At palace in Tokyo, Emperor Akihito starts series of succession rites ahead of abdication

Abstract: Emperor Akihito on Tuesday took part in a rite at the Imperial Palace to report his planned abdication to his ancestors, kicking off a series of rituals and ceremonies — set to extend over months — related to the succession. The 85-year-old, set to abdicate the throne on April 30, will become the first Japanese monarch in about two centuries to step down. He will be succeeded by his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, the following day. In a ceremony Tuesday, the Emperor wore traditional attire and offered the report at sanctuaries within the Tokyo palace. The succession events involving Emperor Akihito will end with a ceremony marking his relinquishment of the throne at the end of next month, during which he is to deliver a speech. He will also again ceremonially report the abdication to his ancestors at the Imperial Palace. On March 26, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will visit the Nara Prefecture mausoleum of Emperor Jimmu, Japan’s legendary first Emperor, to report the abdication. The Emperor will also travel to the Grand Shrines of Ise in Mie Prefecture on April 18 and the Tokyo mausoleum of his father, Emperor Showa, on April 23 for the same purpose. Crown Prince Naruhito, who will ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, will report to the ancestors at a ceremony at the Imperial Palace on May 8. He will also make similar reports on Oct. 22, the day of his Enthronement Ceremony, and during the Nov. 14-15 Daijosai thanksgiving ceremony. Emperor Akihito expressed his desire to abdicate in a rare video message in August 2016, citing concern that he might not be able to fulfill official duties due to his age. In June 2017, Japan enacted one-off legislation enabling him to step down.

emperor akihito
abdication
royalty
imperial family
emperor naruhito


The teen formerly known as Prince (Oji-sama) begs parents in Japan to avoid kira-kira names

Abstract: KOFU, YAMANASHI PREF. - A teenager’s decision to change his name spawned a viral tweet and led to a broader conversation online and in the media amid a trend for Japanese parents to give their children unusual given names. The boy, who was ashamed of his given name — Oji-sama — which translates to Prince, is starting a new life as Hajime, a change which was legally endorsed by a family court last week. Hajime Akaike, 18, from the city of Kofu, said he wants his decision to encourage other people who are embarrassed by their given names or find them to be peculiar. He urged prospective parents to think twice when naming their children amid a trend among parents of giving their kids so-called kira-kira (glittery) names with unusual readings. Among such names are unconventional ones inspired by anime characters such as Pikachu — composed of the Chinese characters for “light” and “space” — and Nausicaa — a combination of “now” and “deer” — who is the protagonist in a popular 1984 anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki. “If someone dislikes his or her name, it is possible to act (to change it). I would like them to have the courage to do so,” Akaike said. Akaike said his mother had chosen the name Oji-sama to express her belief that her child was “one and only, like a prince.” But he felt that, although the name may sound cute during childhood, having it as an 80-year-old would be questionable. Akaike began to think about changing his name as a ninth-grade student. Whenever he provided his name to create membership cards, such as at karaoke outlets, shop employees thought it was a fake one and repeatedly tried to confirm its authenticity. Akaike was embarrassed when his female peers at high school burst out laughing when he introduced himself. He says he was never bullied, but that he felt increasingly miserable and decided to change his name on the occasion of his graduation from high school. The Kofu Family Court approved the application for the name change on March 5. People unhappy with their given name can seek court approval to legally change it and can do so even if their parents or others oppose the move, as long as they are at least 15 years of age. A court will approve the change only if it deems that an applicant’s current name causes “difficulty in having a social life.” His mother was unhappy with his decision but his father accepted it, telling him, “This is your life.” Akaike chose Hajime at the suggestion of a friend who is a monk. The name, meaning beginning, is to express his desire to “start anew after resetting his past life.” The Chinese characters he chose for his new name are identical to those of Hajime Kawakami’s, a deceased Marxist economist whom Akaike respects, partly for his desire to help the poor. Akaike tweeted about his decision to change his name and his post was retweeted more than 100,000 times. He received numerous requests for advice by others who felt similarly about their unusual names. ハァァーイ！！！！！ 名前変更の許可が下りましたァー！！！！！！！！ pic.twitter.com/jusyxdSHtQ — あかいけ (@akaike_hardtype) March 7, 2019 Akaike wants to make the most out of his college life, starting in April, by taking classes in social welfare and playing in a band. He said that, with his name change, he will not feel anxious about introducing himself when meeting new people and that he looks forward to taking the “first step” of this new beginning in the spring.

names
hajime akaike
social media
twitter


To wear or not to wear: Okayama police in showdown with teen rebels sporting rebellious uniforms

Abstract: Japan has its share of rebellious teenagers and one of the most popular ways for youth to demonstrate their edginess is for them to deck themselves out in provocative uniforms. Over the years, the practice of junior high school students sporting modern-day incarnations of tokkōfuku combat uniforms — long considered a symbol of motorcycle gangs — in lieu of their standard school outfits on the day of their annual graduation ceremonies has become an increasingly familiar spectacle. The custom has also long irked authorities, who have a history of demonizing the attire as a gateway to delinquency. And this year, one prefectural police unit has decided they’ve had enough. In an unusual step, the Okayama Prefectural Police has launched a full-scale crack down on students planning to don the much-maligned attire on Wednesday, when many junior high schools across the prefecture are slated to host graduation ceremonies, and are threatening to take them into custody if they dare show up publicly in the controversial get-ups. A junior high school boy in Okayama Prefecture will deck himself out in this uniform on his graduation day Wednesday. ‘I’ve betrayed my parents, made them cry and caused them lots of trouble, but I swear this will be the last unfilial thing I’ll do,’ it reads. | COURTESY OF KAZUHIRO NAKAGAWACHI “We’ve received many complaints from local residents that the sight of tokkōfuku-wearing kids massing around Okayama Station (after graduation ceremonies) is intimidating,” said Tomoyasu Yokoyama, an official with the prefecture’s education board. “Some witnesses to the scenes have said they now think Okayama is a scary, dangerous place. Others say the scenes are an embarrassment for Okayama.” But not everyone is convinced. Defenders of the youth culture movement have criticized the move by authorities as tantamount to depriving students of their right to freedom of expression. Despite the public perception of these costumes as “menacing,” closer inspection reveal that they are, in fact, anything but, stitched with a plethora of heartwarming messages for their parents, teachers and friends, they claim. Synonymous with heavy, colorful embroidery, tokkōfuku was once an indispensable companion to the bōsōzoku biker gangs that would cause headaches and disturbances by revving their motorcycles through neighborhoods late into the night. The groups’ activity peaked in the 1980s, but over the past decade or two, junior high school students interested in bad-boy looks have fused this fashion with their gakuran uniforms to create the new sartorial culture of shishū-ran (embroidered school uniforms), showing them off at their graduation ceremonies or, as is the case in Okayama, outside the school premises after the events wrap up. Officials are unsure exactly when the annual tradition in front of Okayama Station began, but Yasushi Namba, a juvenile section official of the Okayama Prefectural Police, believes it’s been around for at least 10 years. Namba said the stepped-up crackdown on the punk uniforms is meant to “nip in the bud” the possibility of children misbehaving en masse or networking with other delinquents. “We do realize they have the freedom to wear whatever they want, but when these kids wearing this stuff get together, they sometimes get carried away and engage in illegal conduct,” Namba said. Three boys in Aichi Prefecture pose on their graduation day last year. The student on the left dons a uniform sewn with a thank-you message for teachers ‘who took good care of me.’ | COURTESY OF KAZUHIRO NAKAGAWACHI He said that some of the children, unsatisfied with the mere display of their costumes, had in the past sought to kick it up a notch by climbing the venerable statue of Momotaro — a well-known hero from a Japanese folktale of the same name — set up outside the station, or vandalizing nearby flower beds. Okayama police are not alone in their crackdown on tokkōfuku. The Fukuoka Prefectural Police Department has also been taking similar steps to bring children into custody should they march down shopping streets or gather in large groups at other public spaces while wearing tokkōfuku or its spinoff, shishū-ran. The backlash against tokkōfuku and the attitudes that sometimes accompany those wearing it has even emerged from unexpected quarters. Two junior high school girls in Okayama Prefecture pose in front of their school on their graduation day last year. | COURTESY OF KAZUHIRO NAKAGAWACHI Iconic rocker Eikichi Yazawa, too, released a statement on his website in January saying that he would not tolerate “acts of intimidation” by some of his most hardcore fans who, among other things, sport tokkōfuku or brandish flags at his concert. “Tokkōfuku is so inevitably associated with biker gangs or yakuza that we can’t really condone 15-year-old kids swaggering around wearing it,” Namba said. Kyoto-based freelance tokkōfuku-maker Kazuhiro Nakagawachi, however, has condemned moves by police. The industry veteran said few of the custom-made uniforms in question are actually what authorities claim. “I could understand their argument that these costumes are intimidating if they were stitched with all these violent phrases or messages, but if you look at them closely, they are all about ‘thank you my sensei (teacher), Dad and Mom for everything’ or something like this. Some kids even write ‘Daddy and Mommy,'” Nakagawachi said, adding that poems and messages he often sews onto the garments are all custom-ordered by children themselves. “How could that be ‘intimidating’? It’s just a bunch of kids sporting showy clothes and having fun,” he said. Nakagawachi said that while he has nothing against police cracking down on actual misbehavior, taking them into custody solely based on what they are wearing “borders on an infringement of their rights to express themselves.” “They shouldn’t be judged based on how they look,” he said. “Deep down, many of them are good kids.”

tokkōfuku
youth culture
fashion
timeout
bosozoku


Lose your wallet or cash in Okinawa? It's more than likely you'll get them back, police data shows

