White House renews Trump's criticism of Biden from Tokyo

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The longtime Washington adage that politics should stop at the water’s edge took a new beating over the weekend, as U.S. President Donald Trump cited the North Korean dictator as agreeing with his own dim view of Democrat Joe Biden. A White House spokeswoman on Sunday brushed off criticism of Trump’s remark and confirmed the two leaders’ critical opinion of the former U.S. vice president. Trump had tweeted on Saturday, at the outset of an official visit to Japan, that he “smiled when (Kim) called Swampman Joe Bidan a low IQ individual, & worse.” Trump later corrected the spelling of Biden’s name, but his reliance on a dictator’s opinion to ambush a political foe from overseas drew sharp criticism from Biden’s team and others. “I would say the tweet speaks for itself, but it’s so unhinged and erratic that I’m not sure anyone could even say that with a straight face,” an unnamed Biden aide told ABC News. During a satellite interview from Tokyo with NBC, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders was asked “why Americans should not be concerned that the president of the United States is essentially siding with a murderous authoritarian dictator over a former vice president of the United States.” “The president’s not siding with that,” Sanders replied, “but I think they agree in their assessment of former Vice President Joe Biden.” “The president doesn’t need somebody else to give him an assessment of Joe Biden.” Biden, a six-term senator before serving as No. 2 to President Barack Obama, has taken a substantial lead in early polling on the nearly two dozen Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination. He has increasingly been a favored target of Trump, who refers to the Democrat as “Sleepy Joe.”

tokyo
donald trump
democrats
joe biden
sarah sanders
u.s .


Backers of embattled Bolsonaro take to streets in Brazil

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO - Thousands gathered in cities across Brazil on Sunday to show support for President Jair Bolsonaro, who faces an uncooperative Congress, street protests, a family corruption scandal and falling approval ratings five months into his term. The stumbling start for the far-right leader who rode a wave of dissatisfaction with Brazil’s political class to victory led his backers to call for the demonstrations, which represented a mixed bag of demands and protests. Supporters sang the national anthem and waved Brazilian flags while chanting the names of Bolsonaro cabinet members. Many said that Brazil’s institutions were not letting Bolsonaro govern. Some called for the closure of Congress and the Supreme Court. “We need to clean out Congress,” said Neymar de Menezes, a 45-year-old construction contractor. “Unfortunately all the deputies there are compromised and all about deal making. Bolsonaro is fighting them by himself.” Bolsonaro, who earlier in his political career said he would close Congress if he were ever president, told reporters on Friday he didn’t support calls to close institutions. “That would not be good for Brazil,” Bolsonaro said. “That’s more Maduro than Jair Bolsonaro,” he added, referring to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The call for demonstrations created a rift among Brazil’s conservatives. The president of Bolsonaro’s party said protests “don’t make sense.” “For the love of God, stop with the calls for protests, these people need a reality check,” tweeted Janaina Paschoal, a federal congresswoman whose name was floated as a potential vice president. She said Bolsonaro’s biggest risk was himself, his sons and some of his staff members. “Wake up! On the 26th, if the streets are empty, Bolsonaro will realize he has to stop with the drama and do his job,” she said. Bolsonaro did not participate in the demonstrations. Speaking at a church service in Rio de Janeiro, he said demonstrators were on the streets to, “deliver a message to those who insist on keeping the old politics who aren’t allowing the people to be free.” The idea for demonstrations in favor of Bolsonaro gained steam after tens of thousands of people across Brazil last week protested budget cuts to public education imposed by his government. Bolsonaro dismissed the student-led protests, calling their participants “imbeciles” and “useful idiots.” It was the first mass street movement against the former army captain who took office on Jan. 1 and has seen his popularity steadily slipping. Roughly as many people now disapprove of his government as approve of it. Pollster XP Investimentos said its poll showed 36 percent of Brazilians think Bolsonaro’s government is bad or terrible and 34 percent say it’s good or great. The firm surveyed 1,000 people on May 21-22, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points. “Bolsonaro got off to a very bad start, especially in the first month,” said Sergio Praca, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation University, referring to a corruption scandal involving his family. Just weeks into his presidency, questions mounted over a report from financial regulators that flagged irregular payments in 2016 and 2017 between his son, Flavio, then a state legislator and now a senator, and his driver. Prosecutors suspect the payments are part of a common scheme in lower levels of Brazilian government in which politicians hire ghost employees who kick back portions of their salaries into the elected official’s bank account. Bolsonaro and his son ran on anti-corruption platforms — a large reason why many voters chose him over the leftist candidate from the scandal-ridden Worker’s Party. Praca said things have not been looking up since then. Brazil’s economy is sluggish and its currency has weakened. Bolsonaro is struggling to make alliances in Brazil’s infamously deal-making Congress, which is preventing him from passing his agenda, including a desperately needed pension reform. Brazil’s pension system, which allows swaths of the population to retire in their early 50s, is the single largest factor contributing to the country’s deficit. And, just as during his campaign and time in Congress, Bolsonaro is making headlines for controversial comments. In March during Carnival, he tweeted a pornographic video saying it was a warning to the nation of how decadent the celebration has become. “The beginning of his government has been marked with uncertainty and confusion,” Praca said. Meanwhile, about 1,000 human rights activists and residents of Rio de Janeiro’s slums staged a beachfront protest against police violence at the same time pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators were gathered on a neighboring beach. Bolsonaro and Rio Governor Wilson Witzel support shoot-to-kill policing tactics in neighborhoods where drug gangs operate. Some of the participants in the Ipanema Beach protest said they had lost family members to police violence.


Twisters rake two Oklahoma cities, killing two and injuring 29

Abstract: EL RENO, OKLAHOMA - A tornado leveled a motel and tore through a mobile home park near Oklahoma City overnight, killing two people and injuring at least 29 others before a second twister raked a suburb of Tulsa more than 100 miles away, authorities said Sunday. The first tornado touched down in El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, late Saturday night. It crossed an interstate and walloped the American Budget Value Inn before ripping through the Skyview Estates trailer park, flipping and leveling homes, Mayor Matt White said at a news conference. “It’s a tragic scene out there,” White said, adding later that, “People have absolutely lost everything.” He said the city established a gofundme site, the City of El Reno Tornado Relief Fund, to raise money to help affected families. Several other businesses were also damaged, though not to the same extent as the motel. The two people who were killed were in the mobile home park, White said. Everyone at the motel was accounted for, but searchers were still going through the mobile home park. Many of the people living there are Hispanic and don’t speak English, which has complicated the rescue efforts, he said. The 29 people who were injured were taken to hospitals, where some were undergoing surgery, the mayor said. Some of the injuries were deemed critical, he said. “The thing about El Reno is we are more than a community, we are a family. … We’re going to overcome this. It’s so devastating to see the loss out there,” he said. April Sandefer, a spokeswoman for the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, said the hospital has treated 13 patients who were injured during the tornado. She declined to disclose the severity of the injuries or to say how many of the patients, if any, were admitted. National Weather Service personnel were assessing the damage, but the agency gave the twister a preliminary EF-2 rating, which would mean it had wind speeds of 111-135 mph (179-217 kph). White didn’t give details about the people who were killed. The tornado was spawned by a powerful storm system that rolled through the state — the latest in a week of violent storms to hit the flood-weary Plains and Midwest that have been blamed for at least 11 deaths, including the two killed in El Reno. The system spawned an apparent tornado that destroyed several buildings and downed trees and power lines early Saturday in the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa, which is 110 miles (177 km) northeast of El Reno. The Sapulpa Police Department said on its Facebook page that it hadn’t heard of any deaths and that only a few minor injuries had been reported. Residents wandered around after sun-up to survey the damage, carefully avoiding fallen utility poles that blocked some streets. Among the buildings that were destroyed was a historic railroad building built in the early 1900s that the Farmers Feed Store had been using for storage. A furniture store’s warehouse was also destroyed. In El Reno, emergency crews sifted through the rubble at the trailer park and motel, where the second story collapsed into a pile of debris strewn about the first floor and parking lot. Tweety Garrison, 63, told AP that she was in her mobile home with her husband, two young grandchildren and a family friend when the storm hit. She said when she heard the storm coming she immediately hit the ground. Moments later, she heard her next-door neighbor’s mobile home slam into hers before it flipped over and landed on her roof. Garrison said the incident lasted five to 10 minutes and that she received a tornado warning on her phone but the sirens didn’t go off until after the twister hit. Her 32-year-old son, Elton Garrison, said he heard the wailing tornado sirens and had just laid down at home about a half-mile (1 kilometer) away when his phone rang. He recognized his mother’s number, but there was no voice on the other end when he answered. “I thought, ‘That’s weird,’ ” he said. Then his mother called back, and delivered a chilling message: “We’re trapped.” He said when he arrived at his parent’s home, he found it blocked by debris and sitting with another trailer on top of it. He immediately began clearing a path to the home so that he could eventually lift a portion of an outside wall just enough so that all five occupants could slip beneath it and escape. “My parents were in there and two of my kids, one 9 and the other 12 … my main emotion was fear,” said Elton Garrison, who has lived in El Reno for about 26 years. “I couldn’t get them out of there quick enough.” He said he wasn’t alarmed by the warning sirens when he first heard them at home. “We hear them all the time here, so it didn’t seem like a big deal. … I heard a lot of rain with the wind. But when it kind of got calm all of a sudden, that’s when it didn’t feel right.” He said his parents had only recently recovered after losing their previous home to a fire a few years ago. “Now this,” he said, before expressing gratitude that everyone inside his parents’ home had emerged without serious injury. In the next breath, he added: “Items can be replaced. Lives can’t.” The storm is the latest to hit the flood-weary central U.S. and dumped yet more rain in the region’s already bloated waterways. In Tulsa, Oklahoma’s second-largest city, authorities advised residents of some neighborhoods on Sunday to consider leaving for higher ground because the Arkansas River is stressing the city’s old levee system. Downriver and about 100 miles southeast of Tulsa in Arkansas’ second-largest city, Fort Smith, authorities said Saturday that 100 to 200 people had already evacuated their homes due to flooding, which was expected to get worse in the coming days.

