Japanese and U.S. researchers say allergy shots for pregnant women may protect babies for life

Abstract: A group of researchers based in Japan and the United States believe that administering allergy shots to women during pregnancy could prevent their unborn children from developing allergies after birth and throughout their lives. The researchers believe the special shots, which prevent offspring from producing specific antibodies that trigger allergic reactions, could effectively halt the development of human allergies including atopic dermatitis, asthma, pollen and food allergies. The teams hope the treatment could be commercialized within five to 10 years. The scientists, who come from Japan’s National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo’s Jikei University School of Medicine and the California-based La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, have performed related experiments on mice. “We discovered that preventing infant (mice) from creating antibodies would effectively diminish the risk of allergies in their adult lives,” said Hirohisa Saito, deputy director at the National Center for Child Health and Development, who is one of the leaders in the research. In a phone conversation on Tuesday, Saito, an expert in immunology and cell biology, explained that allergies occur when people develop antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE), which combine with allergens and trigger allergic reactions. Saito said that depending on the environments to which infants are exposed, they may produce such antibodies within the first three or four months after birth. “Researchers agree that fighting them within that period is critical,” said Saito. “Once they appear in our immune system, it’s impossible to cure allergies.” Saito explained that injecting allergy shots during pregnancy can effectively kill so-called mast cells, which release chemicals that interact with allergens and cause allergic reactions. Since adults already have a large number of IgE antibodies in their immune system, such shots would not be effective for them, he said. According to the health ministry, about half of the population of Japan struggle with some kind of allergy. The nation has also seen a rise in the incidence of hay fever. By injecting shots that counteracted IgE and killed the mast cells in pregnant mice, the researchers succeeded in preventing IgE antibodies from developing for six weeks. According to Saito, that would be comparable to a period of around five months in humans. Saito said that anti-IgE medicine injected into expectant mothers could immunize unborn babies and would be effective in preventing all kinds of allergies. “Such medicine has already been used to ease symptoms of asthma in pregnant women and has been proven safe for the fetus,” said Saito. “Injecting it into the mother could have the same effect as injecting it directly into the child.” Referring to rising calls for caution over giving allergy shots to newborn babies, Saito said the latest research would alleviate those public worries as the shots would be administered to the mother during pregnancy. No side effects have been reported so far, according to the researchers. Saito and the late Kimishige Ishizaka, the immunologist who in 1966 discovered IgE antibodies, are the architects for the two-year project, which launched in 2016. Ishizaka passed away in July. The results of the study have been published in the November issue of “The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,” a monthly U.S. medical journal.

allergies
pregnancy
children
medicine
hirohisa saito


Akita ranks 2nd for Japan prefecture searches abroad thanks to dog breed

Abstract: The northeastern prefecture of Akita came in second, behind Tokyo, in a ranking of Japanese prefecture names searched on the internet abroad, a survey by a digital advertising company has found. The result was unexpected, with Akita coming ahead of such prefectures as Kyoto and Osaka, both of which are popular tourist destinations, according to the Tokyo-based firm, Info Cubic Japan. Searches for Akita apparently increased because many people tried to obtain information on Akita Inu, or the Akita dog breed, amid the increasing popularity of the dog, an official at Info Cubic Japan said. The breed is drawing attention overseas partly because an Akita puppy was presented to Alina Zagitova, a Russian figure skater who won gold in the women’s singles at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February this year, the official said. Info Cubic surveyed prefecture names searched in English on Google in 13 countries and regions for the year up to March 31, 2018, in a bid to understand any link between the number of searches and that of foreign tourists to Japan. The survey showed that Tokyo topped the list, with 359,700 searches, followed by Akita, with 350,310. Coming third was Hiroshima, with 214,120. Osaka came fourth, with 205,400, and neighboring Kyoto seventh, with 139,100. According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the number of foreign visitors who stayed overnight or longer in Akita in 2017 totaled about 100,000. It ranked 43rd among all Japanese prefectures. The number of searches of “akita inu” started to increase abroad around 2010 and recently reached levels twice as high as that for Mount Fuji, said Shin Osuka, 45, an official at a local group promoting tourism on the back of the popularity of the Akita. “I think that Akita is being actively searched by people who came to know, following the popularity of the dog species, that it is the name of a place,” Osuka said. “I want to take this opportunity to attract visitors to the prefecture.”


Woman arrested over Australian needles-in-strawberries spiking case

Abstract: SYDNEY - Following a crisis that sparked panic across Australia recently, a woman has been arrested after a “complex” investigation into an incident in which needles were found stuck into strawberries, police said Sunday. Queensland state authorities offered a large reward and the national government raised jail terms for such crimes after sewing needles were found in plastic boxes of the fruit sold in supermarkets in September. Since the first case came to light after a man was taken to hospital with stomach pains after consuming strawberries, more than 100 alleged incidents of pins and needles found in fruit, mostly strawberries, were reported in September around the country. One incident was also reported in neighboring New Zealand. Police said a 50-year-old woman was arrested Sunday afternoon “following a complex . . . and extensive investigation” into the contamination case. “The (Queensland Police Service) coordinated a national investigative response with multiple government, law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” they added in a statement. The woman was set to be charged Sunday evening and will appear in court in Brisbane on Monday. Police did not reveal any further details, including what the charges will be or the reasons and motives behind her alleged involvement. The sabotage crisis led supermarkets to pull the fruit from the shelves and saw farmers dump tons of the unwanted berry. The government raised the maximum prison sentence for fruit tampering from 10 to 15 years.