Abstract: Lost wallets or hard cash reported to the Okinawa Prefectural Police last year had a higher chance of being returned than in the preceding four years, earning praise from foreign tourists who got their money back. The police said that ¥203.7 million in lost cash was reported in Okinawa in 2018. Of this amount, ¥138.28 million, or 67.9 percent, made its way back to owners — the best return rate since 2014. The five-year average for successfully returning lost money was about 66 percent, with a low of 64.8 percent in 2017. Money returned to owners the year after it was handed in to police was not included in the statistics. Some foreign tourists who retrieved their wallets lauded the practice of returning lost money, according to the prefectural police’s finance division. The five-year average return rate for goods, however, was only 36.4 percent due to the difficulty of finding the owners. In many cases, the owners simply gave up on retrieving their belongings. Lost money was taken to police in various condition, such as inside a wallet or envelope or just hard cash, according to the finance division. An elementary school student once handed in a ¥10 coin to a police box. The Tomigusuku Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Naha Airport, handles the most lost items among 14 police stations in the prefecture. Last year, it dealt with 43,427 cases of lost property and ¥3 million to ¥4 million in lost money. “We can identify an individual who dropped a wallet by checking the person’s driver’s license and other items in it, making it possible to return it,” said Satoshi Kinjo, head of the police station’s finance division. “But it is hard to find the person when the cash was handed in on its own.” Nonetheless, some people pick up hard cash or other items and take them to the police even though there is a chance it may be impossible to find the owner. “The lost item may be an important or memorable thing for people who dropped or left it behind,” Kinjo said. The law on lost property stipulates that cash reported to police must be kept for three months. During that time, officials in each police station’s finance division look for the owners and try to get in touch with them. After three months, the ownership will be transferred to the individual who picked up the cash. If the individual doesn’t want the money, it ends up in the prefectural coffers. Last year, Okinawa police logged a record number of reports of lost items, at 168,220. Wallets were the most common item, at 9,852, followed by 7,360 driver’s licenses, 7,339 ATM cards and 6,823 mobile phones. The increase has been attributed to the growing numbers of tourists and openings of big commercial facilities. Some of the more unusual items included an ihai (memorial tablet) inscribed with the posthumous Buddhist name of a deceased person, and divorce papers.


Japan decorates former Pentagon chief William Cohen for strengthening alliance with U.S.

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Japan on Monday recognized former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen for his contribution to strengthening the bilateral security alliance. In a ceremony in Washington, Japanese Ambassador to the United States Shinsuke Sugiyama presented the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun — the third-highest order bestowed by the government — to Cohen, who served as Pentagon chief from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Sugiyama praised Cohen for leading the revision of the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines in 1997, as well as his leadership in bilateral defense ministerial meetings and “two-plus-two” security talks involving the defense and foreign ministers of the two countries. Cohen underscored the significance of the Japan-U.S. alliance and called Tokyo the “anchor” of Washington’s security relations throughout the Asia-Pacific, a region that faces challenges such as China’s rising assertiveness and military buildup. The current chairman and chief executive officer of the Cohen Group, a Washington consulting firm, thanked Japan for hosting U.S. forces with what he described as the “generosity of the Japanese people.” Cohen dismissed the view that maintaining alliances and stationing American troops in Japan and other allies is a burden to the United States. “It’s one of the greatest benefits we have,” he said. “We have Japan as our key ally in the Asia-Pacific region, or what we now call the Indo-Pacific region.”

pentagon
william cohen
awards
u.s .
u.s. military
u.s.-japan relations


Finance Minister Taro Aso ponders tariffs in spat with South Korea over wartime labor

Abstract: Finance Minister Taro Aso said tariffs were among the measures Japan could take against South Korea if a dispute over wartime labor worsens between the major trading partners. In response to a lawmaker’s questions in the Diet, Aso said that matters had not reached that stage yet, but halting remittances or stopping visa issuance could also be considered if more damage were to be caused. His comments came after the Sankei newspaper reported Sunday that South Korean lawyers were considering an attempt to seize the assets of Japanese companies in Europe. Fractious ties between the two countries have turned hostile over a series of lawsuits regarding wartime labor filed against Japanese companies whose roots can be traced back to the 1910-1945 period when Japan controlled the Korean Peninsula. Japan says all claims relating to the colonial period were settled under an economic cooperation pact attached to a 1965 treaty that normalized ties, which was accompanied by a payment of $300 million, and that South Korea should be responsible for any compensation. “There are various possible retaliatory measures, but I think negotiations are going on and we have not reached that point,” Aso said. “If things progress and there is more damage, we will be at a different stage.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said the 1965 pact between the two countries doesn’t prevent Koreans from suing Japanese firms and the decisions of the courts should be respected. The Supreme Court in Seoul ruled in November that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. must pay between 100 million won and 150 million won ($88,500 to $133,000) to each of five plaintiffs who were forced to work in a military factory, a month after finding Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. liable in a similar case. There are more than a dozen other lawsuits in the pipeline, affecting about 70 Japanese companies, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Jiji Press reported on the weekend that tariffs on about 100 South Korean products, cutting the supply of some Japanese goods to South Korea, and tightening the issuance of visas were among the measures Tokyo was considering if Seoul sells assets of Japanese companies that have been seized during the dispute.

taro aso
tariffs
south korea
wartime labor
wwii
history
south korea-japan relations


Russia begins military drill on disputed islands off Hokkaido

Abstract: MOSCOW - The Russian military on Tuesday launched an exercise on Etorofu and Kunashiri, two of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido claimed by Japan, according to the Interfax news agency. Some 500 troops from machine gun and artillery units participated in the drill, which included practicing how to prevent an enemy force from landing, the Russian news agency said. The exercise involved various types of military equipment, including T-72 tanks and mortars. Moscow is strengthening its military capabilities on the four disputed islands, treating them as a major military foothold in Russia’s Far East. Last week, Russian authorities said 350 troops took part in a drill on the Kuril Islands, which comprise an island chain called Chishima in Japan, and the four disputed islands.

northern territories
russia-japan relations
south kuril islands


Toyota and JAXA plan to send rover to the moon in 2029, with space inside for four astronauts

Abstract: Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will jointly develop a rover to be sent to the moon in 2029, amid fierce global competition to explore Earth’s natural satellite. Toyota unveiled the project with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to build a rover that can be powered by fuel cells and enable astronauts to live inside it for a certain period without wearing space suits, in what would be the first such development in the world. JAXA is planning to send manned missions to the moon between 2029 and 2034. “It is the greatest joy for engineers to be involved in projects on the surface of the moon. I’m really excited,” Shigeki Terashi, an executive vice president of Toyota, told a symposium held by JAXA in Tokyo. The rover is planned to be 6 meters long, 5.2 meters wide and 3.8 meters high, with a living space of 13 square meters for up to four people, according to their study. The tie-up comes at a time of growing international competition in lunar exploration. The United States is planning to build an outpost high above the moon, while China announced in January it had become the first country to successfully land an unmanned probe on the dark side of the satellite. Last month, Israel launched its first lunar lander in a mission that was privately funded. JAXA, which succeeded in February in having the Hayabusa2 probe touch down on a distant asteroid, is now focusing on using the technology to achieve a controlled touchdown on the Moon’s surface. It is also planning to land an unmanned probe in the 2020s among other projects, before sending the rover to the Moon on an American rocket in 2029.


New website of Japan's Prime Minister's Office takes its cue from Trump White House

Abstract: The new website of the Prime Minister’s Office, which has become less wordy and uses more pictures after a recent design overhaul, resembles the site of the White House. The Prime Minister’s Office implemented the change on March 2, making the Japanese version of the website easier to use for smartphone users. For the renewal, the office took into consideration the websites of foreign governments. The office put emphasis on visual appearance, an official said, adding that no major change in content was made. The top page with its image of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is very similar in structure to that of the White House’s website , which features an image of U.S. President Donald Trump. The two websites also share features such as menu buttons on the top left and search boxes on the top right. The new page that lists the past and current Japanese Cabinets is different from a similar page before the renewal in that Abe’s current Cabinet is placed at the top, with a stress on Abe’s long tenure as prime minister. The changes were made without any political intentions, the Cabinet Public Relations Office said.

prime minister 's office
white house
shinzo abe
internet


Japan marks 500 days until 2020 Tokyo Olympics with events and official sport pictograms

Abstract: Japan on Tuesday marked 500 days to go until next year’s Tokyo Olympics formally begin as the local organizing committee unveiled a set of pictograms representing the different sports and competitions to be contested at the 2020 Summer Games. Also Tuesday, Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, revealed that the 2020 torch relay will start at Fukushima Prefecture’s J-Village, a sports facility that was used as a base for workers heading to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in the initial stages of the 2011 meltdown crisis. The choice is designed to underline reconstruction efforts in the Tohoku region, which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, leading to meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Organizers revealed the 50 Olympic pictograms at an event in Tokyo, which was joined by two medal-winning Japanese athletes. A number of events were hosted in the capital and surrounding areas to mark the 500-day milestone and set the mood for the games. The pictograms, which have become part of every Olympics’ unique livery, were first introduced in 1964, the last time Tokyo hosted the event. The pictograms for the 2020 Games are based on the 20 that were used at the previous Tokyo Olympics. Shota Iizuka, a member of Japan’s Rio Olympic silver-winning men’s 4×100-meter relay team, said the pictogram representing his sport shows “the ideal starting angle and looks fast.” Kiyo Shimizu, a gold medalist in the women’s karate kata event at last year’s Asian Games, said the karate pictogram looks “cool and realistic,” and struck the same pose as the icon for cameras. The organizing committee collaborated with the International Olympic Committee and sport governing bodies in creating the 50 icons. A team of some 10 people, including graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura, started developing the pictograms in June 2017. Also on Tuesday, the organizing committee launched a project that involves a promotional bus traveling across the three northeastern prefectures that were badly hit by the 2011 disasters, another part of Tokyo 2020’s continuing efforts to demonstrate the games as being the “reconstruction Olympics.” The bus will spend a few days in Tokyo before heading to Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. Softball, the first competition of the Tokyo Games, will be staged in Fukushima Prefecture on July 22, two days before the opening ceremony. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will have its opening and closing ceremonies on July 24 and Aug. 9, respectively, will feature a record 339 events. Of the 33 sports, four — karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing — are being staged for the first time, while the dual baseball and softball tournaments return after being dropped from the core Olympic program after 2008. Meanwhile, preparations to stage the competition for some 11,000 athletes from around the world are making progress. Most of the venues were 50 to 70 percent complete by the end of January as the construction efforts sped up ahead of test events that will kick off this summer. The games’ centerpiece, the new National Stadium located in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, is poised to be completed in November. Construction workers finished building the iron framework of the venue’s trademark wooden roof in February. The organizers said in January they will begin accepting ticket applications from Japanese fans as early as this April.

