Okinawa's referendum on relocating the U.S. Futenma base to Henoko: Why now and what's the point?

Abstract: OSAKA - On Sunday, Okinawa Prefecture’s 41 cities, towns and villages held a referendum on whether to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan, in the central part of the main island, to a replacement facility being built beside Camp Schwab off the coast of Henoko. It was the first prefecture-wide referendum on the contentious issue. Here, we take a look at the major questions surrounding Sunday’s vote. Why a referendum? Because, more than 20 years after the United States and Japan agreed to relocate the air base to the Henoko area, the facility has yet to be completed. During that time, opposition by Okinawan anti-base activists, politicians, bureaucrats, and business leaders has stalled completion even as Tokyo and Washington continue to insist there is no other viable alternative but Henoko. Things changed in December 2013, when then-Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and approved the Henoko plan. In return, Abe promised Okinawa at least ¥300 billion annually until the end of fiscal 2021 as money for local development. Nakaima also demanded Futenma be closed within five years and raised the topic of revising the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement to give Okinawa more authority to question U.S. service members suspected of crimes. But Okinawan anger over Nakaima’s deal led to his defeat in the 2014 gubernatorial election by Takeshi Onaga, who vowed that no new bases would be built. When Onaga died in August 2018, his successor, Denny Tamaki, also vowed to oppose the Henoko relocation plan. In December, the central government began landfill work for the project. This prompted Tamaki and his supporters to hold a referendum, which they hoped would settle the issue. What were Okinawans voting for? The referendum on whether to move the Futenma base to Henoko gave voters three choices: agree, oppose or neither. An estimated 1.16 million Okinawans 18 years or older were eligible to vote. The choice made by at least a quarter of those who take part in the referendum must be respected by the governor, and reported to the Japanese government and the president of the United States. A Kyodo poll of eligible voters last week showed 67 percent planned to vote against the Henoko plan. However, the referendum is not legally binding, and the central government said it will continue building the replacement facility at regardless of the outcome. If the referendum is not legally binding, what’s the point? The result could have political ramifications, depending on the final turnout and which choice gets the most votes. A high turnout rate combined with a high percentage of no votes will likely embolden the anti-Henoko governor and the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly. That could lead to further lawsuits by Okinawa challenging construction. The prefecture could also move more aggressively to delay or deny any local approval needed for central government requests related to the Henoko facility. On the other hand, a low turnout rate, or a higher than expected percentage of yes votes, could weaken Tamaki and the anti-base movement and embolden the central government. A mixed result, with many residents voting “neither,” is likely to be seen by the central government as a rejection of the anti-base position, but unlikely to convince Okinawa’s anti-base movement to give up its struggle — meaning the confrontation between Okinawa and Tokyo over the issue will continue.

okinawa
referendums
futenma
henoko
denny tamaki
u.s. bases
nago


Japan's Financial Services Agency plans deregulation of nonbank money transfers

Abstract: The Financial Services Agency plans to allow nonbank firms to handle money transfers of over ¥1 million, sources have said. The planed moved is aimed at promoting the market entry of companies featuring fintech services utilizing advanced information technology, reducing remittance charges and speeding up international money transfers, the sources said. The Financial System Council, which advises the prime minister, is discussing the deregulation to draw up a policy for the new initiative as early as the summer. The FSA aims to submit a bill to revise related legislation to next year’s ordinary Diet session. The maximum remittance amount per single transfer by nonbank businesses, which offer services at lower costs than at banks, is currently set at ¥1 million, while there is no such limit for banks. Fintech companies are calling for the limit to be raised or abolished in order to diversify their services, as it is not easy to obtain a banking license. The FSA plans to abolish the upper limit for nonbank businesses that will be classified into a new business category it will establish, the sources said. Such nonbank business operators will be required to have a certain amount of capital and avoid holding up the transfers of customer funds, the sources said. Demand for international transfers of a large amount of money is growing, mainly from people who send money to their children studying abroad and individual e-commerce business operators. The deregulation, if realized, would allow nonbank businesses to remit money swiftly at lower costs than through banks, said Hiroki Maruyama, who heads the Fintech Association of Japan.


Kannon Bodhisattva robot unveiled at Kyoto temple to share Buddha's religious teachings

Abstract: KYOTO - A robot modeled after Kannon Bodhisattva and designed to explain the teachings of Buddha in plain terms was unveiled to the media at Kodaiji Temple in the city of Kyoto on Saturday. In a dimly lit hall of the temple, the robot — named Mindar — gave a speech on the Heart Sutra and humanity with English and Chinese subtitles projected on the wall as music played in the background. “If an image of Buddha speaks, teachings of Buddhism will probably be easier to understand,” said Tensho Goto, the chief steward of the temple in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward, during a news conference. “We want many people to come to see (the robot) to think about the essence of Buddhism.” Another official linked to the temple expressed hope that the robot will “help people who usually have little connection with Buddhism to take an interest” in the religion. Mindar, which is about 195 centimeters tall and weighs 60 kilograms, was constructed by Tokyo-based A-Lab Co. It’s body is made primarily of aluminum, with silicone used for its face and hands. The robot will be shown to the public between March 8 and May 6.


Warning issued over large-scale attacks on internet infrastructure

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO - Key parts of the internet infrastructure face large-scale attacks that threaten the global system of web traffic, the internet’s address keeper warned Friday. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) declared after an emergency meeting “an ongoing and significant risk” to key parts of the infrastructure that affects the domains on which websites reside. “They are going after the internet infrastructure itself,” ICANN chief technology officer David Conrad said. “There have been targeted attacks in the past, but nothing like this.” The attacks date back as far as 2017 but have sparked growing concerns from security researchers in recent weeks, which prompted the special meeting of ICANN. The malicious activity targets the domain name system (DNS), which routes traffic to intended online destinations. ICANN specialists and others say these attacks have a potential to snoop on data along the way, sneakily send the traffic elsewhere or enable the attackers to impersonate or “spoof” critical websites. “There isn’t a single tool to address this,” Conrad said, as ICANN called for an overall hardening of web defenses. U.S. authorities issued a similar warning last month about the DNS attacks. “This is roughly equivalent to someone lying to the post office about your address, checking your mail, and then hand delivering it to your mailbox,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a recent cybersecurity alert. “Lots of harmful things could be done to you (or the senders) depending on the content of that mail.” DNSpionage attacks might date back to at least 2017, according to FireEye senior manager of cyberespionage analysis Ben Read. The list of targets included website registrars and internet service providers, particularly in the Middle East. “We’ve seen primarily targeting of email names and passwords,” Read said of what is being dubbed “DNSpionage.” “There is evidence that it is coming out of Iran and being done in support of Iran.” ICANN held an emergency meeting and is putting out word to website and online traffic handlers to ramp up security or leave users vulnerable to being tricked into trusting the wrong online venues. DNSpionage hackers appeared intent on stealing account credentials, such as email passwords, in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, according to Crowdstrike cybersecurity firm vice president of intelligence Adam Meyers. Similar attacks took place in Europe and other parts of the Middle East, with targets including governments, intelligence services, police, airlines, and the oil industry, cybersecurity specialists said. “You definitely need knowledge of how the internet works you and have to handle a lot of traffic being directed to you,” Meyers said of the DNSpionage hackers. “With that access, they could temporarily break portions of how the internet works. They chose to intercept and spy on folks.”


Nissan panel to propose giving outside directors majority on its board

Abstract: A Nissan Motor Co. governance committee will likely propose that outside directors make up a majority of the board in a bid to ensure more transparency following the arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn, sources close to the matter said Saturday. But the panel, which will draw up a report in late March, is not expected to delve into the responsibility of Nissan’s current executives, including new President Hiroto Saikawa, for the governance problems that led to alleged financial misconduct by Ghosn. The automaker’s ousted chief and savior has been detained in Japan since November, the sources said. Nissan’s nine-member board only has three outside directors. By increasing the ratio of outside members, the panel is aiming to have them play a leading role in nominating executives and determining their remuneration, the sources said. Ghosn has been charged with understating his remuneration for a number of years in Nissan’s securities reports and transferring derivatives losses from his private asset management company to the automaker. Nissan, which brought the allegations to prosecutors following a whistleblower tip that emerged during reportedly contentious merger talks, has said it did not have enough checks on Ghosn’s power during his two-decade reign. The committee is expected to make its proposals at Nissan’s board meeting in mid-April, according to the sources. It has also discussed Nissan’s cross-shareholdings with French partner Renault SA but will not make any proposal on the issue amid differing views among its members. Renault holds a stake of more than 40 percent in Nissan while the automaker owns around 15 percent in Renault, a structure that some Nissan executives have seen as unfair.


