Eight years on, Abe says 3/11 recovery nearing 'final stages,' though half of public unconvinced

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that Japan is approaching the “final stages” of its effort to rebuild areas devastated by a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami in 2011, as the nation marked the eighth anniversary of the biggest disaster in its postwar history — which left more than 20,000 dead or unaccounted for. A moment of silence was observed nationwide at 2:46 p.m., the fateful minute when the Great East Japan Earthquake jolted many parts of Japan and subsequently triggered a killer tsunami that engulfed large swaths of the Tohoku region, including the three hardest-hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima. Eight years on, Abe was confident like never before in the steadfast manner in which reconstruction is taking place. Whereas he previously said reconstruction was proceeding “step by step,” this year he ditched the language of a gradual recovery and instead adopted a more definite tone. That decision was notable given that a recent opinion poll showed nearly half of respondents nationwide saw little or no progress in the reconstruction. Speaking at a state-organized memorial ceremony in Tokyo, Abe said efforts to rebuild the affected regions are “making visible progress,” before declaring: “In areas that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami, the reconstruction is advancing toward its final stages.” The death toll from the magnitude 9 quake and ensuing tsunami — plus numerous aftershocks in the months following — hit 15,897 as of Friday, including 9,542 in Miyagi, 4,674 in Iwate and 1,614 in Fukushima, according to National Police Agency statistics. That figure would be higher if combined with deaths triggered by stress and illness stemming from the disaster, which the Reconstruction Agency put at 3,701 as of December. Separately, the latest NPA statistics also show that 2,533 people are still unaccounted for, which is also likely to boost the final death toll. Despite signs of recovery, about 52,000 people remained displaced nationwide as of February, including those consigned to prefabricated temporary housing, hospitals and dwellings of relatives and friends, according to statistics compiled by the Reconstruction Agency. Residents in Fukushima, where the nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant took place — the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine — are one of the most affected, with 9,322 still unable to return home. At the ceremony, Abe acknowledged the plight of those forced to endure “uncomfortable” lives for an extended period of time. But at the same time, he touted moves toward “full-scale reconstruction” — a phrase absent from last year’s speech — in Fukushima, citing the lifting of evacuation orders in almost all areas except for neighborhoods designated as “difficult to return home” due to exposure to high-level radiation from the plant. Morihisa Kanoya, a disaster survivor who spoke at the ceremony as a representative of Fukushima Prefecture, said “many challenges” need to be overcome to fully reconstruct his hometown, Namie, which is located close to the plant. Those include “repairing the damage caused by the earthquakes and the tsunami, as well as solving issues surrounding residents who were evacuated from their homes and the problem of radiation,” he said. Masaaki Konno, a survivor from Miyagi, said memories of the grotesque aftermath of the disaster — including the “smell of countless rotting fish that had been cast ashore” — remain etched in his mind. Konno, who lost his mother to the tsunami, said there remains a “gaping hole” in his soul because of “the feeling of powerlessness, and the sadness, agony and despair of not being able to find her.” Also present at the nationally televised memorial service in Tokyo was Prince Akishino, who, like Abe, hailed “steady” and “extensive” advances in the process of recovery from tsunami and nuclear disasters. The prince elaborated on the heartache he said he feels at the thought of many of those still unable to return home due to the high concentration of radiation in Fukushima, the resulting depopulation of children and “the reputational damage caused by misinformation that has stubbornly lingered in such sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries.” Official figures point to the dismal recovery of fishery businesses in Fukushima. When contacted by The Japan Times, the prefecture put a preliminary estimate of the fish catch amount in 2018 at 4,010 tons, which, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, is a sixth of the pre-disaster level of about 25,000 tons in 2010. A ccording to a Jiji Press poll conducted in February on 2,000 people aged 18 or over nationwide, 2.2 percent said they see much progress in the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas, and 42.8 percent believe progress has been made to a certain extent. On the other hand, 3.8 percent saw no progress at all and 43.8 percent claimed that they do not see much progress. The survey showed that 74.8 percent see little or no progress in the reconstruction of areas damaged by the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. “It is important that we all continue to unite our hearts to be with the afflicted for many years to come, to ensure that none of those who are in difficult situations will be left behind, and that each and every one of them will be able to regain peace in their daily lives as soon as possible,” Prince Akishino said.

shinzo abe
tsunami
anniversaries
disasters
great east japan earthquake
miyagi
iwate
fukushima
fukushima no . 1
3.11


South Korean plaintiffs may seek seizure of Mitsubishi Heavy assets in Europe over wartime forced labor

Abstract: NAGOYA - A team of lawyers representing South Korean plaintiffs who won a case against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. over wartime forced labor is considering seeking a seizure of the Japanese manufacturer’s assets in Europe, one of them has said. The lawyers last week filed a request with a South Korean court to seize Mitsubishi Heavy’s assets in South Korea after the company continued to reject talks despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering compensation for forced labor during World War II. The anticipated claim in Europe reflects the sense among the lawyers that the requested asset seizure in South Korea may fall short in value of the damages awarded to the plaintiffs, according to lawyer Kim Jong-hui. The November ruling and other similar decisions in South Korean courts over the past several months have soured already strained ties between Japan and South Korea. One Japanese company has already faced a court-approved seizure of its assets in South Korea. The lawyers believe it is possible to obtain approval for seizure from a court in the European country where it intends to have Mitsubishi Heavy’s assets seized, Kim said at a rally held in Nagoya on Sunday by a civic group that supports the plaintiffs in the case. In November, South Korea’s top court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to pay 89-year-old Yang Gum-dok and four other plaintiffs a total of 560 million won ($494,000) for forced labor. But the company has refused to compensate the victims or hold talks with their lawyers, in line with the Japanese government’s position. Tokyo maintains that the issue of claims stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula has already been settled under an accord signed alongside a 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea. The lawyers on Thursday asked the Seoul Central District Court to seize the rights to two trademarks and six patents owned by Mitsubishi Heavy in South Korea. The lawyers plan to convert the seized assets into cash and pass that to the plaintiffs as soon as possible if the court approves their request. But it remains unclear when they may be able to do so, or how much they will be able to get. That has prompted the lawyers to look for other assets held by the company in South Korea and prepare to file additional suits there, while also considering seeking the seizure of assets in Europe, Kim said. According to court rulings, the plaintiffs were made to work at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factory in Nagoya toward the end of World War II.

south korea
mitsubishi heavy industries
wwii
history
wartime labor


Son-in-law arrested in Tokyo after Chiba assembly member stabbed to death

Abstract: CHIBA - A man was arrested Sunday after a local assembly member in Chiba Prefecture was found to have been stabbed to death at his condominium. Norihisa Ishikawa, a 71-year-old assembly member of the city of Kisarazu, was found by his wife lying face down in the entrance to their 12th-floor condominium at around 8:50 p.m. on Saturday. His death was confirmed about one hour later. Shoichi Ishikawa, 44, was arrested at a station in Tokyo, possessing a knife. He is the husband of Norihisa’s daughter. The son-in-law reportedly admitted stabbing Norihisa after hitting him on the head, but denied he had intended to kill him, according to investigators. Norihisa lived with his wife in the condo. She had gone out around 7:30 p.m. that day after dinner and when she came back she found her husband with multiple wounds, according to the police. Norihisa, who joined what was then the Construction Ministry after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1970, was serving his first term in the city assembly. According to sources close to the family, Shoichi wanted to succeed his father-in-law and run in nationwide local elections in April, but had to give up the plan because tensions arose between the two.

chiba
stabbings
kisarazu
murder
local government


Two men seriously injured in shooting at Osaka gambling den; suspect at large

Abstract: OSAKA - Two men were seriously injured early Monday at a members-only gambling venue in the city of Osaka’s Minami entertainment district, police said. A suspect, thought to be a man in his 30s, left behind a revolver while fleeing the casino-style online gambling hub, the police said. Investigators believe the suspect, who was still at large as of Monday evening, intended to murder the two men, a 42-year-old employee of the venue and a 32-year-old customer, as he shot them immediately upon entering the facility. The police were trying to determine whether the suspect knew the victims. The customer fell into a coma after being shot but regained consciousness, while the employee was still comatose as of the evening. A call was made to the emergency services at around 1 a.m. Monday, with the initial report saying there was an unconscious man in the venue. The employee was shot in the head while the customer suffered a gunshot wound in the left side of his chest, according to the police. They said the suspect, who fled on foot, was described as being about 160 cm tall with short hair. He was reportedly wearing a gray T-shirt and trousers. Another employee in his 30s was in a different room in the venue and was unhurt, the police said. “This is a very lively area, but I do not recall any past shootings,” said a man in his 40s who delivers napkins to restaurants in the area. “It’s shocking to hear someone has been shot here,” said a 26-year-old employee of a nearby convenience store. In the wake of the shooting, more than 10 police officers entered and exited the cordoned-off building where the venue is located as a group of passersby gathered. An elementary school located 400 meters from the venue posted teachers along nearby roads to supervise arriving students in the morning, and asked parents to ensure that their children do not pass in front of the venue. “I am very worried because of the proximity of the attack to our school,” Vice Principal Shingo Akae said.


