkey said Monday it does not fear U.S. sanctions over its decision to buy a Russian missile defense system that has frayed ties between the NATO allies. The United States has given Turkey a deadline of July 31 to drop the purchase of the S-400 system, or face sanctions and removal from its F-35 fighter jet program. “Regardless of whatever sanctions there may be, whatever the messages from America, we’ve bought the S-400,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara. He said Turkey was working on the date for the system’s delivery, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said would be in the first half of July. “If there’s an attack on Turkey tomorrow, we cannot expect NATO to protect us because NATO’s capacity would only protect 30 percent of Turkey’s airspace,” Cavusoglu said. Turkey will no longer allow other countries to dictate its defense purchases, he said. Relations between Washington and Ankara have deteriorated over multiple issues, including the S-400 deal and U.S. support for a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as terrorists by Turkey. Sanctions could cause damage at a time when Turkey’s economy is already struggling. Its currency lost a third of its value last year, in part due to temporary U.S. sanctions over the detention of an American pastor. Turkey has plans to buy 100 F-35s, and has lucrative contracts to build parts of the jet. Erdogan said last week he would use his “good” relationship with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to defuse the crisis when they meet at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan this week.


Syria regime airstrikes kill five civilians in Idlib buffer zone, monitor says

Abstract: BEIRUT - Syrian regime airstrikes killed five civilians, including two children, Sunday in a northwestern bastion of the opposition, a war monitor said. The Idlib region of some 3 million people is supposed to be protected by a September buffer zone deal, but the jihadist-run enclave has come under mounting bombardment by the government and its ally, Russia, since late April. An air raid by Damascus aircraft on Sunday killed five civilians, including two sisters under the age of 10, in the village of Josef in Idlib province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The strikes also wounded several people, some of whom were in serious condition, said the Observatory. Since Wednesday, more than 60 civilians have been killed in regime air raids in the surrounding anti-government enclave, the Britain-based monitoring group says. Since the start of the escalation in late April, more than 470 civilians have died in regime and Russian bombardments there. In addition, 780 rebel and jihadi fighters and more than 610 pro-regime fighters have died in raids and clashes on the ground. The violence has forced around 330,000 people to flee their homes and hit 23 health centers, the United Nations says. The September deal signed by Russia and rebel backer Turkey was supposed to set up a buffer zone around the Idlib region, but the accord was never fully implemented as jihadis refused to pull back from the front lines. In January, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — an alliance led by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate — took over administrative control of the region, which is made up of a large part of the Idlib province and slivers of neighboring governorates. The Syria conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of protests against President Bashar Assad.

syria
idlib
russia
al-qaida
conflict
bashar assad


Indian soldiers recover bodies of seven missing mountaineers believed killed in avalanche

Abstract: LUCKNOW, INDIA - Indian paramilitary soldiers have reached the bodies of seven of eight members from a team of international climbers believed killed on a notoriously dangerous Himalayan mountain, an official said Sunday. An administrator of Uttarakhand state, Vijay Jogdande, said the soldiers reached the bodies Sunday, but they had yet to be identified. The bodies will now be brought from where they were found at an elevation of more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) to the base camp. Veteran British mountaineer Martin Moran led a team of four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian on an expedition on Nanda Devi East. Moran’s Scotland-based company said contact with the team was lost on May 26 following an avalanche. Officials said they were all presumed dead. Five bodies believed to be from the missing team were spotted by air nearly two weeks ago. Ground expeditions by the Indian paramilitary forces and the Indian Mountaineering Foundation were launched after helicopter missions failed to reach the area. The search for the missing eighth mountaineer will continue, Jogdande said. H.S. Chauhan, president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, said authorities would decide on an air evacuation of the bodies depending on weather conditions. Ground expeditions also are in the area for the task.

india
avalanches
martin moran
nanda devi east


Hong Kong protesters plan new action to draw leaders' attention ahead of Osaka G20 summit

Abstract: HONG KONG - Protesters fearing an erosion of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy blocked access to a government office building for nearly two hours Monday and plan more demonstrations to draw the attention of leaders attending the Group of 20 summit in Japan this week. About 100 demonstrators jammed the entryway and lobby of the Inland Revenue Tower, a skyscraper in the Wan Chai district in the city center. Earlier, one of the main protest groups announced a demonstration planned on Wednesday to try to draw the attention of world leaders attending the G20 summit in Osaka. The leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front said they hope the world leaders meeting in Osaka will hear the protesters’ concerns over the weakening of the city’s legal autonomy by mainland China. Hundreds of thousands of people have filled the streets and sidewalks in recent weeks to oppose legislation seen as increasing Beijing’s control and police treatment of the protesters. The activists spoke on Monday near the city government headquarters, where a few protesters remained though the offices in the building had reopened. Kelvin Ho, one of the group’s several leaders, said the protest was meant to “urge the international community to give stress on Beijing that we need democracy.” China has rejected foreign commentary over the protests and the extradition issue as interference in its internal affairs. At a briefing in Beijing, Zhang Jun, an assistant foreign minister, said “I can tell you that for sure the G20 will not discuss the issue of Hong Kong and we will not allow the G20 to discuss the issue of Hong Kong.” Hong Kong’s government “has taken a series of measures to safeguard fairness and justice of society and to block loopholes in the legal system. We believe what they have done is completely necessary and the central government supports these measures,” he said. Joshua Wong, another activist who helped galvanize mass pro-democracy protests in 2014, said on Twitter that he was urging his followers to join the protest on Wednesday. Pro-democracy activists and legislators and others critical of the extradition bill have insisted they are not satisfied with apologies from the authorities over the handling of the unpopular legislation and over police moves during protests that many Hong Kong residents considered overly aggressive. Hong Kong has a separate legal system from the rest of China under an agreement struck before Beijing took control of the former British colony in 1997. The extradition legislation would enable some suspects to be sent from Hong Kong to stand trial in mainland Chinese courts. The opponents’ concern is that suspects might be pursued for corrupt or political reasons and be unable to get fair trials in courts dominated by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Bonnie Leung, another leader in the Civil Human Rights Front, said the extradition bill, which has been indefinitely shelved for now, would affect not just Hong Kong residents but potentially anyone visiting the city. “The whole world who have connection with H.K. would be stakeholders,” she said. “This is not about a power struggle. This is about the values that make the world a better place, such as the rule of law.” “If you also treasure these values please speak up and do speak up before it is too late,” she said. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who has apologized over the controversy but refused calls to step down, said the legislation was needed to ensure criminals would not use the territory to evade capture and to meet international standards such as rules against money laundering.

hong kong
protests
rights
china
hong kong extradition protests


The language of Hong Kong's protests: Crude and caustic memes and slogans often turn criticism of movement on its head