Virgin Galactic flies first test passenger to the edge of space

Abstract: MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA - A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson’s company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists. Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, who will train future space tourists, joined pilots onboard SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to evaluate the customer experience and cabin. “There’s a saying in aviation that the pilots have the best seat in the house, with the view up there. But today, I’m not sure,” pilot David Mackay said after the flight, referring to what Moses could see and do. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane took off soon after 8 a.m. from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It released the SpaceShipTwo passenger craft at an altitude of about 44,000 feet (13,400 meters) and then the spaceship was catapulted to 55 miles (88.5 km) above Earth. The reusable SpaceShipTwo craft previously flew to an altitude of more than 51 miles in December 2018, marking the first U.S. commercial human flight beyond the atmosphere since the end of America’s shuttle program in 2011. Hundreds of spectators, including Virgin Galactic ticket holders and CEO George Whitesides, gathered on a clear morning in the desert to watch this latest test flight. The flight was postponed from Wednesday due to winds. “We’re in the 50th anniversary year of Apollo, and just like they had to do each step, we have to expand the envelope and do something more,” Whitesides told the crowd. Moses, now the first woman to fly onboard a commercial space vehicle, called it an “indescribable ride,” adding: “Richard, you’re going to love it.” Branson is racing against competitors such as Blue Origin, the space business of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring tourists into space. Branson has said he plans to be the first passenger on SpaceShipTwo’s first commercial flight in mid-2019. More than 600 people from 58 countries, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio and pop star Justin Bieber, have paid or put down deposits to fly on one of Virgin’s suborbital flights. Some of Virgin Galactic’s ticket holders have been waiting over 14 years for their trip. A 90-minute flight, which allows passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the Earth’s curvature, costs $250,000. Whitesides said he expected that price would initially increase before going down. After he founded the company in 2004, Branson’s ambitious timeline for taking customers into space suffered delays and a fatal setback when the original SpaceShipTwo crashed on a test flight in 2014 that killed the co-pilot and seriously injured the pilot. The company’s two latest test flights mark the only times a crewed spaceship built to carry private passengers has reached what NASA defines as the boundary of space. Bezos’ New Shepard rocket has already reached the Karman line, an internationally recognized space boundary at 62 miles above the Earth and a higher point than reached by SpaceShipTwo, but Blue Origin’s trips did not carry humans. SpaceX, which has been ferrying cargo to and from the International Space Station for NASA, also aims to break into space tourism. Last year it named Japanese fashion magnate Yusaku Maezawa as its first customer on a voyage around the moon, tentatively scheduled for 2023.


California parents of 13 plead guilty to torture and abuse

Abstract: CALIFORNIA - A California couple pleaded guilty Friday to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children to beds and starving them to the point they stopped growing. David and Louise Turpin will spend at least 25 years in prison after entering the pleas in Riverside County Superior Court to 14 counts that included cruelty toward all but their toddler daughter, and imprisoning the children in a house that appeared neatly kept outside, but festered with filth and reeked of human waste. The couple was arrested in January 2018 after their 17-year-old daughter escaped from the home and called 911 in the city of Perris, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. The children, ages 2 to 29 at the time, were severely underweight and hadn’t bathed for months. They described being beaten, starved and put in cages. Louise Turpin’s face turned red and she began crying and dabbed her eyes with a tissue during the hearing while her husband appeared stoic. The two will be sentenced to up to life in prison April 19, Riverside District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “The defendants ruined lives so I think it’s just and fair that the sentence be equivalent to first-degree murder,” Hestrin said. The Turpins had led a mostly solitary, but seemingly unremarkable life until the teenager jumped from a window and called for help. David Turpin, 57, had worked as an engineer for both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin, 50, was listed as a housewife in a 2011 bankruptcy filing. The family led a nocturnal existence, which kept them largely out of sight from neighbors in a middle-class subdivision. In a recording of the 911 call, the girl who escaped said two younger sisters and a brother were chained to beds and she couldn’t take it. “They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “I wanted to call y’all so y’all can help my sisters.” Police who responded discovered a house of horrors. Two girls had been hastily released from their chains but a 22-year-old son remained shackled. The brother told police he and his siblings had been suspected of stealing food and being disrespectful. The intervention marked a new start for the children who lived in such isolation that the teen who called for help didn’t know her address. Although the parents filed reports with the state that they home-schooled their children, the oldest child only completed the third grade. Some children suffered from severe malnutrition, stunted growth and muscle wasting, including an 11-year-old girl who had arms the size of an infant. Children were deprived of food and things other kids take for granted, such as toys and games, and allowed to do little except write in journals, authorities said. The kids were rarely allowed outside but went out on Halloween and traveled as a family to Disneyland and Las Vegas. They spent most of their time locked in their rooms except for limited meals or using the bathroom. All the children were hospitalized immediately after they were discovered and have not spoken publicly. Riverside County authorities then obtained temporary conservatorship over the adults. The social services agency tasked with overseeing the younger children declined to comment on their cases. The adult children are all living together, attending school and getting healthy while leading lives similar to their peers, said Jack Osborn, an attorney who represents the seven adult children. He said they value their privacy. “They are relieved they can now move forward with their lives and not have the specter of a trial hanging over their heads and all the stress that would have caused,” Osborn said. The guilty pleas could help with the challenges the children face, especially since many abuse survivors struggle with feelings of self-doubt, said Jessica Borelli, a clinical psychologist and professor at University of California, Irvine. “It is a pretty clear affirmation of how they were mistreated,” Borelli said. “If there is any part of them that needs validation that how they were treated was wrong and was abuse, this is it.” The guilty pleas were important to spare the children from testifying, though they will be allowed to speak at the sentencing if they choose, said Hestrin, who was impressed with their resiliency. “I was very taken by their optimism, by their hope for the future,” Hestrin said. “They have a zest for life and huge smiles and I am optimistic for them and I think that’s how they feel about their future.”


Wife of Guatemalan president investigated for cashing illegal checks

Abstract: GUATEMALA CITY - The wife of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales will be investigated on suspicion of cashing illicit checks made out to her and her husband totaling more than $30,000, the country’s top prosecutor said on Friday. Four checks were written out by a business also being investigated for corruption to first lady Patricia Marroquin de Morales and Jimmy Morales during his 2015 election campaign and later cashed, according to a local media report published on Thursday. “We’ve begun the investigation,” said Consuelo Porras, Guatemala’s attorney general, in brief comments following an event in the capital Guatemala City. The company that issued the checks, Fulanos & Menganos, is a restaurant owned by Othmar Sanchez, a friend of the president who also serves as a member of the Central American Parliament. Alfredo Brito, a spokesman for the president’s office, said in a statement that the executive is monitoring the investigation into the first lady and that it respects Guatemala’s justice system. “We reiterate our confidence in the objectivity and impartiality of the investigating agency in the application of justice in our country,” he said. Morales’ government has been dogged by several corruption scandals since he took office in 2016 pledging to crack down on graft. During his administration, the United Nations-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) repeatedly tried to strip Morales of his immunity from prosecution over allegations of campaign finance violations. In 2015, a CICIG-led probe brought down Morales’ predecessor, who is under arrest and on trial for corruption. Morales hit back against the CICIG, accusing it of trying to destabilize Guatemala. In August he said he would not renew the organization’s mandate, which is due to expire in September.


Trump vows veto as Democrats try to block emergency order

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Democrats controlling the House have teed up a vote to block President Donald Trump from using a national emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a showdown in Congress that could divide Republicans and lead to Trump’s first veto. The Democrats introduced a resolution Friday to block Trump’s declaration, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote on the measure Tuesday. It is sure to pass, and the GOP-run Senate may adopt it as well. Trump quickly promised a veto. “Will I veto it? 100 percent,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Any Trump veto would likely be sustained, but the upcoming battle will test Republican support for the president’s move, which even some of his allies view as a stretch — and a slap at lawmakers’ control over the power of the federal purse. Pelosi said she would honor her oath of office and uphold the Constitution, adding, “I wish he would have the same dedication to that oath of office himself.” Speaking to reporters in Laredo, Texas, she said, “This is a path I would not recommend he go down. I don’t expect him to sign it, but I do expect us to send it” to him. House GOP leaders will urge rank-and-file Republicans on Monday to oppose the measure, Republican aides said. If all Democrats and at least 55 Republicans vote for it, it would pass by a veto-proof margin — a two-thirds majority. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to describe leaders’ plans. A staff aide introduced the measure during a short pro forma House session in which Rep. Don Beyer presided over an almost-empty chamber. “What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, the sponsor of the resolution, on a call with reporters. “There is no emergency at the border.” Trump’s declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. But the administration is more likely to tap funding from a federal asset forfeiture fund and Defense Department anti-drug efforts first. Trump’s edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those that have sued to overturn Trump’s order. The House may also join in. For Democrats, the vote is another chance to challenge Trump over funding for a border wall, the issue that was central to the 35-day government shutdown. It also puts some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot, as many have expressed misgivings about Trump’s action despite their support for his border security agenda. Should the House and the Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a Trump veto. Republicans who oppose the emergency declaration on the first vote might switch and rally behind a Trump veto. But an initial roll call with strong numbers of Republicans defying him would be an embarrassing show of GOP rifts. The measure to block Trump’s edict will be closely watched in the Senate, where moderates such as Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander have signaled they would back it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is only a reluctant supporter of Trump on the topic. Trump’s GOP allies promised they would uphold any veto denying Democrats the two-thirds votes required to overcome one. “Democrats’ angst over Congress’ power of the purse is unwarranted, especially since the commander in chief’s authority to redirect military funds for a national emergency is affirmed in a law passed by their own branch,” said top House Judiciary Committee Republican Doug Collins of Georgia. The battle is over an emergency declaration Trump issued to access billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start erecting border barriers. Building his proposed wall was the most visible trademark of Trump’s presidential campaign. A week ago, Congress approved a vast spending bill providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles (89 kilometers) of border barriers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown. Trump had demanded $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles (322 kilometers). Trump wants to use an emergency declaration and other authorities to gain access to an additional $6.6 billion for wall building. That money would be transferred from a federal asset forfeiture fund, Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a military construction fund. Federal officials have yet to identify which projects would be affected. Two senior defense officials said Friday that it will take months for the Pentagon to assess a still-to-come Department of Homeland Security proposal to siphon anti-drug funds to build barriers, sign contracts and begin construction. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been made public. Castro, the resolution sponsor, said that he has already garnered support from most of the House and has at least one GOP sponsor, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.