2020 tokyo olympics
olympics
2020 tokyo paralympics


Shrinking Wakayama village cuts assembly to five, tying Okinawa council for fewest members in Japan

Abstract: WAKAYAMA - A mountainous village in Wakayama Prefecture will have the joint-smallest assembly in the country, represented by only five members, it said Tuesday, in the latest sign of the nation’s declining population. The assembly of the village of Kitayama passed an ordinance to cut the number of assembly members from six to five, effective in December when it is slated to hold an election. It will share the title of the village with the fewest representatives in Japan with the village of Kitadaito in Okinawa Prefecture. One seat has been unfilled since 2016, after a member stepped down to become village mayor. “There have been no immediate issues with just five representatives. Our verdict represents the reality we are facing today of a decreasing population,” said Kenya Katsuragi, one of its members. “We have settled on this decision after extensive discussions on the pros and cons of lowering the number of representatives,” Manabu Kubo, who chairs the assembly, said after it enacted the ordinance. “We may revert back to six members if the population increases again.” The village has a population of 440 and is located in the mountains bordering Mie and Nara prefectures. It is known to be the country’s only exclave, isolated from any other village or city in Wakayama.

wakayama
population
kitayama
local government
rural life


Canadian charged with smuggling record haul of stimulant drugs into Japan worth ¥1.8 billion

Abstract: CHIBA - A Canadian man was charged Monday with attempting to smuggle about 30 kilograms of stimulant drugs through Narita airport, the biggest amount ever seized by Japanese customs authorities from a passenger’s luggage. Jonathan Isabelle, 21, who was arrested on his arrival at the international airport near Tokyo on Feb. 17, was indicted on a charge of violating the Stimulants Control Law, according to police, Tokyo customs and prosecutors. The drugs, discovered by a sniffer dog, had an estimated street value of ¥1.8 billion ($16 million). The Narita branch of the customs office quoted Isabelle as saying he brought two suitcases handed to him at a Canadian airport by an individual who had asked him to take them to Japan, and he agreed to do so as he wanted a reward but did not know what he was carrying. A similar quantity of stimulant drugs was seized at Haneda airport in Tokyo in April last year, but the amount Isabelle had was 400 grams more, according to the authorities.

records
drugs
narita airport
customs
canada


Event held in Taiwan to mark eighth anniversary of 3/11 earthquake and tsunami

Abstract: TAIPEI - A memorial ceremony was held in Taipei on Monday to mark the eighth anniversary of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which devastated northeastern Japan, and express gratitude for the assistance provided by Taiwan. Around 80 people attended the event held at the Taipei office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official ties. The ceremony began with the observation of a minute of silence at 1:46 p.m., the local time when the quake occurred on March 11, 2011. The earthquake triggered huge tsunami waves that engulfed the six-reactor Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, causing core meltdowns and explosions in the following days. Mikio Numata, the head of the office, said the equivalent of ¥20 billion in donations sent by Taiwanese following the disasters was a huge boost to the spirits of people in the Tohoku region. “There was already a special bond between Japan and Taiwan before the disaster,” Numata said. “The northeastern Japan earthquake made us see it more clearly.” Numata said the disaster areas are on their way to recovery in a gradual and steady way, citing the increase in foreign tourists visiting Tohoku. Describing Taiwan as “a good friend” of Japan, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association President Chiou I-jen told the same ceremony that the perseverance of the Japanese people and reconstruction efforts of the Japanese government have served as an inspiration for all mankind. “As a good friend of Japan, we are more than happy to work with you,” Chiou said. “We might not be able to do much and we might not be powerful enough, but please remember Taiwan is your friend and we are always there for you.” Naruyuki Ando, a director of the Taipei branch of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Japanese people will never forget the loss of innocent lives and property in the 2011 disaster. Nor will they forget the support and encouragement their Taiwanese friends have provided. Ando said that while people living outside the disaster areas have returned to their normal lives, many in the Tohoku region still live in temporary housing. Before they return to normal life, the affected people still need help and support. Thanking Taiwan on behalf of Japanese living in Taiwan, Ando pledged to commit his association to advancing bilateral relations, saying the 2011 disaster strengthened the friendly relationship with Taiwan. “Taiwan makes us see friends in need are friends indeed,” he said. Takeshi Yagi, an executive of the local Japanese chamber, said the event was held to remember not only lives lost in the 2011 disaster but also Taiwan’s support and encouragement. The event closed with participants from Japan and Taiwan presenting wreaths of white flowers.

taiwan
anniversaries
disasters
great east japan earthquake
3.11


U.S. and China within 'weeks' of accord but deal not guaranteed, says official

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Washington’s top trade official on Tuesday said the United States and China were likely within “weeks” of ending their trade negotiations — but a successful outcome was not assured. “Our hope is that we’re in the final weeks of an agreement but I’m not predicting one,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in Senate testimony. “We can’t predict success at this point but we are working hard.” Eight months into their sprawling trade war, U.S. and Chinese officials have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that they have much to do before reaching a final outcome. The two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, but Lighthizer on Tuesday declined to state publicly whether Washington would lift the tariffs it has so-far imposed if both sides reach a deal. U.S. officials are demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese industrial policy — including an end to massive state intervention in markets, subsidies and the alleged theft of American technology — and insist that any agreement be enforceable. Lighthizer refused to say whether the United States planned to lift any existing tariffs as part of the current talks, but said Washington would reserve the right to impose them should China fail to keep up its end of the bargain. “We have to maintain the right to be able to — whatever happens to the current tariffs — to raise tariffs in situations where there’s violations of the agreement,” he said. “That’s the core. If we don’t do that, then none of it makes any difference.” Democrats have accused President Donald Trump of going soft in the trade talks and moving toward a superficial agreement rather than tackling long-standing problems in trade with China. But Lighthizer said Tuesday the agreement would either have teeth “or the president won’t agree to the agreement.” During four rounds of shuttle diplomacy since December, officials announced that China had agreed to resume or increase purchase of US agricultural goods, with Trump announcing he would likely seal any deal at a “signing summit” with Chinese President Xi Jinping late this month. But the White House has since said there is no date yet for such a meeting.

china
trade
robert lighthizer
trade war
tariffs
donald trump
u.s .


Drones retain their buzz at Japanese trade show, with industrial uses expected to bolster growth

Abstract: CHIBA - With the market for business-use unmanned aircraft looking promising in coming years, a large-scale drone expo that kicked off Wednesday showed more companies are eager to get involved with the industry. Companies ranging from the small to the powerful are showing off their business solutions using drones at Japan Drone, an annual exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba that features more than 200 firms and runs until Friday. Telecom giant KDDI Corp. is showcasing its “smart” drone platform connected to KDDI’s mobile communication networks across the country, which allows a drone to navigate a wider swath of territory via remote control. “One merit of using our service is that drones can be remote controlled through our communication networks anywhere in Japan, unlike most drones exhibited at this event, which tap Wi-Fi networks with limited coverage,” said So Yamazaki, a KDDI official. KDDI will launch the service to corporate customers in June and lists surveillance, inspection, land survey and analysis as the envisioned applications. Industrial usage is sure to grow in the coming years, said Yamazaki. One particular area he personally has high expectations for is the surveillance of factories, stadiums and other facilities, as this spans a wide range of industries. KDDI’s rival NTT Docomo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile phone carrier in terms of subscribers, is also displaying its new drone business, which is scheduled to debut this year. “We are looking not only at domestic potential but also overseas,” said Shinji Okazaki, manager of the drone business development office at NTT Docomo. Like KDDI, NTT Docomo provides a packaged solution that uses unmanned aerial vehicles that can connect to its mobile communication networks, provides the machines and software and applies for flight permission. The carrier will also launch an inspection service for solar panels. The presence of more large firms at the expo indicates that business opportunities for drones are growing, said Takashi Nasu, chief operating officer at Blue innovation Co., which provides drone solutions for purposes such as indoor infrastructure inspection and security surveillance. The Tokyo-based company also provides drone landing ports, which have been used for drone delivery experiments in mountainous areas. Drones can land more accurately if they have visual recognition of the ports, and these spots could be critical hubs for logistics services in depopulated areas, Nasu said. While many companies are pitching industry-use drones, Drone no Yado, which launched last October, is seeking to tap drones’ entertainment value. Next month, it will offer nonexperienced drone users the chance to stay overnight with other enthusiasts to practice drone photography and videography. The plan will see people stay at an inn in the hot spring area of Yuhuin, Oita Prefecture, and also comes with training sessions to teach them how to operate the drones and edit the images they take. “We are inviting people who purely want to enjoy taking aerial images,” said official Tetsuya Sonoda. The overnight plan costs ¥35,000, he said. In the future, the service may be pitched to non-Japanese as “drone tourism,”said Kaz Naito, who manages the inn. The overall business drone market in Japan is projected to grow to ¥93.1 billion in fiscal 2018, up 85 percent from the previous year, according to the 2019 edition of the Drone Business Research Report by Impress Research Institute, the think tank of media company Impress Corp. That would jump to ¥507.3 billion in fiscal 2024. The biggest chunk of the service market growth between fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2020 is expected to come from the agricultural sector, which uses drones to spray agrochemicals and fertilizers. From fiscal 2022 onward, infrastructure inspection is expected to be the No. 1 driver of market growth, followed by agriculture and logistics. “Much of Japan’s infrastructure is aging because it was built during the period of rapid economic development (from the mid-1950s to the early-1970s),” said Daisuke Kono, a researcher at Impress Research Institute. “The government and companies began surveying facilities as experiments or for business, with hopes running high for more efficient inspections.”