oklahoma
el reno
tornadoes
u.s .
disasters


Raising of bread prices led to protests and, eventually, the ouster of Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir

Abstract: KHARTOUM - As the sun set over Khartoum, a group of Sudanese men walked into a bakery to buy bread ahead of breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast in the holy month of Ramadan. “The price of bread has risen too much,” said Adel Abdelrahman as he bought a few loaves in a northern district of the capital. “We are facing very hard days. . . . We are buying one loaf for 1 (Sudanese) pound when we should be getting five or 10 loaves at this price.” It was a trebling of bread prices in December that ignited initial protests against longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Five months on — and with al-Bashir deposed — citizens and bakery owners insist that the price of the staple remains too high, despite a drop back from a January peak of 3 Sudanese pounds per loaf. The demonstrations first broke out in the central town of Atbara and quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against al-Bashir’s ironfisted three decade rule. The army finally ousted him on April 11 after tens of thousands of protesters camped outside military headquarters in central Khartoum. Protesters remain at the site, now demanding that the generals themselves step down. Bakery owner Abdelrahim Mohamed said that although bread prices were the trigger that brought “people onto the streets,” citizens were also angry about other issues. “Sudanese people are very simple,” Mohamed said, as behind him employees prepared fresh dough. “They want education, health and a safe life. Nothing more.” For years resentment had mounted nationwide over a worsening economic crisis that saw inflation touch 70 percent earlier this year, while fuel and foreign currency shortages also bit hard. The economy has been struggling since the south seceded in 2011 to create the world’s newest nation, taking with it the bulk of oil revenues and dollar inflows. Al-Bashir’s government had long offered hefty subsidies on fuel, bread and several other food products, but these led to heavy budget deficits and became unaffordable. To tackle the crisis Sudan introduced several austerity measures including cutting these subsidies, but this only fueled further anger. “Al-Bashir and his henchmen have destroyed the country,” said Abdelrahman, waving around the packet of loaves he bought from Mohamed’s bakery. The bread crisis was also fueled by a January 2018 government decision to stop importing grain, which left the task to private companies. This led to a decline in the supply of wheat, in turn forcing flour producers to raise their tariffs and sending bread prices skyrocketing. Bakers say bread is more easily available these days, with traders sourcing subsidized locally produced wheat amid the ongoing harvest season which ends in July. “After this period, we will have to import wheat again — but a new crisis is not expected thanks to support from the state,” said Badr al-Jalal, a member of the bakers’ union, referring to newly hiked subsidies offered to importers. Sudan, a country of about 40 million people, is a major wheat importer. It ships in about 2.5 million tons annually despite its own domestic production of about 700,000 tons, said former Finance Minister Ezzelddine Ibrahim. “Fuel, electricity and bread subsidies account for 35 percent of the spending by the state, which has tried to lower them by all means,” he said. Ibrahim contended that for Sudan to pull itself out of the current malaise, it will need help from international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund. Observers say that a $3 billion aid package offered by oil-rich Gulf states Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since al-Bashir’s ouster is also expected to help tackle the bread crisis in the near to medium term. The two countries have deposited $500 million at Sudan’s central bank, while they are also set to provide $2.5 billion for food, medicine and petroleum products. Fatima Hussein, who works at Mohamed’s bakery, relies heavily on the free bread she gets from her employer. “Others don’t have this chance,” she acknowledged. “I have seven children and to buy bread for them I would need to spend 50 (Sudanese) pounds daily — I don’t have that kind of income,” she said.


Over 100,000 bikers mass for 'Rolling Thunder' as Trump vows to protect Memorial Day spectacle

Abstract: WASHINGTON - More than 100,000 flag-bearing bikers, many of them Vietnam veterans, throttled their engines Sunday for the annual “Rolling Thunder” ride through the U.S. capital as President Donald Trump vowed to keep the Memorial Day spectacle alive. Spectators lined the route from the Pentagon to the National Mall to watch the growling parade of choppers, a leather-clad, red-white-and-blue tribute to American soldiers missing in the Vietnam War. It had been billed as the last national Rolling Thunder ride by its organizers, but Trump, who loves a parade, appeared to offer a reprieve. “The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, & hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be, & where they should be,” Trump tweeted from Japan. “Thank you to our great men & women of the Pentagon for working it out!” The Pentagon had no comment, referring questions to the White House, which offered no details on what had been worked out. But Trump’s word was enough for Ron Galey, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam in 1968-69 and has taken part in every Rolling Thunder ride since 1990. “Trump said it’s not over, so it is not over, and he is the boss of those guys and he keeps his word,” he told AFP. Many pro-Trump banners were visible among the bikers forming up for the parade. The huge motorcycle rally began in 1988 with fewer than 3,000 participants under the motto “We will never forget.” The goal was to press for an accounting of those missing in Vietnam. Over the years, it has grown into a rumbling combination of protest and parade. Riders end up at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the nearby Lincoln Memorial for speeches and a concert on the eve of Memorial Day. Unlike Veterans Day in the United States, which honors all military veterans in November, Memorial Day — on the last Monday in May — is aimed specifically at remembering those who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces, were prisoners of war or remain unaccounted for. The event has the same name as a major U.S. bombing operation against North Vietnam during the war. Bikers kicked off the weekend of events with a “blessing of the bikes” at Washington National Cathedral on Friday. Organizers had cited difficult relations with the Pentagon — where riders line up to begin the rally — over logistics and costs, in announcing that this year would mark the last national rally. “As always, the Pentagon is charging us with an outrageous bill for their services,” the group’s national president, Joe Bean, said in a letter to members. Another letter co-signed by Bean said costs of staging the event had soared to more than $200,000. “The organization will continue to bring awareness to the public, in years to come, with regional demonstrations,” organizers said in a statement on their website. Trump, who was on an official visit to Japan, offered his support. “Can’t believe that Rolling Thunder would be given a hard time with permits in Washington, D.C. They are great Patriots who I have gotten to know and see in action. They love our Country and love our Flag. If I can help, I will!” he said. According to the Pentagon’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than 82,000 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for in wars as far back as World War II.

rolling thunder
donald trump
vietnam war
pows
u.s .


Syria regime steps up airstrikes in northwest and seizes small town

Abstract: BEIRUT - Syrian government forces pounded positions in the northwest of the country on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in the heaviest day of air strikes since launching a major campaign against the rebel-held territory nearly four weeks ago. The bombardment helped Russian-backed government forces capture the small town of Kafr Nabouda in northern Hama province, the third time it has changed hands in the latest offensive, sources on both sides said. Air and ground strikes killed 12 people in several areas, including the town of Maarat al-Numan, the Observatory said. The onslaught since late April, focused mostly on southern parts of Idlib province and adjacent parts of Hama and Latakia, marks the most intense conflict between President Bashar Assad and his insurgent enemies since last summer. The bombardment has killed 229 civilians, injured 727 and forced more than 300,000 people to flee since April 28, according to The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), which provides assistance to health facilities. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said Syrian government planes and helicopters launched more than 280 strikes on Sunday and Russian jets had carried out 15. Syrian state news agency SANA said Kafr Nabouda had been taken from militants led by a group known as Tahrir al-Sham, previously called the Nusra Front and part of al-Qaida until it broke away and renamed itself. A spokesman for one of the rebel formations in the area, the Turkey-backed National Liberation Front, confirmed government forces had taken Kafr Naboud after an eight-hour bombardment involving hundreds of rockets and dozens of airstrikes.