Abstract: HONG KONG - Viral artwork pummeling city leaders, clever word plays and Cantonese cursing that would make a sailor blush — Hong Kongers have displayed a characteristically riotous embrace of satire during their huge anti-government protests. Anger has punctuated much of the historic rallies roiling Hong Kong in the last two weeks as the public vents huge opposition to an attempted China extradition law and frustrations over years of sliding freedoms. But humor has never been far away. The legions of tech-savvy youngsters never miss an opportunity to invent new chants, memes, banners and slogans that often turn the criticism against the movement on its head. Outside the city’s parliament, a shrine has sprung up for the finance hub’s beleaguered pro-Beijing leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam. A black banner underneath reads, “Suspend your mother.” The first word is a reference to protester demands that the extradition bill be permanently taken off the table, not just suspended, as the government has now done. But the last two words reference a favorite local insult: “F—- your mother.” Cantonese is an uproariously caustic language, with misogynistic insults to an opponent’s mother thrown around during even fairly pedestrian disagreements. But after police were filmed shouting, “Reporter, your mother!” to journalists — questioning their credentials — during clashes with protesters earlier in the month, demonstrators seized on the phrase, immortalizing it in WhatsApp stickers and banners and printing it on T-shirts. It was also a way to skewer Lam, who gave an interview where she likened herself to an exasperated mother trying not to give in to every demand from the childlike protesters. An even more irreverent rallying cry that protesters have adopted with relish — and plastered on the outside walls of the city’s legislature — is the phrase “freedom hai.” The word “hai” refers to female genitalia and is arguably the rudest of what are dubbed “the five great Cantonese profanities.” Police were filmed yelling an insult at demonstrators that sounded like “freedom hai” — and demonstrators took the insult and adopted it with pride. Protester Kit-ying, 25, said the slogan was a “refusal to be oppressed.” “Especially as a woman, if you call us that, we will turn it into our slogan and transform it from its passive role into an active one,” she said. Not all the puns are derisive. One of the most popular chants has been “fan sung jung,” which literally translates to “against being sent to China.” But “sung jung” is also a homophone for seeing off a dead relative at a funeral, encapsulating fears that the extradition law will be the death of their city. Yuen Chan, a journalism lecturer at London’s City University, said Hong Kong’s history as a trading hub has birthed a vernacular that absorbs influences “in endless creative and sometimes irreverent ways.” “In recent years, online culture and increasing interest and pride in local culture has created an even more fertile environment for Cantonese Kongish wordplay and satire,” she added. Many of the memes have gone viral via the website LIHKG, a sort of Cantonese Reddit, where users can vote on designs and protest plans. There you can find cartoons of Lam showing her as Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings” clutching the “one ring,” or crying crocodile tears over injured protesters. The best go viral on chat groups or are simply pinged, using Bluetooth and Apple’s Airdrop function, to strangers’ phones as they walk down the street. Many Hong Kongers are members of constantly buzzing private WhatsApp family groups. Youngsters have deployed “elder memes” — written and designed in a style that appeals to their more conservative older relatives — in a bid to counter disinformation and win them over. Many popular drawings have been penned by Australia-based Chinese dissident artist Badiucao, who recently unveiled his face for the first time after he said his family on the mainland received threats. One popular cartoon is based on an AFP photograph of a lone protester in a yellow poncho getting hit by either pepper spray or water from police. “It’s a metaphor for Hong Kong as a city against the threat from the whole nation of mainland China. … It’s a photo of a modern David versus Goliath,” Badiucao said. Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong-based lawyer who has written a book about the city’s protest movements, said this year’s demonstrations have a “darker tone” than the failed pro-democracy “Umbrella Movement” in 2014. “The humor is there, to be sure, but often to leaven much more serious issues, almost as comic relief,” he said.

language
hong kong
protests
china
rights
hong kong extradition protests


Death toll from building collapse in Cambodia rises to 24

Abstract: SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA - Rescuers on Monday were continuing to search the rubble of a building that collapsed while under construction in a Cambodia beach town, killing at least 25 workers as they slept in the unfinished condominium that was doubling as their housing. The seven-story building collapsed early Saturday on top of the dozens of construction workers who were sleeping on the second floor. The condominium was being built in the thriving seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, which has several such Chinese-funded projects. The Chinese Embassy expressed its condolences and said it was mobilizing Chinese assistance for the rescue. Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities said rescuers digging through the twisted metal and concrete rubble found five bodies overnight and another Monday morning, raising the toll to 25. Up to 75 percent of the debris has been removed from the site as of Monday morning. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited the site late Sunday. Pictures released by the provincial authorities showed him in front of the collapsed building talking to several government ministers involved in the rescue. At least 24 workers were injured in the collapse. One of them, Nhor Chandeun, said he and his wife were sleeping when they heard a loud noise and felt the building vibrate then begin falling down. They were trapped for 12 hours before rescuers found them. The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training said 30 workers were at the site when the building collapsed, but Nhor Chandeun said there were about 55 to 60 people inside the building. Provincial authorities said in a statement that four Chinese nationals involved in the construction have been detained while the collapse is investigated. The Chinese Embassy “supports a thorough investigation of the accident and necessary measures by competent Cambodian authority in accordance with the law,” the embassy said in a statement early Monday. It said the embassy was greatly saddened by the collapse and had reached out to Chinese enterprises in Cambodia to mobilize personnel as well as heavy equipment like excavators to clear the rubble.

cambodia
accidents
china
development
construction industry


North Korea made $120 million a year from Kaesong joint factory park, report says

Abstract: SEOUL - North Korea raked in more than $120 million a year from a symbolic cross-border industrial zone that Pyongyang and Seoul are pushing to re-open as part of nuclear negotiations, a report said Monday. The Kaesong Industrial Complex — where around 55,000 North Korean workers churned out products ranging from watches to clothes for some 125 South Korean companies — was one of the most visible signs of reconciliation that followed the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. But it was shuttered by the South’s then-conservative government in 2016 in response to a nuclear test and missile launches by the North, saying profits from Kaesong were funding Pyongyang’s provocations. The South’s current President Moon Jae-in has dangled re-opening the complex as an incentive for Pyongyang to engage in denuclearization talks, but doing so is complicated by the web of international sanctions imposed on the North over its weapons programs. At their Pyongyang summit in September, Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to “normalize” operations at Kaesong when conditions were “ripe,” but negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington are now deadlocked and Northern media have pressed the South to implement joint economic projects. The International Crisis Group called on Monday for the complex to be reopened with “a modest deal involving sanctions relief.” Doing so would create “much needed momentum for stalled peace talks and serve as a reminder to both North and South Korea of the benefits of building a sustainable peace on the peninsula,” it added in a statement. The factory zone gave the North foreign investment in its infrastructure, employment for its people and “much-needed revenue in hard currency,” it said in a report, while the South Korean businesses involved enjoyed cheap but high-quality labor — wages in China were 2.9 times higher in 2014. In 2015, the year before it closed, South Korean firms paid the North around $123 million for their workers, ICG calculated. North Korea taxed the sums at 30 percent and paid the workers 70 percent of the remainder in essential foodstuffs and coupons for state-run shops, the report said, citing the firms in Kaesong and the South’s unification ministry. The rest was paid “in local currency at an artificially low official exchange rate,” it added. Currently the North’s official exchange rate is around 80 times lower than the market rate. If a similar ratio applied to the Kaesong workers, they will have received in cash only around one quarter of 1 percent of the value paid to the North for their services, AFP calculates. “It is possible that the North Koreans were using a third exchange rate,” one of the report’s authors Christopher Green told AFP, as “use of the official rate would have left workers earning very small amounts.” But he added that only limited information was available as “Kaesong workers were disinclined or unable to defect, and the South Korean side was not in a position to guarantee what the North Korean state did with the bulk payments they delivered to Pyongyang.” Profits from Kaesong were equivalent to only about 10 percent of what the North made from coal exports to China, the report said, but “were nevertheless important … to a regime that needed all the cash it could get.” “In this sense, reopening Kaesong would unquestionably be a concession to the North,” it added.

north korea
kaesong
south korea
north korea nuclear crisis


Vietnam jails American for 12 years for attempting to overthrow state

Abstract: HANOI - A court in Vietnam on Monday sentenced a U.S. citizen to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of “attempting to overthrow the state” in a trial that lasted just half a day, his lawyer said. Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen, 55, pleaded guilty, but had asked that his sentence be reduced so he could be reunited with his family, his lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng told Reuters by telephone after the trial at the Ho Chi Minh City court. Nguyen will be deported after serving his jail sentence. “It’s such a long sentence,” said Mieng. “Michael admitted guilt at the trial and asked the jury to reduce his sentence so that he could soon reunite with his family.” Nguyen was accused of inciting Vietnamese people to join protests and attempting to attack government offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Molotov cocktails and slingshots, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said, citing the indictment. “We are disappointed by today’s verdict,” a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said in an emailed statement. “We will continue to raise our concerns regarding Mr. Nguyen’s case, and his welfare, at all appropriate levels.” Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and has lived in the United States since he was a child, was detained in Vietnam in July 2018 on suspicion of activity against the government, said his brother-in-law, Mark Roberts. Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism. The court also sentenced two Vietnamese men to eight years and 10 years in prison for the same offense, Mieng said, adding that they will face three years’ house arrest after their jail terms. “Their objective is to cause riots in an attempt to overthrow the administration of Vietnam and eradicate the leading role of the (Communist) party,” Truoi Tre cited the indictment as saying.

vietnam
courts
michael phuong minh nguyen
u.s .