donald trump
congress
u.s .
immigration
budgets


Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen gave prosecutors information on Trump family business, report says

Abstract: NEW YORK - U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen met last month with federal prosecutors in Manhattan and provided information about potential irregularities in the Trump family business, The New York Times reported on Friday. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, said prosecutors in the Southern District of New York also asked Cohen questions about Imaad Zuberi, a venture capitalist and donor to the president’s inaugural committee. Cohen, a former employee at the Trump Organization, provided the prosecutors with information about insurance claims filed by the company over the years, The New York Times reported. There was no indication that Cohen implicated Trump in the possible irregularities, the newspaper said. James Margolin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, declined comment. Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cohen did not reply to a request for comment. The meeting with Cohen indicates prosecutors are interested in matters at the Trump Organization that go beyond its role in the illegal hush payments before the 2016 presidential election made to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump, The New York Times said. Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the payments in violation of campaign finance laws and other crimes last year in the same district. He is due to start a three-year prison term in May. The New York Times said Cohen was also asked by the prosecutors about Zuberi, who contributed $900,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee and separately wrote Cohen a $100,000 check that was never cashed. A spokesman for Zuberi, Steve Rabinowitz, said his client wrote the check to Cohen as a retainer. Cohen had proposed representing Zuberi in possible real estate investments in New York but Zuberi never signed the contract, he said. “Zuberi never pursued Cohen it was the other way around,” Rabinowitz said. Rabinowitz said Zuberi has not been questioned by federal prosecutors about the inaugural or his dealings with Cohen.

michael cohen
donald trump
vladimir putin
russia
espionage
scandals
robert mueller
2016 u.s. presidential election
russia probe


'I was like a prisoner': Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong recall beatings

Abstract: HONG KONG - Two sisters from Saudi Arabia who fled the conservative kingdom and have been hiding out in Hong Kong for nearly six months said they did so to escape beatings at the hands of their brothers and father. The pair, who say they have renounced their Muslim faith, arrived in the Chinese territory from Sri Lanka in September. They say they were prevented from boarding a connecting flight to Australia and were intercepted at the airport by diplomats from Saudi Arabia. Reuters could not independently verify their story. Asked about the case, Hong Kong police said they had received a report from “two expatriate women” in September and were investigating, but did not elaborate. The Saudi consulate in Hong Kong has not responded to repeated requests for comment. The case is the second high-profile example this year of Saudi women seeking to escape their country and spotlights the kingdom’s strict social rules, including a requirement that women seek permission from a male “guardian” to travel. The sisters, aged 18 and 20, managed to leave Hong Kong airport but consular officials have since revoked their passports, leaving them stranded in the city for nearly six months, their lawyer, Michael Vidler, said. Vidler, one of the leading activist lawyers in the territory, also confirmed the authenticity of a Twitter account written by the two women describing their plight. On Saturday, dressed in jeans and wearing sneakers, the softly spoken women described what they said was a repressive and unhappy life at their home in the Saudi capital Riyadh. They said they had adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan, because they fear using their real names could lead to their being traced if granted asylum in a third country. They posed for pictures but asked their features not be revealed. Every decision had to be approved by the men in their house, from the clothes they wore to the hairstyle they chose — even the times when they woke and went to sleep, the sisters said. “They were like my jailer, like my prison officer. I was like a prisoner,” said the younger sister, Rawan, referring to two brothers aged 24 and 25, as well as her father. “It was basically modern day slavery. You can’t go out of the house unless someone is with us. Sometimes we will stay for months without even seeing the sun,” the elder sister, Reem, said. In January, a Saudi woman made global headlines by barricading herself in a Bangkok airport hotel to avoid being sent home to her family. She was later granted asylum in Canada. Reem and Rawan said their 10-year-old brother was also encouraged to beat them. “They brainwashed him,” Rawan said, referring to her older brothers. Although he was only a child, she said she feared her younger brother would become like her older siblings. The family includes two other sisters, aged 5 and 12. Reem said she and her sister feel terrible about leaving them, although they “hope their family will get a lesson from this and it might help to change their lives for the better.” Reem and Rawan decided to escape while on a family holiday in Sri Lanka in September. They had secretly saved around $5,000 since 2016, some of it accumulated by scrimping on items they were given money to buy. The timing of their escape was carefully planned to coincide with Rawan’s 18th birthday so she could apply for a visitor’s visa to Australia without her parents’ approval. But what was supposed to be a two-hour stopover in Hong Kong has turned into nearly six months and the sisters are now living in fear that they will be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia. They have said they have renounced Islam — a crime punishable by death under the Saudi system of Sharia, or Islamic law, although the punishment has not been carried out in recent memory. The pair say they have changed locations 13 times in Hong Kong, living in hotels, shelters and with individuals who are helping, sometimes staying just one night in a place before moving on to ensure their safety. Vidler said the Hong Kong Immigration Department told the women their Saudi passports had been invalidated and they could only stay in the city until Feb. 28. The department has said it does not comment on individual cases. The sisters have applied for asylum in a third country which they declined to name in a bid keep the information from Saudi authorities and their family. “We believe that we have the right to live like any other human being,” said Reem, who said she studied English literature in Riyadh and dreams of becoming a writer one day. Asked what would happen on Feb. 28, after which they can no longer legally stay in Hong Kong, the sisters said they had no idea. “I hope this doesn’t last any longer,” Rawan said.

hong kong
saudi arabia
women
rights
violence


Sudan's al-Bashir declares yearlong state of emergency amid protests against his rule as poverty worsens

Abstract: KHARTOUM - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declared a nationwide state of emergency on Friday and dissolved the government in an effort to quell weeks of demonstrations that have rocked his iron-fisted rule. Deadly protests have broken out across the East African country since the government tripled the price of bread on Dec. 19, with demonstrators accusing the government of mismanaging the nation’s economy and calling on the veteran leader to step down. “I announce imposing a state of emergency across the country for one year,” al-Bashir said in a televised address to the nation from the presidential palace in Khartoum. “I announce dissolving the government at the federal level and at the provincial levels.” Protest organizers vowed to press on with their demonstrations until al-Bashir steps down. “We are calling on our people to continue with demonstrations until the main aim of this uprising, which is the stepping down of the regime chief, is achieved,” said the Sudanese Professionals Association which is spearheading the campaign. Late on Friday, crowds of protesters took to the streets in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, but were quickly confronted with tear gas by riot police, witnesses said. Hours after he made his announcements, al-Bashir issued two presidential decrees appointing 16 army officers and two security officers as new governors for the country’s 18 provinces. He also announced that five members of the outgoing Cabinet, including ministers for foreign affairs, defense and justice, would retain their portfolios. Officials say 31 people have died in the violence; Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed, including medics and children. It is not the first time al-Bashir has imposed a nationwide emergency. He did so in December 1999, when a political crisis erupted after he broke away from Islamist mentor Hassan al-Turabi. Sudan’s financial woes were long a cause of popular frustration before the anger spilled onto the streets after the bread price hike. Soaring inflation along with acute foreign currency shortages have battered the economy, especially after the independence of South Sudan in 2011 took away the bulk of oil earnings.