syria
hama
idlib
latakia
conflict
bashar assad
nusra front
al-qaida
russia


Strong M8.0 earthquake hits Peru's Amazon basin, leaving at least one dead

Abstract: LIMA - A powerful 8.0-earthquake struck northern Peru in the early hours of Sunday, killing one person and injuring 18 others as the shock-wave extended into neighboring Ecuador. The force of the quake brought down many old houses in Yurimaguas, a town near the epicenter in a lightly populated area of Peru’s Amazon basin, the town’s mayor, Hugo Araujo, said. The quake was felt over a wide area. In Lima and other cities frightened residents rushed into the streets. Civil defense coordinator Ricardo Seijas told RPP radio in Peru that a man was killed by a rock that fell on his house in the region of Cajamarca. Danilo Munoz, the 48-year-old victim, was asleep when the quake struck at 2:41 a.m. (0741 GMT). Seijas said 11 people were injured in Peru. Ecuadorean Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner said another seven people were injured in his country. The quake blocked roads, damaged a bridge, and knocked down houses, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra said, adding it was the most powerful quake to hit the country in 12 years. “It is an earthquake affecting the entire Peruvian jungle,” he said. “We are coordinating to establish an air bridge to transport people who have an emergency,” he said. The quake struck about 75 km (45 miles) southeast of the town of Lagunas and toward the border with Brazil, at a depth of at least 110 km. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered 8.0 in magnitude. The Institute of Geophysics of Peru, which uses a different scale, measured it at 7.5 on the Richter scale and said it lasted just over two minutes. The mayor of Lagunas, Arri Pezo, said many residents who fled from their homes later stayed in the streets for fear of aftershocks. “You could not walk at the time of the earthquake, things were falling,” Pezo told the RPP radio. Power was knocked out, making it difficult to assess the damage, he said. Araujo, the mayor of Yurimaguas, said, “there are many old houses that have collapsed after this strong earthquake.” The USGS said the impact “should be relatively localized.” Quakes of similar depth “typically cause less damage on the ground surface (but)… may be felt at great distance from their epicenters,” it later added. The USGS put the depth at 110 km, while the Institute of Geophysics of Peru said it was 141 km deep. Experts at the U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was “no tsunami threat because the earthquake is located too deep inside the earth.” The shock-wave of Sunday’s tremor also extended to neighboring Ecuador, where power cuts were reported in parts of the Amazon region. Peruvian media said the temblor was also felt in parts of Colombia and Venezuela. Peru lies on the so-called Ring of Fire — an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The South American country records about 200 earthquakes a year, most of them going unnoticed by the public. In February a quake measuring 7.5 with its epicenter in Ecuador rattled the coast and Amazon region of northern Peru. It left nine people injured and caused damage in Ecuador, but Peru was unscathed.

earthquakes peru amazon usgs tsunami disasters


Doctor's contaminated syringe suspected as over 600 people test HIV-positive in Pakistan city

Abstract: ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said on Sunday over 600 people, most of them children, had tested HIV positive in a city in the southern Sindh province. Concern grew after hundreds of people were allegedly infected by a doctor using a contaminated syringe in Rato Dero city and surrounding villages of Larkana district. “Some 681 people, of which 537 were children from 2 to 12 years of age, had been tested positive for HIV until yesterday in Rato Dero,” special health adviser Zafar Mirza told a press conference in Islamabad. He said 21,375 people had been screened in Rato Dero, adding that the increase in the number of patients testing positive for HIV was “a matter of grave concern” for the government. One cause being investigated by Pakistani authorities is the use of “unsafe syringes” on patients. Mirza said: “Initial investigations reveal that used syringes are being re-packed, which may not only grow significantly the number of HIV cases but also other diseases.” The federal government is providing 50,000 HIV screening kits to Sindh. Provincial health officials have also noted that patients are at particular risk of contracting diseases or viruses at these clinics, where injections are often pushed as a primary treatment option. “The government will get to the bottom of the outbreak and fully assist the provincial government to provide treatment to all patients,” Mirza said, adding that a team of experts from the World Health Organization was also scheduled to arrive soon to assist Pakistani authorities in ascertaining the cause of the HIV virus in the area. “Prime Minister Imran Khan is going to unveil drastic measures to prevent the disease once we ascertain the cause of the spread of disease,” he said. Parents in the area fear their children’s futures have been irreparably harmed after contracting HIV, especially in a country whose masses of rural poor have little understanding of the disease or access to treatment. Nisar Ahmed, the father of one of the affected baby girls aged just 1, told AFP: “We are told to go to Larkana for medicine. I curse the doctor who has spread this disease to every child. “Four of the children of my village have already been diagnosed HIV positive.” Pakistan was long considered a low prevalence country for HIV, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate, particularly among intravenous drug users and sex workers. With about 20,000 new HIV infections reported in 2017 alone, Pakistan currently has the second fastest growing HIV rates across Asia, according to the U.N. “According to some government reports, around 600,000 quack doctors are operating across the country and around 270,000 are practising in the province of Sindh,” according to UNAIDS. Pakistan’s surging population also suffers the additional burden of having insufficient access to quality health care following decades of under-investment by the state, leaving impoverished, rural communities especially vulnerable to unqualified medical practitioners.


Rare albino panda caught on camera in China reserve, says state media

Abstract: BEIJING - A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at a nature reserve in southwest China, showing albinism exists among wild pandas in the region, state media reported. The spotless, red-eyed animal was photographed while trekking through the forest mid-April in southwestern Sichuan province, said official news agency Xinhua on Saturday. The panda is an albino between 1 to 2 years old, said Li Sheng, a researcher specialising in bears at Peking University, who was quoted in Xinhua’s report. The Wolong National Nature Reserve — where the animal was spotted — told AFP it had no further details about the albino panda. More than 80 percent of the world’s wild pandas live in Sichuan, with the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu province. There were about 548 giant pandas in captivity globally as of November, reported Xinhua. The number living in the wild has dwindled to fewer than 2,000, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Famed for its “panda diplomacy,” in which China dispatches the rare animals to other countries as a symbol of close relations, Beijing has invested in different programs to protect its furry ambassadors in recent years. In 2018, China announced plans to create a bastion for giant pandas three times the size of Yellowstone National Park to link up existing wild populations and encourage breeding of the notoriously slow-reproducing animal. At least 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) had been budgeted for the Giant Panda National Park in mountainous southwestern China state-run China Daily reported. Pandas are currently listed as a vulnerable species, which means that while their survival is still threatened, conservation efforts have helped reduce their danger of extinction.

albinos
pandas
china
animals
sichuan
giant pandas
endangered


Thai pro-military political entity courts swing parties in bid to form government

Abstract: BANGKOK - Two Thai political parties were meeting leaders of a pro-army party on Monday to discuss a possible deal to keep military junta chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha on as prime minister more than two months after a disputed election. An agreement would likely sink the opposition Democratic Front coalition’s bid to keep members of the junta from retaining dominance over the government five years after the army seized power in a coup. The Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties would be given formal coalition invitations by Palang Pracharat, the pro-military party formed last year by members of the junta’s Cabinet. The two parties’ seats would give the pro-army coalition a slim majority in the House of Representatives. The Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest political party, was to meet Palang Pracharat leaders late on Monday morning, and would be followed by Bhumjaithai in the afternoon. It was not clear if any agreement would be announced. “We are confident, but we need all the commitment from coalition partners,” Palang Pracharat’s leader, Uttama Savanayana, said on Monday before a meeting with the Democrat Party. Puttipong Punnakanta, one of Palang Pracharat’s board members and a member of parliament, said Sunday the party — which gained the second-largest number of seats in the March 24 election — said he was confident of making a deal. “It’s certain that we will be forming a coalition government, with at least 251 seats and more,” he said. “We will see Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister next month.” The opposition Pheu Thai Party, which was ousted in 2014, won the most seats in the 500-member House of Representatives but its Democratic Front coalition did not gain a majority when final results were announced. The seven-party Democratic Front has complained that the Election Commission changed a complex formula of seat allocation after the vote, giving seats to 11 small parties at the expense of a projected opposition majority under the old formula.

prayuth chan-ocha
thailand
pheu thai
palang pracharath


North Korea calls Bolton 'warmonger' and says halting missile tests means giving up right to self-defense

Abstract: North Korea has labeled U.S. national security adviser John Bolton a “warmonger” for saying that recent missile tests by the nuclear-armed country had violated U.N. sanctions, adding that giving up the test-firings would amount to relinquishing their right to self-defense, state-run media quoted the country’s Foreign Ministry as saying Monday. A statement issued by the official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry official as singling out Bolton, who last week said the recent tests had “no doubt” violated United Nations resolutions. Referring to tests of short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and May 9 that ended a more than 500-day pause in the tests that began in late 2017, the statement also called the launches a “regular military drill.” What the U.S. is taking issue with “is not about the range but the prohibition of the launch itself using ballistic technology. This is, after all, tantamount to a demand that the DPRK should give up its self-defensive right,” the officials said, using the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly touted the halt of North Korean missile tests as one of his top foreign policy achievements, has played down the significance of those tests, calling them “very standard.” On Sunday, in a tweet sent ahead of a round of golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump referred to the tests by Pyongyang as “small weapons” while also praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and taking a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner among a slew of Democratic candidates looking to challenge him in the 2020 presidential election. “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” he wrote, in what was widely seen as a reference to Bolton. “I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me.” “The moratorium was focused, very focused, on intercontinental missile systems, the ones that threaten the United States,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a recent television interview. That raised eyebrows in Japan, where the North’s arsenal of shorter-range missiles poses a serious threat because of the country’s proximity to North Korea. Monday’s statement was issued on the third day of Trump’s first state visit to Japan, where he held talks with Abe and discussed the North’s nuclear arsenal, among other issues. In targeting Bolton, it said it would “be fit to call Bolton not a security adviser striving for security but a security-destroying adviser who is wrecking peace and security. It is not at all strange that perverse words always come out from the mouth of a structurally defective guy.” “Such a human defect deserves an earlier vanishing,” the official added. The criticism of Bolton was the second time in just over a month that Pyongyang had taken aim at him, after a top North Korean official blasted him as “dim-sighted” late last month. Those remarks were seen as relatively mild for a figure whom the North has in the past described as “human scum” and a “bloodsucker,” and appeared to highlight Pyongyang’s frustration with deadlocked nuclear negotiations. North Korea has refrained from directly criticizing Trump as it seeks to keep deadlocked denuclearization talks alive. Kim and Trump have held two summits, the first in Singapore last June and the second in Hanoi in February. The talks have been stalled since the Hanoi summit collapsed without a deal due to major differences over the scope of North Korea’s denuclearization and potential sanctions relief by the U.S. On Friday, the North warned that the nuclear talks “will never be resumed” unless Washington halts what Pyongyang said were “hostile acts” and demands of “unilateral disarmament,” warning of a “fiercer” response if this continues.