U.K. identifies 'significant' new Huawei risks to telecom networks

Abstract: LONDON - Britain has identified “significant” issues in Huawei’s engineering processes that pose “new risks” for the nation’s telecommunications, a government report found Thursday amid lingering global suspicion over the Chinese technology giant. “Further significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei’s engineering processes, leading to new risks in the U.K. telecommunications networks,” read annual findings from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) oversight board. Huawei is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-generation 5G mobile networks with almost instantaneous data transfer that will become the nervous system of Europe’s economy, in strategic sectors like energy, transport, banking and health care. However, some Western nations have barred it amid fears Beijing could gain access to sensitive communications and critical infrastructure. A Huawei spokesman on Thursday told AFP that it was taking the British concerns “very seriously” and they would be used as part of its “ongoing” process to improve its capabilities. HCSEC stressed that in the report that it “does not believe that the defects identified are a result of Chinese state interference.” The board added, however, that “no material progress has been made by Huawei in the remediation of the issues reported last year. And it concluded: “Overall, the oversight board can only provide limited assurance that all risks to U.K. national security from Huawei’s involvement in the U.K.’s critical networks can be sufficiently mitigated long-term.” HCSEC was formed in 2010 to mitigate perceived risks arising from the involvement of Huawei in critical national infrastructure. The government-led board includes officials from Britain’s GCHQ cybersecurity agency as well as a senior Huawei executive and representatives from the U.K. telecommunications sector. Thursday’s report “details some concerns about Huawei’s software engineering capabilities,” the Huawei spokesman added. “We understand these concerns and take them very seriously. “The issues identified … provide vital input for the ongoing transformation of our software engineering capabilities,” he told AFP. The spokesman also noted that Huawei’s board of directors had last year launched a company-wide $2.0 billion (€1.8 billion) transformation plan to enhance those capabilities. “The mechanism of collaboration between Huawei and the U.K. government continues to work properly — the identification of the issues in the OB report is an indication of the HCSEC model working properly,” he insisted. Thursday’s report was published two days after the European Commission presented its plan to ensure the secure introduction of 5G telecoms networks. The Commission has not yet urged European countries to follow the example of the U.S., Australia or Japan in banning or restricting deals with the firm. However, it will now take steps to determine the extent of the risk and encourage EU members to share information. The plan calls for member states to report back on any security threats to their national network infrastructure by June 30. After that, the European Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) will be given to October 1 to produce a report evaluating the risks at a European level. Then member states will debate what if any measures to take, with a decision before the end of the year. Huawei stands accused by the United States of posing a security risk to western networks, because of its alleged ties to Chinese intelligence. Nevertheless, some European countries are in negotiations with Huawei to deploy its advanced technology to power the faster wireless networks of the future. Washington has banned Huawei’s 5G technology from its territory and has urged its allies to follow suit or face losing some of their own access to American intelligence. The New York-based Soufan Group, which compiles security assessments, warned that the use of Huawei technology could have “repercussions” for member nations in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing collective. All five members — Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States — have taken at least some steps toward limiting Huawei’s role in sensitive infrastructure. “The United States and many others fear using Huawei is essentially allowing the Chinese government to access sensitive or vital systems and infrastructure,” said the Soufan Group in a commentary. “Some of the Five Eyes are still considering using Huawei in some fashion, a choice that could have enormous repercussions for the entire group.”

huawei
5g
eu
cybersecurity
australia
china
u.s .
espionage


Japan's pork, wine and cheese imports from Europe surging under free trade agreement

Abstract: Japan’s imports of pork, wine and cheese from the European Union all marked double-digit growth in February from a year ago following the entry into force of a free trade deal, according to government data. Pork imports saw the largest year-on-year rise of 54 percent to about 36,000 tons, followed by 42 percent for wine and 30 percent for cheese, according to Finance Ministry data released Thursday. The free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union came into force on Feb. 1, with an eye toward eliminating tariffs on most reciprocal imports. The pact covers about a third of the world economy and over 600 million people at a time of increasing trade friction between China and the United States. Under the pact, for instance, the 15 percent tariff Japan had imposed on wines from the European Union was immediately scrapped. Wine imports, which ranked second in terms of year-on-year growth in the trade data, totaled 14.69 million liters, lifted by increases in Spanish and Italian wines. French and Italian products contributed to a rise in overall cheese imports to around 8,000 tons, with reduced duties applied. The gains came after sharp drops in January, suggesting many Japanese importers waited until the tariff-reducing pact took effect. Industry observers say more time and data will be needed to identify a clear trend. In January, pork imports from the 28-member bloc fell 50 percent, cheese 6 percent, and wine 41 percent. Japanese farmers are concerned the domestic market will be flooded by cheaper European products, which are otherwise welcomed by consumers. For Japanese automakers, the pact could help lift their Europe-bound exports as the bloc will scrap its 10 percent tariff on Japanese automobiles in the eighth year. Auto shipments to the bloc, excluding used cars, grew 13 percent in February. Japan’s total imports from the EU were up 0.5 percent to ¥742.24 billion ($6.7 billion), while exports to the bloc rose 2.5 percent to ¥800.54 billion, the data showed. Japan and the EU signed the free trade agreement last July hoping it would serve as a counter to the rise of protectionism. U.S. President Donald Trump, who views his country’s hefty trade deficits with major exporters as problematic, is pursuing bilateral trade talks separately with Japan and the EU.

pork wine cheese imports europe eu trade fta meat


Google barred from LGBT+ equality index over 'life-threatening' app

Abstract: LONDON - One of the top U.S. LGBT charities ejected Google from a gay and transgender rights ranking on Thursday for hosting an app that advises people on how to “recover” from same-sex attraction. Human Rights Campaign suspended the tech company from its Corporate Equality Index, which ranks U.S. companies on the benefits they offer LGBT staff, over the Living Hope Ministries app. “We have been urging Google to remove this app because it is life-threatening to LGBTQ youth and also clearly violates the company’s own standards,” the HRC said in a statement. “Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have taken action to remove the app from their platforms, but so far Google has refused despite our warnings about the dangers.” A spokesman for Google declined comment. Articles available on the Living Hope Ministries app include “Keys to Recovery from Same-Sex Attractions,” which features advice such as “accept that you must make sacrifices to be free and healthy” and “commit to sexual purity.” “Many people who want freedom from homosexuality are also addicted to sex and/or masturbation,” said the article, attributed to Living Hope Ministries’ executive director Ricky Chelette. The church did not respond to a request for comment. Living Hope Ministries said in an open letter to Apple that it did not preach to “pray the gay away” after the company removed the app from its App Store. A fifth of gay, lesbian and bisexual British people who have tried to change their sexuality have attempted suicide, according to a study of the controversial practice of “conversion therapy” in Britain that was released last month . Conversion therapy, which can include hypnosis and electric shocks, is based on the belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is a mental illness that can be cured. It is used in many countries, although Malta, Ecuador and just over a dozen U.S. states have outlawed it, according to the ILGA, a network of LGBT rights groups. Countries including Britain, New Zealand and Australia are considering bans. “Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades,” HRC said in its report. HRC has ranked American companies since 2002 based on factors such as offering benefits equally to gay and straight staff and their partners and providing full medical insurance for transgender people. Google had previously achieved a perfect score of 100 since 2006, when it was first included in the index. Since 2017 it has donated $1.5 million to the LGBT Center of New York’s Stonewall Forever project, which records gay and trans history online.

google
lgbt
apps
human rights campaign
conversion therapy


WTO confirms U.S. failed to fully comply over Boeing subsidies

Abstract: GENEVA - The World Trade Organization confirmed Thursday that Washington failed to fully comply with a 2012 order to halt subsidies to Boeing, marking a partial victory for rival aircraft maker Airbus and the EU. The ruling from the WTO appeals body was the latest blow in the decade-long clash between the titans of the civil aircraft industry, which has seen both Airbus and Boeing score points along the way. The WTO ruled in March 2012 that billions of dollars of subsidies to Boeing were illegal and notified the United States to bring them to an end. But just a few months later, the European Union filed a new complaint with the global trade body, alleging that Washington was not complying with that order. In a ruling published in June 2017, the WTO said the U.S. had brought 28 of 29 programs into compliance, but agreed with Brussels that Washington had not taken “appropriate steps to remove the adverse effects or … withdraw the subsidy” in the case of Washington state. Both the EU and the U.S. appealed that finding to the WTO Appellate Body, which on Thursday basically toed the same line as the 2017 panel, although it appeared to take a harsher line against the American side. It found there were other subsidy programs, including in South Carolina, which did not conform with the 2012 ruling, but in several of them it said it had been unable to complete the legal analysis to determine if the subsidies had an adverse effect on competitors’ sales. Both the EU and the U.S. claimed victory after the ruling landed. In its own statement, Airbus described the ruling as a “major win” and warned that if without a settlement, the U.S. “will face billions in countermeasures.” Boeing meanwhile maintained that the WTO appeals body had “rejected every allegation of unlawful subsidies to Boeing with the single exception of one measure,” referring to Washington state. “Boeing will support the United States and Washington State as they take steps necessary to fully comply with today’s ruling,” the company said. “We trust that our example will prompt Airbus and the European Union to immediately bring themselves into full compliance with the substantial rulings against these parties by the WTO,” it added. The EU has also been reprimanded by the WTO during the tit-for-tat conflict between Airbus and Boeing, and the U.S. aircraft maker suggested last year that billions in sanctions might also be applied against the bloc. The WTO, which aims to create a level playing field in global trade, does not have the ability to force compliance with its rulings, but can approve retaliatory measures which in theory can pressure trade manipulators to fall into line.

wto
boeing
airbus
eu
washington state
south carolina
u.s .