Japan to expand study on egg test during fertility treatment aimed at detecting chromosomal abnormalities

Abstract: The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) has announced that it will expand the scale of clinical research on the utilization of PGT-A, or preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies, for fertility treatment. The type of testing examines fertilized eggs produced through in vitro fertilization to detect abnormalities in the number of chromosomes before they are placed in the uterus. After an overseas study found that using PGT-A to select eggs without abnormalities was effective in reducing the likelihood of miscarriage, the JSOG started clinical research on a trial basis at four medical institutions on 85 women who’d had repeated miscarriages. The society will now ease conditions for participation in the program in order to involve more patients and medical institutions in the research, it said Saturday. PGT-A has been criticized by some as a method to select who should live. The JSOG bans the test from being used as a general medical treatment. It currently conducts the clinical research as an exception in order to find out whether the method is effective in lowering the chances of miscarriage. But some experts claim that using the test will have little significance as far as research goes and should be regarded as a general medical treatment. Furthermore, there is a report stating that using PGT-A does not help increase the probability of a successful pregnancy as many women fail to secure fertilized eggs without chromosome abnormalities in the first place.


Uighur activist allowed to visit Japan for G20 summit despite protest by Beijing

Abstract: A prominent political activist for China’s Uighur ethnic minority, Rebiya Kadeer, will be allowed into Japan during this week’s Group of 20 leaders’ summit, her supporters have said. Japanese government sources have confirmed Tokyo issued a visa to Kadeer, despite calls not to do so from Beijing. She plans to protest human rights violations by the Chinese government during her stay, which will coincide with President Xi Jinping’s visit to Osaka for the summit. Roughly 10 million Uighurs live in China, mainly in the far-western Xinjiang autonomous region. The Chinese government has been criticized for its oppressive treatment of the majority-Muslim group, including by sending large numbers to mass detention camps for what is described as re-education. Former president of the World Uyghur Congress and current president of the Free Indo-Pacific Alliance, a group that represents exiled minorities including Tibetans, Kadeer herself fled China after being labeled a separatist, and now lives in the United States. The visa application was submitted on June 7 and the visa issued Wednesday, on the grounds that Kadeer had already traveled to Japan more than 10 times and that there was no legal reason to keep her from doing so again, the government sources said. Kadeer’s supporters said Friday that the process took longer than for previous visas, which only took a week or so to be issued. According to the government sources, Beijing asked Tokyo in December to handle the matter “appropriately.” The request was made directly to the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe via a senior official from China’s Ministry of State Security, they said.

uighurs
china
ethnicity
rights
xinjiang
g20 osaka


Abe survives censure motion by opposition over controversial pension report

Abstract: A censure motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, submitted by opposition parties over his finance minister’s refusal to accept a report suggesting pensions are inadequate for most retirees, was voted down in the House of Councilors on Monday. The motion was submitted last Friday, as opposition parties launched a last-minute offensive before the end of the current Diet session Wednesday and an Upper House election in July. The measure was intended to challenge the Abe government’s reluctance to address public concerns about the sustainability of the public pension system. The motion criticized the government’s “arrogant political stance that takes the people and the Diet lightly,” saying “the situation is so serious that it cannot be tolerated.” Finance Minister Taro Aso’s blocking of the report was “a clear reflection of the prime minister’s political attitude,” it said. A panel of experts estimated in the report that an average retired couple would face a shortfall of ¥20 million ($186,000) under the current pension system if they live to be 95 years old. The parties that submitted the motion to the Upper House included the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Communist Party. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito control both houses of the Diet. The pension issue has been highlighted since Aso rejected the panel’s report earlier this month. The panel was set up under the Financial Services Agency he oversees. Aso argued the report contradicted the government’s stance that the pension system is able to meet “to some extent” people’s household financial requirements in retirement, and had caused “extreme worries and misunderstanding.” Abe has labeled the estimate “misleading,” saying it was an average figure presented without context. The report comes as the Abe administration pursues a policy of creating a society in which people can live to the age of 100 without financial concerns. Abe has said that the government has been reforming the pension system to ensure its sustainability, and that it is able to respond to the needs of people with diverse lifestyles. On Friday, Aso escaped an opposition-submitted censure motion in the Upper House and a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the CDPJ asked other opposition parties Monday morning to jointly submit to the Lower House a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet, but they decided that each party should hold its own discussions on the proposal. Some opposition lawmakers are cautious about the moves as they believe submitting a no-confidence motion would prompt Abe to dissolve the powerful chamber for an election. Despite months of speculation, Abe said recently that dissolving the Lower House was not on his mind.

constitutional democratic party of japan


Japan mulls partially lifting ban on chicken meat from Russia ahead of leaders' G20 talks

Abstract: VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA - Japan is considering partially lifting an import ban on chicken meat from Russia, with the two countries’ leaders expected to discuss the matter on the sidelines of this week’s Group of 20 summit in Osaka, government sources said Monday. Since 2005, Japan has banned imports of raw chicken meat from Russia due to concerns about bird flu. According to the sources, Tokyo would lift the ban only for certain parts of Russia proven to have a low risk of exporting meat carrying the disease. In May, Japan’s agriculture ministry asked an expert panel to discuss whether Tokyo should lift the ban, which would likely take effect in 2020 at the earliest. The proposal is part of a broader discussion on expanding trade in meat between the two countries. The government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, told a news conference Monday that the two countries were working on “a number of issues,” but declined to comment on whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin would reach any agreement at their meeting in Osaka on Saturday. Japan plans to urge Russia to recognize more Japanese facilities handling exports, in order to boost Russia-bound shipments of Japanese beef. In turn, Tokyo will be open to discussing an increase to the number of authorized Russian facilities that handle processed meat products bound for Japan, the sources said. According to the farm ministry, Japan imported roughly 550,000 tons of chicken meat in the year through March, with some 70 percent coming from Brazil and 20 percent from Thailand. Japan currently suspends imports of chicken meat from 57 countries and regions to prevent the bird flu virus from entering the country, according to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry. The two countries have also been holding intensive talks recently on joint economic activities to be pursued on a group of disputed islands, ahead of the meeting between Abe and Putin. On Sunday, Russian sources said Japan and Russia are unlikely to reach a final agreement this week to start all five areas of the joint projects, which include aquaculture and waste reduction. The economic activities are expected to benefit Russia by bringing investment into the underdeveloped region. Japan, for its part, has seen them as a trust-building exercise that will help lay the groundwork for resolving the decades-old territorial row. But one government source in Sakhalin, in the Russian Far East, which effectively administers the disputed islands, said, “There has been no progress at all (over the past months) toward fleshing out the projects.” The sources partly attributed the failure to reach an agreement to a decision by both countries in November last year to set aside talks on the economic activities, and devote their efforts instead to negotiations toward a post-World War II peace treaty. During the negotiations for a treaty, which the countries have yet to conclude due to the territorial dispute, Abe had aimed to secure the return of the smaller two of the four islands off Hokkaido. However, he gave up on such a deal when Moscow failed to budge. The two countries have since reverted to talks on the joint economic activities. Of the five fields, two of them — waste reduction and tourism — were seen to have the fewest hurdles regarding issues with customs and tax procedures that needed clarification. But sources familiar with the projects have said the countries remain apart even in these two areas. For example, Japan has proposed providing waste compression and volume reduction equipment for use on the four islands, but local residents are expecting the construction of a large-scale waste incineration plant. In the area of tourism, the Russian side is calling on Japan to cooperate on infrastructure projects because the islands do not have enough accommodation facilities, according to the sources. Other areas where cooperation had been planned are greenhouse farming and wind-power generation. The disputed islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and Southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union after Japan’s 1945 surrender brought an end to World War II. Japan opposes Russia’s position that it legitimately acquired the islands as a result of the war.