australia strawberry crime brisbane health


North Korean paper raps Japan's reaction to South Korean court ruling on wartime forced labor

Abstract: BEIJING - The newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party carried an editorial Sunday supporting a recent South Korean court ruling ordering a Japanese company to pay compensation for wartime forced labor. The editorial in the Rodong Sinmum lambasted objections to the ruling by Japanese government officials as “barefaced impudence.” It is possible that North Korea will in the future push its demands for compensation for Japanese colonial rule by referring to the same ruling. The newspaper criticized by name Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who called the ruling “unbelievable” and indicated Tokyo could take the case to the International Court of Justice. “More than 8.4 million people were kidnapped, abducted and forcibly transported to battlefields and backbreaking workplaces, and 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery,” it said. “Our people must accept Japan’ apologies and compensation a thousand times over.” On Oct. 30, South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to compensate four South Koreans for forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan maintains that the issue of compensation related to the period was settled under an agreement attached to a 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea. The Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration of 2002 states that both sides agreed to discuss the issue of property and claims in talks to normalize their ties “pursuant to the basic principle that when the bilateral relationship is normalized both . . . would mutually waive all their property and claims and those of their nationals that had arisen from causes which occurred before August 15, 1945.”


Dollar falls below ¥113.30 in Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar fell below ¥113.30 in Tokyo trading Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a possible slowdown in the pace of interest rate increases. At 5 p.m. the dollar stood at ¥113.24, down from ¥113.86 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1383, up from $1.1277, and at ¥128.91, up from ¥128.42. In overnight trading abroad, the dollar hit two-week highs around ¥114 before losing ground on Powell’s comment in a speech at a New York conference Wednesday. The impact of his remark lingered in Tokyo on Thursday, sending the U.S. currency below ¥113.30 temporarily, traders said. A momentum to buy back the dollar was “sluggish,” a currency market broker said. The greenback is unlikely to stay above ¥113 if the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield falls below 3 percent, the broker added. Minutes of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee meeting early this month will be released later on Thursday. Regarding this, an official at a major life insurer said “a sense of caution is growing” among currency market participants following Powell’s dovish remark. Meanwhile, a major Japanese bank official said the impact of the minutes on the currency market “will be limited” after a series of comments by senior Fed officials.

currencies
exchange rates
foreign exchange
forex


Tokyo stocks up for fifth session on Wall Street surge

Abstract: Stocks closed higher for the fifth straight session on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday following an overnight surge in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei average rose 85.58 points, or 0.39 percent, to finish at 22,262.60. It advanced 224.62 points Wednesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 5.81 points, or 0.35 percent, at 1,659.47, after climbing 9.50 points the previous day. The Tokyo market opened firmer following Wall Street’s rise after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled in his lecture Wednesday that the pace of interest rate hikes may slow, market sources said. The Nikkei average gained more than 250 points briefly after the opening bell. In afternoon trading, the Tokyo market cut much of its earlier gains in line with the yen’s strengthening against the dollar. An official of a bank-linked securities firm indicated that receding concerns over the U.S.-China trade war following a New York Times report Tuesday were behind Thursday’s advance. According to the report, a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expected for Saturday could lead to “a truce” in the trade war. Commenting on the Tokyo market’s sluggishness in the afternoon, Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., said investors “found it difficult to step up purchases before the (U.S.-China) summit.” An official at a midsize securities firm said selling on a rally weighed on the market’s topside. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,301 to 730 in the TSE’s first section, while 86 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.302 billion shares from 1.388 billion shares on Wednesday. High-tech names, including Sumco Corp. and Murata Manufacturing Co., were buoyant after their U.S. peers fared well in New York on Wednesday. Mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group Corp. and air conditioner-maker Daikin Industries were among other major gainers. By contrast, Osaka Titanium Technologies Co. met with selling after announcing Wednesday a decision to withdraw from the polysilicon business. Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and supermarket and convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. were also downbeat. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average inched up 10 points to end at 22,240.


SoftBank's ¥2.4 trillion IPO reaches retail sales target

Abstract: SoftBank Group Corp.’s ¥2.4 trillion ($21 billion) initial public offering for its Japanese telecommunications unit has successfully secured sales for the bulk of its shares to individual investors, sources have said. The lead underwriters, which had set a target of about ¥2 trillion worth of retail sales, have received enough reservations at around the indicated price of ¥1,500, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. One brokerage completed half of its volume at a retail branch on the first day, they said. SoftBank shares added to gains and rose as much as 3.9 percent to ¥9,597 in Tokyo — the highest intraday price in more than a month. Rivals NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp. fell to session lows. SoftBank will announce the price range for the offering Friday after a campaign to whip up public interest in the IPO of the wireless unit, which will be a new entity named SoftBank Corp. The issuer’s strong brand, high dividend payout, and a plan to split the lots to make the shares accessible to more people have helped to fuel demand. That may result in a pricing range higher than ¥1,500, the people said. If there’s enough demand to satisfy the overallotment of shares, SoftBank may succeed in selling as much as ¥2.6 trillion worth of shares. That would put it on track to exceed the record market debut in Japan of former national carrier Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. in 1987. SoftBank and brokerage representatives declined to comment on retail-investor demand and the price range. Joint domestic lead underwriters include Nomura Holdings Inc., Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. and SBI Securities Co. The underwriters’ efforts began with an unusual television marketing campaign aimed at a broad range of potential investors. The commercials will run through Friday. SoftBank and one underwriter, Mizuho, also rolled out a plan to use a smartphone-based brokerage backed by the bank, One Tap Buy Co., to sell shares. That would let people buy one share at the indicated price of ¥1,500 apiece, instead of the usual minimum block of 100 for ¥150,000, according to the prospectus. SoftBank’s executives and global coordinators for the share sale went on a worldwide road show in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Japan this month to pitch the IPO to analysts and fund managers. The IPO will probably be harder to sell to foreign investors, according to Anthea Lai, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. SoftBank may struggle to hold on to wireless subscribers if web retailer Rakuten Inc. enters the market with an attractive unlimited data plan, wrote Chris Lane, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., in a recent report