Housing starts in Japan rose 4.2% in February

Abstract: Housing starts in February rose 4.2 percent from a year ago to 71,966 units, up for a third straight month, the land ministry said Friday. The increase was led by growth in construction starts for owner-occupied housing and condominiums. Starts for owner-occupied housing, such as custom-built houses, rose 9.9 percent to 21,992 units, up for the fifth consecutive month, with interest rates staying low and financial institutions willing to increase lending on the back of rising land prices. Starts of housing for sale, including condominiums, jumped 11.4 percent to 21,190 units, thanks chiefly to increases in Chiba and Aichi prefectures. By contrast, starts for housing for rent fell 5.1 percent to 27,921 units, down for the sixth month in a row, due to tighter screenings of loan applications for housing for investment.


The complex fortune growing inside Bytedance, the world's most valuable startup

Abstract: HONG KONG - Software engineer Zhang Yiming started out producing apps for sharing jokes before focusing on news aggregation. That pivot proved lucrative. The 35-year-old founder of Bytedance Ltd. is worth about $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him China’s ninth-richest person and one of the fastest people in modern times to amass a mega-fortune. The business, founded in 2012, has more than 1 billion active monthly users across eight mobile apps, including a news aggregator powered by artificial intelligence and a video-sharing platform. His rapid wealth accumulation is a sign that China hasn’t lost its knack for creating mega-rich company founders despite a slowing economy. It also helps explain why authorities seem to be taking a more tolerant stance toward a corporate structure favored by the country’s technology tycoons, most of whom have chosen to list their businesses overseas. Zhang’s fortune is harder to calculate than the founders of Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. in part because his company isn’t yet public. It is also difficult because Bytedance is structured in the same way as the two tech behemoths — a complicated ownership system known as a variable interest entity. Of the 44 Chinese tycoons on Bloomberg’s wealth index, eight are tech moguls with VIEs listed outside China. The billionaires’ combined net worth exceeded $150 billion as of March 21, and their stakes weren’t publicly known until the companies filed with regulators ahead of going public in New York or Hong Kong. VIEs have never been formally endorsed by the Chinese government. But in an acknowledgment of their importance, officials will soon permit VIEs to go public in the country, allowing them to list on a new technology-focused exchange set to launch in coming months. Bytedance is, for now, a closely held VIE with a complex structure that involves layers of holding companies. Its main business, Jinri Toutiao, is ultimately owned by Zhang and Bytedance Senior Vice President Zhang Lidong through a Beijing-registered holding firm, according to China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. Zhang pledged his 98.8 percent stake to another Beijing company, which in turn is owned by a Hong Kong-registered firm. That entity, where Zhang is a director, is owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands. The principals won’t be disclosed unless there is an IPO prospectus. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculated Zhang’s net worth by pegging his stake at 65 percent and using the company’s valuation of $20 billion, a figure provided in 2017 by people with knowledge of the matter. The analysis assumes his stake has been diluted through funding rounds. Bytedance is said to have secured a $75 billion valuation in late 2018, making it the world’s most valuable startup — though the figure isn’t used in the net worth calculation because the details haven’t been confirmed. Zhang uses a VIE because Chinese regulations limit foreign investment across more than 30 sectors including the internet, telecommunications and education. The VIE structure — which allows offshore companies to control domestic Chinese businesses through contractual agreements — circumvents the rules and allows, for example, Baidu’s holding company to be based offshore (and list in the U.S.) while still being a dominant force in China. Internet giant Sina Corp. pioneered the VIE model so that it could transfer income from onshore operating businesses to an offshore holding company, an arrangement that meant the Cayman Islands entity could list on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2000. There are risks to the structure for foreign investors, said Donald Clarke, a specialist in Chinese law at George Washington University. “A contract entered into for an unlawful purpose is invalid under Chinese law,” he said. “Any time the government wants to pull the plug, it can.” Still, that hasn’t stopped more than 100 companies using VIEs in offshore IPOs, according to research by Zhou Fang, a Beijing-based partner at law firm JunHe LLP, who predicts that more companies will follow. That growth helps explain why authorities are slowly embracing VIEs. Earlier this month, China enacted a foreign-investment law that allayed investor concerns about the future of such companies, while unicorn VIEs will be able to list on the new exchange in Shanghai, known as the Tech Board. “To some extent, it shows the government easing concerns over VIEs — but they still care about who’s the ultimate controller of the company,” said Zhang Biwang, a partner at Allbright Law Offices. As long as the controller of the company remains a Chinese citizen, “the government won’t shut their eyes and ignore reality to make the companies give up VIEs.”

bytedance
zhang yiming
apps
investment
internet


Censorship pays: the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper expands lucrative online scrubbing business

Abstract: BEIJING - People.cn , the online unit of China’s influential People’s Daily, is boosting its numbers of human internet censors backed by artificial intelligence to help firms vet content on apps and ads, capitalizing on its unmatched Communist Party lineage. Demand for online censoring services provided by the Shanghai-listed People.cn has soared since last year after China tightened its already strict online censorship rules. As a unit of the People’s Daily — the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece — it is seen by clients as the go-to online censor. Investors concur, lifting shares in People.cn by around 240 percent since the start of 2019. “The biggest advantage of People.cn is its precise grasp of policy trends,” said An Fushuang, an independent analyst based in Shenzhen. In recent years, China has shut tens of thousands of websites and social media accounts that contained what it said was illegal content as well as “vulgar” and pornographic material. Tibet, Taiwan, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square and even local government scandals are also sensitive topics prone to censorship. People.cn has clinched deals with tech firms, including leading news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, to identify and delete material that does not meet government guidelines. Its other partners include Liangziyun, a Shenzhen-based tech company that operates nearly 1,000 social media accounts and has hundreds of millions of followers. Full-year net income is expected to have risen as much as 140 percent, People.cn said in late January, the biggest annual increase since 2011. That would mean net profit of as high as 214.8 million yuan ($31.93 million). Revenue from its censorship business is forecast to have jumped 166 percent last year, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Encouraged by surging revenue, People.cn is raising a bigger army of censors. This month, it signed a strategic deal with the government of Jinan in eastern Shandong province to help the city become China’s censorship capital. People.cn , whose content-vetting business already has hundreds of employees, will set up an affiliate company in Jinan, the official Jinan Daily reported, drawn by the city’s proximity to Beijing and ample supply of college graduates that could join the firm as content analysts. Types of content vetted by People.cn include images, texts, music, video, apps, games, advertisements and animations, according to the company. People.cn ‘s online content review platform can detect and remove most sensitive online material via artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms, Ye Zhenzhen, president of People.cn , wrote in an article in February. The bottom line is to filter out and block harmful information and spot and correct false ideas in time, Ye said. Content that AI has trouble recognizing and information in “gray areas” such as metaphors, and subtle references is left to human analysts. “The platform adjusts key words for monitoring from time to time according to directives from the Communist Party propaganda department,” said a Beijing-based manager at a major U.S.-listed Chinese tech company that had collaborated with People.cn to develop AI technology for its platform. The platform continues to learn new words and rules on its own, for example by memorizing state media reports, said the person, who was not authorized to speak to reporters. “With some big-name social media accounts being shuttered recently, companies are paying more and more attention to content compliance,” said independent researcher An. “And with the development of 5G, the space and scale for the online content censorship market will only grow bigger and bigger.”


Japan and U.S. planning trade talks in mid-April, sources say, with farm sector in spotlight

Abstract: Japan and the United States plan to hold bilateral trade talks from April 15 to 16 in Washington, sources with knowledge of the plan said Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for what he calls fair and reciprocal trade. The two allies will seek to determine the scope of their future negotiations, laying the groundwork for a summit, possibly on April 26, between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump. Negotiations between economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are expected to be tough, despite Trump’s push to resolve the huge U.S. trade deficit with Japan. A national round of local elections and a House of Councilors election are scheduled in Japan from spring to summer, likely making it more difficult for the country’s negotiators to compromise. Agriculture produce is expected to be a tricky area at a time when the U.S. beef industry has seen its market share in Japan increasingly taken by competitors under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact that was revised and implemented after Washington abruptly withdrew. Japan, wary of America’s desire to further open its sensitive farm sector, has said it will not make concessions bigger than it has already made under existing bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Tokyo has maintained that the trade talks with Washington will primarily focus on goods only. The United States, however, is calling for a comprehensive pact that would cover not only goods but also services and investment. Washington’s call for the inclusion of a currency provision — aimed at preventing currency devaluation — could be a sensitive issue for Japan because its economy has benefited from the depreciation of the yen amid aggressive and unorthodox monetary easing by the Bank of Japan in recent years. The first meeting will likely be held later than initially thought because Lighthizer has had to focus first on the ongoing trade talks with China. While Japan was bracing for bilateral trade talks with the U.S., the 11-member TPP and Japan’s economic partnership agreement with the European Union both took effect. Lighthizer has expressed concern that such tariff-cutting pacts will put American farmers at a disadvantage.