shinzo abe
vladimir putin
territorial disputes
russia-japan relations
g20 osaka


Empress Emerita Michiko undergoes second round of cataract surgery

Abstract: Empress Emerita Michiko has undergone cataract surgery on both of her eyes, the Imperial Household Agency said Sunday. The 84-year-old former empress has experienced vision difficulties for several years and had been hoping to have the surgery after retiring along with her husband, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who abdicated at the end of April. She had the operation Sunday on her left eye at a hospital in Tokyo, a week after undergoing surgery on her right eye, according to the agency. She was wearing sunglasses when she arrived at the hospital by car at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, and headed home at around 4:30 p.m. with her left eye covered with gauze. Earlier this month, the former empress was diagnosed with heart valve abnormalities, for which she will continue to be monitored. Emperor Emeritus Akihito became the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in about two centuries, bringing an end to the Heisei Era that spanned his 30-year reign. His elder son, Emperor Naruhito, ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1.

empress emerita michiko
emperor emeritus akihito
imperial family


Magnitude 5.5 earthquake shakes Tokyo area

Abstract: A magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit the Japanese capital and its vicinity on Monday morning, registering 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in central Tokyo. No tsunami warning was issued after the 9:11 a.m. quake, the focus of which was estimated at a depth of 60 kilometers off Chiba Prefecture, according to the Meteorological Agency. No abnormalities were reported at Japan Atomic Power Co.’s idled Tokai No. 2 Power Station in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Shinkansen services were briefly suspended between Tokyo and Odawara stations, according to Central Japan Railway Co.


70% of Hiroshima residents want 'noisy' protests restricted during A-bomb ceremony

Abstract: HIROSHIMA - Nearly 70 percent of Hiroshima citizens who have attended or seen on TV annual ceremonies to mark the wartime U.S. atomic bombing of the city said shouts by demonstrators from just outside the venue should be restricted by an ordinance, a survey showed Monday. About 60 percent of the 1,090 local residents who have attended or watched the events to commemorate the 1945 bombing on Aug. 6 over the past five years said they thought demonstrators’ shouts using loudspeakers were “noisy,” according to the survey conducted by the Hiroshima Municipal Government on 3,000 citizens. Since early in the morning on the anniversary day, many anti-war civic groups yell slogans such as those calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for being negative toward nuclear disarmament. Demonstrators have reacted against potential restrictions on their activities, saying it would be “suppression of speech.” In the survey, some 14 percent said the city should not go so far as to regulate them but should “only request” that they turn down the volume and relocate while the ceremony is held — steps already taken before to no avail. The outcome of the questionnaire, sent late last year to randomly selected citizens, was released after Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said last Tuesday he would consider drafting an ordinance to deal with the issue in the runup to next year’s 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing. The city said rally organizers have ignored its demand to turn down the volume and move to another location for the past seven years. Of the 3,000 responses, 41 percent were valid. About 7 percent of those who issued the valid responses were atomic bomb survivors, and around 36 percent were family members of bombing victims. In a separate survey of the city covering five atomic bomb survivor groups in Hiroshima Prefecture, one group said there is a need to establish an ordinance with restrictions, three said it should only make requests and one objected to the envisioned ordinance. Matsui plans to conduct another survey targeting attendees at this summer’s ceremony regarding the volume of loudspeakers, as well as to measure the noise level at the venue. Every year the ceremony starts at 8 a.m. at the Peace Memorial Park. Participants observe a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m., when the “Little Boy” uranium-core atomic bomb dropped by a U.S. bomber exploded above Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. It killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of that year, according to the city office.

hiroshima
atomic bombing
surveys
rallies
wwii


Iran's envoy to Japan denies responsibility for tanker attack, saying Trump 'doesn't deserve trust'

Abstract: The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump “does not deserve trust,” and no effective negotiations will be held unless Washington eases “pressure” against Tehran by lifting economic sanctions, the Iranian ambassador to Japan told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. “We are facing pressure and, under such a situation, no effective talks or negotiations would be held,” Morteza Rahmani Movahed told journalists at the Japan National Press Club through an interpreter who spoke in Japanese. The ambassador said he feels “no sincerity” from the Trump administration, adding that Trump and some of his aides frequently make remarks that are not consistent with earlier statements on policy toward Iran. “We cannot trust the words of President Trump,” he said. Rahmani Movahed rejected U.S. allegations that Iran staged an attack on a Japanese tanker sailing in the Gulf of Oman on June 13. “We strongly condemn the attack on the Japanese tanker. The source of the assault is the U.S. and several countries that do not want peace and stability in this region,” he said. Within 24 hours of the mine attack the U.S. government announced it had determined that Iran plotted it, and “insulted Japan,” Rahmani Movahed said. But this time span “was extremely short” and not sufficient to conduct any meaningful investigation, the ambassador said. “For example, in Japan, would 24 hours be enough to determine the cause of a fire at a structure? It’s not enough,” he said. The purpose of the attack was to “destabilize the political situation” in the region and “cause a sense of aversion against Iran,” the ambassador alleged. The Japanese tanker was attacked while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran to meet Iranian leaders, hoping his visit would ease tension between Iran and the U.S. But the mine attack further strained the relationship, with Washington and Tehran accusing each other of staging it. Nonetheless, Rahmani Movahed praised Abe’s visit to Tehran, saying that Japan can play a major role in promoting peace and stability in the Persian Gulf. “We consider Prime Minister Abe’s visit this time as a success,” he said. Abe and Iranian leaders agreed to deepen the bilateral relationship, and Abe’s visit marked “a milestone,” he said.

iran
donald trump
morteza rahmani movahed
shinzo abe
conflict
u.s .
military


High school students volunteer to sort waste in quake-hit Yamagata Prefecture

Abstract: YAMAGATA - High school students from Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, worked on sorting disaster waste Monday in the Koiwagawa district of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, which was hit by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake last week. Nine first-year students at Sakata Minami High School, two of whom live in Tsuruoka, volunteered to do the work because they had participated in a work experience program at an inn near the district in the past. The students are majoring in tourism and regional revitalization. “I was shocked because the damage was more severe than I imagined,” said Sakurako Tamura, a 15-year-old student from Tsuruoka. “There are a lot of things left to be done, but I hope I can repay the kindness I received from the locals.” In the district, roof tiles fell off and walls cracked during the quake, which left dozens of people injured. On Saturday the Tsuruoka Municipal Government set up a temporary storage space for disaster waste, and called on residents to dispose of the waste after sorting it. The students carefully checked through the piles of broken tiles and removed garbage and damaged or broken items that had been deposited there.