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs by train for Vietnam ahead of summit with Trump: report

Abstract: HANOI - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un set off by train for Vietnam on Saturday for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, Russia’s TASS news agency reported. The report came hours after Vietnam announced that Kim would make an official visit in “coming days,” as the Southeast Asian country prepares to host the summit with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday. No details of the leaders’ travel arrangements, or for the summit, have been officially released. Trump and Kim will meet in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June — the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader — at which they pledged to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But progress has been scant since then. The Trump administration has pressed North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, which threatens the United States, before it can expect any concessions. North Korea wants an easing of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, security guarantees and a formal end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a treaty. Kim left the North Korean capital of Pyongyang at around 5 p.m. in an armored train, TASS said, citing a North Korean diplomatic source. North Korea’s state media has yet to confirm either Kim’s trip to Vietnam or his summit with Trump. It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel the thousands of kilometers through China by train to Vietnam. A senior security official in Vietnam said Hanoi had been expecting a Vietnam-bound train to depart Pyongyang on Saturday, but did not know if Kim Jong Un himself was on board. Two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning said on Wednesday that Vietnam was preparing for Kim to arrive by train. His train is expected to stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170 km (105 miles) to Hanoi by car, the sources said. Vietnamese police have stepped up security around the border station. On Feb. 26, Vietnam will ban traffic on the road Kim is expected to take to Hanoi from a station on the Chinese border, state media said. Trains have been a favorite mode of transport for Kim Jong Un and his father, Kim Jong Il, as well as his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. In 1958, Kim Il Sung went from Pyongyang to Beijing by train, then flew from Beijing to Hanoi in a plane provided by China, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday, citing archived Chinese media reports. Kim is visiting Vietnam at the invitation of President Nguyen Phu Trong, who is also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement earlier on Saturday, but it gave no further details. The preferred location for the summit is the Government Guesthouse, a colonial-era building in central Hanoi, three sources said Wednesday. They said the Metropole Hotel would be a backup location for the summit and Kim could possibly stay in the Melia hotel. A witness saw workers laying communication cables in the streets behind the Metropole late on Friday. At the same time, some foreign media organizations received a note from Vietnam’s foreign ministry prohibiting live broadcasts in and around the Melia hotel and the scenic Hoan Kiem lake in the centre of Hanoi. Several top hotels visited by Reuters on Saturday around the lake said they had been told by the authorities to restrict access to their rooftops.

north korea
kim jong un
vietnam
donald trump
china
kim-trump summit


China bars millions from travel for 'social credit' offenses

Abstract: BEIJING - Skipped paying a fine in China? Then forget about buying an airline ticket. Under a controversial system that the ruling Communist Party says will improve public behavior, would-be air travelers were blocked from buying tickets 17.5 million times last year for “social credit” offenses including unpaid taxes and fines. Others were barred 5.5 million times from buying train tickets, according to the National Public Credit Information Center. In an annual report, it said 128 people were blocked from leaving China due to unpaid taxes. The ruling party says social-credit penalties and rewards will improve order in a fast-changing society after three decades of economic reform have shaken up social structures. Markets are rife with counterfeit goods and fraud. The system is part of efforts by President Xi Jinping’s government to use technology ranging from data processing to genetic sequencing and facial recognition to tighten control. Authorities have experimented with social credit since 2014 in areas across China. Points are deducted for breaking the law or, in some areas, offenses as minor as walking a dog without a leash. Human rights activists say that the social-credit system is too rigid and might unfairly label people as untrustworthy without telling them they have lost status or how to restore it. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence criticized it in October as “an Orwellian system premised on controlling virtually every facet of human life.” The ruling party wants a nationwide system by 2020 but has yet to say how it will operate. Possible penalties include restrictions on travel, business and access to education. A slogan repeated in state media says, “Once you lose trust, you will face restrictions everywhere.” Companies on the blacklist can lose their government contracts or access to bank loans or be barred from issuing bonds or importing goods. Offenses penalized under the system last year included false advertising and violating drug safety rules, the government information center said. Individuals were blocked 290,000 times from taking senior management jobs or acting as a company’s legal representative. Since the launch of such “joint punishment,” the system has caused 3.5 million people to “voluntarily fulfill their legal obligations,” the Information Center said. It said that number included 37 people who paid a total of 150 million yuan ($22 million) in overdue fines or confiscations. The report gave no details of how many people live in areas with social-credit systems. Social credit is one facet of efforts by the ruling party to take advantage of increased computing power, artificial intelligence and other technology to track and control the Chinese public. The police ministry launched an initiative dubbed “Golden Shield” in 2000 to build a nationwide digital network to track individuals. Human rights activists say people in Muslim and other ethnic-minority areas have been compelled to give blood samples for a genetic database. Those systems rely on foreign technology. That has prompted criticism that U.S. and European suppliers might be enabling human rights abuses. This past week, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. said it no longer would sell or service genetic sequencers in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang in the northwest following complaints they were used for surveillance. As many as 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang are detained in political education camps, according to U.S. officials and United Nations experts. The government says those camps are vocational training centers designed to rid the region of extremism.


North Korea's surprise new nuclear envoy key to Trump-Kim talks

Abstract: SEOUL - What little is known about the man North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tapped to prepare his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump suggests he’s more familiar with defending Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal than giving it up. Kim Hyok Chol, a career diplomat from an elite North Korean family, made his international debut just a few weeks ago as Pyongyang’s new point man for nuclear negotiations. In the run-up to the Feb. 27-28 summit, he has been in talks with U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegun to lay the groundwork for the meeting, taking diplomats by surprise. To those who know him, Kim Hyok Chol is a skilled rhetorician who has played a crucial role in crafting the joint statement signed by the North Korean leader Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at their latest summit last year. He also has a connection with Kim Jong Un, serving on the State Affairs Commission, the most powerful governing group chaired by the North Korean leader. But his appointment left a few people flipping through their files of cadres to find out more. Channel A News, a South Korean TV outlet, drew a circle around him in a video from a White House meeting between Trump and North Korean officials in January, asking who he was. Kim Hyok Chol was far from the center of attention. Dan Scavino, the White House’s social media director, sent out a tweet of the meeting that mentioned Pyongyang’s top envoy Kim Yong Chol but made no note of Kim Hyok Chol, who’s seen in a photo sitting slightly apart from rest of the North Korean contingent between two flags. One of the few people familiar with Kim Hyok Chol outside of North Korea is Thae Yong Ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea in 2016, who describes him as an expert on nuclear deterrence, not denuclearization. “At a very young age, Kim Hyok Chol was placed on the task force that wrote the drafts for North Korea’s nuclear strategy documents at its Foreign Ministry,” Thae told reporters at a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Amid questions about Kim Hyok Chol’s role, one thing is certain — he reports to Kim Jong Un. Kim Hyok Chol has been in the room for previous international nuclear negotiations, including the six-party talks a decade ago and is well-versed in the details of the deals, said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korean National Diplomatic Academy, who researches North Korea’s leadership. “He also knows what North Korea would be willing to give and not — such as revealing the amount of nuclear material, nuclear weapons and missile trajectories,” Kim Hyun-wook said in an interview. Kim Hyok Chol became North Korea’s ambassador to Spain from 2015. Two years later, Madrid expelled him in retaliation for North Korean nuclear and missile tests. He has also ventured where few North Korean diplomats go — social media, appearing in videos posted to YouTube calling for the U.S. to drop sanctions choking North Korea’s economy. He gave a 2015 interview with Elcano Royal Institute, a Spanish think tank, saying North Korea has sought to remove nuclear weapons from the entire Korean Peninsula for decades but was forced to build its own nuclear arsenal to prevent a U.S. attack. “I hope U.S. in the future acknowledges that these sanctions on my country is useless and change their policies,” he said in the interview conducted in English and posted on YouTube. Born and raised in a diplomat’s household, Kim Hyok Chol studied French at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and took a desk job at the Foreign Ministry, according to the defector Thae. He was mentored by Ri Yong Ho, who is now foreign minister, according to Thae. Thae said Kim Hyok Chol is meticulous about the wording of North Korean statements, and that was on display in Beijing in 2005 for nuclear talks. “At the six-party talks, when each representative was given only two minutes to talk, he was really good at scripting what exactly needed to be delivered within those two minutes, which is probably why he’s now in Hanoi,” Thae said in an interview. But as early as January, it was North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui having discussions with Biegun when they met on the sidelines of a conference in Stockholm. The secretive North Korean regime hasn’t said why she’s no longer is negotiating with Biegun. Whether it’s Choe or Kim Hyok Chol, the master tactician in North Korea’s nuclear diplomacy, Kim Kye Gwan, is still pulling a few strings after being at the forefront of the state’s international atomic dealings since the mid-1990s, according to South Korea’s former top envoy to international nuclear talks, Chun Yungwoo. “Kim Kye Gwan is behind these negotiators,” said Chun, adding that an aging tactician may no longer be up to the physical challenge of face-to-face talks. Chun also said that no matter who’s at the table, North Korea will be well-prepared for the summit. “They are very good at achieving their objectives. They are very smart people. They know how to outmaneuver the Westerners, the Americans, the Chinese, everybody,” he said.

north korea
kim jong un
donald trump
nuclear weapons
u.s .
north korea nuclear crisis
kim-trump summit


Toxic alcohol kills at least 133, leaves hundreds hospitalized in India

Abstract: GUWAHATI, INDIA - At least 133 people have died and about 225 people have been hospitalized after drinking tainted liquor in two separate incidents in India’s remote northeast, authorities said Sunday. The victims of one of the most deadly bootleg liquor-related incidents in India were mostly tea plantation workers in Golaghat and Jorhat districts in Assam state, said top police official Mukesh Agarwal. Assam is India’s largest tea-producing state, with more than 1,000 plantations producing more than 50 percent of Indian tea. The workers consumed the tainted liquor laced with methyl alcohol, a chemical that attacks the central nervous system, on Thursday and started falling unconscious. They were rushed to nearby hospitals and the death toll rose to 133 by late Saturday, police and health officials said. Himanta Biswa Sharma, Assam’s health minister, said about 200 people who fell sick after drinking the toxic liquor are in hospitals, some in critical condition. Manab Gohain, a doctor at the Jorhat Medical College Hospital, said 34 patients have died in the past 24 hours. The owner of a local brewing unit and 13 others have been arrested, police official Agarwal said. Awarwal said police are pursuing other people believed to be connected to the racket as part of an ongoing investigation. “We shall not spare anyone involved in manufacture and distribution of the tainted liquor,” minister Sharma said. Locals vandalized home of one of the arrested. Authorities collected samples for the medical tests. Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed brands from government-run shops. Illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked to increase potency. In India’s Uttar Pradesh state earlier this month, about 80 people died from tainted bootleg liquor.