trade
donald trump
shinzo abe
toshimitsu motegi
robert lighthizer
ustr


U.S. energy chief OKs deal to share nuke tech with Saudis, but is unsure if pact preceded Khashoggi slaying

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has approved six applications for U.S. companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia, Energy Secretary Rick Perry testified on Thursday. Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Energy Department has approved 37 nuclear applications since January 2017, including nine in the Middle East. Besides the six to Saudi Arabia, two were approved for Jordan. Perry did not mention the ninth country in his testimony. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked Perry whether the applications were approved after Oct. 2, when Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, lived in Virginia. Perry said he did not know the specific date. “We sign a lot of papers,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty good memory, but to remember every date that I sign a piece of paper might be above my ability to recall.” Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the U.S. technology is transferred without proper safeguards. Congress is increasingly uneasy with the close relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump has made the kingdom a centerpiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran, a regional rival to the Saudi regime. In the process, Trump has brushed off criticism over the killing of Khashoggi and the Saudis’ role in the war in Yemen. The nuclear approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal to build a nuclear plant. They do not allow equipment to be shipped. The authorizations were first reported by the Daily Beast before Perry confirmed them in public testimony. Perry disputed media accounts describing the authorizations as secret, saying, “These U.S. companies that are going to be doing this work want to keep that proprietary information from being out in the public domain.” But Democrats said nuclear authorizations are normally made public. They accused the Trump administration of trying to conceal its negotiations with Saudi Arabia. “It appears to me that this is an end run around the law in an effort to achieve a policy,” Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Pompeo said U.S. officials were “working to ensure that the nuclear power that (the Saudis) get is something we understand and doesn’t present that risk” of allowing them to make nuclear weapons. Sherman called the U.S. response to Khashoggi’s murder inadequate and said officials must do everything in their power to prevent Saudi Arabia from getting a nuclear weapon. “If you cannot trust a regime with a bone saw, you should not trust them with nuclear weapons,” Sherman said, referring to reports from the Turkish government that Saudi agents used a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi after he was killed last year. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Armed Services Committee, told Perry it was “a bad idea to even consider passing on nuclear technology to the Saudi government,” given the possible role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Khashoggi’s murder. “The last thing we should be doing is giving the Saudi government the tools to produce nuclear weapons,” said Warren, a Democratic candidate for president. The announcement of the nuclear approvals came as Republican and Democratic senators requested that the Government Accountability Office review the Trump administration’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., asked the GAO to investigate reports that some negotiations have been conducted without oversight required under the federal Atomic Energy Act. The senators, who both serve on the Foreign Relations Committee, said it was unusual that the Energy Department apparently was leading the negotiations, rather than the State Department. The senators said they were “troubled by the administration’s lack of consultations with Congress” and concerned that specific proposals presented by Energy officials may not have been fully vetted with other agencies. The Trump administration had previously opened talks with Riyadh on what’s known as a “123 agreement.” The name comes from the section of the law that establishes the parameters for major nuclear cooperation between the United States and other countries. Without one, U.S. nuclear energy companies such as Westinghouse would lose out on business opportunities with the Saudis. The Democratic-led House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into claims by several whistleblowers who said they witnessed “abnormal acts” in the White House regarding a proposal to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia.

saudi arabia
rick perry
tim kaine
jamal khashoggi
nuclear weapons
donald trump
murder
nuclear energy
u.s .


Japan's factory output rose 1.4% in February after recovery in exports

Abstract: Industrial output rose 1.4 percent in February from the previous month, snapping a three-month losing streak, as rebounding exports helped the auto sector, government data showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted index of production at factories and mines stood at 102.5 against the 2015 base of 100, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report. The result followed a revised 3.4 percent drop in January. The transport sector was the biggest contributor to the index’s rise due to increased production of passenger cars and auto parts. Output of machinery to produce semiconductors and liquid crystal displays was also robust in February, according to the data. Still, economists say the rebound was rather modest after three straight months of fall, reflecting cautiousness among companies as the economic and business outlook remains uncertain at a time of prolonged trade friction between the United States and China. The ministry maintained its assessment that output is “pausing” after downgrading it from “picking up slowly” in the previous month. The country’s economy has enjoyed modest growth, but recent data has raised the prospect that the current expansion phase may have ended late last year. “Output may have bottomed out after sharp falls and given us some relief in that sense,” said Toru Suehiro, senior market economist at Mizuho Securities Co. “But companies remain cautious about ramping up production because they are not sure about the strength of the economy. As long as we see growth in exports and a relatively weak yen (against the U.S. dollar), production will likely hover around current levels.” Manufacturers polled by the ministry said they expect output to gain 1.3 percent in March and rise 1.1 percent in April. The index of industrial shipments increased 1.8 percent to 101.6, while that for inventories was up 0.5 percent at 102.2.

industrial output
economy
economic indicators


Japan's jobless rate in February fell to 2.3%, lowest in nine months

Abstract: The unemployment rate fell to 2.3 percent in February, the lowest in nine months, as women who quit jobs to look for better work the previous month landed positions amid the tightest labor market in decades, government data showed Friday. The jobless rate fell 0.2 point from January, after rising 0.1 point the previous month, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. The unemployment level among women dropped 0.3 point from the previous month to 2.2 percent, while that for men was unchanged at 2.5 percent. The job availability ratio stood at 1.63, staying flat from January, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said. The ratio means there were 163 openings for every 100 job seekers. “The outcome shows that, due to the labor shortage and to the job availability level remaining high, people are successfully finding jobs,” a ministry official told reporters. “The unemployment rate is the lowest in around 26 years and the labor environment is steadily improving,” he said. A total of 670,000 people chose to leave their jobs during the reporting month, down 80,000 from the month before, while 370,000 were laid off, down 20,000. The rate of the working-age population between 15 and 64 years old with jobs was 77.2 percent, up 1.2 point from the previous year. The rate for men was 84.0 percent and 70.2 percent for women. Takuji Aida, chief economist at Societe Generale Securities, said companies looking to expand are expected to hire even more actively ahead of the start of fiscal 2019 in April. “While downside risks to business sentiment and to the labor environment remain, such as global political, economic and market uncertainties, companies are unlikely to cut their labor forces as retraining and rehiring workers are big costs,” Aida said. The latest data reflect a serious labor crunch in graying Japan, but this has not translated into strong increases in wages, analysts said. In this spring’s annual management-labor negotiations, most major Japanese companies offered a smaller pay-scale hike than last year amid uncertainty over the global economy due to factors such as China’s slowdown. The companies were reluctant to adopt pay-scale hikes, which would increase fixed costs, and instead offered to improve labor conditions through such measures as enhancing benefits for working parents.


Dollar firmer above ¥110.70 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was firmer above ¥110.70 in Tokyo trading late Friday, helped by its rise against the pound. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.73, up from ¥110.07 at the same time Thursday. The euro was at $1.1230, down from $1.1238, and at ¥124.36, up from ¥123.71. The dollar’s rise against the yen was also apparently supported by a Twitter posting by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying that trade talks with China in Beijing were constructive, dealers said. The U.S. currency temporarily rose to around ¥110.90 in midmorning trading, backed by a rebound in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average and buying by Japanese importers, traders said. But the dollar later fell back slightly before regaining upward momentum in late trading. The dollar’s topside was heavy because “sell orders were lined up above its levels above ¥111,” an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The dollar-yen pair was affected by trading by players backed by real demand because Friday was the final trading day of fiscal 2018. an official at a currency brokerage house said.


Tokyo stocks rally on buybacks

Abstract: Stocks turned higher on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday, supported by buybacks following a plunge the previous day and an overnight rebound in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei average rose 172.05 points, or 0.82 percent, to end at 21,205.81. On Thursday, the key market gauge fell 344.97 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 8.79 points, or 0.56 percent, to 1,591.64, after falling 26.64 points the previous day. Sentiment improved after Wall Street advanced on Thursday on renewed hopes for progress in U.S.-China trade talks, brokers said. The yen’s fall against the dollar and a rise in Shanghai stocks also gave investors a sense of relief, they said. After the initial buying ran its course, however, Japanese stocks moved narrowly, brokers said. “Investors found it difficult to make fresh moves as Friday fell on the last trading day of fiscal 2018,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co., explaining Japanese stocks’ top-heaviness. Also weighing on stocks was investor caution over the course of U.S.-China trade talks, brokers said. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., said he saw no signs of institutional investors’ window-dressing buying to spruce up their portfolios at the fiscal year-end. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,199 to 857 in the TSE’s first section, while 83 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.17 billion shares from 1.23 billion shares on Thursday. Pharmaceutical firms rose. Daiichi-Sankyo jumped 15.91 percent, Shionogi climbed 2.01 percent and Astellas gained 1.31 percent. Shipping firms Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Kawasaki Kisen and Nippon Yusen were also higher. Other major winners included Softbank Group and Yaskawa Electric. On the other hand, power suppliers and gas firms fell, among them Tepco, Chubu Electric and Tokyo Gas. Also on the minus side were clothing retailer Fast Retailing and Toyota. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average rose 130 points to end at 21,190.