students volunteers yamagata tsuruoka earthquake


Fried slug blamed by JR Kyushu for railway chaos in southern Japan

Abstract: A slug has been blamed for a power outage that halted dozens of trains and delayed 12,000 passengers in the Kyushu region, operator Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) has said. Power failed on a couple of lines serving the area operated by JR Kyushu on May 30. The company was forced to cancel 26 train services and delay others, causing chaos in a country known for the efficiency of its punctual transport systems. Weeks after the power outage, JR Kyushu said they had found the culprit — a slug, which had made its way into an electrical power device installed near rail tracks. “We tracked down the device responsible for the power failure. … We initially thought what was in there was a bug but it turned out to be a dead slug,” a company spokesman said. Local media said the slug had been burned to death after short-circuiting the device. The official said he did not know if this set a new precedent but described it as “rare.” “We often have trouble with deer colliding with trains but not a problem with slugs,” he said. JR Kyushu said it had checked similar devices in the area and confirmed there were no other slug intrusions.

jr kyushu
kyushu
rail
transportation
animals
offbeat


In first, Ibaraki Prefecture to issue partnership certificates for LGBT couples from July

Abstract: MITO, IBARAKI PREF. - Authorities in Ibaraki Prefecture said Monday they would start issuing partnership certificates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples from July 1, in an effort to address inequalities with legally married couples. A total of 22 municipalities across the country have launched similar systems to recognize partnerships between members of sexual minorities since the wards of Shibuya and Setagaya in Tokyo began issuing them in 2015, but Ibaraki will be the first of the nation’s 47 prefectures to do so. “This is a matter of human rights, and we must work swiftly in order to eliminate discrimination and prejudice,” said Ibaraki Gov. Kazuhiko Oigawa at a news conference. To be recognized, applicants must be at least 20 years old and live in the prefecture, as well as meeting other requirements, according to Ibaraki Prefectural Government. While the certificates are not legally binding, they will allow the couples to rent at prefecture-run housing or giving consent for surgeries at the Ibaraki Prefectural Central Hospital, among other situations in which they have historically faced difficulties. In November, Ibaraki created a comprehensive plan for promoting diversity, and in March its assembly passed an ordinance that bans discrimination against sexual minorities — the second prefectural authority to do so after Tokyo. Members from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who make up the largest faction in the prefectural assembly, were reluctant to introduce the partnership system, claiming that public understanding of such moves is not yet adequate. But Ibaraki went ahead with the policy after launching in April a study group on support for LGBT people. The group urged Oigawa to introduce the plan in a report issued earlier this month. In addition, the prefecture is set to review gender categories on a variety of documents and establish a consultation service on LGBT issues. It will also conduct a survey on LGBT issues. Earlier this month, major opposition parties submitted to the Diet a bill that would permit same-sex marriage — just weeks after the government of Taiwan became the first in Asia to legalize gay marriage. The bill, which adopts neutral language — with the terms “party of marriage” used in place of “husband” and “wife” — is unlikely to go far in the Diet, where the ruling LDP has barely budged on moves to advance civil rights for LGBT people.

ibaraki
lgbt
sexuality
rights
same-sex marriage
marriage


China no match for Japan in Southeast Asia infrastructure race

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Japan is still winning the Southeast Asia infrastructure race against China, with pending projects worth almost one and a half times its rival, according to the latest data from Fitch Solutions. Japanese-backed projects in the region’s six biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are valued at $367 billion, the figures show. China’s tally is $255 billion. The figures underline both the rampant need for infrastructure development in Southeast Asia, as well as Japan’s dominance over China, despite President Xi Jinping’s push to spend on railways and ports via his signature “Belt and Road” initiative. The Asian Development Bank has estimated that Southeast Asia’s economies will need $210 billion a year in infrastructure investment from 2016 to 2030, just to keep up the momentum in economic growth. The latest Fitch figures, provided in an emailed response to Bloomberg, count only pending projects — those at the stages of planning, feasibility study, tender and currently under construction. Fitch data in February 2018 put Japan’s investment at $230 billion and China’s at $155 billion. Vietnam is by far the biggest focus for Japan’s infrastructure involvement, with pending projects worth $209 billion — more than half of Japan’s total. That includes a $58.7 billion high-speed railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. For China, Indonesia is the primary customer, making up $93 billion, or 36 percent, of its overall. The prized project there is the Kayan River hydropower plant, valued at $17.8 billion. Across all of Southeast Asia and by number of projects, Japan also carries the day, though by a smaller margin: 240 infrastructure ventures have Japanese backing, versus 210 for China in all 10 Southeast Asian economies.

china
southeast asia
infrastructure
belt and road
investments
china-japan relations


Under Trump, currencies may become next global battleground

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s renewed focus on what he calls “unfair” exchange rates could presage a new global battlefield that has the potential to do great damage to the world economy. Trump has spent two years attacking the underpinnings of the global trading system, launching multifront tariff wars on allies and adversaries alike while complaining that the United States has been taken advantage of. Under a proposed new rule that could take effect as early as next month, the U.S. may impose punitive tariffs on any country it determines is manipulating its currency to make its products more competitive than American goods. Trump has frequently attacked eurozone countries like Germany for benefiting from a relatively weak currency. On Tuesday he criticized European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s comments that rate cuts or asset purchases may be needed if eurozone inflation does not accelerate. “They have been getting away with this for years,” Trump said, “along with China and others.” As this incident shows, once-mundane monetary policy moves could be used as ammunition to justify retaliation. Economists warn this opens the door to a damaging global currency war pitting everyone against everyone. If Trump follows this new path, likely with the backing of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a trade hard-liner, the United States would be vulnerable to retaliation when the Federal Reserve eventually cuts the benchmark interest rate, as Trump has demanded. Central banks use interest rate cuts to spur a sluggish economy, weakening a currency’s value in exchange for boosting exports, which then power economic growth. Mark Sobel, who served in the Treasury for years under Republican and Democratic administrations, said he has “serious reservations” about the new plan. In his submission to the Commerce Department, he said the rule change is “fundamentally flawed … and could prove counterproductive and harm the U.S. economy.” Over the years, lawmakers and presidents from both the Democratic and Republican parties have floated plans to go after governments that manipulate their exchange rates to compete in the global trading system. But the efforts — mostly aimed at China — have always been resisted and eventually abandoned, in part because they were viewed as a violation of global trade rules. China has not been intervening in markets in recent years except to keep the yuan from falling, and the currency has actually gained in value since the financial crisis. Currently, the U.S. Treasury issues a semiannual report scrutinizing possible currency manipulation. But since the mid-1990s, the department has never labeled a country as a manipulator, even in the years when China was very actively keeping the yuan weak. Now the Commerce Department has moved to wrest control from the Treasury by proposing a rule modification that would allow it to treat currency manipulation the same as it would a foreign government subsidy that harms American manufacturers. If approved, Commerce could impose tariffs to offset the weaker exchange rate against the dollar. The department is accepting comments from the public until Thursday, and could implement the change after that. According to the proposal, Commerce said it would defer to Treasury’s evaluation of whether a currency is undervalued, “unless we have good reason to believe otherwise.” That ambiguity raises red flags for economists, many of whom believe Commerce does not have the technical expertise to make that evaluation. The plan “would grant the Commerce Department excessive discretion,” Sobel said. It is notoriously difficult to calculate objectively whether a particular currency is undervalued and, if so, by how much. For years, the Peterson Institute for International Economics produced a report evaluating exchange rates but stopped “because they were completely arbitrary,” the think tank’s chief, Adam Posen, told reporters recently. “China should have been hammered hard in the early, mid-2000s for massive manipulation of the currency,” Posen said, but to do so now is “pretty close to absurd.”