Government agency approved not reporting retirement pay, says Carlos Ghosn's aide Greg Kelly

Abstract: Greg Kelly, a close aide of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn, claims Japan’s Financial Services Agency told him it was unnecessary to report the remuneration Ghosn was set to receive after retirement, sources with knowledge of the matter said Thursday. Tokyo prosecutors believe the two were aware of the need to report Ghosn’s post-retirement package but did not do so. Kelly, however, is likely to deny allegations that he intentionally falsified securities reports, they said. The former Nissan representative director was arrested along with Ghosn on Nov. 19 on suspicion of conspiring to engage in financial misconduct. Kelly has said he consulted with a public accountant and a lawyer in addition to the FSA over the need to report the post-retirement payment, according to the sources. He has also told prosecutors there was no need to report the remuneration as it had not yet been settled, the sources said. Kelly’s lawyer in the United States said Wednesday that Kelly “absolutely believes what he did was legal.” Under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, remuneration must be disclosed in a securities report when it is becomes set, even if the actual payout is planned in the future. The post-retirement payment that went unreported for eight years from fiscal 2010 totaled roughly ¥8 billion ($70 million) and was scheduled to be paid at least partially as consultation fees. Ghosn allegedly thought he should receive some ¥2 billion annually as remuneration but instructed Kelly to state in securities reports that he earned ¥1 billion a year instead and planned to receive the remainder after retirement, the sources said. The FSA said it does not comment on individual cases. Ghosn was arrested by prosecutors for allegedly violating the financial instruments law by underreporting his remuneration by around ¥5 billion over five years to March 2015, even though he received some ¥10 billion in the period. The prosecutors are also considering building a case against him for underreporting a further ¥3 billion in remuneration received over three years from April 2015. Ghosn has denied the charge. Meanwhile, the top executives of Nissan, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced after meeting Thursday that they will maintain the three-way automaker alliance, stressing that their cooperation had produced success that could not be compared to anything else. Following the meeting, Nissan said the policy was confirmed as a result of the discussion between the three firms’ top executives. The leadership vacuum at one of the world’s largest automaker groups is turning into a power struggle between Nissan, which wants to review the alliance to have more say, and Renault, whose biggest shareholder — the French government — wants someone from the French automaker to lead the group. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa and Mitsubishi Motors CEO Osamu Masuko were expected to exchange views via video conference with Renault’s acting CEO Thierry Bollore at Renault-Nissan BV, a company overseeing the alliance in Amsterdam. Ghosn was dismissed as chairman at both Japanese automakers, but remains CEO and chairman of Renault following the 64-year-old’s arrest.

carlos ghosn
greg kelly
nissan
fsa
scandals


Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko says Vladimir Putin wants his whole country, calling on NATO for help

Abstract: BERLIN - Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of seeking to annex his entire country and called for NATO and Chancellor Angela Merkel to come to Kiev’s aid in the crisis. Russia seized three Ukrainian Navy ships and their crews Sunday near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters — a charge Ukraine strongly refutes. In interviews with Germany’s Bild newspaper and the Funke newspaper group on Thursday, Poroshenko rejected Russia’s charge that the vessels’ entry into the Sea of Azov — a body of water shared by Ukraine and Russia on which the Ukraine ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk sit — was a provocation. “Don’t believe Putin’s lies,” he told Bild, Germany’s biggest-selling paper, comparing Russia’s protestations of innocence in the affair to Moscow’s 2014 denial that it had soldiers in Crimea even as they moved to annex it. “Putin wants the old Russian empire back,” he said. “Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian tsar, as he sees himself, his empire can’t function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.” Poroshenko also asked NATO members including Germany to send naval vessels to the Sea of Azov to back his country in the standoff with Russia. “Germany is one of our closest allies, and we hope that states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security,” he told Bild. On Wednesday, Putin insisted that Russian forces were right to seize three Ukrainian ships last weekend. But Poroshenko charged that Putin wants nothing less than to occupy the area and the only language he understands is the unity of the Western world. “We cannot accept this aggressive policy of Russia. First it was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov. “Germany, too, has to ask itself: What will Putin do next if we do not stop him?” he added. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday demanded Russia free the Ukrainian ships and sailors, warning Moscow that “its actions have consequences.” The seizure of the navy vessels has driven tensions to their highest since 2015, when Moscow-backed rebels rose against the Kiev government in the eastern Donbass region, sparking a war that has killed tens of thousands. Poroshenko urged Germany, the largest and wealthiest buyer of Moscow’s gas exports, to halt the building of an undersea gas pipeline that will allow Russia to supply Germany directly, cutting out Ukraine. “We need a strong, resolute and clear reaction to Russia’s aggressive behavior,” he told Funke. “That also means stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.” Germany regards the pipeline, which is being built by Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, as a private investment. But Merkel recently acknowledged its “political dimensions” and said Ukraine must continue to be a conduit for Russian gas sold to western Europe. German officials said Wednesday that their position on the pipeline remained unchanged and that talk of tighter sanctions against Moscow, demanded by the United States and many European politicians, was “premature.”