AstraZeneca bets $6.9 billion that Daiichi Sankyo therapy will transform cancer treatment

Abstract: Britain’s AstraZeneca PLC agreed to pay Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co. up to $6.9 billion for a piece of a promising cancer treatment in its biggest deal in over a decade as it aims to become a global oncology powerhouse. AstraZeneca will pay Daiichi Sankyo $1.35 billion upfront to jointly develop and commercialize the cancer therapy trastuzumab deruxtecan, with as much as $5.6 billion in additional payments subject to sales milestones and other contingencies, the companies said late Thursday. They will also equally split development and commercialization costs. The British company said it will fund the transaction partly through a share sale of up to $3.5 billion. Daiichi Sankyo shares surged 15.9 percent — the stock’s daily limit — to an all-time high in Tokyo trading Friday. The deal is AstraZeneca’s boldest bet yet under Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot’s mission to make the company a force in oncology that can contend with the likes of Merck & Co. Since he took over in 2012, the company has phased out aging treatments and built a war chest for cancer-related research. The Daiichi deal is a significant vote of confidence in a therapy that has not yet been approved for patients, but has the potential to redefine breast cancer treatment. “We believe that trastuzumab deruxtecan could become a transformative new medicine for the treatment of HER2 positive breast and gastric cancers,” said Soriot in a statement. It was reported earlier that AstraZeneca was considering a share sale as it seeks to strengthen drug investments and its balance sheet. Pharmaceutical companies often team up with partners on expensive new drug investments to share both the risk and financial commitment. AstraZeneca said the transaction won’t impact earnings this year but will make a “significant contribution” by 2023. Daiichi said the partnership will add to shareholder value over the medium to long term. Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for AstraZeneca’s $3.5 billion share sale. It plans to place new ordinary shares in the company with both existing and new institutional investors. If the full potential payment of $6.9 billion is released to the Japanese drugmaker, it would be AstraZeneca’s biggest deal in 12 years. The British pharmaceutical firm paid about $15 billion for its 2007 acquisition of biologics maker Medimmune LLC. For the Japanese firm, the tie-up is its biggest licensing deal ever, said Stuart Mackey, Daiichi’s head of global business development. Daiichi and AstraZeneca will equally share global profits from trastuzumab deruxtecan, with Daiichi Sankyo maintaining exclusive rights in Japan. Daiichi expects to book sales in U.S. and parts of Europe, while AstraZeneca is expected to book sales in other markets including China, Australia, Canada and Russia, said the companies. The treatment received a breakthrough therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017, a status which is given in instances where there is no current medicine for the condition the drug is aimed at. Daiichi said it would speed up its application to the FDA to the first half of this year. On average, the FDA takes about 10 months to decide on therapies with the breakthrough designation, said Daiichi’s global head of oncology research and development Antoine Yver, meaning that it could reach patients by as early as the first half of 2020. This is not the first time the two companies have been linked. Media in Japan reported in 2017 that AstraZeneca had made an unsuccessful takeover bid for Daiichi a year earlier, as it sought access to the company’s cancer portfolio. Daiichi denied the reports. In 2015, the two announced a commercialization agreement in the U.S. for Movantik, an oral medication for treating opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic pain.

astrazeneca
daiichi sankyo
cancer
medicine
pharmaceuticals


Convenience store chain Lawson to trial self-service night operations to deal with Japan's labor crunch

Abstract: Major convenience store chain Lawson Inc. said Friday it will experiment with leaving stores unmanned late at night amid growing calls to modify the industry’s round-the-clock operations to cope with the national labor shortage. The trial will last a few months starting this summer with two Lawsons being run as self-service stores from midnight to 5 a.m. Lawson has yet to select the outlets. Customers will be able to unlock the doors with a smartphone app during the unmanned hours and make purchases via self-service checkout machines or by scanning products’ barcodes with their smartphones. Although an employee will initially be available to provide assistance with system glitches and tidy up, the stores will eventually run completely without staff. As a precaution, Lawson will increase the number of security cameras in the two stores and make items like cigarettes, alcohol, and postage stamps unavailable during the unmanned hours, the company said. As of December, Lawson had 14,574 stores in Japan and 2,165 abroad, mostly in China. Japan’s graying population and low birthrate is leading to acute labor shortages in many industries. Convenience stores, which have become an important part of the nation’s social infrastructure, have also been affected, prompting the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry to urge the nation’s top four chains to come up with measures to address the discontent among their struggling franchisees. Earlier this month, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. began testing shorter operating hours at 10 stores in Tokyo to gauge the impact on sales and consumer traffic after a franchise owner in Osaka began closing his store overnight due to lack of staff.


LNG in focus as energy giants Chubu Electric and Tepco deepen ties with Jera venture

Abstract: As Chubu Electric Power Co. and a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. complete the integration of their thermal power businesses Monday under joint venture Jera Co., the growing potential of LNG at home and abroad has received renewed attention. The joint venture will have nearly 30 percent of the nation’s total power generation capacity — making it the nation’s largest electric power firm — although that figure includes the potential output of nuclear plants shut indefinitely for safety checks. Jera was set up in 2015 and has been handling fuel purchases and transport for the two utility firms. It imports some 35 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually, amounting to about 40 percent of the total imports by Japan — the world’s top LNG importer — and more than 10 percent of total gas traded globally. Amid rising global LNG demand, Jera sees business opportunities in overseas gas trading. “In the near future, we can realize a highly transparent LNG market in Asia,” Jera President Yuji Kakimi told some 1,000 attendants at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference 2018 held in October in Nagoya. Government officials and company executives from 28 countries and regions attended the conference. The business landscape for the global LNG market has changed drastically in recent years. China, which is struggling with air pollution, has been eagerly trying to shift its energy source from coal to gas, emerging as the world’s second-largest LNG importer. Natural gas is expected to surpass coal as the world’s second-biggest energy source after oil by 2030, propelled by a drive to curb air pollution and climate change, as well as a rise in LNG use, the International Energy Agency said in November. Changes are seen on the production side as well, with the United States succeeding in shale gas production and gas fields being developed in emerging markets such as Africa. Moreover, an increasing number of LNG sales and purchase agreements are made without a so-called destination restriction, making it possible for buyers to freely resell the gas acquired under low-priced long-term contracts to another party at higher prices to cope with demand fluctuations. Flexibility in LNG trading has been growing as the pool of contracts with fixed destinations shrinks as they expire. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol pointed out at the conference that there is growing dynamism and liquidity in the LNG market and said that the world is entering a golden age of gas. Jera plans to not only resell the gas that can’t be used within the company but also start dealing in futures trading to profit from price changes. Last year, it formed a joint venture with French state-controlled utility EDF to merge their LNG trading business, enabling it to use EDF’s LNG terminals and pipelines in Europe to engage in LNG trading in the European market. The firm is hiring people with experience at major European fuel firms to create a team of non-Japanese traders with expertise. Referring to Jera’s business strategy, Shinichi Yamazaki, senior sector analyst at Okasan Securities Co., said the firm “is entering a business field that no other domestic electric or gas companies have stepped into.” Emerging economies in Asia are likely to continue shifting to gas in the future, Yamazaki said. “Although there are risks, taking this path cannot be avoided in order to maximize profits.” Jera expects to post a consolidated net profit of ¥60 billion in the 2019 business year, with hopes to increase the profit to ¥200 billion in the 2025 fiscal year. It projects a profit of ¥15 billion from fuel trading in fiscal 2019 and hopes to increase the profit to ¥70 billion in 2025, supported by growing usage of LNG for not only power generation but also for city gas and fuel for ships. The gas industry believes active trading by Jera will help stabilize domestic LNG prices. “(Jera) has stability, economic efficiency and flexibility in fuel purchases,” said Chubu Electric Chairman Akihisa Mizuno who spearheaded the creation of the joint venture. “I hope the company will make the most of its capabilities to realize supply of low-priced energy.” Jera, which is targeting an annual integration synergy of ¥100 billion within five years, plans to announce a detailed business plan in April.


Toshiba's Indian arm breaks ground on major Manila sewage treatment facility

Abstract: MANILA - Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corp.’s Indian arm has begun building one of the largest sewage treatment facilities in the Manila area in partnership with two local contractors. The three-party consortium has taken on the construction of a 2.1 billion peso (¥4.4 billion) plant in Las Pinas City for scheduled completion in 2021, according to its partner contractor, Megawide Construction Corp. The project marks another move in a global expansion in the field for Toshiba Water Solutions Pte. It is the first project that the Indian arm has undertaken in the Southeast Asian country, Kenta Katsumata, a spokesman in Tokyo, said Wednesday. The plant is capable of treating 88 million liters daily to serve 660,000 residents, making it the largest-scale facility for Maynilad Water Services Inc., a water and wastewater service provider in the western part of the greater capital region, according to Megawide’s statement. The consortium also includes electromechanical contractor LinkEnergie Industries Co. The facility “will greatly support the Supreme Court-mandated cleanup efforts for Manila Bay” as it enables treated water to be released directly into the bay, Francisco Matias, CEO of LinkEnergie, said in the statement. Toshiba Water Solutions is overseeing the design for waste water processing and machinery installment, while Megawide Construction is in charge of civil engineering work and overall management of the construction portion. Toshiba Water Solutions, one of three environmental engineering arms overseas under the wing of Toshiba Infrastructure System & Solutions along with units in China and Indonesia, has supplied over 400 water treatment facilities in 35 countries, including an industrial water treatment plant in Vietnam.