north korea
john bolton
donald trump
shinzo abe
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
north korea nuclear crisis
kim-trump summit


Amid China tensions, Taiwan and U.S. security officials hold rare meeting

Abstract: TAIPEI - Senior national security officials from the United States and Taiwan have met to deepen cooperation, the government in Taipei said, the first such meeting in four decades that came amid tense relations between the U.S. and China. Taiwan’s national security chief David Lee met White House national security adviser John Bolton earlier this month, the island’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement Saturday. The official Central News Agency said the meeting was the first since the island and the United States ended formal diplomatic ties in 1979. China considers Taiwan a renegade province, to be reclaimed by force if necessary, and the meeting is likely to anger Beijing further with Sino-U.S. relations already tense. The diplomatic temperature has risen in recent weeks amid an escalating trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols. The rare meeting will be viewed by Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration. Tensions have also risen between Taipei and Beijing, which considers the democratically ruled island part of “one China.” The meeting took place during Lee’s May 13-21 visit to the United States, Taiwan’s brief statement said. “During the trip, together with U.S. government officials, Secretary-General Lee met with representatives from our diplomatic allies, reiterating support and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said. Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and America’s de facto embassy in Taiwan declined to comment Monday. Beijing regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue in ties with the United States, which has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is the island’s main source of arms. The United States has in recent months increased the frequency of patrols through the strategic Taiwan Strait despite opposition from China. China has been ramping up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, conducting drills near Taiwan and snatching its few remaining diplomatic allies. Earlier in May, the U.S. House of Representatives backed legislation supporting Taiwan as members of the U.S. Congress pushed for a sharper approach to relations with Beijing. The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taipei more than $15 billion in arms since 2010.


Four reported killed, seven wounded in three blasts in Kathmandu blamed on Maoist rebels

Abstract: KATHMANDU - Four people were killed and seven others injured on Sunday in three separate explosions in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, and police said they suspected a Maoist splinter group may have been responsible. “Three people were killed on the spot and the fourth one died while undergoing treatment at a hospital,” police official Shyam Lal Gyawali said, adding that the nature of the blasts was under investigation. One person was killed in an explosion inside a house in the Ghattekulo residential area in the heart of the city. “I heard a big noise and rushed to the spot to find the walls of a house had developed cracks due to the impact of the blast,” 17-year-old student Govinda Bhandari told Reuters at the site of the first blast. The second blast took place near a hairdresser’s in the Sukedhara area on the outskirts of the city, where three people were killed. The third blast, a crude device, went off near a brick kiln in the Thankot area of Kathmandu, injuring two people, police said. All of the seven injured people were taken to hospital. A Reuters photographer at the site of the second blast said it had shattered the door and window panes of the shop and the area had been sealed off by the army. Gyawali, the police official, said they suspect the blasts may have been the work of a splinter group of former Maoist rebels who are opposed to the government for arresting its supporters. “A pamphlet from the group has been found at the site of the first blast,” Gyawali said. The house was used to make improvised or crude explosive devices by activists from the group, he said, adding that one of the injured people was a supporter. Nepal emerged from a decade-long Maoist civil war in 2006 and the main group of the former rebels has joined the party that runs the government now. The breakaway group of former rebels carried out a similar blast in Kathmandu in February, in which one person was killed and two others were injured. No one has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blasts.


Australia's Scott Morrison to visit Solomon Islands as China increases influence over South Pacific nation

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit the Solomon Islands next week, two sources familiar with the plans said Monday, as Western nations seek to rein in China’s influence on the tiny Pacific island nation. With the United States and its allies keen to ensure China does not increase its foothold in the Pacific, protecting diplomatic recognition for self-ruled Taiwan has emerged as a flash point in regional ties. “China is the Solomon Islands’ largest trading partner and this is adding a lot of pressure on lawmakers to switch allegiances,” said Jonathan Pryke, Pacific Islands program director at the Lowy Institute think tank. The Solomon Islands is one of a handful of Pacific countries to recognize Taiwan, a policy now in question after recent elections. China views Taiwan as a renegade province with no right to state-to-state ties. On Friday, a senior U.S. official said Washington will help Pacific countries in the face of China’s attempts to influence them. Those remarks threaten to inflame tension between the U.S. and China already heated by their trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea. Morrison’s first overseas trip since winning re-election this month will also be the first time an Australian prime minister has visited the country since 2008. Australia and China have been vying for influence in sparsely populated Pacific island countries that control vast swaths of resource-rich ocean. Keen to undercut China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, Australia has directed ever larger amounts of its foreign aid to the region. In 2018, Australia said it would spend $139 million to develop undersea internet cable links to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, amid national security concerns about China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. That year, Australia became the first country to ban the world’s largest maker of telecom network gear from its nascent broadband network, a step the United States followed this year by effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with Huawei. In November, Australia offered Pacific countries up to 3 billion Australian dollars in grants and cheap loans in build infrastructure, as Morrison declared the region was “our patch.” Australia has won favor through its spending commitments but its support of its dominant coal industry is a sore point for many in the region. “There is little doubt that many Pacific islands will have been unhappy with the re-election of Morrison,” said Peter Chen, a political science professor at the University of Sydney. “He will need to find common ground to repair that relationship.”

australia
scott morrison
solomon islands
china


Myanmar soldiers jailed for Rohingya killings freed after less than a year

Abstract: YANGON - Myanmar has granted early release to seven soldiers jailed for the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys during a 2017 military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, two prison officials, two former fellow inmates and one of the soldiers said. The soldiers were freed in November last year, the two inmates said, meaning they served less than one year of their 10-year prison terms for the killings at Inn Din village. They also served less jail time than two Reuters reporters who uncovered the killings. The journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, spent more than 16 months behind bars on charges of obtaining state secrets. The two were released in an amnesty on May 6. Win Naing, the chief warden at Rakhine’s Sittwe Prison, and a senior prison official in the capital, Naypyitaw, confirmed that the convicted soldiers had not been in prison for some months. “Their punishment was reduced by the military,” said the senior Naypyitaw official, who declined to be named. Both prison officials declined to provide further details and said they did not know the exact date of the release, which was not announced publicly. Military spokesmen Zaw Min Tun and Tun Tun Nyi declined to comment. The seven soldiers were the only security personnel the military has said it has punished over the 2017 operation in Rakhine, which drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. U.N. investigators said the crackdown was executed with “genocidal intent” and included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson. Myanmar denies widespread wrongdoing and officials have pointed to the jailing of the seven soldiers in the Inn Din case as evidence Myanmar security forces do not enjoy impunity. “I would say that we took action against every case we could investigate,” the military’s commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, told officials from the U.N. Security Council in April last year, according to an account posted on his personal website. The army chief cited the Inn Din case specifically. “The latest crime we punished was a killing, and ten years’ imprisonment was given to seven perpetrators,” he said. “We will not forgive anyone if they commit (a) crime.” Reached by phone on Thursday, a man named Zin Paing Soe confirmed that he was one of the seven soldiers and that he was now free, but declined to comment further. “We were told to shut up,” he said. The 2017 campaign was launched across hundreds of villages in northern Rakhine in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents. Reuters exposed the killings in a report published in February 2018. Troops from the 33rd Light Infantry Division, a mobile force known for its brutal counterinsurgency campaigns, worked with members of a paramilitary police force and Buddhist vigilantes to drive out the entire Muslim population of Inn Din, burning and looting Rohingya homes and property, according to Buddhist and Muslim villagers and members of the security forces. On Sept. 1, 2017, soldiers and some villagers detained a group of 10 Rohingya. The military said the men were “terrorists”; their family members said they were farmers, high school students and an Islamic teacher. The next morning, witnesses said, Buddhist villagers hacked some of the Rohingya men with swords. The rest were shot by Myanmar troops and buried in a shallow grave. The two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, discovered the grave and obtained pictures of the 10 men before and after they were killed. The journalists were arrested in December 2017 while investigating the killings and later sentenced to seven years in prison under the Official Secrets Act. Defense lawyers argued their arrest and prosecution were aimed at blocking their reporting, and one police officer testified that a senior police official had ordered that the reporters be set up and arrested. In April 2018, after launching an investigation into the killings, the military announced that four officers and three soldiers of other ranks had been dismissed from the military and sentenced to 10 years with hard labor for “contributing and participating in murder.” Neither their names nor details of their roles in the killing were disclosed. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed the convictions, telling reporters at the time the sentencing was Myanmar’s “first step on the road of taking responsibility.” Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, did not pick up a call seeking comment on the release of the seven soldiers. Two men who recently spent time in Sittwe Prison told Reuters the seven soldiers were well-known among prisoners there. “We were in the same building but different cells,” said one of the men, Aung Than Wai, a political activist from Sittwe, who spent nearly six months in prison under a privacy law after he criticized a state official and posted an image of the official online. Aung Than Wai, who was released from Sittwe in December, said he wanted to speak publicly about the soldiers’ early release because an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist villager also jailed over the Inn Din killings was still in prison. The villager, school teacher Tun Aye, is serving a five-year sentence for murder at Buthidaung Prison in northern Rakhine, said his lawyer, Khin Win. The convicted soldiers in Sittwe were given beer and cigarettes even though such indulgences were off-limits to other prisoners, Aung Than Wai said. The soldiers were also visited by army officials, said the second man who was in the prison at the time and asked not to be named. In November, the seven men were taken away in a military vehicle, he said. The same month, Zin Paing Soe, one of the convicted soldiers, set up a new Facebook account, noting in his biography that he attended the military’s elite Defence Services Academy. In one of the account’s first public posts, he said he was looking forward to the end of a year spent mostly in prison. “When will these unfortunate things end for me?” the post reads.