currency
donald trump
trade
tariffs
china
u.s .
eu


Nissan board due to question CEO Hiroto Saikawa on 2013 house purchase

Abstract: TOKYO/PARIS - Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa is due to be questioned by the board on Monday about allegations by a former senior executive that he broke company rules to pay for a house in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter. Saikawa will be asked at the extraordinary meeting whether date restrictions on selling compensation-linked stock were altered in 2013, earning him a higher profit and facilitating payments for the property, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The executive will also be questioned about whether he asked the carmaker to buy the house, and be repaid later in installments, they said. The possible misconduct was alleged by Greg Kelly in an interview published earlier in June in monthly magazine Bungei Shunju. Kelly was arrested on the same day in November as former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn. Saikawa has denied using company funds to buy his house, saying he bought it with his own money. He has also so far refused to discuss the transaction with the Nissan board, the people said. A representative of Nissan declined to comment. The board’s questions to Saikawa — Ghosn’s former protege-turned-accuser — would come a day before he faces shareholders on Tuesday at the company’s annual meeting, where he may also be asked about the home. Ghosn has been charged by Japanese authorities for financial crimes, which he has denied. Saikawa’s leadership has come under question since Ghosn was arrested, though he has since been recommended to continue to serve as CEO by Nissan’s governance panel. Saikawa initially voiced his intention to step down once Nissan’s governance was improved, but he later backtracked, saying he would continue to serve as a way to take responsibility for a lack of oversight over Ghosn. The Japanese executive has come under more pressure as relations deteriorate with partner Renault SA, which owns 43 percent of Nissan. Tensions broke out into the open after Ghosn was arrested, and have worsened in recent months when Renault’s new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, pressed Nissan for a merger it didn’t want, then pursued a deal with rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV without telling the Japanese company. Saikawa started at Nissan after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1977. Much of his career was spent in the purchasing department, a critical function in any company but especially so for an automaker, since procurement can account for as much as two-thirds of the cost of sales. He’s married and lives in central Tokyo, but like most Japanese executives, is discreet about his private life.

nissan
hiroto saikawa
carmakers
carlos ghosn
renault
courts
corruption
scandals
oman


Acropolis Museum opens ancient Athens neighborhood site below its base

Abstract: ATHENS - Greece’s Acropolis Museum has opened an excavation site underneath its modern building, allowing visitors for the first time to walk through an ancient Athenian neighborhood that survived from the classical era to Byzantine times. The museum, which sits at the foot of the Acropolis hill in Athens, houses masterpiece sculptures of Greek antiquity, including works from the Parthenon, one of the most influential buildings in Western civilization. “Visitors can come down and see ancient ruins of the city of Athens, especially in the area south of the Acropolis,” said Acropolis Museum Director Dimitris Pantermalis. “We hope to also present the movable finds of the excavation soon, to give a picture of the daily life of ancient Athens.” Below the museum’s base, which floats on concrete pillars, lies a neighborhood of excavated homes, workshops, baths, streets and drainage trenches, uncovered during work to build the museum. Walking through the site along metal ramps, visitors can see the baths of lavish mansions, which at the time included chambers where bathers could warm up before taking a dip in heated pools. One of the highlights is the home of a wealthy Athenian, dating back to the sixth century. “It was fascinating, an amazing experience,” said Carl Hoover, 63, a visitor from Colorado. He said he was most impressed by the mosaic floor and the sophisticated pipes and drainage systems. Designed by architect Bernard Tschumi with a view to reflect the mathematical and conceptual clarity of ancient Greece, the Acropolis Museum has attracted more than 14 million visitors since it opened doors 10 years ago. Greece has repeatedly called on Britain to release Parthenon marbles currently housed at its national museum, recently upping the rhetoric in a near 200-year-old campaign for the sculptures’ return.


Experts raise alarm over threat to cultural heritage from climate change

Abstract: ATHENS - Climate change could wreak “irreversible damage” on the world’s most precious ancient monuments and other cultural sites, experts warned Saturday as they pushed for U.N. protection for major global sites. Academics and policy makers gathered in Athens for a meeting on the threats to world heritage called for an array of tools to predict, measure and counter the effects of climate change. They are campaigning to have the issue included on the agenda at the U.N. Summit for Climate Change in New York in September. Dimitrios Pandermalis, director of the city’s Acropolis Museum said that while environmental damage and deterioration has always been a challenge for monuments, these threats are accelerating. “The scale of things is different and the destruction can be irreversible,” he said. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) warned in October that warming is on track toward a catastrophic rise of 3 or 4 degrees Celsius, and that avoiding global chaos would require a major transformation. “Climate change is a threat to our future, but also to our heritage, natural and cultural,” said U.N. Secretary-General Anthony Guterres ahead of the summit. “Extreme weather events and shifts in climate are taking a toll on ancient monuments and sites.” The Athens meeting called for improved tools to help gauge the threat posed by climate change and mitigate risks, like threat maps based on climatic projections. The conference highlighted the challenges in preserving underwater heritage such as shipwrecks. The head of the Research Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology at the Academy of Athens warned that “with man-made global warming everything will become more acid in the atmosphere but also in the seas” posing a threat to submarine monuments. The conference was jointly hosted by the Greek government, the U.N. and the U.N.’s cultural agency, UNESCO.

heritage
climate change
world heritage
history


Sudan protesters accept Ethiopian proposal for political transition

Abstract: KHARTOUM - Sudanese protest leaders on Saturday accepted the creation of a civilian-majority governing body for a political transition in Sudan as proposed by an Ethiopian envoy. The compromise blueprint suggests the creation of a 15-member governing body comprising of eight civilians and seven members of the military, they said. The ruling military council has yet to give its decision on the Ethiopian proposal. Sudan has been wracked by tensions between protest leaders and generals, who seized power after ousting president Omar Bashir in April, and the situation was exacerbated after the bloody crackdown on a protest sit-in demanding civilian rule. “We think that our acceptance of the proposal is a major leap towards meeting the goals of the revolution, which are freedom, peace and justice,” protest leader Babiker Faisal told reporters in a brief statement. “It will put the country on the right track to create the transitional period that would usher in sustainable democracy.” Of the eight civilians, seven will be from the umbrella protest movement the Alliance for Freedom and Change, another protest leader Amjad Farid had told AFP earlier on Saturday. Ethiopia has stepped up its efforts to resolve the political crisis in Sudan since the deadly June 3 dispersal of a long-running protest camp outside army headquarters in Khartoum. The crackdown carried out by men in military fatigues killed dozens and wounded hundreds. Later on Saturday, a group of young protesters took to the streets in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, chanting “free revolutionaries, we will keep on track.” Ahmed, a 21-year old protester, said he would keep demonstrating until justice is served for his brother who was killed during the dispersal of the sit-in. “I am burning inside. I want justice for my brother,” he said. Since the break up of the sit-in, demonstrations have been restricted, particularly with heavy deployment of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Several pickup trucks packed with RSF were roaming around the area where the small demonstration was held in Omdurman. Witnesses say protesters set tyres on fire in some streets in the city. The bloody June 3 break up of the rally came after talks between protest leaders and the generals failed to reach an agreement on the composition of a new ruling body and who should lead it — a civilian or soldier. Days after the crackdown, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed led the mediation between the two sides. In previous talks before the June 3 crackdown, protest leaders and the generals had agreed on a three-year transition period and to form a 300-member parliament, with two-third lawmakers from the protest movement. But the deputy chief of the ruling transitional military council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, dismissed that the umbrella alliance would get two-third of the lawmakers. Dagalo, speaking at a rally of his supporters in a village outside of Khartoum, said it is “not possible” for the alliance to take two-third of parliament. “No one accepts this,” said Dagalo, widely known as Hemeidti, who also heads the RSF. Protesters allege that it were members of the RSF who carried out the June 3 dispersal of protesters. At least 128 people have been killed in the crackdown, the majority of them on that day, doctors linked to the protest movement say. The health ministry put the June 3 death toll at 61 nationwide. The generals deny they ordered the army HQ protest broken up, insisting they authorised only a limited operation to clear drug dealers from around the camp. It expressed “regret” over the “excesses” that happened on June 3.