T-Mobile's proposed $25.5 billion Sprint deal draws flak from U.S. Democrats concerned about prices

Abstract: WEDNESDAY - T-Mobile US Inc.’s proposed $26.5 billion purchase of Sprint Corp. came under congressional scrutiny for the second time in as many months, with Democrats warning that the merger between two of the nation’s top four carriers could lead to higher prices for consumers. “I’m deeply skeptical that consolidation is the path forward” to lower prices and more competition, said Rep. David Cicilline, of Rhode Island, the Democratic chairman of the House antitrust subcommittee, as he opened the panel’s hearing Tuesday. T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure appeared before the panel to defend their bid to combine the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers. The companies say that together they could build an advanced 5G network, and form a stronger competitor to mobile leaders AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Legere on Tuesday said the companies plan “a faster, broader, deeper network that is truly nationwide.” The new company will win customers “through lower prices and better services,” Legere said. Claims of benefits from the merger should be viewed with “healthy skepticism,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, of New York, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “I am concerned about any merger that would significantly increase the concentration in a market that is already highly concentrated,” Nadler said. The combined company “may no longer have any market-based incentive to lower prices and to offer pro-consumer policies once it becomes as large as the other two carriers.” The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission last week paused its review of the merger, adding to a battle for approval that has extended for more than eight months at the agency. The FCC said more time’s needed to examine T-Mobile’s proposal for wireless in-home broadband. The deal needs clearance from the FCC and from antitrust authorities at the Justice Department. Antritrust enforcement is facing heated debate, with critics contending that officials responsible for investigating mergers have fallen short, leaving large companies insulated from competition. While many lawyers and economists dispute that notion, some proponents have pushed the idea to center stage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, has proposed breaking up companies like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. In February, Rep. Mike Doyle, the Pennsylvania Democrat who’s chairman of the House communications subcommittee, used a hearing to warn that the merger would bring market concentration to “a level that raises lots of red flags.” Members of Congress don’t have a direct role in merger reviews, but seek to influence authorities who directly vet the deals, such as antitrust officials and FCC commissioners. T-Mobile and Sprint each have foreign owners that would have significant roles in the combined entity. Deutsche Telekom AG, based in Bonn, would own 42 percent of the new company, while Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. would own 27 percent.

t-mobile
sprint
democrats
congress
softbank
u.s .


Macron on trip to woo East Africa amid China's business expansion on continent

Abstract: LALIBELA, ETHIOPIA - President Emmanuel Macron visited former French colony Djibouti on Tuesday with promises of a “respectful” partnership in the face of growing African indebtedness to China, which is fast expanding its foothold on the continent. Both Paris and Beijing — as well as Japan and the United States — have military bases in East Africa’s smallest country due to its strategic location along a key shipping lane leading to the Suez Canal. Macron described Djibouti, the last colony to gain independence from France — in 1977 — as a “historical partner and strategic ally,” and “the point of entry” to the Horn of Africa region. Its geographic importance forms the foundation of Djibouti’s hopes of becoming a major trading hub. Two years ago, it inaugurated its newest and biggest port — part of an infrastructure expansion, partly funded by China, that includes three other ports and a railroad to the capital of landlocked Ethiopia. Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh’s administration hopes to turn the country into a “new Dubai” competing for business with overcrowded African ports such as Mombasa in Kenya. Sandwiched between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, tiny Djibouti is a crucial part of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” global infrastructure initiative along what has been dubbed the “Maritime Silk Road.” It allows China to reach Africa and Europe via the Indian Ocean. The project has seen Beijing lend developing countries in Asia and Africa huge amounts of money to develop infrastructure and ease trade. But the International Monetary Fund has sounded the alarm over an increase of Djibouti’s public debt from 50 percent of GDP in 2014 to 85 percent in 2017. The U.S.-based China Africa Research Initiative in 2017 estimated Djibouti’s debt to China at some $1.3 billion. “I would not want international investments to weaken the sovereignty of our partners,” Macron said Tuesday, in a reference to China’s growing African presence. “French companies are able to offer a respectful partnership,” the president added. Guelleh, who described himself as “a great friend of China” when he visited President Xi Jinping in 2017, told Macron: “There are opportunities for French companies, particularly in the field of infrastructure. “Our country is open, I have not lost hope that France can boost its investments in Djibouti.” Later Tuesday, Macron visited the remote Ethiopian town of Lalibela with its renowned 13th-century church complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site. He promised to “finance and assist the work with the Ethiopians to restore these churches” threatened by erosion and temporarily covered by vast metal-and-tarpaulin structures much hated by locals. Macron is scheduled to attend a state dinner in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. On Wednesday, he will meet leaders of the African Union before making the first-ever trip to Kenya by a French president. On Thursday, he will attend the One Planet Summit in Nairobi on reversing climate change. Rwanda meanwhile has invited Macron to attend the 25th anniversary of the country’s 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 of its citizens. Rwandan authorities have long accused France of complicity in the massacre. Macron has not indicated whether he will attend the event on April 7 in the capital Kigali.

east africa
africa
china
emmanuel macron
france
belt and road
u.s .


Big Japanese firms offer smaller wage hikes as economy wobbles

Abstract: Big firms offered smaller pay increases at annual wage talks Wednesday as the economy sputters, tempering hopes that domestic consumption will offset external risks to growth. Major firms are set to raise wages for a sixth straight year as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept up the pressure on businesses to boost pay in an effort to beat the deflation that has dogged Japan for nearly two decades. But as economic growth slows, firms have grown wary about offering big pay increases because that commits them to higher fixed costs at a time of uncertainty when company profits are leveling off. Results of the shuntō (spring labor offensive) talks between management and unions — announced by blue chips in sectors such as cars and electronics — set the tone for wage hikes across the nation, which have implications for consumer spending and inflation. “I worry the momentum toward wage hikes may weaken as underlying inflation remains weak and there is a strong sense of uncertainty,” said Hisashi Yamada, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. “Uncertainty is high on the external outlook such as the U.S.-China trade war and Europe’s unstable politics. On top of that, a national sales tax is scheduled to increase in October.” A slowdown in the global economy, the U.S.-China trade war and trepidation over the final shape of a deal to seal the U.K.’s exit from the European Union have sharply increased strains on businesses worldwide. Faced with the heightened uncertainty about the growth outlook, cautious Japanese firms usually prefer to offer one-off bonuses and other benefits depending on annual profits. They tend to focus more on the annual total sum payment than fixed base salaries, which will determine retirement payment and pension benefits. Toyota Motor Corp., a bellwether and Japan’s largest automaker, on Wednesday offered a pay raise of ¥10,700 on average, down ¥1,000 from last year, domestic media reported, underscoring growing pressure on businesses. Electronics giants such as Panasonic Corp. offered a base pay raise of ¥1,000, down ¥500 from last year. A survey by the Institute of Labour Administration, a think tank, predicted wage growth will slow to 2.15 percent this year, pulling further away from the 17-year peak of 2.38 percent in 2015, despite hefty cash piles at corporations. A Reuters Corporate Survey last month found a slim majority — 51 percent of firms polled — saw wages rising around 1.5 to 2 percent this year, versus last year’s 2.26 percent average across all Japanese industries. In the coming fiscal year from April 1, Abe’s government will start to implement work-style reform to curb Japan’s notoriously long work hours. The reform also includes “equal pay for equal work” aimed at narrowing the pay gap between full-time employees and contract workers or part-timers, and raising the retirement age to cope with the aging population. The move has shifted the focus of both unions and management away from pay hikes, dashing policymakers’ hopes of stoking a virtuous cycle of a tight job market boosting wages to stimulate consumption and spur inflation to the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target. Japan’s unions tend not to be so aggressive in pressing their demands as those in the West because they attach greater importance to job security and retain a sense of company loyalty. Dwindling union membership has also deprived unionists of bargaining powers, with companies hiring more nonunionized part-timers and nonregular employees, who represent nearly 40 percent of workers. “At this year’s shuntō, both companies and unions don’t seem to put greater emphasis on wage hikes than before,” said Kiichi Murashima, economist at Citigroup Global Markets Japan. “Instead, they are considering a wider range of issues like pay disparity, labor productivity and work-life balance.”