Japan's new imperial couple wine and dine Trumps as first state guests of Reiwa Era

Abstract: Emperor Naruhito greeted U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday as his first state guest since ascending the throne May 1, with the two affirming the closeness of ties between the countries that were once wartime foes. Trump and first lady Melania were received by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako throughout the day, starting with a welcoming ceremony at the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo in the morning and a state banquet in the evening. The Japanese government chose the Trumps to become the first state guests of the new Reiwa Era, which began with the abdication of Emperor Akihito, the first Japanese monarch to step down in 202 years. Calling it a great pleasure to welcome the Trumps, the emperor said in a speech at the banquet how the two countries and their peoples have “overcome various challenges and have fostered mutual understanding and trust.” “I sincerely hope that, while always taking it to heart that the current Japan-U.S. relations are built upon the sacrifices and dedicated efforts made by so many people, the peoples of our two countries will continue to contribute to peace and prosperity in the world,” he said. Trump for his part extended his best wishes to the imperial family and Japan for a “peaceful and prosperous” Reiwa Era and called the bilateral alliance a “rich inheritance and a gift” that the two countries should pass on to future generations. Monday’s events with the Trumps kicked off a new period of imperial diplomacy overseen by an emperor and empress who have a wide range of international experience, more so than any of their predecessors, as both have spent a number of years living overseas. Emperor Naruhito, 59, is the first Japanese emperor born after World War II and the first to have studied abroad — at the University of Oxford — and his wife, Masako, 55, is a former diplomat educated at Oxford and Harvard. In their first encounter in the morning, the imperial couple and the Trumps shook hands and exchanged greetings without using interpreters, before walking along a red carpet in the courtyard of the palace to attend the outdoor welcome ceremony. In summer-like heat, Trump, dressed in a dark suit and red tie, and the first lady, wearing a white dress, stood on a platform as the national anthems of the two countries were performed. Trump was then received with an honor guard. The emperor wore a dark suit and blue tie, while the empress donned a cream-colored dress and matching hat. Following the ceremony, the imperial couple held a 15-minute meeting with the Trumps inside the palace, with Trump hailing the two countries’ ties, saying their relationship had overcome various challenges in history, including the war, according to the Imperial Household Agency. Asked by Trump how former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko are doing, whom the president met during his previous visit to Japan in 2017, Emperor Naruhito responded they are doing well. Empress Masako and the first lady talked about their children’s education, according to the agency. The Trumps presented a vintage 1938 viola made in the United States to the emperor, who is known for playing the instrument. They gave the empress a White House desk set including a fountain pen, handcrafted out of a red oak tree from the grounds of Harvard University. Trump received a dark blue porcelain bowl for display, and his wife a lacquer box decorated with gold, from the imperial couple. After the talks, Trump said it was “a great honor and a great thing” to meet the new emperor, who took over the Chrysanthemum Throne in the first transition of its kind in around two centuries. “It’s a very important thing not only in Japan, but all over the world they are talking about it, and it’s very exciting to be a part of it,” Trump said. The Trumps, who arrived Saturday, are staying three nights in Japan. During a summit with Abe in Washington ahead of Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement, Trump said he had initially hesitated to accept an invitation to meet the emperor, unsure if he could make the trip. Trump said he had asked Abe how big the imperial succession would be for the Japanese people compared with the Super Bowl and Abe replied, “It’s about 100 times bigger,” leading him to immediately agree to the visit.

emperor naruhito
donald trump
empress masako
imperial family
u.s .
royalty
u.s.-japan relations


120 years of Japan Times front pages on show at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies

Abstract: NAGOYA - An exhibition showcasing the history of modern Japan through 120 years of front pages from The Japan Times opened Monday in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture. Organized by the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies World Liberal Arts Center and jointly hosted by The Japan Times, the exhibition features about 40 pages of the newspaper’s coverage since its foundation in 1897. The exhibition is titled “Modern Japan Through the Lens of an English-language Newspaper — An exhibition of Front Pages from The Japan Times.” The major events and topics on display include the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the suicide of Japan’s leading novelist Yukio Mishima, the death of Emperor Showa and the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Hiroshima in 2016. The exhibit also illustrates how The Japan Times had to change its name to the Nippon Times during the war after being pressured by Japan’s military-led government as it fought the United States. Just like many other newspapers in Japan during the period, The Japan Times was operating under censorship by the military government during the war. In the postwar period, the paper was also closely monitored by the Allied Occupation of Japan, which was headed by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur. “Through this exhibition, I hope students will be able to understand important historical events deeply — beyond what has been reported on the surface,” said Kazuhiko Kojima, PR advisor at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, who organized the exhibition. Kojima is a former Chunichi Shimbun writer. “Reading the past front pages of The Japan Times, people today can learn a lot about Japan’s modern history, how Japan struggled to become a modern nation, war, peace and journalism,” said Sayuri Daimon, managing editor and executive operating officer of The Japan Times, who gave a guest lecture at the university on Monday. In addition to how the newspaper covered those historical moments, she also talked about how The Japan Times reported the recent Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. The exhibition will run through June 8 at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies Library in Nisshin. Admission is free. More information can be found on the university’s website at jtimes.jp/nufs .


Tourist associations and lodgings in Hakone strive to minimize volcanic alert's impact on business

Abstract: HAKONE, KANAGAWA PREF. - Tourist associations and lodgings in Hakone are striving to minimize damage to the popularity of the spa resort town in Kanagawa Prefecture after the Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert for Mount Hakone a week ago. The alert level was raised May 19 by one point to 2 on a 5-point scale, meaning access to areas around the crater was restricted. The agency suggested that an eruption was possible at or around the Owakudani volcanic valley. In 2015, when the volcanic alert level for the mountain was raised to 3 banning access to the mountain, the number of tourists visiting the town plummeted by around 20 percent from the previous year as the area’s image took a hit. It took nearly two years after volcanic activity had calmed for the annual tourist count to return to 20 million amid fears the area remained dangerous. After determining that local tourist associations, hotels and ryokan (Japanese-style inns) had communicated with visitors in a problematic manner, the local tourism industry reviewed its public relations strategy to minimize the impact of a rise in the alert level. “Because each accommodation facility responded to inquiries individually (four years ago), some of the information was inaccurate, and this led to unnecessary confusion,” recalled Mamoru Sato, an executive with the Hakone Tourist Association. Learning from its mistakes, the association has strengthened its information-gathering and communication capabilities. It has set up a system for seamless consultations with the prefectural and municipal governments in the event of increased volcanic activity and for providing accurate information obtained via the consultations to inns, hotels and other facilities. The association has improved its website to provide more detailed information and has also created an English-language site. Although the latest alert has only had a mild affect on tourism, including the suspension of Hakone Ropeway operations and sales of Owakudani’s popular black boiled eggs, the website has posted information about alternative means of transportation and other tourist attractions that have been unaffected by the raised alert. “There are many tourist attractions in Hakone other than Owakudani,” Sato said. “We’ll do our best so that tourists will come to Hakone feeling safe.” So far, the raised alert has had no major adverse effect on the local tourism industry. “The reaction from our guests at accommodation facilities has been mostly calm,” said Yoichi Tamura, a senior official with the Hakone Gora tourist association. “We’ll continue to provide our guests with accurate information.” One local shop owner said the impact of the fresh alert had been minimal. “The overall reaction is calmer than four years ago,” the owner said. “I think the impact will die down in a couple of weeks.”