ukraine
petro poroshenko
vladimir putin
russia
conflict


Latest Crimea strife gives Vladimir Putin a new opportunity to test the West's resolve

Abstract: MOSCOW - The latest spike in tensions between Russia and Ukraine over Crimea offers President Vladimir Putin a fresh chance to test the West’s commitment to defending Kiev at a time when the U.S. and Europe are divided and distracted by internal squabbling. But the weekend skirmish that saw Russian naval forces fire on and seize three Ukrainian ships in the narrow channel between the Black and Azov seas could also set back Putin’s chances for rapprochement with the U.S. The Kremlin had been hoping his meeting with President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit this week in Argentina would lead to concrete steps toward a thaw in relations. Ukraine gained the early diplomatic advantage despite both sides pointing the finger at each other for orchestrating Sunday’s confrontation for political reasons. European capitals came out strongly denouncing the Russian action. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley laid the blame for the escalation on Moscow’s “outlaw actions,” but said Washington will let its allies take the lead in responding. The timing of the incident hardly works to the Kremlin’s advantage with Western governments ahead of the G20 gathering in Buenos Aires. Still, Putin has never been one to miss a chance to capitalize on a crisis, whether created by accident or design, according to Alexander Baunov of the Moscow Carnegie Center. “On the one hand, this type of foreign-policy escalation is risky and won’t help relations with the West,” Baunov said. “But if they swallow it, then it will look like another diplomatic victory.” Putin’s gamble It’s the kind of gamble that’s become increasing common for Putin, who’s sought to take advantage of the waning international focus on the Ukrainian conflict to steadily increase pressure on his counterpart in Kiev. Rekindling the patriotic fervor that accompanied his annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine could help offset growing domestic discontent over stagnant incomes and changes to Russia’s pension system. Likewise, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, who came to power after street protests forced his Kremlin-backed predecessor to flee the country, is facing an election in March that polls suggest he is unlikely to win. Poroshenko, whose campaign slogan is “army, language, faith,” has asked parliament to approve a declaration of martial law, a step some opposition lawmakers see as a ploy to boost his re-election bid. Prior to the weekend incident, Kremlin officials had been cautiously optimistic about the meeting Putin and Trump have scheduled for the G20. They said the momentum behind calls for new sanctions that followed Trump’s enthusiastic embrace of Putin at their last meeting, in Helsinki in July, had seemed to fade. Even with the flare-up, which sent the rouble and Russian stocks down the most in emerging markets Monday, Western reaction will likely be tepid, according to Eurasia Group. “The most that Washington and Brussels are likely to impose at this stage is more sanctions against individuals and entities,” Eurasia Group analyst Alex Brideau said in a note. “Stronger sanctions that might target new economic sectors or major Russian oligarchs are unlikely unless the episode escalates.” U.S. response The U.S. will maintain its current Crimea-related sanctions on Russia, Haley said in her speech. She stopped short of threatening further restrictions, saying only that “further Russian escalation of this kind will only make matters worse.” The latest violence came after months of rising tensions in the region as Russia incrementally squeezed Ukraine’s access to the Azov, a key waterway for exports of metals and farm products from ports just south of the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. The bridge Russia completed this year linking its mainland to Crimea spans the Kerch Strait, which separates the Azov from the Black Sea, opening global markets via the Mediterranean. The Kerch bridge limited the height of ship traffic. Russia began inspecting vessels headed to and from Ukraine over the summer, prompting the U.S. State Department to denounce what it called “harassment of international shipping.” The tensions continued, however, and Russia closed the strait to all ships for several hours Sunday for what it called security reasons. Ukraine says its vessels were intercepted in international waters, while Russia accused them of violating its territorial zone and ignoring warnings to change course. Alexei Chesnakov, a former Kremlin official who now consults authorities in Moscow on Ukraine policy, said Russia “couldn’t have acted any other way” in light of Ukraine’s behavior along their maritime border. “If a country shows strength then sanctions are possible,” he said. “But if a country shows weakness then sanctions are inevitable.”

crimea
vladimir putin
russia
ukraine
g20
conflict
petro poroshenko


Kim Jong Un's diplomacy pays off: First the sound of puppy feet, then joint survey of North Korean railway system