U.S. House intel panel chief Adam Schiff has 'profound concern' over Huawei role in U.S. 5G networks

Abstract: WASHINGTON - House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said he has “profound concern” about Chinese networking giant Huawei Technologies Co. and the security and privacy threats that integrating its equipment across 5G mobile networks would incur. Schiff said Tuesday he believes the company would be unable to refuse Chinese government requests for data that are accessible through its technology. “I have profound concerns about Huawei and do believe that Huawei is a national security threat,” Schiff told reporters during a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “Particularly if it becomes integral and integrated into our 5G network, or that of our allies.” The Trump administration has told Germany that intelligence-sharing could be limited if it proceeds with allowing Huawei to build Germany’s new mobile-internet systems. The California Democrat was asked about a potential executive order to stop the company from selling advanced telecommunications equipment in the U.S. Schiff said his committee previously investigated Huawei 11 years ago and had concern then “based on what we were able to learn.” “Those concerns have only heightened over the years since,” he said. “While much of this I can’t discuss publicly, you know — I can say this. Huawei is not in a position to say ‘no’ to the Chinese government. It owes its existence and livelihood and future profitability to staying in the favor of the Chinese government.” Schiff said that means if data are routed through China, or data are accessible through Huawei technology, “and the Chinese government asks for that — with no showing, no probable cause, no interest in privacy, not nothing — Huawei must comply.” “And that is not a circumstance I think the United States or its allies should willingly put themselves in,” Schiff added.

adam schiff
huawei
5g
mobile networks
china
u.s .
cybersecurity
donald trump


Dollar a tad weaker around ¥111.30 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar was marginally weaker around ¥111.30 in late Tokyo trading Wednesday, amid a growing wait-and-see mood ahead of a British parliamentary vote later in the day on Britain’s exit from the European Union without a deal. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.32-32, down from ¥111.36-36 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1279-1280, up from $1.1266-1266, and at ¥125.56-57, up from ¥125.47-47. The dollar fell below ¥111.20 in the midmorning as the Nikkei stock average expanded losses. But the greenback rose back above ¥111.30 in afternoon trading on buying on a dip, traders said. In late hours, players turned inactive, waiting to see whether the no-deal Brexit will be voted for or down, a domestic bank official said. An official of a major securities firm said investors are rather paying attention to how long Britain’s departure from the EU will be put off, as they strongly believe that the no-deal exist will be rejected. Active trading was held in check prior to announcements of economic indicators in the United States on Wednesday, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.


Tokyo stocks take sharp downturn on profit-taking

Abstract: Stocks fell back sharply on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, hit by selling to cash in gains following the previous day’s surge. The 225-issue Nikkei average gave up 213.45 points, or 0.99 percent, to end at 21,290.24. Tuesday, the key market gauge soared 378.60 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 13.41 points, or 0.84 percent, at 1,592.07, after climbing 24.04 points the previous day. The market got off to a weak start and accelerated its downswing around midmorning as investors stepped up profit-taking in view of sluggish movements of Chinese equities, market sources said. In the afternoon, stocks resisted dropping further, although they remained deep in negative territory. Small-lot selling by individual players hit wide-ranging issues, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co., pointed out that the U.K. Parliament’s rejection on Tuesday of Prime Minister Theresa May’s revised Brexit deal weighed down the market, as the move made murkier the situation surrounding the U.K.’s proposed exit from the European Union. Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., said that the market showed some resilience in the afternoon, with “long-term players seeing no reason to sell.” The market’s downside was supported by hopes for the Bank of Japan’s purchase of exchange-traded funds, Ichikawa added. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,648 to 411 in the TSE’s first section, while 75 issues were unchanged. Volume inched down to 1.225 billion shares from Tuesday’s 1.231 billion shares. Control equipment maker Omron Corp. dived 5.96 percent, falling an easy prey to profit takers following its recent spurt. Other big losers included electronic parts supplier Murata Manufacturing Co., chipmaking equipment maker Tokyo Electron, mobile phone carrier KDDI Corp. and clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. By contrast, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., a supplier of semiconductor-related materials, attracted purchases on its announcement of own-share buybacks. Also bought were Japan Tobacco Inc. and advertising agency Dentsu Inc. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average plummeted 280 points to finish at 21,050.

stocks
tokyo stock exchange
nikkei
topix


Nissan deals fresh blow to U.K. by stopping Infiniti production at Sunderland plant amid Brexit

Abstract: LONDON - Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. will stop production of its upscale Infiniti models in the U.K. as part of a plan to withdraw the brand from Western Europe and focus on North America and China. Production of the Q30 sedan and QX30 crossover models will cease by July at Nissan’s Sunderland plant in northeast England, the carmaker said Tuesday. It’s the second blow within weeks for the U.K.’s biggest car plant, after Nissan abandoned a plan to make the X-Trail sport utility vehicle there, citing uncertainty over Brexit as a factor. “In anticipation of its planned withdrawal from Western Europe in early 2020, the company is working to find alternative opportunities for any employees who would be affected,” Infiniti said in a statement. Operations in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia won’t be affected. Infiniti’s retreat from Europe marks an end to an 11-year effort to establish the brand in one of the world’s most competitive markets for luxury cars and the home of premium marques including Volkswagen AG’s Audi, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG’s namesake brand. Last year, Nissan’s deliveries of Infiniti vehicles plunged 34 percent to just 10,958 units. That compares with Audi’s 2018 total of 700,674 vehicles, BMW’s 778,343 and Mercedes’ 838,358 in the European Union, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Even Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus sold 44,961 vehicles in EU countries last year, up 2.7 percent from 2017. Sunderland made about 12,000 Infinitis last year, a sliver of its more than 442,000 total units produced. The two British-made subcompact models will disappear from the brand’s lineup globally, a spokesman said. Nissan will electrify its luxury division’s portfolio from 2021 onward and discontinue diesel offerings to focus on its SUV lineup in North America and unveil five new models in China. Car companies are streamlining their portfolios and production sites amid growing global pressures, including trade wars, the costly shift to electric cars and weakening markets. The U.K. has been particularly hard-hit, with Brexit adding another drag. Honda Motor Co. announced last month it will shut its plant in the U.K., while Jaguar Land Rover is cutting about 4,500 jobs, most of them in Britain. Nissan’s Sunderland plant employs more than 7,000 people, and 250 of them are focused on the Infiniti models, a spokesman said. “The company will place more focus on its SUV lineup in North America, bring five new vehicles to China over the next five years, work to improve quality of sales and residual value, and realize more synergies with Nissan Motor Company,” Infiniti said.


Gmail and Google Drive services temporarily disrupted in Japan and globally

Abstract: Google Inc.’s Gmail and Google Drive temporarily experienced service disruptions Wednesday as part of a worldwide outage —including in Japan. The company said at around noon that Gmail users began reporting having trouble both attaching and accessing attachments, saving email drafts and sending emails. Google Drive users were similarly experiencing trouble uploading and downloading files. Google Drive is a file storage and share service. The multinational technology firm later said that the issues had been resolved. “We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support,” Google said in a statement released on its website. According to downdetector.com , a site that keeps track of outages, some of the hardest hit countries based on the number of status reports were Japan, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia. It is not immediately clear how many users were affected by the service disruption.


Kobe Steel hit with ¥100 million fine over data fabrication that continued for four decades

Abstract: A Tokyo court ordered Kobe Steel Ltd. on Wednesday to pay a ¥100 million ($898,000) fine for fabricating product quality data at its domestic plants. The Tachikawa Summary Court found that three of the steelmaker’s plants had sent about 300 falsified product certificates to clients over a year through September 2017, even though the products failed to meet clients’ specifications. Kobe Steel was accused of violating the law preventing unfair competition by fabricating product quality data. The fine was in line with the amount sought by prosecutors, who claimed during the trial that Kobe Steel “damaged the credibility of made-in-Japan products” by continuing the practice for more than 40 years. The steelmaker’s defense team had sought a lenient ruling, arguing the company did not intend to secure improper financial gains through the practice. “We are fully committed to implementing measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again and will introduce drastic reforms to win back trust,” Kobe Steel said in a statement. The company’s report on the data fabrication scandal revealed in March last year that the aluminum and copper products in question had been supplied to over 600 firms at home and abroad and used to manufacture bullet trains and aircraft, among other products.


Honda recalls 1.1 million cars in U.S. to re-replace Takata air bags with another firm's after injury

Abstract: NEW YORK - Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it is recalling some 1.1 million vehicles in the United States to re-replace defective air bags supplied by Takata Corp. Honda made the decision to replace the Takata air bags with products from a different company after a driver suffered a related injury in an accident. Eight 2001-2014 Honda-brand models and six 2002-2016 models of its Acura luxury brand are subject to the automaker’s latest recall. Honda recalled all of these models from 2014 to 2016 to replace Takata’s air bag inflators with new products, also supplied by the Japanese maker of auto parts. In January last year, a replaced air bag inflator ruptured when a Honda Odyssey minivan crashed, injuring the driver’s arm. An investigation found that the inflator manufactured at Takata’s plant in Mexico was defective. Due to Takata’s faulty air bags, Honda has recalled some 12.9 million vehicles and replaced about 21 million inflators. Takata went bankrupt in June 2017.

honda
recalls
cars
takata
accidents
u.s .