Trump, Kim impersonators held for questioning by Hanoi police

Abstract: HANOI - Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonators were held for questioning by Vietnamese police after they appeared in Hanoi, where the U.S. and North Korean leaders will meet next week for a second summit. Kim impersonator Howard X and Donald Trump lookalike Russell White staged a “meeting” in downtown Hanoi on Friday ahead of a second summit between the real Trump and Kim on Feb. 27-28 in the Vietnamese capital. About 10 police officers later showed up at a local TV station where they were giving an interview, and told them to stop making media appearances or risk being deported. “They basically said stop doing the impersonation or we will kick you out of the country,” Howard X said after he was released from questioning and back at his hotel, where he believed plainclothes police were monitoring him. The police told the pair they could only travel around the city with an approved itinerary and travel guide. Howard X, a Hong Kong resident, insisted he was in Vietnam legally and will not leave unless he is forced to do so. The pair appeared with black-clad security guards at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel and Opera House earlier in the day, where they were swarmed by press. In character, Trump lookalike White said they came with an intention to scale down North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. “We’re working toward peace. Through negotiations, with dialogue, we want to help North Korea of course,” he said, wearing heavy bronzer and with freshly gelled hair. Full-time Kim impersonator Howard X joked that his colleague might have to look past Pyongyang’s nuclear intentions in order to meet eye-to-eye. “Hopefully he can overlook all my nuclear missiles and lift the sanctions,” said Howard X, who also visited Singapore ahead of the leaders’ meeting last year. Before the police standoff, the men said they planned to visit a massage parlor, play a round of golf and maybe try some of Hanoi’s culinary delights. But they may not be allowed to do so by authorities in Vietnam, a one-party communist state hoping to pull off next week’s summit without any embarrassment as the world watches. Vietnam’s hard-line administration has little tolerance for spontaneous public gatherings of any sort, and Vietnamese security personnel were keeping a close eye on the impersonators during their afternoon walkabout. Howard X also ran into to security issues last June ahead of the first Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore, when he was held at the airport and told to stay away from summit venues. He was eventually permitted into the city-state. The pair say they are looking for a few more impersonators to complete their band of “tyrants,” calling for any lookalikes of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping or Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to come forward.

kim jong un
donald trump
vietnam
north korea
u.s .
offbeat


Tokyo Metro's Marunouchi Line puts new, more energy-efficient trains into operation

Abstract: The first of Tokyo Metro Co.’s new 2000 series trains went into service on the Marunouchi Line on Saturday, with cars that include designated areas for wheelchairs and strollers. The color scheme for the new cars was changed to red from silver, which was used on the previous 02 series trains. “We believe (the new trains) will give strong impressions,” Kazufumi Noyaki, head of the company’s railway headquarters, said during an inaugural ceremony at Ogikubo Station in the capital’s Suginami Ward. The new trains will offer a “comfortable in-car environment,” Noyaki said. Power consumption by the 2000 series is 27 percent lower than the 02 series, according to Tokyo Metro. The average number of passengers per day on the Marunouchi Line came to about 1.35 million in fiscal 2017. A total of 53 new trains, consisting of 318 cars, will be introduced on the line.


Japan and Britain plan April talks among foreign and defense ministers

Abstract: Japan and Britain are arranging a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers on April 8 in Tokyo, aiming to enhance post-Brexit bilateral cooperation, government sources said Saturday. Japan hopes to leverage closer ties with Britain, which is set to leave the European Union in late March, in advancing Tokyo’s broader initiative to create a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of growing maritime assertiveness by China. Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya will sit down with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson. The fourth round of the “two-plus-two” talks is expected to see the ministers explore specific areas of cooperation in defense and diplomacy as Japan and Britain — both close U.S. allies — view themselves as “global strategic partners.” The ministers will likely confirm their cooperation on a global scale in a post-meeting joint statement and commit to promoting basic values such as democracy and the rule of law for the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region, according to the sources. In the document, Japan and Britain are considering including the enhancement of joint exercises between the Self-Defense Forces and the British military and deepening cooperation in defense equipment technology, the sources said. The ministers may also take up issues related to North Korea and coordinate efforts to ensure Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons and missiles and stops ship-to-ship transfers of goods in violation of U.N. sanctions. The meeting will come at a time when both nations apparently see the need for increasing economic ties as uncertainty continues over the process of Britain’s planned departure from the EU bloc on March 29. Japanese automakers have taken a fresh look at their operations in recent weeks. Honda Motor Co. has announced it will close its plant in England in 2021, at a cost of 3,500 jobs, prompting British Prime Minister Theresa May to describe the announcement as “deeply disappointing.” The decision follows rival Nissan Motor Co.’s cancellation of a plan to produce the redesigned X-Trail SUV at its Sunderland plant in northeastern England as part of efforts to optimize its regional investment strategy.

defense
diplomacy
britain-japan relations


Japan-U.S. security talks might proceed without new Pentagon chief

Abstract: Japan and the United States have decided to arrange a ministerial meeting to discuss security issues in April without waiting for U.S. President Donald Trump to fill the vacant post of defense secretary, sources with knowledge of bilateral relations have said. The two countries are rushing to hold the “two plus two” meeting, which is usually attended by foreign and defense ministers from both sides, to lay the groundwork for a summit to be held in May between Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. Patrick Shanahan, who has served as the acting U.S. defense secretary following the resignation of Jim Mattis in December, is expected to attend the meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the sources said on Friday. Japan will be represented by Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya. Following the abrupt departure of Mattis, Tokyo and Washington had intended to set a date for the next two-plus-two meeting after his successor was picked. But a U.S. assistant defense secretary who visited Japan earlier this month agreed with Japanese foreign and defense officials that they should not wait further for a Pentagon chief to be appointed, according to the sources. Trump, who is in favor of making bilateral deals under his “America First” policy agenda, has been eager to sell more U.S. defense equipment to Japan. Abe, for his part, aims to bolster the Japan-U.S. security alliance amid China’s growing maritime assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region and uncertainty over North Korea’s denuclearization plan.

donald trump
mike pompeo
taro kono
takeshi iwaya
u.s.-japan relations


Abe becomes prime minister with fourth-longest total tenure

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday replaced Shigeru Yoshida as the government leader with the fourth-longest total tenure. Abe’s total tenure, including his 12-month first term to September 2007, has reached 2,617 days, surpassing Yoshida’s total of 2,616 days between 1946 and 1954. Abe’s tenure now trails Taro Katsura’s 2,886 days across three stints between 1901 and 1913, Eisaku Sato’s 2,798 days between 1964 and 1972, and Hirobumi Ito’s 2,720 days spread across four stints between 1885 and 1901. All of the top four are from Yamaguchi Prefecture or its predecessor, the Choshu domain. “I’ll continue to do my best each day,” Abe told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a news conference that the achievement was a result of making efforts on every issue. “We’ll keep listening to Japanese people’s voices and responding to each issue sincerely,” the top government spokesman said. Abe’s first administration lasted only 366 days. However, he established a long-term administration after returning to the post in December 2012. If Abe stays on, his total term in office will surpass that of Ito on June 7 this year, that of Sato, his granduncle, on Aug. 24, and that of Katsura on Nov. 20, which would make him the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Other than Abe, Yoshida is the only postwar leader who returned after leaving the post. Yoshida signed the San Francisco peace treaty and the original Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1951. He also worked to establish the 1947 Constitution, creating the foundations of modern Japan. Abe is calling for legitimizing the Self-Defense Forces, launched in 1954 under the Yoshida-led administration, by amending the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.


Tokyo to test traffic-easing measures this summer in preparation for 2020 Olympics

Abstract: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Friday it will experiment this summer with traffic-easing measures and ask companies in the capital to take related steps on the 35 weekdays between July 22 and Sept. 6. The measures are expected to include the use of remote work, staggered hours and improvements in logistics efficiency. It will be the metropolitan government’s first traffic control experiment to evaluate measures to ease congestion ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games. In cooperation with the central government and the Olympic organizing committee, the metropolitan government will examine the degree of traffic reduction during the trial, especially in waterfront areas with competition venues. The two weeks from July 22 will be designated as an intensive period to test traffic-reduction measures for the Olympics and the two weeks from Aug. 19 will be used to evaluate measures for the Paralympics. Further details, including areas to be covered by the trial, will be decided in the spring.