hakone
kanagawa
mount hakone
tourism
volcanoes
disasters


Trump stays on script in Tokyo summit with Abe covering trade and North Korea

Abstract: A Tokyo summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without any unpredictable remarks from the U.S. leader, a prospect some Japanese officials had feared could greatly increase tensions over sensitive bilateral trade issues. At the news conference, Tokyo appeared to have avoided that scenario and instead succeeded in demonstrating a strong bilateral relationship. Trump spoke for several minutes at the outset of the news conference. He spoke calmly, possibly reading out a prepared statement. For the most part, Trump praised the strength of the nations’ bilateral ties and only very briefly touched on trade issues as he wrapped up his initial remarks. “The U.S. and Japan are also working to improve our economic relationship, based on principles of fairness and reciprocity,” Trump said. “We are currently negotiating a bilateral trade agreement that would benefit both of our economies. Our goal is to reduce our trade deficit with Japan” and remove trade barriers, he said. Trump, however, didn’t go much further beyond that. On Friday, a day before Trump arrived in Tokyo, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official cautioned reporters that a summit meeting between two top leaders is always “unpredictable” and that it was impossible to say what they would discuss. However, Trump didn’t directly challenge Abe, the foreign leader arguably closest to the U.S. leader, at least in public, as Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is facing a critical July Upper House poll — and the possibility of a double election including the Lower House. At the outset of the summit meeting with Abe on Monday, Trump also said he expects that the two countries can clinch a bilateral trade pact in August, after the election. “Great progress being made in our Trade Negotiations with Japan. Agriculture and beef heavily in play. Much will wait until after their July elections where I anticipate big numbers!” Trump tweeted Sunday while in Tokyo. When asked at the news conference if the two countries will reach a major trade agreement in August, Abe didn’t answer. Experts are split over whether the two countries might be approaching a trade agreement behind the scenes, as indicated by Trump. Kazuhiro Maeshima, a professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University, called it a possibility because U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi have already engaged in intensive talks. Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said Abe probably hasn’t agreed on any time frame because Japan’s basic tactic has been to prolong the talks. But trade wasn’t the only issue on the agenda Monday. At the news conference, Trump and Abe said the two countries are standing firm against North Korea. On Tuesday, the leaders plan to board Japan’s largest warship, the Kaga, which is set to be remodeled into an aircraft carrier, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. “The essence of our approach if peace through strength,” Trump said. “This is a strong alliance and the U.S.-Japan alliance is steadfast and ironclad.” Trump, however, appeared more conciliatory than Abe on North Korea. Referring to the latest firing of short-range ballistic missiles by the North earlier this month, Trump tweeted on Sunday: “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me.” Trump was apparently referring to U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who on Saturday told reporters that the firing did violate U.N. security council resolutions. That comment was an apparent effort to ease concerns in Japan, which is in range of the North’s short-range missiles. During Monday’s news conference, Trump didn’t clearly describe the latest firing of short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea as a violation of United Nations resolutions. However, later at the same news conference, Abe made a point of arguing that they were in fact violations, appearing to reveal a gap in the leaders’ approaches to dealing with the North. Watanabe said Trump is still putting pressure on Pyongyang to denuclearize but that he might appear more flexible than Abe because he is always thinks of making a deal in negotiations. That is why he often swings heavily from side to side during negotiations and why he appears to be in the “dialogue” phase, Watanabe said. “I don’t think there is a gap between the U.S. and Japan over North Korean issues. If it’s a ballistic missile fired, it’s automatically recognized as violation of U.N. resolutions,” a senior Japanese diplomat argued. If there is any difference in approach toward the North, “it should be just in the way you send out a message,” the official said.

north korea
shinzo abe
donald trump
u.s.-japan relations


Trump strikes dovish tone on North Korea and Iran ahead of talks with Abe in Tokyo

Abstract: U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday hailed a “great respect” between the U.S. and nuclear-armed North Korea, as he also held out the possibility of talks with Iran, stressing he does not want “terrible things” to happen. Ahead of his summit talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump played down recent belligerence from Pyongyang, which last month fired short-range missiles that raised tensions in the region. “I personally think that lots of good things will come with North Korea, I feel that. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I feel that,” Trump told reporters at Abe’s office. “There’s a good respect built, maybe a great respect built between . . . the United States and North Korea, but we will see what happens,” added the president, whose failed talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in late February sparked a fresh spike in tensions. He noted that when he came to office, there was “testing all the time, nuclear testing at the highest level, and that seems to have stopped.” On Sunday, Trump dismissed the recent missile tests from the North as “some small weapons” and appeared to undercut John Bolton, his national security adviser, who had said the day before that the launches contravened U.N. Security Council resolutions. Trump said the recent tests had “disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” which was widely seen as a reference to Bolton. Trump also struck a relatively dovish tone on Iran, amid mounting tensions with the historic American foe. “I do believe that Iran would like to talk, and if they’d like to talk, we’d like to talk also,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens, but I know for a fact that the prime minister (Abe) is very close with the leadership of Iran … nobody wants to see terrible things happen, especially me.” Abe is reportedly weighing a trip to Tehran in a bid to mediate in the Middle East crisis and Trump appeared to give the green light, saying, “We’ll see what happens, that would be fine.” Trump is currently in Japan on a four-day state visit and he is the first foreign leader to meet newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito — an honor Abe hopes will help charm the U.S. president when it comes to thorny trade talks.

north korea
iran
donald trump
shinzo abe
kim jong un
u.s .
north korea nuclear crisis


Trump pledges to help bring home Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea

Abstract: U.S. President Donald Trump pledged Monday to support Japan’s effort to repatriate citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s as he met with a group of the abductees’ kin in Tokyo. Monday marked the second time for Trump to sit down with family members of the abductees. The families have “suffered the unthinkable heartbreak of having their loved ones abducted by North Korea,” Trump told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the State Guesthouse at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo. “The United States also remains committed to the issue of abductions, which I know is a top priority for Prime Minister Abe,” Trump said, adding that his country “will continue to support Japan’s effort” to bring its citizens home. Trump’s renewed commitment to the abduction issue was perhaps reassuring for Abe, who has gone to great lengths to press the president to raise the topic with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Abe himself hasn’t been able to secure a one-on-one meeting with Kim, thus relying heavily on Trump to serve as his messenger. “There is no meeting that he’s had (with me) where he doesn’t bring up the abductees,” Trump said of Abe as he met the family members. At the joint news conference, Abe said Trump had promised him that the U.S. will “spare no effort” to help achieve the repatriation of the abductees. Trump, Abe said, “looked each family member directly in their eyes and at times nodded as he attentively listened” to their stories of heartache. Repatriating abductees is a top priority for Abe, who played a pioneering role in spotlighting the issue early in his career as a politician, successfully carving out a support base that later helped him win his first prime ministership in 2006. In what has been widely seen as a shift from his previous policy, Abe has recently said he is willing to meet Kim on an “unconditional” basis, apparently softening his long-held stance that any summit meeting with Kim must yield tangible progress on the abduction issue. On Monday, Abe repeated that he is willing to meet Kim unconditionally, stressing that he will “discharge my responsibility as the prime minister to do my best to put this matter to rest — even if there is no guarantee that I can sort it out in just one single meeting” with Kim. At a news conference held after the Abe-Trump summit, the kin of abductees said they have high hopes for Trump. But Takuya Yokota, whose older sister, Megumi, was abducted by North Korean agents more than four decades ago, said he had conveyed to Trump an important caveat when they met. He said the family members’ collective wish remains the “comprehensive, immediate return of all abductees,” and that the U.S. shouldn’t fall for any attempt by Pyongyang to water down this goal, such as the partial or incremental return of abductees. “I also told the president that just like he loves first lady Melania and his daughter Ivanka, my father and mother love their daughter dearly, and that it’s an unforgivable human rights violation that they haven’t been able to see her for 41 years,” Yokota said, revealing that Trump then responded to him off-the-cuff by saying efforts to bring them back “must not stop here.” During a summit in Pyongyang in 2002, then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il apologized for the abduction issue when he met then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. But there has been no significant progress in repatriating more abductees, with North Korea having treated the issue as a settled matter.

abductions
north korea
donald trump
shinzo abe


Concern grows over how G20 security preparations will impact Osaka

Abstract: OSAKA - U.S. President Donald Trump is set to conclude his four-day trip to Japan on Tuesday amid high levels of security, with 25,000 police reportedly deployed for his visit. But with Trump scheduled to be back in Osaka in exactly one month for the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders’ summit, officials and residents are becoming increasingly concerned about how security preparations not only for Trump but also other world leaders, from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will impact Osaka and the surrounding region before and during June 28-29 summit. The venue for the conference is Intex Osaka on the city’s waterfront area. But world leaders will be staying at hotels located elsewhere, particularly in the northern Umeda area. Bilateral meetings between Abe and other leaders, including Trump, may take place at the Osaka state guest house in Osaka Castle Park, which offers more photogenic scenery than Intex Osaka and is closer to the hotels in the Umeda district. So far, Osaka officials have announced traffic restrictions in nine parts of the city between June 27 and 30th. Much of the area around JR Osaka Station will be closed to vehicular traffic, as will the Osaka Castle Park area and parts of Namba Station. Major expressways passing through the city will be at least partially closed to vehicular traffic. “Many roads will be shut down. There may not be any other way, but we’re asking people who normally take buses or drive their cars to use the railway and subway systems,” Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said earlier this month when he announced the traffic restrictions for the summit. But that has raised questions about whether Osaka’s current rail transportation system can handle more passengers than it already does, whether more trains would have to be added to accommodate the increased passenger load and what those additions might mean in terms of more crowded stations. Vehicular traffic to Kansai International Airport will also be affected, especially buses between the airport and cities in surrounding areas. Traffic across the bridge that connects Kansai airport to the mainland will be stopped to accommodate the arrival and departure of VIPs. Over a five day period between June 26-30, public parks and parking lots around Osaka’s Itami airport will be closed, while coin lockers and trash cans in all Osaka prefectural train stations will be unusable between June 24-30. With heavy security across so much of the city of Osaka at the end of June, small merchants are wondering what to do. “It might be better to take a vacation at that time. We’re in an area where traffic restrictions will apply and I’m not sure how much business we’ll get,” said Tomoko Horiguchi, 62, who runs a small coffee shop in the city’s Nishi Ward. While Osaka is not yet officially ordering local businesses to close, some merchant associations have announced they will voluntarily shut down during the summit. These include pachinko parlors and the city’s Tobita Shinchi red light district. Many bars, restaurants and nightclubs in Osaka’s Kitashinchi district, which is near several major hotels in Umeda where G20 leaders will be staying, may decide to close down as well, as they did during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting held in Osaka in 1995.