'Pulling up the drawbridge': Trump camp reportedly closing U.S. immigration agency's overseas offices

Abstract: WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to close the U.S. immigration agency’s overseas locations, according to current and former officials and an internal memo, in a move affecting offices that currently handle family visa requests, international adoptions and other tasks. The move is the latest from an administration that has worked to limit both legal and illegal immigration since Trump took office in January 2017, including cuts to the U.S. refugee program and heightened vetting of U.S. visa applications. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Francis Cissna, in an email message to agency employees, announced plans for closure of the international field offices. The plans called for shifting those duties to U.S.-based agency offices and American consulates and embassies abroad. The agency, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, currently operates 23 offices overseas, scattered across Latin America, Europe and Asia, according to the agency’s website. The agency offices carry out services including: helping American citizens who want to bring relatives to the United States; processing refugee applications; enabling overseas citizenship applications; and assisting Americans who want to adopt foreign children, according to its website. The international offices can also process naturalizations of U.S. military service members who are not already U.S. citizens. USCIS officers abroad also look for fraud in visa applications and provide technical immigration advice to other U.S. government officials. On Monday, senior USCIS officials told employees within its Refugee Asylum and International Operations division that the agency had decided to close its overseas posts, one current and one former official said. The closures will happen over the next year and some of the offices’ tasks likely will be shifted to the State Department, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Change can be difficult and can cause consternation,” Cissna wrote, but said the agency is committed to implementing “as smooth a transition as possible.” In places where USCIS does not have overseas posts, the State Department already carries out some of its duties, such as replacing green cards for American legal permanent residents who have lost theirs. International USCIS staff provide support to U.S. officials who travel abroad to interview refugee applicants. The administration has put in place new barriers for asylum seekers, barred citizens of several Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the United States and pushed new rules that would make it harder for low-income immigrants to become legal permanent American residents. Advocates expressed concern that the move to close down overseas offices would create additional roadbocks for vulnerable applicants. “They are doing an across-the-board effort to dismantle the capacity of this country to process refugees and immigrants legally,” said Mark Hetfield, president of the U.S. refugee assistance organization HIAS. “It is not consistent with what President Trump said in the State of the Union (address), which is that he wants immigrants to come here, that he wants them to come here legally. “This is another example of the administration pulling up the drawbridge,” Hetfield added. Leon Rodriguez, USCIS director under Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, said the shift may have been aimed at cutting costs and that most duties now performed internationally by USCIS likely will be delegated to U.S. consulates abroad. “Symbolically it is retreating from an international presence,” Rodriguez said. Agency spokeswoman Jessica Collins said by email: “As we have internally shared, USCIS is in preliminary discussions to consider shifting its international USCIS office workloads to USCIS domestic offices in the United States and, where practicable, to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.” “The goal of any such shift would be to maximize USCIS resources that could then be reallocated, in part, to backlog reduction efforts,” Collins said. The agency will work closely with the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security “to ensure no interruption in the provision of immigration services to affected applicants and petitioners,” Collins added. USCIS has in the past decided to close individual offices based on demand for its services. The agency previously announced that its Moscow field office will permanently close at the end of this month, citing a “significant decrease in workload.”

immigration
donald trump
refugees
uscis
francis cissna
u.s .
islam
dhs


U.S. college arms race goes too far with wealthy 'gaming the system'

Abstract: NEW YORK - In the American blood sport of college admissions, the rich have long had more levers to pull. It starts as early as a private kindergarten ($20,000 to $50,000 a year depending on location), then to boarding school (another $50,000-plus) and continues with tutors, consultants, test prep and exotic trips that become fodder for college essays. Big donations also help get children admitted, whether to encourage a legacy decision at one’s alma mater or even at schools one didn’t attend, as when Charles Kushner gave $2.5 million to Harvard before his son Jared matriculated. The wealthy have always had an edge, but the revelation that dozens actually paid to grease their kids’ way underscores what many parents feel in their bones: the college admissions process has become an escalating contest where money often wins. In the latest scandal, parents paid bribes of $100,000 to $6.5 million to guarantee their children got into top schools, including Yale, Stanford, the University of Southern California and Georgetown. Among the accused are Douglas Hodge, the former chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co.; William McGlashan, managing partner of TPG Growth; Robert Zangrillo, the founder of private investment firm Dragon Global Management; and actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, according to a complaint Tuesday. Athletic coaches, exam administrators, counselors and test-takers also are alleged to have participated. Anyone who’s gone through the process of watching a nervous son or daughter wrestle with an unopened decision notification can appreciate the appeal of such an arrangement — and its unfairness. “We’re talking about a scandal about rich people trying to put their finger on the scale,” said Chris Falcinelli, founder of Focus Educational Services, a private tutoring firm in Brooklyn that also provides college counseling. One cooperating witness in the case described the path he was offering wealthy families as a “side door” into college, as opposed to the front door, “which means you get in on your own,” he said in the complaint. “The back door is through institutional advancement, which is 10 times as much money.” ‘Desperate parents’ How money can influence the process is a sore subject aggravated by increasing competitiveness in admissions, and made even worse as the country grapples with systemic inequality. For rich and poor alike, attending a highly selective college can be the ticket to desirable jobs, mates and social circles. Most top colleges say they’re trying to improve economic diversity, but in many cases progress has been slow. “These are desperate parents who believe their kids will not be successful, or their family image will be hurt, unless their kid enrolls at a name-brand school,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director at FairTest, a nonprofit that monitors the testing industry. The best metaphor is an “arms race,” Schaeffer said, in which affluent parents take extreme measures to get their children into good schools because they fear that other parents are doing the same. “It just ramps up the competitive hysteria.” Despite the anxiety, it’s still relatively easy for the wealthy and celebrities to give their children an advantage in admissions, said Joseph Soares, a sociology professor at Wake Forest University who studies college admissions. “If you’ve got an awful lot of money, your offspring have to be stupider than a doorknob to not get into some of these institutions,” he said. “You have a big pool of people who are academically qualified,” he added, so schools give extra points to qualified applicants who come from philanthropic families. In the college admissions race, the poor and middle class are often at a disadvantage. Tutors and consultants Basic test prep courses can cost more than $1,000, while one-on-one tutors can cost hundreds of dollars an hour. Consultants, meanwhile, charge tens of thousands of dollars to groom the college admissions resumes from a young age. They make sure teenagers have the right extracurricular activities, go on the right volunteer trips and write compelling essays. Colleges also have a built-in financial interest in admitting students who can pay full tuition, which now averages $35,830 at private four-year colleges, according to the College Board, not including $12,680 in room and board. Reformers have been pushing back at these upper-class advantages. More than 1,000 colleges and universities no longer require ACT or SAT scores from applicants, according to FairTest. Dozens of top universities — mostly those with the largest endowments — now say their admissions are need-blind. The most elite schools guarantee substantial financial aid, often free of loans, to poorer students. Still, most universities and colleges do take financial means into account. Wesleyan University reversed its need-blind admission policy in 2012, citing financial pressures. “This scandal has exposed a huge rift among haves and have-nots in the admissions process, and there’s a lot of resentment,” said David L. Marcus, an independent admissions coach for 10 years. “The wealthy have been gaming the system, and it’s tragic.”


Italy outraged as court finds victim too ugly to be raped

Abstract: ROME - Italy’s Justice Ministry has ordered a preliminary inquiry into an appeals court’s ruling that overturned a rape verdict by arguing in part that the woman who was attacked was too ugly to be a credible rape victim. The ruling has sparked outrage in Italy, prompting a flash mob Monday outside the Ancona court, where protesters shouted, “Shame!” and held up signs reading, “Indignation.” The appeals sentence was handed down in 2017 — by an all-female panel — but the reasons behind it only emerged publicly when Italy’s high court annulled it on March 5 and ordered a retrial. The Court of Cassation said Wednesday that its own reasons for ordering the retrial will be issued next month. Two Peruvian men were initially convicted of the 2015 rape of a Peruvian woman in Ancona, but the Italian appeals court overturned the verdict and absolved them, finding that she was not a credible witness. The woman had claimed one of the men raped her while the other stood guard after they had spiked her drink with drugs. Doctors said her injuries were consistent with rape and found traces of a date rape drug in her blood. But the judges ruled it was “not possible to exclude the possibility that it was” the alleged victim who “organized the ‘exuberant’ evening,” according to Italian media reports. In part of the ruling, the court noted that the suspects said they had found her unattractive. They said the alleged rapist “didn’t even like the girl, to the point of having stored her number in his phone under the nickname ‘Viking,’ an allusion to an anything but feminine figure, rather a masculine one.” Cinzia Molinaro, a lawyer for the victim, said her appeal to the Cassation contested a host of procedural problems with the acquittal verdict but said she had also cited the “absolute unacceptability” of the Italian court’s reference to the victim’s appearance. Molinaro noted that the woman, who has since returned to Peru, had suffered such genital trauma in the rape that she required stitches. The Justice Ministry said it was conducting the “necessary preliminary investigations” into the appeals verdict. The case is the second to spark criticism in recent weeks in Italy, where cases of sexual violence and the murders of women regularly top the news. Protests broke out earlier this month after an appeals court in Bologna nearly cut in half the sentence for a man who admitted to killing his partner. The court cited as one of its reasons for the reduction the “emotional storm” of jealousy that the killer experienced. Critics said the sentence basically sanctioned the practice of “honor killings.”