Toyota dealers in Tokyo hacked; data on roughly 3 million customers stolen

Abstract: NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that data on roughly 3 million customers was stolen from its sales companies’ computer systems in Tokyo following a hacking attack. The data breach occurred earlier this month and was confirmed on March 21 at Toyota Tokyo Sales Holdings Inc.’s five affiliates and three other group companies. All are based in Tokyo. The stolen data may include names, birth dates and employment information but not credit card numbers, Japan’s top automaker said. In a statement, Toyota apologized and pledged to thoroughly implement information security measures.

scandals
data leak
autos
toyota motor corp .


Five arrested after Maltese military seizes tanker hijacked by migrants refusing to return to Libya

Abstract: VALLETTA - Five men were arrested Thursday after Maltese armed forces took control of a tanker that was hijacked by migrants off Libya and the ship docked in Malta. The Palau-flagged tanker Elhiblu I had picked up 108 migrants including women and children on Tuesday evening and then headed back to Tripoli. But 6 nautical miles from port the ship suddenly changed course and headed north toward Europe. Italian far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday the vessel had been hijacked and vowed that the migrants would not be allowed to disembark in Italy. The 52-meter (170-foot) tanker was about 30 nautical miles from Malta when the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) established communications with the captain. “The captain repeatedly stated that he was not in control of the vessel and that he and his crew were being forced and threatened by a number of migrants to proceed to Malta,” the AFM said in a statement on Thursday morning. “AFM Patrol Vessel P21 stopped the tanker from entering Maltese territorial waters. “An AFM Special Operations Unit team was dispatched to board and secure the vessel in order to hand over control of the ship to the captain.” Escorted by the Maltese navy, the tanker arrived in the port of Valletta around 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT). Five men suspected of having been the leaders of the hijacking were arrested, handcuffed and taken away in a police van. The women and children disembarked next, followed by the other men, many of whom appeared physically very weak. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat commented that his country does “not shirk responsibility despite our size,” Malta being the smallest EU country of around 450,000 people. “We will now follow all international rules accordingly,” he added. Both before and after the hijacking, the German charity Sea-Eye, whose ship, the Alan Kurdi, was in the rescue zone off Libya, said it had overheard radio messages between a European military aircraft and the captain of the tanker. “The captain of the ship rescued the people and requested assistance. He said unequivocally on the radio that people are very upset and do not want to be brought back to Libya,” Sea-Eye said in a statement. “Tripoli, however, was the destination port of the cargo ship.” Migrants in chaos-wracked Libya face trafficking, kidnap, torture and rape, according to the United Nations and aid groups. Following Rome’s increasingly tough anti-migrant stance, vessels that pick up migrants making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean increasingly return them to Libya. Boatloads of rescued migrants have in recent months refused to disembark in Libya, prompting the authorities there to use force. The UNHCR’s special envoy for the central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, tweeted Thursday that the “safety of crews (is) as important as safety of human beings fleeing a hellish situation & not wanting to return there. “With a robust rescue at sea capacity & predictable disembarkation on both sides of the Med, this would not have happened.” The European Union announced on Wednesday it will suspend ship patrols that have rescued tens of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean and brought them to Italy, in the face of deep resistance from Rome’s populist government. Migrant arrivals from North Africa and the Middle East have been sharply reduced since a 2015 peak when Europe faced its worst migration crisis since World War II.

hijacks
libya
malta
unhcr
immigration
refugees
sea eye


Trump threatens to shut Mexico border, again

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Thursday again threatened to seal the U.S.-Mexican border, claiming in a tweet that America’s southern neighbor is allowing illegal immigrants to cross unhindered. “May close the Southern Border!” the president wrote. “Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action,” he said. “Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don’t care, such BAD laws.” The new threat to shut one of the world’s busiest borders, separating two countries with massive economic and cultural links, shows Trump is doubling down on his bid to make immigration a keystone of the gathering 2020 reelection campaign. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected Trump’s criticism, telling journalists: “We are doing something on this issue. “We are going to help in every way we can. We don’t in any way want a confrontation with the United States,” he said. But Lopez Obrador said a solution would depend on “fundamentally addressing the causes of migration.” Trump will likely highlight the issue when he hosts a campaign rally in Michigan later Thursday. On Wednesday, he referred to the need for more border walls to stop “people pouring in.” “Other countries stand there with machine-guns ready to fire. We can’t do that,” he told Fox News. “We are building massive, many, many miles of walls right now, and we are gearing up to do many more.” The U.S. border protection agency commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, said Wednesday that the southwestern frontier faces “an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis.” The worst spot, he said, is around El Paso, Texas, where agents have nowhere to put the large numbers of illegal border crossers they detain. Nationwide, the border agency took in more than 12,000 migrants this week, it said, while just half that number would be considered already reaching “crisis level.” With the agency on track to detain more than 100,000 people in March, “it would be the highest monthly total in a decade,” the agency said. Overall, attempts to get across the border into the United States illegally are down substantially from a decade or more ago. However, the last year has seen a surge and the general makeup of the arrivals has changed from single men to families and often small children — greatly complicating the task of authorities in providing basic services to detained migrants while their cases are decided. Migrants are also appearing in greater numbers from Central America, rather than just Mexico, sometimes traveling in large groups dubbed caravans. One is currently forming in Honduras, according to Mexico’s interior minister, Olga Sanchez Cordero. She said it could be “the ‘mother of all caravans’ and they think it might have more than 20,000 people.” The last time Trump threatened to close the Mexican border was in December, when a row over his demand for billions of dollars in wall funding was at its peak. Democrats in Congress turned down the funding, arguing that Trump was exaggerating problems on the border for political gain. In retaliation, Trump refused to sign wider spending bills, leading to much of the federal government having to shut down for five weeks. Trump finally declared a national emergency so that he could bypass Congress and unlock the money — a move drawing condemnation even from many of Trump’s Republicans.

mexico
donald trump
immigration
andres manuel lopez obrador
u.s.-mexico border


Record-setting balloonist Julian Nott dies after accident in California

Abstract: SAN DIEGO - A renowned British balloonist and scientist who set 79 world ballooning records died after a balloon-related accident in Southern California, authorities and family members said. Julian Richard Nott, 74, was injured over the weekend after his balloon with a pressurized cabin landed in a rural area of northern San Diego County, the Union-Tribune reported Thursday. About three hours after the landing Sunday, “as he was packing up the cabin, it tumbled down the mountain with him inside,” Roberta Greene, a spokeswoman for Nott’s family, wrote in an email. “He sustained multiple head (and other) injuries.” Nott died Tuesday at a hospital, the newspaper said. “Julian was flying an experimental balloon that he invented (and) designed to test high-altitude technology,” according to an obituary on his official website. San Diego County sheriff’s officials said deputies responded Sunday following reports that two people were injured after the aircraft landed near Palomar Mountain. There is no information about the name or condition of the second person. Among Nott’s records is reaching an altitude of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) in a hot air balloon. According to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale — also known as the FAI or the World Air Sports Federation — Nott set a Guinness World Record in 2017, at age 72, for the highest documented tandem skydiving jump, from 31,916 feet (9,727 meters). In 2014, Nott helped Alan Eustace break the record for the world’s highest parachute jump, from an altitude of 135,890 feet (41,419 meters). The FAI website also lists dozens of Nott’s other world records for feats of altitude, distance and time aloft. Nott lived in Santa Barbara, California.