Abstract: SEOUL - Kim Jong Un’s gift of two hunting dogs to South Korea in September is starting to bear more fruit, first with a litter of puppies and now with a landmark railway deal. South Korea will send trains across the border to North Korea for the first time in a decade after the United Nations Security Council granted exemptions from sanctions, Seoul said Wednesday. The trips will be used for a study to assess what is needed to connect one other railway that has been separated since the Korean War. The development shows that South Korean President Moon Jae-in is making steady progress toward his goal of achieving “irreversible progress” on inter-Korean relations by the end of 2018. Earlier this month, his office disclosed pictures of six puppies delivered by one of the North Korean dogs. “Six were added to the gift of two, which is great luck,” Moon said in a Nov. 12 tweet, shortly after he sent 200 tons of tangerines to Pyongyang as a gift. “I hope North and South Korean matters would be just like that.” Still, Moon can’t go too fast. U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that sanctions stay in place until Kim’s regime completely gives up its nuclear weapons. With a second summit between Trump and Kim now in doubt, Moon has stopped openly promoting potential economic benefits of greater engagement with North Korea. Moon “needs to build the foundations for inter-Korean reconciliation to continue once he leaves office,” said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Korea Chair at the Institute for European Studies in Brussels. The current administration “will continue to test the waters in the coming months, and will also ask for waivers and use aid to slowly strengthen inter-Korean economic links.” Here are areas of cooperation that Moon and Kim promised to make progress on this year: Military de-escalation As part of a military agreement to reduce accidental border clashes, the two Koreas each destroyed 10 guard posts, enforced a ban on military exercises in the area and imposed a no-fly zone. Last week, military officials from the two nations put down their guns and shook hands to discuss connecting roads to jointly excavate remains during the Korean War. Restoring communications Military officials from both sides also restored fixed-line phone and fax machines by upgrading to fiber-optic cables from copper, and government officials are working on improving the communication lines. They also opened a venue for around-the-clock communications: A liaison office in the border town of Kaesong. Rails and roads Seoul and Pyongyang will begin a joint survey of the North Korean rail system Friday for about 18 days. The neighbors have also discussed reconnecting roads and starting direct flights. Those moves, however, will require exemptions from sanctions that ban shipments of fuel or activities that could generate revenues for Kim’s regime. “Should South Korea request some sanctions relief aimed at economic aid that is part of inter-Korean easing, the U.S. should be able to live with that,” said Stephen Noerper, senior director at the Korea Society in New York. “North Korea has to show progress to give Moon the political space he needs to proceed.”

kim jong un
diplomacy
north korea
dogs
south korea
moon jae-in


Philippine court jails three police officers for murder in first during Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs

Abstract: MANILA - A Philippine court on Thursday sentenced three police officers to up to 49 years in jail for the murder of a 17-year-old high school student, the first to be convicted in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. The Caloocan City regional trial court declared the three police guilty for the killing of Kian Lloyd delos Santos in August 2017 in a dark, trash-filled alley in a northern suburb in the capital Manila. “A shoot first, think later attitude can never be countenanced in a civilized society. Never has homicide or murder been a function of law enforcement. The public peace is never predicated on the cost of human life,” said the ruling by Judge Roldolfo Azucena. This was the first case of what human rights advocates say was an extrajudicial killing carried out by state agents in the 29-month war on drugs, which saw close to 5,000 people dead in police operations. Police reject allegations that the killings were executions, saying the drug peddlers and users were killed in shootouts, and that they were acting in self-defense. “We respect the decision of the court. We don’t tolerate any erring police officers,” said Benigno Durana, national police spokesman, adding the police force “stand fully behind police officers engaged in the drug war, who are doing their jobs within the bounds of the law.” The death of the school boy has stirred unprecedented public attention on what activists say are executions and systematic abuses by police backed steadfastly by Duterte. Duterte, a firebrand leader who unleashed a ferocious war against illegal drugs after coming into office in June 2016, has more than once said he would not allow the police to go to jail for killing drug users and pushers. But shortly after the verdict was handed down, Duterte’s spokesperson, Salvador Panelo said: “This is murder, there is intention to kill. The president would never tolerate that.” Duterte’s government has repeatedly said there was no declared policy to kill drug users and pushers. “The conviction of the three police officers for murdering Kian de los Santos is a victory for justice but it is not enough. The killings must stop,” said Jose Manuel Diokno, chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG). FLAG has questioned the legality of the drugs war before the Philippine Supreme Court. Delos Santos was found dead in an alley with a gun in his left hand. Police said they killed him in self defense, but his family dismissed that as a lie. Security cameras showed the officers aggressively escorting a man matching delos Santos’ description in the direction of the spot where he was killed. “Justice was served for my son,” Kian’s mother, Lorenza delos Santos told reporters outside the courtroom. “We were able to prove that my son was innocent of all the accusations hurled against him.”

philippines
courts
rodrigo duterte
drugs
rights


Syphilis infections in Japan top 6,000 for first time since 1970

Abstract: Cases of syphilis infections this year totaled 6,096 as of Nov. 18, exceeding an annual amount of 6,000 for the first time since 1970, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Wednesday. The number of syphilis patients stood at 1,548 in Tokyo, the highest among the country’s 47 prefectures, followed by 1,043 in Osaka, 399 in Aichi, 314 in Kanagawa and 272 in Fukuoka. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government in April started providing more free syphilis testing to contain the disease, which is curable at an early stage but has serious consequences if left untreated. To prevent further spread of the disease ahead of the 2020 Games, the metropolitan government has earmarked funds in its fiscal 2018 budget to conduct more free anonymous tests and train doctors who have limited experience in treating syphilis. Syphilis is caused by bacteria called treponema. In the primary stage, the disease manifests as minor sores or ulcers in affected areas, such as around the genitals and lips, and can be cured by anti-bacterial drugs. But if left untreated, the infection can eventually cause inflammation throughout the body, as well as brain and heart complications. Pregnant women who contract the disease before or during pregnancy can pass it on to their baby. The disease, known as congenital syphilis, can cause stillbirth or affect infants through symptoms such as meningitis and skin rashes. According to the health ministry, the number of patients is markedly increasing among men in their 20s to 50s and women in their 20s to 30s. But the cause of the increase has yet to be identified. Beginning in January, the ministry will require doctors to report the use of sex industry services by their syphilis patients under a mandatory reporting system in order to identify the cause of the disease’s spread. The ministry is calling for the use of condoms, as well as examinations so the disease can be detected early.