g20
osaka
donald trump
shinzo abe
terrorism
public security


Nearly 60% back new rule limiting value of gifts offered through hometown tax donation program: survey

Abstract: A survey has found that 58.4 percent of respondents are supportive of a new rule limiting the value of return gifts handed out under Japan’s furusato nōzei (hometown tax donation) system to local products worth 30 percent or less of the value of donations. The proportion of respondents opposed to the rule, which will come into force next month, came to 28.2 percent, according to the survey, which was conducted by Jiji Press on 2,000 people aged 18 or over across the country in an interview format. Valid responses were returned by 62.8 percent of those invited to participate. Under the system, people can make donations to prefectures or municipalities of their choice. Despite the name, the recipient locality does not have to be the donor’s hometown. In return, donors can get tax breaks and, usually, gifts from the recipient local government. However, some local governments have been handing out expensive gifts and triggering intense competition for donations. In response, the internal affairs ministry has set up a new framework including the new rule on return gifts. It has also decided to exclude from the donation system four municipalities — Izumisano in Osaka Prefecture, Oyama in Shizuoka Prefecture, Koya in Wakayama Prefecture and Miyaki in Saga Prefecture — because they used excessively generous gifts to attract donors after collecting many donations. Among supporters of the new rule on the value of gifts, 67.3 percent said that offering expensive gifts in return for donations deviates from the purpose of the furusato nōzei system. More than 40 percent said it is inappropriate for only some local governments to collect massive amounts of donations based on offering expensive gifts. Among opponents, 39.8 percent said that local governments should be given discretion in their choice of gifts. Of all respondents, the proportion of those who have and have not used the furusato nōzei system came to 11.9 percent and 87.9 percent, respectively. In the survey, 9.9 percent said they plan to continue donating through the system after the introduction of the new rule, while 62.8 percent said they will continue not using it.

hometown tax donation
survey
jiji
furusato nozei


Elderly man in Hyogo Prefecture dies after being attacked by dog

Abstract: KOBE - An elderly man in Hyogo Prefecture has died after being bitten by a dog that he was watching for an acquaintance, police said Monday. Tsutomu Fukumoto, 82, was found dead, with wounds on his back, together with the adult Tosa breed dog inside a kennel near his home in the city of Minamiawaji. Emergency services had received a call from his 55-year-old son at around 8:40 p.m. on Sunday. According to the police, Fukumoto was taking care of his grandchild’s three Tosa dogs as well as the one for the acquaintance, which is believed to have attacked him while he was trying to care for it. The four dogs were kept separately in iron cages, each measuring 2.6 meters long by 1.3 meters wide, with a height of 1.4 meters. The kennel contains seven such cages. Fukumoto was found collapsed in the cage by his 75-year-old wife, who went to check why he had not returned after leaving their house, about 200 meters away, at around 5 p.m. All the other dogs were in their respective cages. Citizens are required to register pet dogs under the rabies prevention law. However, there was no registration for Tosa dogs to be kept at the site, local officials said. The Tosa breed, also known as Japanese mastiffs, originate from Tosa Province, now Kochi Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, where they were bred to be fighting dogs. Owners of such dogs require a license in a number of countries.


Changing monarchy on display as imperial couple greets Trump and first lady using English

Abstract: The language barrier fell away Monday when Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako greeted U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump in English at the Imperial Palace, in what could be a taste of things to come for the most internationally minded imperial couple in Japan’s history. Trump became the first world leader to meet with the emperor since he ascended the throne and the Reiwa Era began on May 1. Monday also marked the imperial couple’s first ever meeting with Trump. The emperor and empress greeted the president and first lady with warm smiles upon their arrival at the palace. The party shook hands and then continued inside, where the imperial couple introduced their guests to other members of the imperial family. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie Abe, were also in attendance. Afterward, the imperial couple met with the president and first lady for further discussion. In the past, such meetings have been used to discuss the state of each nation. The emperor is a graduate of Oxford University with experience traveling in Europe, and the empress, a graduate of Harvard, is a former diplomat and a polyglot fluent in English and French. The arrival of a multilingual imperial couple is seen by observers as representing a decisive shift in the Japanese monarchy and its relationship with other nations. On Monday, the emperor and empress acted as translators for Trump and the first lady as they spoke to a seemingly endless line of politicians, ambassadors and other guests. Professional interpreters — who were presumably hired for the occasion — could only watch while the imperial couple handled themselves with poise while navigating countless introductions and interactions throughout the affair. Trump’s meeting with the imperial couple was followed by a summit with Abe. In the evening, a banquet at the Imperial Palace was set to be attended by roughly 170 guests including members of the imperial family and several Cabinet ministers, among others.

language
emperor naruhito
empress masako
donald trump
imperial family


U.S. Air Force worker arrested on charge of negligent driving after deadly crash in Okinawa

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Okinawa police have arrested a U.S. Air Force civilian worker on a charge of negligent driving after a collision between his vehicle and a motorcycle killed its rider. The collision occurred at an intersection in the town of Chatan at around 8:10 a.m. on Sunday. As the vehicle made a right turn, the motorcycle crashed into it from the opposite lane, the police said. The suspect, 38-year-old Nicholas Christenson, admitted the charge, police said, quoting him as saying he thought he could make the turn ahead of the motorcycle. The victim, 39-year-old Isao Toriumi of Urasoe, also in Okinawa, was thrown from the bike and then hit a taxi that was parked nearby, police said. Police said they will continue to probe the crash, and that the charge faced by Christenson would change from negligent driving resulting in injury to negligent driving resulting in death.

okinawa
chatan
u.s .
u.s. bases
traffic accidents


Japan worried Trump will take hard line on bilateral trade if deal with China eludes

Abstract: Japan is wary of the possibility that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will adopt a hard line in bilateral trade talks following its tariff hike on Chinese products Friday. The hike has intensified the uncertainty over the future course of U.S.-China trade discussions, raising concern the United States may rush to produce results in its trade negotiations with Japan, which began in April. Worries are also mounting that the U.S.-China trade war will affect the Japanese economy. The Japanese government is closely watching related developments, officials said. Trump voiced his dissatisfaction at his country’s trade deficit with Japan during a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in late April. But Trump did not make a difficult request, such as for agricultural market liberalization exceeding the level Japan is committed to under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact. Trump pulled the U.S. from the TPP talks in early 2017. According to sources with access to the summit, Trump also did not bring up numerical limits on Japanese vehicle exports to the United States. His main concern for now is the 2020 presidential race. If the trade negotiations with China reach a dead end, he may attempt a breakthrough with Japan to seek immediate results. Abe and Trump are expected to hold summits in May and June. Some government officials are braced for the possibility of erratic remarks coming from Trump around the period. What Tokyo hopes to avoid are additional U.S. duties on Japan-made vehicles that may be introduced on U.S. national security grounds. The two sides confirmed that no such measure will be taken while the bilateral trade talks are under way, according to sources with access to the negotiations. But Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC partner Keisuke Hanyuda, an expert on trade negotiations, warned, “The United States may press for major concessions in the agricultural sector by threatening to impose the additional tariffs.” Meanwhile, the Chinese economy has slowed down since summer last year, mainly due to the effects of the trade conflict with the United States. The trade stagnation has spread to other parts of Asia, weighing on Japan’s Asian-bound exports. “No country benefits from exchanges of trade restrictions,” Finance Minister Taro Aso told a news conference Friday.