Florida scientists discover how mosquitoes detect human sweat, and how to switch odor off

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Scientists have known for decades that mosquitoes are attracted to the lactic acid contained in human sweat, but in the era before advanced genetics, the precise mechanism had remained a mystery. Now, a team of researchers at Florida International University have discovered the olfactory receptor that allows the disease-carrying insects to hone in on our odor — and how to switch it off. They published their work on the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, known for spreading deadly illnesses like Zika, dengue and yellow fever, in the journal Current Biology on Thursday. The team, led by FIU biologist Matthew DeGennaro, identified the guilty receptor as Ionotropic Receptor 8a, or simply IR8a, through a process of elimination that began in 2013 when DeGennaro was able to create the world’s first mutant mosquito, removing a gene to investigate how its absence affected the insect. Tasked with investigating IR8a, DeGennaro’s PhD student Joshua Raji began by carrying out an exposure experiment using his own arm, and found the mutant mosquitoes were significantly less attracted to him than wild ones. The outcome was confirmed through testing on 14 additional subjects. “People have been looking for a receptor for lactic acid since the 1960s,” DeGennaro told AFP. The findings could offer a roadmap for a new generation of attractants that lure adult specimens into traps for population control, as well as advanced repellents that make people invisible to mosquitoes — though that could be some way away. “It’ll take years, but we are definitely a step closer,” said DeGennaro. ico/ia/oh

mosquitoes
florida international university
zika
disease
lactose


Cholera cases soar to 139 as cyclone-ravaged Mozambique prepares mass vaccinations

Abstract: BEIRA, MOZAMBIQUE - The number of confirmed cholera cases in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique climbed sharply to 139 Thursday as authorities prepared to roll out a mass vaccination campaign to stem the spread of the deadly disease. “The total number of cholera cases is now 139,” government health officer Ussein Isse told AFP. President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday told a news conference authorities had called off rescue operations for victims of the deadly cyclone that tore through the central parts of the country on March 15. He described it as the “worst humanitarian disaster in Mozambique. The storm killed at least 468 people and affected 1.85 million. He said 945 rescuers had taken part in the two-week long search and rescue operation. “We thank all of them. They are heroes,” he said. World Health Organization official David Wightwick said mass cholera vaccinations would start next week. The country is awaiting the delivery of 900,000 doses of vaccines expected in the country on Monday. Officials said the vaccination campaign will be launched from Wednesday to stem the spread of the disease, which thrives in conditions of poor hygiene and causes acute diarrhea that can be fatal if untreated. Wightwick told reporters in Beira that nine cholera treatment centers were being set up around the central Sofala province, which bore the brunt of the cyclone. The UN said in a statement that authoritities have already reported “some 2,500 cases of acute watery diarrhea.” Experts have warned that the destruction of drinking water sources and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique could create breeding grounds for waterborne diseases such as cholera. The vaccinations will protect the tens of thousands of survivors for around three months, he said. “It buys us some time and it means we will probably have to do a further vaccination,” Wightwick said. “The first objective is to control the outbreak,” he said, warning that “there are other places that remain cut off. A cholera prevention publicity campaign has also been launched with messages via radio and loudhailers across affected towns and villages. Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique nearly two weeks ago, unleashing hurricane-force winds and heavy rains. It flooded much of the center of the poor southern African country and then battered eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi. UNICEF warned that there is “very little time to prevent the spread of opportunistic diseases. It warned in a statement that current conditions of “stagnant waters, lack of hygiene, decomposing bodies (and) overcrowding in temporary shelters” could lead to outbreaks of diarrhea, malaria and cholera, “to which children are especially vulnerable. “The lives of millions of children and families are on the line, and we urgently need to mount a rapid and effective humanitarian response,” said UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore. She launched a $122 million appeal for the three affected neighboring countries. “The massive scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai is becoming clearer by the day,” she said.

cholera
mozambique
disease
cyclone idai
unicef
who


As China pushes traditional medicine globally, illegal wildlife trade flourishes

Abstract: HONG KONG - Chinese traditional medicine is rapidly expanding worldwide as a key pillar of the country’s “Belt and Road” initiative, but conservation groups say demand for treatments using animal products is driving a surge in illegal trafficking of wildlife. Since the start of the year, authorities in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong have seized record volumes of threatened species, including 8.3 tons of pangolin scales from nearly 14,000 pangolins and its largest ever haul of rhino horns, worth more than $1 million. The former British colony is one of the world’s primary wildlife trafficking transit points, supplying an array of products including shark fins, tiger parts and rhino horn across Asia and into mainland China. “One of the most alarming characteristics of wildlife trafficking is the growing use of threatened species in traditional medicines,” conservation group ADM Capital Foundation said in a recent report. It identified the traditional Chinese medicine industry as accounting for more than three-quarters of the trade in endangered wildlife products in Hong Kong over the past 5 years. China’s State Council has outlined a multidecade plan to promote traditional medicine, including setting up hospitals, museums, medicinal zoos and botanical gardens in countries involved in its Belt and Road infrastructure rollout. The industry is booming. Worth some $60 billion a year, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin, and growing at around 11 percent annually, according to IBIS World, practices such as acupuncture and herbal supplementation are finding acceptance globally. WHO says it will formally recognize traditional medicine in its compendium in May, meaning more mainstream recognition of practices dating back more than 2,500 years. While many practitioners have shunned the use of endangered species, environmental groups say traditional remedies including rare animals are still popular in Vietnam and China, where they are used for a range of ills from cancer to skin blemishes and hangovers. Species including pangolin, rhino, saiga, sea horses, moon bears and tigers are some of the animals critically endangered by the trade, according to wildlife organizations. Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, said WHO should take sustainability and science as preconditions for incorporating traditional Chinese medicine into its compendium. “All medicinal treatment should be on the principle of ‘do no harm’ to those using, or making it and to the species it depends on; meaning in most cases no vertebrate should be used within TCM,” Zhou said, referring to traditional Chinese medicine. Inclusion in the compendium did not mean WHO endorsed the scientific validity of traditional medicine, or that it recommended or condoned the use of animal parts, a WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. “WHO recommends the enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which protects rhinos, tigers, and other species,” he said. While Hong Kong does not typically manufacture traditional Chinese medicine products, it imports them from the mainland and a wide array, including pangolin scales, saiga horn and shark fin, are readily available in the city’s Western district. Hong Kong lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said preventing the use of endangered animals in traditional Chinese medicine must happen in the mainland. “The Chinese government should do something. Manufacturing is mostly in China. The government needs to stop the production of it,” she said. In online Chinese forums, customers can buy everything from African rhino horn to live young pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, and the powdered horn of saiga, an endangered type of antelope found in Europe and Asia. While the use of rhino horn is officially banned in China, pangolin and saiga products are legally used in Chinese medicine with the big traditional medicine companies all producing them. Companies including Kangmei Pharmaceutical and Tong Ren Tang have been given permits by local government bodies to produce medicines with pangolin scales and saiga horns, according to corporate filings. Gui Zhen Tang, which owns the biggest moon bear breeding center in southern China, has permits for extracting bear bile, according to its website. China Traditional Medicine Holdings last year acquired Beijing Huamiao, a company it says holds permits for the “processed products of some of the endangered and protected wild animals.” It did not elaborate. None of the companies responded to multiple requests for comment. China’s State Forestry and Grassland Administration and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine did not respond to requests to comment. Hong Kong’s Health department said the city’s Chinese Medicines Board “has always been concerned about the balance between the protection of endangered species and the use of traditional Chinese medicine,” and it would continue to observe international regulatory trends and monitor the issue with regard to endangered species. Farming of animals used in traditional medicine has been advocated by China’s Forestry administration and some breeders as a sustainable way to use endangered animals in traditional Chinese medicine. However, activists say the use of farmed supplies of animals such as tigers and rhinos risks enabling the laundering of wild animal parts. Many treatments have already substituted herbal products for animal parts, and practitioners say herbal alternatives are just as, if not more effective. Lixing Lao, director at the School of Chinese Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said there was no need to use endangered species. “Chinese medicine is part of the world,” Lao said. “We take care of the human health, the animals. If we use endangered species, it damages our reputation.”

china medicine trade animals endangered nature


From Paris watchtower to palace to famed museum: 800 years of history of the Louvre

Abstract: PARIS - From a medieval fortress protecting Paris to one of the world’s biggest and most-visited museums, the Louvre has been reinvented many times over the centuries. Today it attracts 10 million visitors a year, most of them tourists drawn by star attractions such as the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. On the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of I.M. Pei’s landmark glass pyramid within one of its courtyards, here is a look back over some of the colorful episodes in the long life of the Louvre. 1190: Watchtower It started off as a Middle Age fortress set up by King Philippe-Auguste in 1190 as part of an enclosure to defend Paris, then several times smaller than it is today. As part of the fortification, the moated Louvre Castle monitored entry from the River Seine, just as the Tower of London did with the River Thames. The base of its “Grosse Tour,” a large tower that served in part as a dungeon, still exists today. 1546: Royal palace As Paris expanded, the fortress lost its defensive role and was occasionally used as a royal residence. But when King Francis I returned after being imprisoned in Spain, he announced it would be converted into his main residence. Celebrated French Renaissance architect Pierre Lescot designed the luxurious palace, with work starting in 1546 on its now-famous facade interspersed with columns, bas-reliefs and statues. It became home to successive monarchs, each adding to its transformation, but lost its status as a royal residence after Louis XIV moved in 1678 to Versailles, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside of the city. 1725: Arts salon The Louvre evolved into a center for arts, the prestigious Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture taking up residence in the 1690s. In 1725 the academy exhibited its members’ work for the first time in its Salon Carre (Square Salon). Such “salons” or shows became major events in the arts world. A handful of artists worked and lived in the Louvre during this time, including Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin and Rococo painter Jean-Honore Fragonard, but they were driven out as the space was reclaimed for a museum. 1793: Museum Soon after the start in 1789 of the French Revolution that overthrew the monarch, the governing assembly decided the Louvre should be turned into a museum and its royal collections displayed to the public. The National Museum opened in 1793. Napoleon I played a key role in its formation, remodeling the space and increasing its collection with acquisitions from his various conquests. He married Marie-Louise of Austria in the Louvre in 1810. After a first presentation of just over 700 paintings and objects, the Louvre today exhibits about 35,000 pieces from a collection nearly 20 times larger. 1830: Artists stand guard During the three-day 1830 July Revolution that overthrew another king, artists acted as national guardsmen to watch over the Louvre’s masterworks and stop looting. Eugene Delacroix kept an eye on Egyptian antiquities; Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres safeguarded works by Raphael. Both men are today proud features of the Louvre’s collection, which includes Delacroix’s most famous painting, “Liberty Leading the People,” inspired by those “Three Glorious Days.” 1911: Mona Lisa missing In 1911 the number of visitors to the Louvre reached a new peak with crowds flocking to see the empty space where Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” used to hang. The painting, acquired by Francois I centuries before, had been stolen. An Italian laborer was discovered to be the thief and the work was found two years later in Florence. It was returned by special train to the Louvre, becoming its star attraction.