Kid-scaring Namahage among Japanese folk rituals approved for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list

Abstract: PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS - A set of Japanese folk rituals, in which people dress up as gods and visit homes, was approved Thursday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the U.N. body said. The rituals featuring Raiho-shin — meaning a visiting deity — stem from folk beliefs that gods visit their communities to usher in the New Year or new seasons with good luck. Those to be listed include Oga no Namahage in Akita Prefecture, one of the most popular among such customs. During a meeting of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee in Port Louis, Mauritius, it was announced 10 such rituals from eight prefectures were to become part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The actual inscription on the list is scheduled to take place on Saturday, the last day of the session. Japan had pitched the significance of the Raiho-shin rituals, saying they are vital to the localities concerned because they “help strengthen the sense of belonging to the community.” In the city of Oga in Akita, young men wearing demon-like masks and straw capes visit local houses on New Year’s Eve or on Jan. 15, disguised as a deity called Namahage. They admonish children to behave and scold idlers by shouting and wielding wooden knives. The designated rituals also include Miyakojima no Paantou, performed on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture. Those who play the role of visiting gods wear a mask and cover their bodies with mud, strolling around towns and putting the mud on people for good health. Local leaders in the related communities expressed their pleasure. “It’s fairly easy to end traditions but hard to keep them alive,” said Mikio Miura, who heads an association to preserve Namahage. The 69-year-old has been involved in activities to pass on the tradition for over 40 years. “I hope the registration will create momentum, from which more people volunteer to perform Namahage,” he said. It has become harder for those communities to find people who can practice the rituals amid an aging and declining population, especially in rural areas across the country. The government had nominated Namahage as a single element for inscription on the UNESCO list, but the committee told the government its nomination was insufficient since it closely resembles another Japanese ritual, the Koshikijima no Toshidon, that was registered on the list in 2009. Therefore, the government changed its strategy and submitted the nomination of 10 Raiho-shin rituals encompassing Namahage and Toshidon, practiced in Kagoshima Prefecture, to the committee in March last year. In October this year, an advisory panel to UNESCO recommended that the Raiho-shin rituals be added to the list. Each of the 10 rituals has been registered as an Important Intangible Cultural Property in Japan. Since the latest addition to the list is considered as an extension of the registration of Toshidon, the total number of Japan’s elements on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity remains at 21. Other Japanese elements on the list include “Yama, Hoko, Yatai festivals,” inscribed in 2016, and washoku , traditional Japanese cuisine, listed in 2013. Japan is now aiming for registration of ancient wooden architectural craftsmanship on the list in 2020, officials have said.


South Korea's top court orders Mitsubishi Heavy to pay compensation for wartime labor

Abstract: SEOUL - South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered major Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to pay damages to two groups of South Koreans for wartime labor, following a similar order last month against another Japanese company. The two rulings by the Supreme Court, which each drew an immediate protest from Tokyo, have set a clear precedent for similar cases involving Japanese companies, while affecting ties between South Korea and Japan that are often strained by issues of wartime history. The rulings “completely overthrow the legal foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship that Japan and the Republic of Korea have developed since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965,” Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in a statement, calling the court decisions “extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable.” Kono said Japan is urging South Korea to take appropriate steps as the rulings go against international law, adding that failure by Seoul to take action will lead to countermeasures by Tokyo, including taking the cases to an international court. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference that the ruling could have a negative impact on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ operations, though he did not elaborate further. The firm said in a statement that the top court decisions were “deeply regrettable,” adding that it will “take appropriate measures while maintaining communication with the Japanese government about this issue.” Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned South Korean Ambassador Lee Su-hoon to the Foreign Ministry to lodge a protest. Akiba told Lee that Tokyo is ready to deal with the issue “resolutely,” according to the Foreign Ministry. Lee told reporters after the meeting that he and Akiba explained the stance of their respective governments. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it respects the rulings, adding that it is “very concerned” about “excessive responses” from the Japanese government to judicial decisions in South Korea. Tokyo takes the position that the issue over wartime laborers, some of whom were recruited or forced to work, has been settled under a bilateral accord attached to a 1965 treaty that established diplomatic ties between the two countries. The accord stipulates that issues relating to property and claims between the two countries and their peoples have been settled “completely and finally.” But the top court determined in Thursday’s rulings that the rights of victims of forced mobilization to seek compensation was not terminated by the accord as it is predicated on Japan’s “illegal colonial rule,” a line of reasoning also taken in its Oct. 30 ruling against Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. The latest rulings upheld the decisions by lower courts that ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay damages to two groups, each consisting of five South Korean plaintiffs, over their labor in Japan during World War II. The plaintiffs in the first group filed a damages lawsuit in Busan in 2000, claiming they were forced to work in Hiroshima from 1944 and exposed to radiation from the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city. Their case was dismissed in a district court and subsequently in an appeals court. But in 2012 the Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ruled that the right of individuals to seek compensation was not invalidated by the 1965 accord, sending their case back to a lower court. In July 2013, the Busan High Court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay the plaintiffs a total of 400 million won (about $365,500) in damages, prompting the company to appeal the ruling to the top court. All the plaintiffs in that case are deceased and their cases have been taken up by their bereaved families. The plaintiffs in the other group include members of the Korean Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps and sought compensation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for their wartime labor in Nagoya. In 2015 a high court in Gwangju in southwest South Korea ordered the company to pay a total of 562 million won to the plaintiffs. At a news conference after Thursday’s ruling, 89-year-old Kim Sung-joo, one of the plaintiffs made to work at the Nagoya factory during World War II, expressed appreciation for all those involved in her case. “We couldn’t do anything on our own other than suffer, but with all of your efforts, we’ve finally made it today. Thank you,” Kim said in a quivering voice. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say it is now the South Korean government’s responsibility to take the lead in figuring out how to carry out the court orders in consultation with the Japanese government. Also Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court upheld a lower court order against Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay damages to three relatives of South Koreans mobilized to work in Japan during World War II. The pair of rulings came about a month after another top court ruling in South Korea that also ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to compensate four South Koreans subjected to work for the company during Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the October ruling “unbelievable” and indicated that Tokyo could take the matter to the International Court of Justice. Despite the 1965 normalization of diplomatic relations, issues related to wartime history continue to cast a shadow over ties between the two countries. In another twist in the relationship, Seoul decided earlier this month to disband a Tokyo-funded foundation created under a 2015 bilateral accord to settle the issue of South Korean “comfort women” who provided sex to Japanese soldiers in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will. Japan reacted strongly to the move as the December 2015 bilateral deal had been signed to “finally and irreversibly” settle the issue.