U.S. evacuates staff as paralyzed Venezuela braces for protests; Maduro probes Guaido for blackout 'sabotage'

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela braced for fresh protests called by opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday, day five of a crippling power blackout, as the U.S. moved to pull all remaining diplomatic staff from the crisis-wracked country. Venezuela’s state prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, meanwhile told reporters he would place Guaido under investigation for “his alleged involvement in the sabotage of the Venezuelan electricity system.” It is the first government move against the U.S.-backed Guaido since his return to Venezuela last week after defying a travel ban to visit several South American leaders. President Nicolas Maduro has blamed the blackout on U.S. “sabotage” in the form of an electromagnetic attack on the country’s main hydroelectric complex in Guri, which supplies 80 percent of Venezuela’s electricity. Guaido dismissed that explanation as “Hollywoodesque.” Critics have long blamed the government for failing to maintain the power grid. Guaido, 35, is seeking to capitalize on public anger over the blackout, which has piled misery on a population suffering years of economic crisis and shortages of food and medicine under Maduro. The youthful National Assembly leader — locked in a power struggle with Maduro since declaring himself interim president on Jan. 23 — said stopping the socialist leader’s “usurpation” of power would depend “on us demonstrating in a massive and organized way in the streets.” “I call on all Venezuelans to take to the street and avenues nearest them,” urged Guaido, who has been recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries. Outlining the case against Guaido, Saab said the opposition leader had disseminated a series of messages that have “stoked violence. “At this moment he appears as one of the intellectual authors of this electrical sabotage and is practically calling for a civil war in the middle of this blackout.” Prompted by Guaido’s urging, the opposition-dominated National Assembly declared a “state of alarm” on Monday to pave the way for the delivery of international aid, 250 tons of which has been stuck for a month at Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil. However, with Maduro controlling the military and security services — which are currently preventing aid from entering the country — he has no means of enforcing it. Maduro used the military to begin distributing food, water and other assistance in several districts on Tuesday. Marshaled by security forces, crowds formed impatient lines at water trucks distributed in some areas, as they waited to fill containers. But tensions were running high amid the shortages. “I saw people lining up for a kilogram of rice, and the shopkeepers had to fire shots in the air to keep the lines under control,” Alberto Barboza, 26, told AFP in the oil capital Maracaibo. “I heard a lot of shooting,” said Barboza, adding that a local bakery and a tire shop were looted. The blackout has left millions without running water. Many people lined up to buy bottled water in Caracas supermarkets, but most are reduced to desperate means — besieging fountains in public parks and any available water sources around the capital. In one area, a desperate crowd swarmed around a concrete gully taking run-off water into the capital’s polluted River Guaire, using water bottles and all kinds of containers and cans. Guaido called on the military and security services to “refrain from preventing or hindering” Tuesday’s protests. Maduro meanwhile called for grassroots groups known as “colectivos” to hit back against what he called attacks encouraged by the U.S. against the country’s electrical grid. “The time has come for active resistance,” he said in a speech late on Monday. His call came after armed men on motorbikes were seen riding through areas of the capital at the weekend. The opposition argues the colectivos have been armed by the government and act as militia. Critics say such groups were behind the death of seven people on February 23 when the opposition tried in vain to bring U.S.-supplied food and medicine across the borders with Colombia and Brazil. Power has been restored to some areas since the weekend but — with residents and businesses fearing that refrigerated food would spoil — service has been intermittent and the power often drops out. Businesses and schools remained shuttered Tuesday on Maduro’s orders, as they have been since the blackout began. In any event, the lack of public transport made travel difficult, even in Caracas. As the situation worsened, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Washington is withdrawing all its remaining personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. All nonemergency staff were ordered to leave on Jan. 24. “This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter. Venezuela has been in recession for more than four years, has struggled with hyperinflation the International Monetary Fund says will hit a staggering 10 million percent this year, and seen a mass exodus of an estimated 2.7 million migrants since 2015.

venezuela
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
mike pompeo
u.s .
energy


Even after all the diplomacy, U.K. lawmakers resoundingly reject Brexit deal for second time

Abstract: LONDON - British MPs resoundingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a second time on Tuesday, plunging the country into further uncertainty just 17 days before it is due to split from the European Union. The House of Commons voted 391-242 against the divorce deal, even after May secured further guarantees from Brussels over its most controversial elements. The move risks unleashing economic chaos, as Britain is scheduled to end ties with its biggest trade partner after 46 years on March 29, no matter what. Appearing before MPs in a voice half-breaking due to a cold, May defiantly vowed to fight on, saying she “profoundly” rejected the outcome. “The deal we’ve negotiated is the best and indeed the only deal,” she told the hushed chamber moments after the vote. May promised to allow MPs to vote on a “no deal” option on Wednesday and, if that is rejected as expected, to decide on Thursday whether to ask the EU to delay Brexit. She said Parliament faced “unenviable choices” if it voted for an extension, including revoking Brexit, holding a second referendum or leaving with another deal. However, euroskeptics believe the current deal is so bad that it is worth the risk of leaving with no plan. The latest vote comes two years after Britain set the clock ticking on its departure from the EU following a highly divisive referendum in 2016. Michel Barnier, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, said Brussels had nothing more to offer and must now brace for the possibility of a messy divorce. “The EU has done everything it can to help get the Withdrawal Agreement over the line,” Barnier tweeted. “The impasse can only be solved in the #UK. Our ‘no-deal’ preparations are now more important than ever before.” But a spokeswoman for European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said EU members would consider a “reasoned request” for a Brexit delay. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party who has been trying force snap elections, said May must now admit that her government’s overarching strategy had failed. “Their deal, their proposal, the one the prime minister’s put, is clearly dead,” Corbyn said, calling on her to change negotiate for a softer Brexit to keep close economies ties with the EU. After MPs first rejected the 585-page Brexit deal in January, May promised changes to the hated backstop plan, which is intended to keep open the border with EU member Ireland. Weeks of talks failed to make a breakthrough, but May made a last-minute trip to Strasbourg to meet EU leaders on the eve of the vote. She announced she had secured the promised “legally binding changes” to the backstop, which would keep Britain in the EU’s customs union if and until a new way was found to avoid frontier checks. Hours later, however, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the additions would not completely allay MPs’ fears of being trapped in the arrangement forever. It did not take long for Brexit-supporting MPs in May’s Conservative party, and her allies, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to declare their opposition. Some euroskeptics did change their mind, urging their colleagues not to risk everything. Former minister Edward Leigh said: “You may not like the deal, it’s not perfect, but it delivers Brexit and let’s go for it.” But the margin of Tuesday’s defeat was not substantially smaller than the 230-vote thumping the plan suffered on Jan. 15. The pound, which has been highly volatile since the 2016 referendum, initially rose after the vote but then sank against both the euro and dollar. The backstop is designed to protect the peace process in Northern Ireland, which involved the removal of border checks with EU member Ireland. Brexit supporters wanted a unilateral way out of it, or a time limit to the arrangement, but the EU said this would make it worthless. But leaders across Europe also united behind a message that this was the best and final offer Britain could expect. “There will be no third chance,” Juncker said after his talks on Monday with May. If MPs vote against a no-deal exit on Wednesday, and want to postpone Brexit, the other 27 EU nations would need to agree. Their leaders will meet in Brussels for a summit on March 21-22. But any postponement may have to be short-lived. Juncker on Monday said Brexit “should be complete before the European elections” at the end of May.

brexit
theresa may
eu
jean-claude juncker
jeremy corbyn
ireland
u.k .
u.k. parliament


Trump wants to cut U.S. missile defense budget just as North Korea ramps up rocket activity

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Just when it looks like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may restart his ballistic missile testing program, U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed trimming the missile defense budget, as one set of deterrents is delayed by two years. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) — charged with developing, testing and fielding a ballistic missile defense system — will delay the expansion of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system by two years because of a delay in the redesign of the Raytheon Co.-made “kill vehicle” the system uses. A “kill vehicle” pops off the top of the defending missile above the Earth’s atmosphere and seeks out and destroys the attacking missile’s warhead. The GMD is a network of radars, anti-ballistic missiles based in Alaska and California, and other equipment designed to protect the United States from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The expansion of the field of interceptors in Alaska from 44 ground-based interceptors (GBIs) to 64 had been slated for completion in 2023. But the delay, due to technical issues and not connected to the cut in the agency’s budget, now means that the placement of the additional 20 interceptors will not be operational until 2025, the MDA said Tuesday. “The important thing is to get it right, and if we’re going to build more GBI’s, we want to put the best kill vehicle on the top of it,” said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. At the same time, North Korea has been pushing ahead with its nuclear weapons program after a summit meeting between Kim and Trump in Hanoi ended abruptly on Feb. 28 without an agreement on denuclearization. New activity has been detected at a North Korean ICBM plant, South Korean media said on March 7, as Trump said he would be “very disappointed” if Pyongyang rebuilt a rocket site. In the budget, the MDA saw its appropriation cut by $1 billion to $9.4 billion. Michelle Atkinson, chief financial officer of the MDA, told reporters: “What you are seeing in ’20 actually looks like a decrease, but it’s really just the declining funding,” as the agency comes off recent financial injections. Trump’s smaller request comes on the heels of a significant budget boost last year after several North Korean missile tests. The MDA projected a budget of $9.2 billion in 2021, and $9.1 billion in 2022, continuing the trend of declining funding. One Pentagon-wide effort in lasers that could be used to defeat missiles saw investment slow dramatically. After nearly doubling just the MDA’s budget for directed energy from $109 million in 2018 to $224 million in 2019, the Pentagon as a whole plans to invest only $235 million in the technology in fiscal 2020. Among other proposals included in a recently published Missile Defense Review is one involving lasers mounted on drones — aimed at stopping missiles just after takeoff in what is called the boost phase. During this portion of the flight the missile is most vulnerable, flying at its slowest speed, easily detected by the heat from its engines and incapable of evading interceptors as it accelerates to break out of the Earth’s atmosphere.

missiles
north korea
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
u.s .
military
north korea nuclear crisis


Italian freighter sinks off France's Atlantic coast after fire; all 27 aboard rescued