Japanese teen's aborted bid to hitchhike across the United States divides social media

Abstract: Twitter user @REIbahobahoanta had an ambitious dream: The 15-year-old junior high school student wanted to hitchhike across the United States. This wasn’t the teen’s first attempt at traveling around a region via another person’s car, as he has already traversed Hokkaido , Tohoku and Kyushu by this method. However, he wanted the U.S. trip to be something of a masterpiece, and he has been making preparations for the journey for some time already, collecting funds and calling for help online . In early February, @REIbahobahoanta set off for California to begin his journey. However, it didn’t take long for netizens in Japan to start questioning his attempt, fearing for his safety and doing what they could to get him back home. It was a brief but intense flare-up on social media, captivating a number of people in Japan and highlighting a bunch of interconnected online trends all at once. This instance saw internet users jump into another person’s situation in an attempt to try to help that person from themselves, while also getting a chance to educate. Beyond that, the reaction revealed a generational gap between Japanese netizens. At first, @REIbahobahoanta’s hitchhiking dream garnered praise. When the user shared a video clip in which he was seeking donations for his trip in Shibuya, a number of adult Twitter users lauded his efforts and big-upped his plans (while also advising him to take care). He received so much support online that he actually felt emboldened , viewing his trip as a chance to inspire other young people. @REIbahobahoanta arrived in the United States and started his hitchhiking adventure by traveling from Hollywood to Pasadena in Los Angeles. However, he quickly noticed that he was treated very differently in the United States compared to Japan. The police picked him up but, after talking to his parents , let him continue his quest. Posts on Twitter became less frequent, prompting him to post a message informing followers that he was still alive . In social media circles online, Japanese users started becoming increasingly worried about @REIbahobahoanta. One Twitter user jumped in to share a handy chart that showed which states in the U.S. prohibited hitchhiking (spoiler alert — the vast majority of them). Another provided a more detailed breakdown of the situation. One person — who lives in Egypt — called the Japanese Consulate and local police in Las Vegas in order to get help for the young vagabond. Others reached out to him directly, telling him to try again another time or leave because it was too dangerous . The conversation on social media also touched on general issues of personal safety in the United States. One blog post summed up the situation well , highlighting racism against Asians, gun violence and U.S. President Donald Trump and suggesting that hitchhiking leaves one vulnerable to a variety of violent crimes. This in itself isn’t all that wrong. In any case, @REIbahobahoanta eventually ended up at a Youth Protection Center in Las Vegas and, a short time later, decided to return to Japan . Despite the online attention, he says he was not influenced by web pressure — although he did admit that the decision was mostly due to the fact that it’s illegal to travel alone under the age of 18 in the United States. He later posted a tweet in which he was thankful for all the attention his trip attracted. Unfortunately, @REIbahobahoanta isn’t alone in this regard. One Twitter user pointed out that a number of teenagers have been gallivanting around the globe, using social media as a way to raise support (and sometimes funds). Of course, young people traveling around the world on a shoestring budget isn’t anything new and is hardly restricted to Japanese youth (Tokyo TV’s “Why Did You Come to Japan?” frequently features foreign travelers hitchhiking across the country with a minuscule amount of money in their wallets). However, this generation of youth is far more likely to document it all online, which catches a lot of older folk off guard. More often than not, the older generation start questioning the feasibility of the plan. However, not everyone pins the blame on the kids. Some have criticized the people online who have been cheering the traveler on and encouraging others to indulge in activities like this. One Twitter user drew parallels with Nobukazu Kuriki , a mountain climber who died climbing Mount Everest in 2018 after attracting support online. Actress Makoto Toda wrote a popular essay after being inspired by the hitchhiking snafu, urging young people not risk their lives because of social media. It’s simple advice for anyone who travels, really. Next time you take a trip, don’t rely on hitchhiking to impress your followers, just post pictures of food like the rest of us.


Leopalace21 scandal highlights the risk tenants face in Japan compared to building owners

Abstract: The theme of the Nippon Television series “ Shiawase! Bonbi Girl ” (“Happy Poor Girls”) is one of the most resilient on Japanese television: People of limited means getting by. As the title indicates, the subject is young women and one of the regular segments, “ Jokyo Girl ,” highlights a young woman “moving to Tokyo” to find an apartment. The base assumption of the segment is that Tokyo is much more expensive than wherever the subject is coming from, and the parameters are always the same: The newcomer sets a maximum monthly rental target, indicates preferred conditions and neighborhoods, and then visits realtors to secure a place to live. In many cases, these women are not students. They have already found jobs or want to fulfill some sort of dream in the big city. As anyone who has lived in Tokyo on a budget knows, finding apartments can be frustrating, but for the most part the women on “Shiawase! Bonbi Girl” do not get flustered despite being presented with residences that are cramped, dark and lacking in amenities many would take for granted. The idea that you have to put up with such limitations when you’re young is built into the show’s DNA, and the subjects go through the motions of inspecting apartments and pondering their options without a trace of disappointment. As renters, they understand they are in no position to complain about what’s available. This aspect of Japanese rental life is, for the most part, absent from the coverage of the Leopalace21 Corp. scandal . Leopalace21 is a prominent rental apartment operator with buildings all over Japan and, earlier this month, the company announced it would be paying for the removal of 14,443 residents from 1,324 apartments in 32 prefectures in order to repair defects that render the units unsafe. Leopalace21 does not own most of the buildings that feature their name. What they do is build apartments and sell them to individuals as investments. The investor pays for the construction and owns the building. Leopalace21 manages it and guarantees a monthly payment derived from rental fees. Although some of the media reports on the scandal have included comments from tenants, who complain about thin walls and other problems common to collective housing, the victims are the owners, a Nagoya-based group of whom held a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 12, where they called on the land ministry to investigate the matter and monitor the renovations that Leopalace21 promises to carry out. The group also asked the Financial Services Agency to make sure Leopalace21 could secure enough funds for the renovations, since the company has estimated a net loss in fiscal 2018 of ¥38 billion to ¥40 billion, and not just due to the cost of covering tenants’ moving expenses and repairs. Following the announcement, the company’s stock price plunged. The focus on the damage being done to investors’ lives rather than those of tenants was mainly developed by the media outlet that scooped the story, TV Tokyo’s business documentary series, “Gaia no Yoake” (“Dawn of Gaia”), which is significant given that Leopalace21 is a major TV advertiser. In the past 14 months, the show has broadcast three programs in its “Mane no Maryoku” (“Magic Power of Money”) subseries about the company, all of which use building owners as their main interview subjects. The first program , which aired Dec. 26, 2017, was about flawed contracts rather than flawed buildings. The investors entered into their deals with the company expecting a steady monthly income, which would go initially toward their mortgages but, in some cases, payment amounts decreased over time due to the increasingly depressed rental market. Some of these owners have sued Leopalace21 and, in the process of having their properties independently assessed, discovered the structural problems. The second program on May 29 of last year stressed the “illegal construction” angle. TV Tokyo itself hired experts to inspect the buildings and found flaws and, after they contacted Leopalace21, the company acknowledged the problem at a news conference. The third part , aired Feb. 5, elaborated on an issue addressed in part two — the insufficiency of separation barriers in spaces above the ceiling. These barriers are legally required to prevent fires that occur in one unit from spreading to others, and in some buildings there were none at all. One owner told TV Tokyo that he expected the company to get in touch after the May news conference but they had yet to inspect his building and carry out repairs. Others said they’d known about the lack of barriers for some time but Leopalace21 ignored their inquiries. A person related to Leopalace21 anonymously told TV Tokyo that the company’s assertion that it only recently found out about the flaws is an obvious lie, since it had been settling individual claims for years. The policy is to arbitrate a settlement as quickly as possible and then put a lid on it. TV Tokyo, which is affiliated with Japan’s top financial newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, became interested in the Leopalace21 story because of owner lawsuits, not tenant complaints. Generally speaking, Leopalace21 renters are even more economically vulnerable than the women on “Shiawase! Bonbi Girl.” Initial deposits are manageable, so a lot of part-timers apply and, since personal guarantors usually aren’t required, they’re popular among foreign residents. Most of the apartments are furnished and slightly cheaper than the average, but they are also infamously flimsy. A common joke among tenants is that when someone knocks on one door, every other door in the building answers. The apartments are designed and built not for comfort or convenience, but for maximum return on investment. In other words, the owners got what they paid for and only became angry when Leopalace21 didn’t keep up their end of the bargain. The people who actually live in the apartments, the tenants who would die if a fire broke out, are just elements in this transaction — essential ones, to be sure, but endlessly exchangeable.