wartime labor
mitsubishi heavy industries
wwii
south korea-japan relations


Dollar falls to around ¥113.30 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was weaker at around ¥113.30 in Tokyo trading late Friday, hurt by lower Tokyo stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.29, down from ¥113.52 at the same time on Thursday. The euro was at $1.1343, up from $1.1338, and at ¥128.51, down from ¥128.70. In overseas trading, the dollar temporarily rose to levels near ¥113.70 as U.S. stocks erased early losses and turned higher following a reported remark by a U.S. senior government official that the United States will hold off on fresh tariffs on China. But the dollar’s topside grew heavy in early trading in Tokyo. The greenback fell below ¥113.40 in midmorning trading as the yen attracted safe-haven buying after the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average moved on a weak note, traders said. The dollar lost further ground in the afternoon as the Nikkei average extended losses. It slipped to around ¥113.20 in late trading. After the U.S. government official denied the reported remark, the market’s atmosphere turned risk-off, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. On overseas trading later on Friday, a currency broker said, “Market players are expected to continue watching developments related to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and U.S.-China trade friction.”


Tokyo stocks extend losses in thin trading, dropping to 21,680

Abstract: Stocks lost further ground in thin trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday, with active buying held in check amid a dearth of fresh positive incentives. The 225-issue Nikkei average lost 123.28 points, or 0.57 percent, to end at 21,680.34, after losing 42.86 points on Thursday. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 9.67 points, or 0.59 percent, at 1,629.30. It fell 2.29 points the previous day. Despite an overnight rally in U.S. stocks, both indexes moved on a weak note for most of Friday’s session as investor sentiment was dampened by disappointing sales projections for November-January by major U.S. chipmakers Nvidia Corp. and Applied Materials Inc., released on Thursday, brokers said. Investors found it difficult to boost trading as there were few fresh domestic trading factors, with the earnings-reporting season nearly over, said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan Inc. Investors refrained from active buying in light of concerns about bearish stock price movements on Wall Street later Friday, Otani also said. “Trading may continue sluggish next week,” an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said, noting that foreign investors tend not to build up major positions ahead of Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,442 to 607 in the TSE’s first section, while 63 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.424 billion shares from 1.500 billion shares on Friday. Semiconductor-related names met with selling after the disappointing earnings projections of Nvidia and Applied Materials. Tokyo Electron lost 4.26 percent, Advantest fell 7.56 percent and Sumco dropped 7.96 percent. Mitsui Mining and Smelting sagged 1.51 percent after Daiwa Securities Co. revised down its investment rating and target stock price for the nonferrous metal producer. Other major losers included mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group and game-maker Nintendo. On the other hand, Taiheiyo Cement gained 1.34 percent after Nomura Securities Co. raised its target price for the company. Also on the plus side were clothing retailer Fast Retailing and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average lost 170 points to end at 21,650.