paris
museums
history
louvre
anniversaries
art
france
architecture
i.m . pei


Trump adviser Jared Kushner meets Senate intelligence panel for second time in closed session, say sources

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, on Thursday appeared at a closed door meeting of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee for the second time, four congressional sources said. It was not known what topics were discussed with Kushner, who is involved in developing an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and has helped forged closer U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia. The committee has been conducting a largely bipartisan investigation of suspected Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and the nature of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russian officials, including Kushner. A spokesman for Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sen. Mark Warner, the panel’s Democratic vice chairman, declined comment. Senators and staff investigators were present at the meeting with Kushner in a Senate office building, the congressional sources said. Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, had previously appeared before the panel in July 2017. Only staff investigators were present at that session, according to news reports at the time. Committee investigators are working on a five-chapter final report on Russian political activities targeted at the United States and American responses to them. Russia denies interfering in the election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow meddled to undermine the U.S. democratic process and help Trump get elected. U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Sunday released his four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on a 22-month investigation into Russian interference in 2016. Barr said Mueller did not establish that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in the campaign. Specific topics upon which Republican and Democrat investigators on the Senate Intelligence Committee agree include investigative findings on the security of U.S. election systems, the political impact of social media, and examinations of how U.S. spy and law enforcement agencies responded to suspected Russian activities both before and after the election. The committee also is working on final assessments of whether there was collusion between Republican Trump and his campaign and Russians. But on this issue of how Republican and Democrat assessments diverge, with the political rivals agreeing there is a lack of direct evidence of collusion, but Democrats saying there is ample circumstantial evidence to support such a finding. The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on the other hand is bitterly divided. Republican members of the panel opened a session on Thursday on Russian meddling with an attack on Democratic chairman Adam Schiff. They said all nine Republican members had signed a letter asking him to resign because of his criticism of the president’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

jared kushner
donald trump
democrats
robert mueller
republicans
u.s .
congress
russia probe


Venezuela bars Maduro foe Juan Guaido from public office for 15 years

Abstract: CARACAS - The Venezuelan government said opposition leader Juan Guaido would be barred from public office for 15 years on Thursday, as it seeks to crack down on the U.S.-backed rival to President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido has called for fresh protests on Saturday against Maduro, following a blackout this week that left the country without power for days. Cities across Venezuela recovered electricity on Thursday after the blackout, the second major one in less than a month. Maduro on Wednesday night blamed the outage on a “terrorist attack” on the Guri hydroelectric facility that provides electricity to most of the country. Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, has challenged Maduro and his socialist party for power. He invoked the country’s constitution to assume the interim presidency in January, arguing Maduro’s May 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Most South American and Western nations have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader, while Maduro calls Guaido a puppet of the United States attempting to oust him in a coup. In February, Venezuela’s state comptroller, Elvis Amoroso, launched an audit of Guaido for allegedly lying on his personal financial disclosures and receiving funds from unauthorized sources. In a Thursday state television address, Amoroso said Guaido had not explained the source of funds he used to pay for foreign trips he took since joining the assembly. Amoroso said his office had decided to bar Guaido from public office for up to 15 years, the maximum for public servants who commit irregularities. At a rally, Guaido questioned the validity of Amoroso’s role. “The only body that can appoint a comptroller is the legitimate parliament,” he said. To deal with the power outages, Maduro has announced a plan of “load management” for the coming days, without providing details. Generally, load management refers to the process of balancing the supply of electricity on a network with the electrical load. After blaming a “cyberattack” by the United States for the first outage, Maduro said this week’s blackout was caused by a gunman linked to the “perverse, diabolical right-wing” who fired on Guri. But local electricity experts, as well as government critics allied with Guaido, said the outages were due to years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance as Venezuela’s economy spiraled into a hyperinflationary collapse. “I do not think there has been any sabotage,” said Yolimar Arellano, a 43-year-old office worker in Caracas, who said he had electricity at his home, but still no water. He took three buses to get to his job because the subway was not working. “They have spent years stealing money and not doing maintenance.” The blackout came less than two weeks after electricity returned to most of the country following an outage that began on March 7 and lasted as long as six days in some cities. That blackout was the longest and most widespread incident of its kind in a country that has grown accustomed to unreliable public services. Since the second outage hit on Monday, three people died in public hospitals due to a lack of electricity, according to Julio Castro, a doctor and member of the “Doctors for Health” nongovernmental organization. The blackout also halted operations at the Jose terminal, the main port for the country’s crucial oil exports.

venezuela
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
u.s .


House Republicans attack Adam Schiff at first post-Robert Mueller Russia hearing

Abstract: WASHINGTON - House Democrats barreled ahead with their oversight of the Trump administration on Thursday at a fiery Intelligence Committee hearing where Republicans formalized their demand that Chairman Adam Schiff resign his post over his comments that there was significant evidence the president and his associates conspired with Russia. Republicans pointed to the four-page synopsis of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, written and released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, that said the probe found no evidence Donald Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. “We have no faith in your ability to discharge your responsibilities” in line with the Constitution, the Republicans wrote to Schiff in a missive they read aloud at the hearing. At times in his interviews about the Mueller investigation, Schiff came close to sounding like he believed Trump had broken the law, Republicans said. Convening the session, Schiff angrily listed meetings among those in Trump’s circle with Russians and his apparent pursuit of a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. “There is a different word for that than collusion and it’s called compromise,” Schiff said, gavelling open proceedings on how Russia has in the past blackmailed Americans. Schiff this week has repeated his assertion that evidence of collusion is in “plain sight,” saying that Mueller’s failure to find a criminal conspiracy with Russia does not absolve the Trump campaign of its actions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has rebuffed the calls for his resignation as “ridiculous.” Outside the hearing room, the main battle continued over if and when Barr would release Mueller’s still-secret report and its underlying evidence amid Democratic concerns that what has been made public so far was tilted in Trump’s favor. Barr has said he’ll release at least a partial version in April. Democrats warn that the longer it takes to release Mueller’s full findings, the more they will question the legitimacy of Barr’s actions. “I would hope the attorney general would not be acting as a political operative for the president,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Judiciary Committee. “The Department of Justice should not be involved in a coverup of what’s actually in the report.” Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Wednesday he was “disappointed” Barr would take weeks, not days, to release the report. “The president has now an opportunity for weeks, it sounds like, to do these victory laps,” said Cummings, noting that Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, is among those headed to jail as a result of the probe. “Cohen goes to jail, the president runs a victory lap.” Barr told the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that he’s combing through Mueller’s report and removing classified, grand jury and other information in hopes of releasing it to Congress. Graham told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had dinner the previous evening with Barr, who said he is willing to testify before the committee after he sends Congress the report. Trump also has said he’s fine with releasing the findings. “The president said, ‘Just let it go,’ and that’s what’s going to happen,” Graham said. What’s clear, though, is that Barr will miss the Tuesday deadline set by six House committee chairmen to see the full confidential report and its underlying documents. They have suggested they may eventually need to subpoena it. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he was “very concerned” Barr would not provide the material by the time set. Nadler upped the oversight Wednesday by placing a call to Barr. Over 10 minutes, the chairman asked whether Barr would accede to Congress’ demand for the full report by Tuesday. Barr said no, according to Nadler. Nadler asked if Barr would release a report to Congress without redactions. “He wouldn’t commit to that,” the congressman said. He also told reporters that Mueller’s report was “very substantial” and fewer than 1,000 pages. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has urged caution so as not to “throw innocent people who’ve not been charged under the bus,” is blocking legislation to force the disclosure of the Mueller report. Other Republicans, however, insisted on Congress being able to review it. “I want to see it all,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “I think we should see the entire report.” The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, was confident a full picture of Mueller’s report would emerge. “People are going to be very surprised,” Collins said. “Barr is going to put out a lot of stuff.” Beyond Mueller’s findings, House Democrats, including Schiff, are pursuing multiple investigations into the president’s political, business and personal dealings, as they press on with their oversight agenda. Part of their work is to determine if anyone sought leverage over Trump, his family or associates. Those probes, including a push to release his tax returns, are not fully dependent on whether the report backs up Barr’s conclusion. By Barr’s account, Mueller made no finding on whether the president obstructed justice. Though Barr cleared Mueller of obstruction, the question is now in Congress’ hands. Barr wants to make sure nothing is released that could compromise national security or intelligence sources and methods, Graham said. He said Barr also told him he wants to check with prosecutors who have cases associated with Mueller’s Russia investigation. Mueller had referred cases to other federal courts as part of his probe.

republicans
adam schiff
robert mueller
william barr
donald trump
congress
u.s .
russia probe