trade
china
donald trump
shinzo abe
elections
u.s.-japan relations


Weak Uber market debut augurs poorly for other Silicon Valley unicorns

Abstract: BANGALORE/SAN FRANCISCO - Uber Technologies Inc.’s conservative initial public offering could not keep its shares from sinking in their trading debut on Friday, fueling debate on Wall Street over whether the outcome of the most anticipated listing since Facebook would weigh on other Silicon Valley unicorns. Uber considered going public for at least four years. Yet the ride-hailing company picked a week for its IPO plagued by market turbulence fueled by U.S.-China trade worries. Moreover, smaller rival Lyft’s shares plunged this past week after its first earnings as a public company. Uber was the biggest of a group of Silicon Valley startups that have spent years raising money in private rounds at record prices. Many of these companies are now looking to follow with their own IPO. Some, like Uber and Lyft, are unprofitable. Workplace messaging company Slack Technologies Inc. plans to hold an investor presentation on Monday in advance of its direct listing next month. Grocery and food delivery platform Postmates, WeWork owner The We Company and online mattress retailer Casper Sleep are among startups seeking to launch IPOs this year. “If a venture capital investor wants to burn cash they can do that as long as they want, but once you get to the public markets you have to show profitability or a path to it,” said Jordan Stuart, a portfolio manager at Federated Kaufmann who often purchases companies’ shares during an IPO. Uber’s shares ended the day down 7.6 percent at $41.57, even as the S&P 500 reversed losses to end in positive territory. Only about a fifth of IPOs have ended their first day of trading in the red in the last two years, according to Dealogic data. Uber priced its IPO on Thursday at the low end of its targeted range, hoping that approach would spare it the trading plunge suffered by Lyft. Lyft ended down 6.9 percent on Friday, and is 28 percent below its IPO price. Still, the world’s largest ride-hailing company appeared to generate more interest from mom-and-pop investors than Lyft. Retail investors at TD Ameritrade executed more trades in the first ten minutes of Uber’s debut than in Lyft’s first 2-1/2 hours. Uber had already lowered its valuation expectations twice in the last two months to address investor concerns over its mounting losses. While early-stage Uber investors such as Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, First Round Capital and Lowercase Capital made a killing in the IPO, some late-stage backers did not fare as well. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., for example, invested in Uber in early 2018 at $48.77 per share. It also bought shares at a much lower price in a large secondary transaction. To be sure, other IPOs have traded well so far in 2019, including online scrapbook company Pinterest Inc., vegan burger maker Beyond Meat Inc. and video-conferencing startup Zoom Video Communications Inc. But these were much smaller startups than Uber that did not execute as many frothy fundraising rounds. Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who was on the NYSE trading floor to mark the debut, tried to calm investors by pointing to the company’s growth prospects and expansion plans. “My reaction (to the share price) is if we build and build well, shareholders will be rewarded. We’re certainly not measuring our success over a day, it really is over the years,” Khosrowshahi told Reuters. The IPO was a watershed moment for the decade-old company, which was started after its founders struggled to find a cab on a snowy night. Khosrowshahi was accompanied by a team of Uber officials at the NYSE to celebrate. Co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, who resigned in 2017 under pressure from investors, was also seen on the trading floor. The company’s road to IPO was marred by several hurdles including increased regulation in several countries and fights with its drivers over wages. Uber has also weathered controversies including revelations of a culture of sexism and bullying at Uber and U.S. Department of Justice investigations. After a series of embarrassments, Kalanick was forced to resign in 2017 by a group of investors. Uber then hired Khosrowshahi to lead the company. Uber has said it has the potential to grow not just in the cab hailing business, but also as a “superapp” to provide logistic services, such as grocery and food delivery, organizing freight transportation, and even financial services, much like Grab, its Southeast Asian counterpart. But market experts have struggled to find value in a company that has consistently posted losses, and warned that it may never be profitable. “The business is unprofitable, new entrants can enter the market, there is potential regulatory risk, and it is very price sensitive. What is there to like about this opportunity?” Robert Johnson, professor of finance at Heider College of Business, Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska said.


In new six-year business plan, Nissan eyes profits over volume

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co. plans to cut its sales target under its six-year business plan, as the company seeks to focus more on profitability than on chasing volume pursued under the leadership of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, a source close to the matter said Friday. The automaker set a sales goal of ¥16.5 trillion ($150 billion) in the fiscal year through March 2023 under the midterm business plan, up from ¥12.8 trillion in the year ended in March 2017. But Nissan will lower the target to between ¥14 trillion and ¥15 trillion, while it aims to sell about 6.2 million vehicles worldwide during that year. Nissan will outline the new targets when it releases its latest earnings Tuesday, the source said. As its U.S. sales remain sluggish, it will not be easy to meet the new targets, the source said.


U.S. says agreement will be tough at 2020 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS - AP — The final preparatory meeting for next year’s review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended Friday with deep divisions, and U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said reaching agreement at the 2020 conference “will be an incredibly difficult task.” But he told the closing session of the two-week preparatory conference that “it is a task we cannot abandon.” The NPT is the world’s single most important pact on nuclear arms, credited with preventing their spread to dozens of nations since entering into force in 1970. It has succeeded in doing this via a grand global bargain: Nations without nuclear weapons committed not to acquire them; those with them committed to move toward their elimination; and all endorsed everyone’s right to develop peaceful nuclear energy. Treaty members — every nation but India, Pakistan and North Korea, which possess nuclear weapons, and Israel, which is believed to be a nuclear power but has never acknowledged it — gather every five years to review how it is working. They try to agree on new approaches to problems, not by updating the treaty, which is difficult, but by trying to adopt a consensus final document calling for steps outside the treaty to advance its goals. Malaysia’s U.N. Ambassador Syed Mohd Hasrin Tengku Hussin, chair of the third preparatory conference, told a news conference Friday that delegates “do not agree on everything but remain committed to full implementation” of the NPT, and talked about “how to accelerate measures to a nuclear-free world.” Citing “significant challenges,” he noted that the meeting took place “at a time of increasing international tension and deteriorating relationships between those countries that possess nuclear weapons” — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France. Hussin also singled out differences between nuclear weapon and nonnuclear weapon states on disarmament. Iranian delegate Bahram Shahaboddin said in a closing statement that nonnuclear weapon states “are completely frustrated by the 50-year lack of progress on nuclear disarmament,” and continuing delaying tactics by the nuclear powers. “We must not allow this to happen again. In 2020, we must say loud and clear enough is enough,” he said, singling out the United States for spending $1.2 trillion on its nuclear arsenal and “brazenly” threatening nonnuclear weapon states with nuclear weapons. Hussin said delegates did agree on the agenda, procedures and president of the review conference — Argentina’s Ambassador to Austria Rafael Grossi — so in 2020 they can concentrate on substance. Delegates to the preparatory conference rejected two sets of recommendations for the review conference so Hussin issued a final document called “reflections of the chair.” It says “there remain many more points of convergence in the views of states parties than there are divergences.” He stressed that “continued geopolitical challenges” underline the need to maintain the NPT as the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. But he said: “There remain differing views on the implementation of the disarmament pillar, and these views need to be reconciled for there to be considered a balance as a whole” with the other pillars on nonproliferation and nuclear energy. Rebecca Johnson, a security analyst and founding president of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, said: “The real questions for 2020 are going to be about the nuclear risks and treaties under threat from a few narcissistic leaders who are pulling out of them in order to keep proliferating and deploying nuclear weapons.” “Their dangerous actions undermine not only the NPT … which we need to protect humanity from nuclear war, but climate catastrophes that threaten security for all of us,” she said.


Group of 85 migrants rescued from sinking boat by Maltese

Abstract: VALLETTA - A Maltese patrol boat rescued a group of 85 migrants late Friday night and was to bring them to Malta on Saturday morning, the Armed Forces said. The migrants, believed to be from North and East Africa, were in a sinking wooden boat, the army said. Malta has spearheaded EU efforts to share migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean among several member states after rescue ships were refused entry by Italy. The latest case involved the NGO rescue ship Alan Kurdi which picked up 60 migrants and after being refused entry in Italy was allowed to disembark the migrants at Malta on April 13 so that they could be shared between Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg. The European Union’s commissioner responsible for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, visited Malta on Tuesday and praised the island for its response to irregular migration across the Mediterranean. “Without a doubt, Malta is facing great migration challenges compared to the size of the population,” Avramopoulos said. “Overall, at the EU level we have returned to pre-crisis levels of irregular arrivals, but in Malta arrivals increased in 2018 due to search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and the volatile and precarious situation in Libya.” Malta took in 108 migrants in March after its soldiers stormed a small tanker which authorities say had been hijacked by three teenagers, one from Cote d’Ivoire and two from Guinea, who tried to force the boat to take them to Malta and not back to Libya after it had rescued them and other migrants. The three are now in a Maltese juvenile jail awaiting trial. They have pleaded not guilty. Another group of 87 migrants were also rescued by a Maltese patrol boat and brought to Malta later that month.


Roughly 180 countries agree on treaty to regulate trade in plastic waste

Abstract: GENEVA - Nearly all countries agreed on Friday to a legally binding framework to curb plastic waste, which has become a major threat to the marine environment, the United Nations said. Under the amended Basel Convention, which regulates the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes, dirty plastic deemed unsuitable for recycling will be added to the list of waste subject to controls, requiring consent by importing countries prior to export. The amendment, adopted by about 180 governments, will “make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, whilst also ensuring that its management is safer for human health and the environment,” the secretariat of the convention said in a news release. Countries will have to figure out their own ways of adhering to the accord, said Rolph Payet of the United Nations Environment Programme. Even the few nonsignatory countries, like the United States, could be affected when they ship plastic waste to countries that are on board. Japan, which along with Norway submitted the amendment proposal, has exported part of its plastic waste to China and developing countries. The latest move is likely to lead Japan to step up its efforts to recycle more of the waste inside the country. “We need to prepare domestic laws” by January 2021, when the revised treaty will come into force, Environment Ministry official Yutaka Matsuzawa told reporters after attending the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention in Geneva. About 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year, of which 8 million tons end up in the world’s oceans, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. While China generated the largest amount of plastic packaging waste in 2015, Japan was responsible for the largest amount per capita after the United States, data from the U.N. Environment Programme showed. Such waste accounts for around half of the plastic waste generated globally. Of Japan’s total plastic litter in 2017, 23 percent was recycled. But only 40 percent was processed domestically, according to the Tokyo-based Plastic Waste Management Institute. The country has relied largely on low-cost recycling in developing countries.

plastic
plastic waste
environment
oceans
pollution
u.n .
water