Crown Prince ready to honor legacy in new role as next emperor

Abstract: On the occasion of his 59th birthday on Saturday, Crown Prince Naruhito expressed his resolve to fulfill his new role as the next emperor after he accedes the throne on May 1, saying he will follow the path demonstrated by his parents. “I would like to pursue my duties as the symbol (of the state) by always being beside the Japanese citizens, and sharing joy and sorrow with the people,” the Crown Prince said in his last news conference in that role, held Thursday ahead of his birthday. The Crown Prince also expressed his readiness to explore new possibilities while continuing the legacy of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, saying, “I would like to pursue what is required of the Imperial family in accordance with the changing times.” Looking back at the years that have passed since he became first in line to the throne, upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, and Emperor Akihito’s accession in 1989, the Crown Prince said he has been making efforts to engage with the people. “I have been trying to hold various exchanges with the people … so I can properly sense what the Imperial family should do for them,” he said, adding that he wishes to maintain that approach as a “pillar” of his activities in the future. The 85-year-old Emperor hinted at his desire to abdicate in a rare video message that went on air in August 2016, citing concern that his age and weakening health may one day stop him from fulfilling the duties of the “symbol of the state,” as stated in Japan’s postwar Constitution. In June 2017, Japan enacted one-off legislation enabling the Emperor to step down. The abdication date was later set as April 30 this year, to be followed by Crown Prince Naruhito’s succession the following day. The Crown Prince said the guidance he had heard from his parents over the years would serve as “major guideposts” in performing his official duties as the new emperor. His activities are expected to exceed those performed by the current Emperor, whose duties have been streamlined in recent years to alleviate their burden. Asked by reporters about his opinion on the future of the Imperial family, the Crown Prince also said he would adhere to the basic principle of remaining with the people while adjusting to the times, a statement he has repeatedly made in the past.

emperor akihito
imperial family
abdication
royalty
emperor naruhito


List of 121 Japanese women held as POWs in Soviet labor camps after WWII discovered

Abstract: A list of Japanese women who were held in Soviet labor camps after the end of World War II was located in Russia in what could be the first discovery of its kind, a professor at Osaka University has said. The list contains information such as names and years of birth for 121 women who were likely nurses assigned to a military hospital in what was then Manchuria, according to Michiko Ikuta, a professor emeritus at the university and the person responsible for the discovery. It also includes the names of three German women believed to have been the wife of a German envoy and her attendants. Japan’s government estimates that about 575,000 Japanese were detained in the Soviet Union and that 55,000 of them died in Siberia and Mongolia, many from starvation or exposure to the cold. The vast majority of the detainees were military men. The number of women who were held as prisoners of war remains unclear, with few official records available. Some Japanese accounts put the number at a little over 200 while others claim around 2,000. Russian records cite 450 Japanese women as having been detained. The list, discovered by Ikuta in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow, could give researchers a clearer picture of how many women were detained. “Until now, there had been no records specifically listing women who were held in Siberia. This document will likely help us verify anecdotal accounts. In that regard, it’s a very important find,” Ikuta said. Ikuta said the names on the list match up with nurses in Unit 791 of the Imperial Japanese Army who worked at a hospital in the city of Jiamusi, in what is now northeastern China. The majority of the women were in their teens and early 20s at the time of the war. Immediately after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on Aug. 9, 1945, Unit 791 attempted to travel by boat to Harbin. The women in the unit disguised themselves as soldiers, wearing uniforms and cutting their hair short to look the part. In one account, a woman describes being handed potassium cyanide by the hospital’s director, with orders to commit suicide if she was raped. “So this is what it means to lose a war, I thought,” she is reported to have said. The unit was captured by Soviet forces and taken back to Jiamusi before being sent to the Soviet city of Khabarovsk, where they were forced to do menial tasks like gathering firewood, carrying food and cleaning toilets. The women lived in constant fear of being raped, or worse. One woman who was taken away by Soviet soldiers in a car was later found dead, one of the accounts says. Many Japanese men in labor camps across Siberia died that winter, prompting the Soviets to send the women of Unit 791 to work as nurses at the camps. There the women would transfuse their own blood into ailing POWs, but the care they offered often proved futile. Some became friendly with their Soviet captors and were invited into their homes. Most of the women were detained for two to 2½ years before being sent back to Japan. “The experiences of men have dominated discussions about POWs in Siberia. But we also have to shed light on the women if we want to understand the issue in its entirety,” Ikuta said.

women
wwii
russia
soviet union
history
russia-japan relations


Human bones believed to be from some 500 bodies found at house in Tokyo

Abstract: Human bones believed to be from some 500 bodies were found at a house in Tokyo in November last year, police sources said. The house in Adachi Ward was occupied by a firm that makes skeletal specimens. Its president said the bones “were imported from India,” the sources said Friday. They are believed to have been imported for use as specimens, the sources said. The Nishiarai Police Station is investigating the details, including why the bones were left there. In November last year, a male relative of the president was found to have died from an illness at the house. Large amounts of bones were later discovered in the main building and elsewhere on the premises. The bones, including human skulls and animal remains, are believed to have been left untouched for years. According to the corporate registry, the company was set up in 1971 to make and import skeletal specimens of humans and animals. The firm moved to a different location in Adachi in 2003. The house is in a residential area 1.3 km east of Ogiohashi Station on the Nippori-Toneri Liner run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.


Disaster-hit Fukushima still short of volunteers for 2020 Games

Abstract: FUKUSHIMA - Fukushima Prefecture is still well short of its target for recruiting volunteers to help it stage some events during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics — a setback in its efforts to showcase its recovery from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. With the recruiting deadline set for the end of this month, the prefecture, due to host several softball games and a baseball game, is only a third of the way to its target of 1,500 volunteers. Of the 503 people who had applied as of early February, 70 percent were in their 40s or above, with much lower participation from those in their teens and 20s, according to the prefecture. Prefectural officials said the low number of applicants may be because the schedules for most of the games have yet to be set, while also acknowledging that promotion efforts have barely paid off. One of the main themes of the Tokyo Games is to demonstrate Japan’s reconstruction from the 2011 disasters, and Fukushima, one of the hardest-hit areas, wants to use the opportunity to illustrate the progress it has made and convey a message of gratitude for support. It also hopes to promote inbound tourism. The prefecture has increased events aimed at recruiting volunteers at company offices and colleges, while seeking to reassure potential volunteers that they can always change their minds later and withdraw their applications. At a recruiting event in early February in the city of Fukushima, around 80 people gathered to listen to a presentation by a prefectural official on the role of volunteers. An 18-year-old high school student who was due to start working this spring noted at the meeting that “getting the schedules soon would make it easier for us to participate.” The first of the six softball games the prefecture is hosting will be held on July 22, 2020, in the city of Fukushima — the first event of the entire Tokyo Games — while the one baseball game it is staging will be held at the same venue on July 29. But schedules for the five other softball games have yet to be determined. Two types of volunteers are being sought for the 2020 Games. Those who will volunteer during actual events are recruited by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, while city volunteers such as those Fukushima is seeking to recruit, are organized by local governments and will provide transport and sightseeing information to visitors, among other roles. “Whenever the opportunity arises, I want to call out for more volunteers by stressing how attractive (the job) is,” said Takahiro Sato, head of the prefecture’s Olympic and Paralympic promotion office.


Abide by the claw: Ruling tightens Norway's rights on Arctic snow crab and boosts its claim to oil

Abstract: OSLO - A court delivered a painful nip to European Union fishermen on Thursday by tightening Norway’s grip on snow crab catches in the Arctic, a ruling that may also let Oslo claw more control of oil and gas from other nations. Fishermen from the European Union must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab — whose meat is a delicacy for gourmets from Canada to Japan — in Arctic waters north of Norway, the Norwegian Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling. The court dismissed an appeal by a Latvian fishing firm and its Russian captain against fines imposed by a lower court for catching snow crab around the remote Svalbard Islands in 2017 with only an EU license. Latvia’s Foreign Ministry said it would review the decision at a government meeting. “Norway is tightening its grip,” in the Arctic, said Oeystein Jensen, a researcher in international law at the independent Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo. “The court clarifies that if you are going to fish, or search for oil and gas, you need permission from the Norwegian authorities,” he told Reuters. At issue was whether the snow crab was a sedentary species living on the seabed or moves around like fish, and who gets to control the stocks. The court agreed with non-EU member Norway that snow crabs are sedentary, like corals or oysters, and that as such under the U.N. Law of the Sea they are a resource belonging to the continental shelf of Norway extending hundreds of miles offshore. Had Norway lost the case, the EU could have staked a claim over the snow crab and it could have been harder for Oslo to regulate access to potential oil and gas resources beneath the Arctic seabed. “For the Norwegian coast guard this is a big relief — they can arrest any ships fishing illegally in the Svalbard area,” chief public prosecutor Lars Fause told Reuters. The Latvian firm, SIA North Star, argued that the crabs are not sedentary because they scurry around and so should be regulated under regional fisheries accords signed by parties including the European Union, Norway and Russia. It argued that it had a valid EU permit. “We’re very disappointed,” defence lawyer Hallvard Oestgaard told Reuters. He said that his client would consider whether to try to appeal to international tribunals. And SIA North Star argued that Norway is obliged under an international 1920 treaty to allow other nations access to the waters around Svalbard. That treaty grants sovereignty to Norway but gives other signatories rights to engage in commercial activities on and around Svalbard. Russia, for instance, runs a coal mine on Svalbard. But Oslo says rights to exploit resources around Svalbard extend only to a narrow band of just 12 nautical miles offshore. The court ruled that the Latvian catches were illegal under Norwegian law, irrespective of the Svalbard Treaty.