Abstract: ILLE-ET-VILAINE, FRANCE - An Italian cargo ship sank about 330 km (200 miles) off the Western Atlantic coast of France on Tuesday after rescue vessels were unable to put out a fire that broke out late Sunday, officials said. All 27 people aboard the Grande America were rescued without injury on Monday night. The ship was on its way from Hamburg, Germany, to Casablanca in Morocco before the blaze, “which intensified over the past 24 hours,” French naval authorities said on Twitter. “The ship had been listing increasingly to the right as time went on,” it added. French Environment Minister Francois de Rugy told lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday that officials still did not know what the ship was transporting, but that anti-pollution measures were already being taken. “As always in these situations, there are pollution risks, we can’t deny it, because already there was the heavy fuel used for the engine,” de Rugy said. A first tugboat to reach the ship was unable to extinguish the fire, and two others were on their way to the site Tuesday when the ship sank in waters that are about 4,600 meters (15,000 feet) deep.

france
grande america
pollution
italy
marine accidents


Safety fears about Boeing 737 MAX grip U.S. passengers and crews

Abstract: NEW YORK - U.S. airlines are standing behind Boeing despite the wave of countries and carriers that have grounded the 737 MAX, but fear has gripped crews and passengers, and many are refusing to fly on the plane. Following the second deadly crash of one of its aircraft, some U.S. politicians also have called for the plane to be grounded while the investigation continues, but regulators so far have not taken that step. “Two brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes crashed in 5 months. If China has grounded all 96 of its 737 Max 8s, then Southwest, American, and United Airlines should really do something to reassure the American people that its 737 Max 8 airplanes are airworthy or ground them too,” Maryland resident Eugene Gu said on Twitter. A growing number of Americans are expressing similar doubts on social media, and some are canceling or rebooking flights on this single-aisle aircraft, which accounted for one-third of Boeing’s profits in 2018. The European Union, Britain, Germany, France and China are among the governments that have banned the plane from their airspace, and the Twitter hashtag #GroundBoeing737max8 was created to urge the U.S. authorities to do the same. The company’s share price continued to lose ground, dropping more than 6 percent on Tuesday after the 5 percent loss on Monday. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have been swamped with calls since the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 on Sunday shortly after takeoff, which killed all 157 passengers and crew. In the wake of a similar crash in October of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia, many American passengers are not waiting for the investigations to conclude. “We are fielding some questions from customers asking if their flight will be operated by the Boeing 737 MAX 8,” Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said, adding that, as usual, the airline allowed re-booking at no charge. That is not the case at American Airlines, which charges a fee for any change or cancellation, a spokesman said. The cost ranges from $200 for domestic flights to $750 for international flights. And “fear” is not recognized by travel insurance as a reason to reimburse passengers for a flight cancellation. Pilots and flight crew also have grown increasingly cautious. The Airline Personnel Union (APFA), which represents American Airlines employees, has told its members not to board a 737 MAX 8 if they do not feel safe. The Association of Flight Attendants formally called for an investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. “In the wake of a second accident, regulators, manufacturers, and airlines must take steps to address concerns immediately,” it said. Like the Airline Pilots Association, the AFA warned against jumping to conclusions. But U.S. politicians were less hesitant after Britain, China, Australia, Indonesia and others pulled the planes out of service. Sen. and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said, “The FAA should follow their lead, reverse their decision, and immediately ground this plane in the United States until its safety can be assured.” And Sen. Mitt Romney said on Twitter, “Out of an abundance of caution for the flying public, the @FAANews should ground the 737 MAX 8 until we investigate the causes of recent crashes and ensure the plane’s airworthiness.” President Donald Trump weighed in with a blistering tweet, saying “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly.” The FAA said Tuesday the investigation of the latest crash continues, and it “will make decisions on any further steps based on the evidence.” In the wake of the Lion Air crash, the FAA ordered Boeing to update its manual and training requirements and complete “flight control enhancements,” including to its stall prevention systems, no later than April. Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg lamented the latest tragedy but had no doubts about the safety of the plane. “We are confident in the safety of the 737 MAX,” he said in an email to Boeing workers.

boeing
737 max 8
southwest airlines
american airlines
ethiopian airlines
lion air
donald trump
u.s .
air accidents


Beleaguered Bashar Assad's war winding down but Syria is split, poor and at mercy of foreign powers

Abstract: BEIRUT - Bashar Assad has won his war for political survival but as Syria’s conflict enters its ninth year, his country is fractured, cash-strapped, and prey to both friend and foe. The civil war reaches its eighth anniversary this month with more than 360,000 people killed, millions more displaced, and devastation worth $400 billion. As the war winds down, Syrians in regime-held areas may no longer have to worry about bombardment, but they face fuel shortages, frequent power cuts, unemployment and rampant poverty. From the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests in 2011, the war spiraled into a complex conflict involving jihadis. Syria’s president may have reversed the initial gains of the armed opposition and jihadis, but foreign powers have entered his turf. “The Syrian conflict is more complicated because there are now powerful foreign actors that control large zones inside Syria,” said Nicholas Heras, an analyst at the Centre for a New American Security. “And these foreign actors are not likely to leave Syria any time soon.” Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad’s forces now control almost two-thirds of the country. But key areas remain beyond his control, including a swathe of the oil-rich northeast held by U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces fighting the Islamic State group. The northwestern region of Idlib, held by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate, is protected by a cease-fire deal, which has seen Turkish troops deployed to the area. And Ankara’s Syrian rebel proxies hold several northern cities near the border. Joshua Landis, of the University of Oklahoma, painted a grim picture. “The Syrian map is one of division and despair,” he said. “Over 30 percent of the country is occupied by foreign governments who have built and funded local militaries.” Various foreign powers are competing to reap a return on years of military investment, or protect their interests. Russia has backed Assad with troops and airstrikes since 2015, while Iran has dispatched advisers as well as Shiite fighters from Lebanon and Iraq. “Russia wants to stabilize Assad to keep a steady local partner to guard its expanding bases in Syria” and project power region-wide, Heras said. Iran wants a foothold in Syria, in case of a war between its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Israel to the southwest, he said. Both allies hope to play a key role in reconstruction and have signed deals including for electricity, oil and infrastructure projects. Turkey and the United States, who have traditionally backed non-state actors, have other interests. President Recep Tayyip “Erdogan wants to rip the Kurds out of America’s embrace” and impose Turkey in northern and eastern Syria, Heras said. Washington backs Kurdish-led fighters who control a large and oil-rich northeastern swathe, and has U.S. troops in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight drawing to a close near the Iraqi border. Turkey views Kurdish fighters as “terrorists” and has long threatened to attack the Kurds south of its border. Washington is to dial down its presence to 200 “peacekeeping” troops after IS is expelled from its last pocket. As well as shielding the Kurds from Turkey, a U.S. presence piles pressure on Assad. “Assad needs the water and wheat that the United States controls in eastern Syria,” Heras said. But “it is U.S. policy to keep these resources from him and force the economy of Assad’s statelet to collapse around him,” he added. Along with the European Union, the United States has ramped up sanctions on Syrian officials and companies, including by seeking to prevent oil shipments to the country. Landis said those measures were compounding post-war challenges, chief among them relaunching a devastated economy. “The U.S. is imposing one of the strictest sanctions regimes on Syria which will continue to deepen the misery of the people,” he added. Plus “the worst characteristics of the regime have been strengthened in the struggle to win the civil war: corruption, violence, and the absence of the rule of law,” he said. Shadi Abbas, 40, is struggling to return to a normal life after a routine military service lasted a whole eight years. “I feel I have to work three jobs” to make ends meet, he said. “Even if I found some money and work, who will give me back my youth,” he said. But after years of war, Assad has secured his capital, regained control of key commercial arteries, and started a timid comeback on the Arab scene. Much to the despair of the fragmented opposition, several countries have called for Syria to be reintegrated into the Arab League, from which it was suspended as the death toll mounted in 2011. Remaining rebels and jihadis are largely confined to Idlib after being ferried out of other parts of the country retaken by the regime. The political opposition is scattered abroad and has failed to end the bloodshed in numerous rounds of abortive peace talks. Whatever the challenges, “revolution is on low flame, and that is a win for Assad,” Heras said.

bashar assad
syria
conflict
russia
iran
islamic state
al-qaida
iraq


U.S. military retrieves possible World War II GI remains from Myanmar

Abstract: MANDALAY, MYANMAR - The United States on Tuesday retrieved the possible remains of service members who went missing in Myanmar during the Second World War, marking the first such mission to Myanmar carried out by U.S. military aircraft, American officials said. After a brief ceremony, the remains were taken from Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, to a laboratory in the United States for further analysis and identification. “We remember. You are not forgotten,” said the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Marciel, at the ceremony. He said the mission was meant to honor the memory of the fallen service members and to show appreciation for their service. From 1942 to 1945, the airspace over Myanmar, then called Burma, served as an important supply corridor from India to China after the Japanese captured the northern town of Lashio, severing the last major Allied supply route over land into China. During the period, American transport planes made daily flights over the eastern Himalayas, a perilous route called the Hump, according to the website of the U.S. Embassy in China. The remains are believed to be from a B-25G aircraft with seven crew members aboard that crashed in February 1944 in Myanmar’s northwestern Sagain region, U.S. officials said. More than 82,000 Americans remain missing from past conflicts, and 632 U.S. service members, mostly air crews, disappeared in Myanmar during World War II, U.S. government data show. Relations between the two countries have chilled after Washington last year sanctioned some Myanmar military and police commanders and army units, accusing them of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Myanmar has rejected the charges, saying it was fighting Rohingya “terrorists. About 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after August 2017 following what a U.S. government investigation described as a “well-planned and coordinated” campaign of mass killings, gang rapes and other atrocities against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military.