Ethiopia thwarts coup attempt; army chief of staff shot

Abstract: ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia’s army chief was shot dead by his bodyguard just hours after an attempted coup in Amhara state left the regional president and another top adviser dead, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Sunday. Spokeswoman Billene Seyoum told journalists a “hit squad” led by Amhara’s security chief Asaminew Tsige burst into a meeting on Saturday afternoon and shot regional President Ambachew Mekonnen and another top official. The men were “gravely injured in the attack and later died of their wounds,” she said. “Several hours later in what seems like a coordinated attack, the chief of the staff of the national security forces Seare Mekonnen was killed in his home by his bodyguard.” Also shot dead was a retired general who had been visiting him, Billene added. The bodyguard has been apprehended while Asaminew is still on the loose, sources said. Analysts said the incident showed the seriousness of the political crisis in Ethiopia, where efforts by Abiy to loosen the iron-fisted grip of his predecessors and push through reforms has unleashed a wave of unrest. “These tragic incidents unfortunately demonstrate the depth of Ethiopia’s political crisis,” said International Crisis Group analyst William Davison. “It is now critical that actors across the country do not worsen the instability by reacting violently or trying to exploit this unfolding situation for their own political ends,” the expert said. Since coming to power last year, Abiy has tried to spearhead political reforms in the Horn of Africa nation of 100 million people, where years of political violence led to the resignation of Abiy’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy has released political prisoners, removed bans on political parties and prosecuted officials accused of gross human rights abuses, but his government is battling mounting violence. Ethnic bloodshed — long held in check by the state’s iron grip — has flared up in many areas, including Amhara.


Johnson and Hunt on the campaign trail: How the two Tory rivals reckon they can fix Brexit

Abstract: LONDON - Boris Johnson will face his successor as foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in the final Conservative Party showdown to determine who takes over from Prime Minister Theresa May. Their visions for Brexit are similar: Both want to deliver on the referendum result of 2016, both want to ditch or renegotiate the Irish backstop in the accord brokered by May, and both are prepared to contemplate a no-deal Brexit if they can’t get the changes they want. The candidates were finalized on Thursday in two votes that eliminated Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove. Johnson and Hunt on Saturday began touring the country in a monthlong contest to persuade the party’s 160,000 members that they are the best man to lead. The new prime minister is expected to be announced during the week of July 22. Boris Johnson The favorite to succeed May, Johnson quit as foreign secretary last July over her Brexit deal. He was the highest-profile campaigner in the 2016 referendum and was mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was elected to serve the west London constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in 2015; he was MP for Henley for seven years before becoming mayor. On Brexit : While Johnson has previously said Britain must leave the bloc on Oct. 31 with or without an agreement, he appeared to soften that line in a debate last Tuesday, saying a departure by then is “feasible” but refusing to guarantee it. He has threatened to withhold the £39 billion ($50 billion) divorce bill if the EU doesn’t improve the terms negotiated with May and also wants to strip out the controversial Irish backstop. The plan is to discuss solutions for the border as part of the future trade negotiation, after Brexit but during a planned transition period. The EU has previously said no to similar proposals. Johnson also says he is not aiming for a no-deal outcome but that in such a situation Britain could default to World Trade Organization standstill provisions under Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. That way it would retain tariff-free trade with the bloc while a new free trade agreement is brokered, he says. That is something that would require EU agreement, and it is open to objections from other WTO members. Johnson has built support both with Tory moderates and ardent Brexiteers, and they have drawn different conclusions about the broad thrust of his Brexit policy — suggesting some of them will end up disappointed. Other policies: Johnson advocates cutting business taxes and red tape. He has proposed tax cuts for higher earners by raising the threshold at which people start paying 40 percent income tax to £80,000 from £50,000. He also wants to boost transportation and broadband infrastructure and raise spending on schools and the police. He has pledged to put the environment “at the center” of his program for government. He says nobody “sensible” would want a general election immediately, but some of his supporters have already begun war-gaming the possibility in the fall. Also : Born in New York, Johnson gave up his American citizenship in 2016. He has published books on the Romans, London and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Jeremy Hunt Hunt has been in the Cabinet since 2010. He was the U.K.’s longest-serving health secretary before taking his current job. He voted “remain” in 2016 but is now a Brexiteer. On Brexit : He wants to renegotiate May’s deal, focusing on getting changes to the Irish backstop. He also says he would seek technological solutions that mean the backstop isn’t needed. He says it will be “very challenging” to get the required changes by Oct. 31 and is open to a delay. That would be better than a no-deal exit, which would prompt a general election in which the Tories could be “annihilated,” he has warned. Pitching himself as an experienced deal-maker, Hunt has also said he is prepared to walk away without a deal if there isn’t a prospect of one by Oct. 31 because that is the only way to focus the minds of EU negotiators. The U.K.’s negotiating team should be expanded to include representatives of Scottish and Welsh Conservatives, the Democratic Unionist Party and the ardent Brexiteers in the Tory party’s European Research Group, he says. That would mean “no proposal we make would be a proposal that couldn’t get through the British Parliament,” which would give it “credibility,” he told LBC radio on Wednesday. He also has suggested that the backstop is the only element he would change in May’s deal, and he wouldn’t quibble over the £39 billion exit bill. “We need to pare down to the minimum the requests we are making,” he said. Other policies : He promises to “turbo-charge” the economy after Brexit to make it “the most high-tech, greenest, most pro-enterprise, pro-business economy in Europe.” Hunt, who was health secretary for six years, says spending cuts to social care went “too far” and he would seek to plow more money into the system. Another key pledge is to “abolish” illiteracy. He has ruled out a general election “until we have delivered Brexit.” On tax, he would ensure the first £1,000 of earnings every month don’t incur income tax or national insurance payments. He would focus on cutting the tax burden on the lowest-paid. Also : Hunt is independently wealthy, earning about £15 million in 2017 from the sale of an educational listings company he founded, Hotcourses. He once mistakenly referred to his Chinese wife as Japanese.

brexit
boris johnson
jeremy hunt
elections
eu
u.k .