China offers to end market-distorting subsidies at trade talks, but U.S. negotiators remain skeptical

Abstract: BEIJING/WASHINGTON - China has pledged to end market-distorting subsidies for its domestic industries but offered no details on how it would achieve that goal, according to three people familiar with the U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing this week. China promised to bring all subsidy programs into compliance with World Trade Organization rules, the sources said, but U.S. negotiators reacted skeptically, in part because China has long refused to disclose its subsidies. Without knowing exactly how the Chinese government finances industries and state-run companies, any reform promises would be difficult to enforce, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are confidential. The sticking point between the world’s two largest economies illustrates a core challenge in ending their seven-month trade war: ensuring China’s pledges will translate into concrete action. In four days of talks this week in Beijing, progress has been difficult on U.S. demands for structural reforms, according to one of the sources briefed on the talks. In addition to curbs on state subsidies, U.S. negotiators are seeking measures to end the forced transfer of U.S. technology to Chinese firms and cybertheft of American trade secrets. Spokespersons for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment about the talks. China’s Commerce Ministry did not respond to a faxed request for comment. The latest round of negotiations are expected to conclude on Friday with a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the top two U.S. negotiators, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. If the two sides cannot reach a deal by March 1, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent. Curbing China’s state subsidies is a priority in the trade talks for Lighthizer, who has warned that America will have a sharply diminished economic future if China is allowed to continue its industrial policies and supplant U.S. dominance in high-technology industries. Since China joined the WTO in 2001 it has failed in its obligations to report state subsidies, another of the sources briefed on recent trade talks said. “What they offered to do was to actually take it seriously,” the source said of China’s recent promise to comply with those WTO requirements. U.S. negotiators remain unconvinced, the source said. “The Chinese are looking for ways to check the box and say, ‘We are addressing your subsidy and industrial policy questions,’ without changing their system,” the person added. A Chinese source briefed on the talks said that a general commitment by Beijing to make its subsidies WTO compliant was one feasible outcome of the talks. But China does not keep a complete tally of all of its subsidies, the person said, making it unlikely that Chinese officials would agree to disclose a full list. The United States and other Western economies have long complained to the WTO about China’s lack of transparency on industrial subsidies, which they contend give Chinese companies an unfair advantage and lead to overproduction of goods that are dumped into world markets. The government finances companies in many ways, including state-directed lending, direct investments, tax breaks and local government incentives. The United States, Japan and the European Union last year proposed that the WTO crack down on countries that fail to report subsidies that give domestic firms an advantage, a move that has gained followers including Argentina. “The Chinese have provided no accounting of what everyone knows are massive, massive state subsidies, including through the largest state banking sector on the planet,” said one of the sources familiar with this week’s talks. “Chinese subsidies are constructed to obscure and obfuscate.”

china
trade war
tariffs
exports
donald trump
robert lightheizer


Commerce report calls car imports into U.S. national security threat, raising chances for Trump tariffs: sources

Abstract: NEW YORK - A U.S. Commerce Department report has concluded that American auto imports threaten national security, setting the stage for possible tariffs by the White House, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The investigation, ordered by President Donald Trump in May, is “positive” with respect to the central question of whether the imports “impair” U.S .national security, said a European auto industry source. “It’s going to say that auto imports are a threat to national security,” said an official with another auto company. The report, which is expected to be delivered to the White House by a Sunday deadline, has been seen as a major risk for foreign automakers. Trump has threatened to slap 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry. After receiving the report, the U.S. president will have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs. Trump in July reached a trade truce with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with the two pledging no new tariffs while the negotiations continued. Daniel Rosario, a spokesman for the European Commission, said Thursday the July joint statement was “very clear on both sides restraining from taking any kind of action that could disrupt this process.” “Should the U.S. take any kind of action, the EU will react.” Brussels has already drawn up a list of €20 billion ($22.6 billion) in U.S. exports for retaliatory tariffs should Washington press ahead, the commission’s Director-General for Trade Jean-Luc Demarty told the European Parliament last month. But as with China, the Trump administration has used tariffs and tariff threats to try to extract broader trade deals. “The White House wants to have the tariffs in hand to deploy in case talks bog down or it decides EU and Japanese offers are not generous enough,” said a note this week from Eurasia Group. “Both Brussels and Tokyo remain incentivized at the moment, however thinly, to avoid another trade battle with Washington. But the uncertainty around these negotiations, with the promised tariff weapon hanging over them, will weigh on the automotive sector and perhaps broader market swathes in 2019.” The White House has used the national security argument — saying that undermining the American manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among other claims — to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China. Trading partners have sometimes reacted with outrage at the suggestion their exports posed a threat to American national security. Leading German automakers visited the White House in December to seek reassurances on tariffs from Trump, who prodded the companies to boost investment at plants in the United States, where they currently manufacture cars for the U.S. market and for export. German automakers currently employ 118,000 people at U.S. plants, where they built 750,000 vehicles in 2018, 56 percent of which were exported to China, the European Union and other destinations, according to the German carmakers’ federation VDA. “If tariffs go up, it’s not good for the consumer, it’s not good for our dealer network, it is not good for the economy in total,” Bernhard Kuhnt, CEO of BMW North America, told CNBC on Wednesday. “I’m not a politician but we’ll deal with the consequences,” he added.

tariffs
commerce department
auto imports
donald trump
eu
germany
trade
u.s .


Fannie-Freddie watchdog pick Mark Calabria urges Congress to overhaul U.S. housing giants to avoid losses

Abstract: NEW YORK - President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator pledged to work with Congress on overhauling the companies, while downplaying controversial positions he’s previously laid out on everything from the 30-year-mortgage to affordable housing initiatives. Mark Calabria, the libertarian economist who Trump has nominated to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told senators Thursday that they should play a leading role in pursuing changes for the mortgage giants, which have been under U.S. control since 2008. He outlined what he thinks should be the goals of any reform effort, emphasizing the need to dial back Fannie and Freddie’s dominance by fostering competition for the companies. “We need an open, competitive market,” Calabria said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. “There is certainly a part of me that has a suspicion of monopolies and duopolies.” Fixing Fannie and Freddie, which underpin the mortgage market by buying loans from lenders, is the main unresolved issue from the 2008 financial crisis. The Trump administration has repeatedly said that coming up with a solution is a priority but it has made little headway two years into the president’s term. Securing Calabria’s Senate confirmation is considered crucial to any revamp. Taxpayer losses While the housing market has been stable in the decade since Fannie and Freddie were taken over, Calabria warned that maintaining the status quo could lead to “significant” taxpayer losses in another crisis. The U.S. took over the companies during the 2008 meltdown, eventually injecting them with $187.5 billion in bailout money. In response to repeated questions from Democrats about his commitment to maintaining the government’s role in housing, Calabria gave assurances that he sees FHFA as an “absolutely necessary” agency and that he has no interest in disrupting the $10 trillion mortgage market. He said he expects that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the bedrock of the U.S. market, will survive his tenure after lawmakers questioned whether he might try to undermine it. Calabria added that he supports a “modest capital buffer” above the $3 billion that both Fannie and Freddie are now permitted to hold to protect against losses, but said he doesn’t think the FHFA director can unilaterally increase the cushions. He declined to specify what an appropriate level would be. To make changes, FHFA would have to reach an agreement with the Treasury Department. Hedge funds and other investors have been calling for Fannie and Freddie to be permitted to hold more capital, which they see as a step toward the companies being released from U.S. control. At Thursday’s hearing, Calabria did not endorse recapitalizing the companies and then ending their conservatorships. Democrats have been worried that Calabria might try to lower the size of mortgages that Fannie and Freddie are permitted to purchase from lenders. He seemed to temper some of those concerns Thursday by saying he wasn’t sure the FHFA has authority to determine loan limits, saying that’s Congress’ responsibility. Failed efforts A series of lawmaker efforts to revamp Fannie and Freddie have failed. Amid the stalemate, officials including acting FHFA Director Joseph Otting, who also serves as comptroller of the currency, have indicated that the administration might act alone. Calabria sought to walk that back Thursday. Calabria, who has been working for Vice President Mike Pence, told lawmakers that he hasn’t seen anything resembling a White House plan for housing-finance reform, noting that he withdrew from internal discussions on the topic once it became clear that he’d be the FHFA nominee. A White House spokeswoman said late last month that the administration would soon release a framework that outlines an approach for developing a proposal. Calabria also discussed the Fannie and Freddie’s affordable-housing goals, which have been a sticking point in previous overhaul efforts. Democrats have insisted that the companies play a role in ensuring lower-income borrowers have access to mortgages. While Calabria has previously criticized such objectives, he committed to preserving them Thursday — within the confines of the law. Fannie and Freddie, both of which turn profits over to Treasury under terms of their bailout agreements, reported fourth-quarter and full-year financial results earlier Thursday. Fannie will pay $3.2 billion to Treasury, while Freddie will pay $1.5 billion. Shares of Fannie were down 3.77 percent at 12:59 pm, while shares of Freddie fell 3.16 percent. Companies’ profits Calabria, who is expected to be confirmed due to Republicans’ Senate majority, didn’t make any specific comments Thursday about wanting to revise the companies’ payments to Treasury. When he was a scholar at the Cato Institute before joining the Trump administration, Calabria called for putting Fannie and Freddie into a form of bankruptcy that would have allowed them to continue operating while being reorganized with the help of a court-appointed trustee. He didn’t touch on this topic at Thursday’s hearing.

fannie mae
freddie mac
great recession
u.s. housing market