U.S. national security adviser John Bolton warns Iran to not mistake U.S. 'prudence' for 'weakness'

Abstract: JERUSALEM - U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton warned Tehran on Sunday of misinterpreting as “weakness” President Donald Trump’s last-minute cancellation of a retaliatory strike on Iran. “Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness,” said Bolton ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. “No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East,” he added. “Our military is rebuilt new and ready to go,” said Bolton, after Trump called off a planned attack on Iran in response to Tehran downing a U.S. drone on Thursday. Bolton, who was in Israel for a pre-scheduled trilateral meeting with his Israeli and Russian counterparts, Meir Ben-Shabbat and Nikolai Patrushev, noted that the “current circumstances in the region make our conversations even more timely.” In a Saturday tweet, Trump pledged to hit Iran with “major” new sanctions on Monday. Washington has imposed a series of measures against Tehran since Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear accord between Iran and world powers last year. “We expect that the new sanctions President Trump referred to in preparation for some weeks will be announced publicly on Monday. Stay tuned,” Bolton said in Jerusalem.

john bolton
iran
donald trump
military
conflict
u.s .
u.n .
nuclear weapons
nuclear energy
iran nuclear deal


Widow of crack-smoking ex-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to seek office

Abstract: TORONTO - The widow of Toronto’s former Mayor Rob Ford — an anti-tax populist who gained notoriety for smoking crack cocaine while in office — has declared she will run in upcoming federal elections. Renata Ford will stand as a candidate in October for the fringe People’s Party of Canada — a recent upstart formed by former Conservative Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier after he lost a bid to lead the Tories. Ford was among several candidates revealed by the People’s Party on Friday, according to local media, and will seek to represent the Toronto electoral district of Etobicoke-North. “I have worked and served the constituents of Etobicoke-North side-by-side with my husband, Rob Ford, for the past 20 years in an informal behind-the-scenes capacity,” she said in a campaign-style speech posted online. “After a period of trials and tribulations, I am healthier and I am more ready than ever. The time is right for me now to run to be a member of Parliament.” Rob Ford died in 2016 at age 46 after a fight with cancer. He had put Canada’s usually staid politics on the global map when an alleged drug dealer tried to sell a video of the mayor apparently smoking crack. At first, Ford denied using the drug, but he later acknowledged having smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor,” insisting he was not an addict. Soon thereafter he entered rehab but his behavior became increasingly erratic. Days before last year’s Ontario election that saw Rob’s brother Doug elected premier of Canada’s most populous province, Renata alleged that Doug had been negligent in managing the family’s printing business, costing her and her children support money. She is seeking Can$16 million in a lawsuit. When the suit was revealed, her mother-in-law reportedly urged Renata to seek help for a substance abuse problem of her own.

toronto
rob ford
elections
renata ford
canada
drugs


Jeremy Hunt: The smooth survivor eyeing Britain's top post

Abstract: LONDON - British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is a soft-spoken political survivor who believes his business background can see him strike a Brexit deal if he defeats Boris Johnson to become prime minister. The 52-year-old has branded himself as the “serious” alternative to Johnson, making unflustered progress in qualifying with the former London mayor for the final runoff to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May. In government, he oversaw the London 2012 Olympics, was Britain’s longest-serving health secretary and has proved a steady pair of hands as the U.K.’s top diplomat. He has also survived crises when many were calling for his head. His diagnosis for breaking the Brexit impasse is pushing hard for a reworked divorce deal with Brussels, delaying past the Oct. 31 deadline if necessary and leaving with no deal if the EU refuses to budge. Aware of his image as a good-natured “nice guy” who is rarely ruffled — The Guardian newspaper’s political writer compares Hunt to a British Airways cabin steward — his campaign has sought to portray him as a tough negotiator and a steady option. Along with May and Finance Minister Philip Hammond, Hunt is the only minister who has seen unbroken Cabinet service since the center-right Conservatives returned to power in 2010. As the culture, media and sport minister, he was under intense pressure to resign in 2012 over his contacts with Rupert Murdoch during a phone-hacking scandal involving the mogul’s media empire. However, Hunt toughed it out and the judge-led inquiry into press ethics exonerated him of bias toward Murdoch’s News Corp. in its bid to take over broadcaster BSkyB. He was promoted to health secretary — perhaps the most thankless job in government. A pre-Brexit 2016 poll found he had the lowest approval rating among Britain’s frontline politicians. Hundreds of thousands of National Health Service workers went on strike in 2014 for the first time in 32 years following Hunt’s rejection of an across-the-board pay rise. And an attempted shake-up of junior doctors’ contracts provoked strikes and a long-running row, before Hunt eventually unilaterally imposed them in July 2016. As May’s ministers fell away, Hunt was left as one of the most senior left standing. Under pressure once again, Hunt refused to budge from the health brief until Johnson quit the Foreign Office in July 2018 over May’s Brexit policy. As foreign secretary, Hunt set up the Yemen peace talks. Born on Nov. 1, 1966, Hunt is the eldest son of Adm. Nicholas Hunt, who was the fleet commander-in-chief from 1985 to 1987, one of the highest positions in the Royal Navy. Hunt grew up in the plush town of Godalming, southwest of London, and now represents the local South West Surrey constituency in Parliament. He was educated at Charterhouse, a prestigious private school. Hunt went on to Oxford University, where he first became politically active as president of the Conservative Association, and was a contemporary of Johnson and David Cameron. He graduated with a first in politics, philosophy and economics. After university, Hunt worked as a management consultant and later an English language teacher in Japan. He now speaks fluent Japanese. Hunt had a successful career as an entrepreneur. He set up Hotcourses, which puts prospective students in touch with universities and colleges. Selling his stake made him a multimillionaire. He was elected to Parliament in 2005 and served as the Conservatives’ culture, media and sport spokesman in opposition then took over the brief as secretary of state when his party took office in 2010, taking on responsibility for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. He is married to Lucia, who is from China. They have a son and two daughters. They first met via Hotcourses as she was a Warwick University student recruiter. They married within a year in 2009. She told The Mail on Sunday newspaper that he calls her “Precious” and she calls him “Big Rice” — a translation of her grandmother’s mispronunciation of Jeremy. “He is kind, he is always generous, he cares about his family and he is very strong,” she said. Shortly after being made foreign secretary, he made perhaps his biggest blunder when he accidentally called his wife Japanese, on a visit to China.


Georgians protest against Russia for third day, even after speaker of parliament resigned

Abstract: TBILISI - Thousands of demonstrators crowded outside Georgia’s parliament Saturday night for the third straight day of protests that have kindled tensions in the country and prompted Russia to block air connections with its neighbor. The throng was mostly orderly but insistent in its array of demands, including the resignation of the interior minister over harsh tactics by police in breaking up a rally Thursday in which at least 240 people were injured. The speaker of parliament resigned Friday. The protests were ignited by the appearance of an official Russian delegation in the Georgian parliament building as part of an assembly of legislators from Orthodox Christian countries. Animosity toward Russia is strong in the wake of the 2008 war in which Georgia lost control of two Russia-backed separatist territories. Russia now considers those territories independent, but has established a military presence there and Georgians refer to them as Russian-occupied. The protesters consider Georgia’s current government to be overly cooperative with Russia. The protests also tap into other frustrations. Demonstrators are demanding early parliamentary elections and a change in the system so legislators are chosen fully proportionally rather than the current mix of party-list and single-mandate representatives. “I am here to protest the Russian occupation that we still remember, that still hurts after 11 years and still is an ongoing issue,” said demonstrator Tina Bezhanidze. Moscow’s reaction to the anti-Russia sentiment was quick. President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the country’s airlines to stop taking Russian citizens to Georgia as of July 8 and the transportation ministry on Saturday said Georgian airlines would banned from Russia on the same date. The bans affect six Russian airlines and two from Georgia. Georgia is a popular destination for Russian visitors, who are attracted by the dramatic mountains and the renowned wine culture, and the flight ban would be a near-term blow to the country’s tourism sector, though experts suggested it could recover. The moves echo bans that Russia imposed in 2006 on flights and imports of Georgian wine and mineral water as tensions rose between the countries. Those bans were later lifted. The 2006 Russian bans “at first had a negative effect, but new markets and new contracts were found. I think the same will happen in the tourism sphere,” Kakha Gogolashvili of the Georgian tour agency Globus said Saturday. The Russian association of tour operators says 5,000 to 7,000 Russians currently are visiting Georgia on organized tours, and twice that many likely are there traveling independently, according to Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti. Organizers of what was to be Tbilisi’s first LGBT pride parade announced they were canceling the Sunday event to avoid further escalating the political tensions. Fears had been strong that the parade would bring a violent backlash from conservative activists.