North Korea's Kim inspects testing of newly developed 'tactical' weapon

Abstract: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test of a new “ultramodern tactical weapon,” the North’s state-run media reported Friday in the first mention of such a test in months. Kim hailed the “great success,” which he said “serves as another striking demonstration of the validity of the Party policy of prioritizing defence science and technology and the rapidly developing defence capability of the country and as a decisive turn in bolstering the fighting capacity of the Korean People’s Army,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. The report said that Kim had visited a national defense institute site, overseeing the test of the unspecified new tactical weapon. Kim said that the weapons system tested was one that his late father, Kim Jong Il, was especially interested during his lifetime and led the development of personally. The visit was the first so-called field inspection by the North Korean leader of a weapons test since November last year, when he oversaw a test of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile. Experts believe that missiles is capable of striking much, if not all, of the continental United States. While Kim’s visit was likely to raise eyebrows in Washington amid stalled nuclear talks between the two countries, the ambiguity of the weapon tested, as a well as a separate report by KCNA about an economic-focused visit by the North Korean leader, appeared intended to temper any criticism. The weapons test comes as questions swirl over progress in denuclearization talks between the North and the United States after the landmark June 12 summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. At that summit, the two leaders agreed to work toward denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula. The 1½ page joint statement released at the meeting, however, was short on specifics, and negotiations have made little headway since. Pyongyang has demanded the relaxation of crushing sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. Washington has balked at this demand, saying that there will be no easing in international sanctions until North Korea takes more concrete steps to relinquish its nuclear weapons program. Asked about the report, a U.S. State Department spokesman told The Japan Times that Washington is “talking with the North Koreans about implementing all” the commitments made in Singapore. “The president has made clear that if Kim Jong Un denuclearizes, there is a bright future for North Korea,” the spokesman said. “We remain confident that the promises made by President Trump and Chairman Kim will be fulfilled.” Trump on Tuesday criticized what he called “inaccurate” media reports that North Korea had not declared an estimated 20 missile bases, and added in a tweet: “I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been due to meet North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol, who is believed to be the right-hand man to Kim Jong Un, in New York earlier this month, but that meeting was suddenly postponed just days before it was scheduled to be held. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that Trump plans to meet Kim Jong Un again next year, and will push for a concrete plan outlining the North’s moves to abandon its weapons programs. In January, Kim declared his country had “perfected” its nuclear forces and later in the year announced that it was halting longer-range missile and nuclear testing, setting the stage for the June summit. But in the more than five months since, negotiators have yet to elicit from Pyongyang a declaration detailing its weapons programs or a promise to rein in the deployment of its existing arsenal. Instead, the North has touted the closure of its main Punggye-ri nuclear test site and the apparent ongoing shuttering of its Sohae missile-engine test facility. It has also dangled the possibility of closing others sites and allowing international inspections — but only if Washington takes “corresponding measures,” namely the relaxing of sanctions. These repeated demands of reciprocal moves, however, have been met with the same response by Washington: Pyongyang must first give up its nuclear weapons. This prompted North Korea to warn earlier this month that it could even revive its scrapped policy of pyongjin (parallel advance), in which the country simultaneously pursues economic and nuclear development, if the its demand is not met. In April, Kim abruptly announced he was retiring dual-track policy and adopting a “new strategic line” that focuses on rebuilding the country’s tattered economy. Perhaps more pressing for Washington and Tokyo than a return to this stance, however, have been recent media reports citing anonymous U.S. intelligence officials as saying that work on the North’s nuclear program continues unabated, despite its pledge to take steps in the opposite direction.

north korea
weapons
kim jong un
denuclearization
donald trump
sanctions
mike pompeo
u.s .


Khmer Rouge leaders found guilty of genocide in landmark ruling

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Two top leaders of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime were found guilty of genocide on Friday, in a landmark ruling almost 40 years after the fall of a brutal regime that presided over the deaths of a quarter of the population. The Khmer Rouge’s former head of state Khieu Samphan, 87, and “Brother No. 2” Nuon Chea, 92, are the two most senior living members of the ultra-Maoist group that seized control of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The reign of terror led by “Brother Number 1” Pol Pot left some 2 million Cambodians dead from overwork, starvation and mass executions but Friday’s ruling was the first to acknowledge a genocide. The defendants were previously handed life sentences in 2014 over the violent and forced evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975. But the judgment at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) also found Nuon Chea guilty of genocide against the ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslim minority group, among a litany of other crimes. “The chamber finds that Nuon Chea exercised ultimate decision-making power with Pol Pot and … therefore finds Nuon Chea is responsible as a superior for all the crimes,” presiding Judge Nil Nonn said. “This includes the crime of genocide by killing members of Cham ethnic and religious group.” Khieu Samphan was also found guilty of genocide against ethnic Vietnamese, though not against the Cham, he added. Both parties were sentenced to “life in prison,” merging the two sentences into a single term, Nil Nonn said. Hundreds of people, including dozens of Cham Muslims and Buddhist monks, were bussed to the tribunal located in the outskirts of Phnom Penh to attend the hearing. The events covered by the verdict span the four years of the Pol Pot regime and include extensive crimes against humanity. “The verdict is essentially the Nuremberg judgment for the ECCC and thus carries very significant weight for Cambodia, international criminal justice, and the annals of history,” said David Scheffer, who served as the U.N. secretary general’s special expert on the Khmer Rouge trials from 2012 until last month. The revolutionaries who tried to recreate Buddhist-majority Cambodia in line with their vision of an agrarian Marxist utopia attempted to abolish class and religious distinctions by force. The verdict read out by Nil Nonn presented a society where minorities were targeted and killed, Buddhist monks forcibly defrocked and groups of people executed, while men and women were coerced into marriages and forced to have sex to produce children for the regime. The atrocities fell under the additional list of charges, which the two men were found guilty of as well. Los Sat, a 72-year-old Cham Muslim man who attended the verdict hearing with his wife, said he had lost “too many” family members under the regime. “I am really satisfied with the sentences,” he said, beaming as he left the court. “They brought suffering to my relatives.” Youk Chhang, head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia — a research organization that provided the court with evidence — said the verdict will “affirm the collective humanity of the victims and give recognition to the horrible suffering.” “It can provide a sense of closure to a horrible chapter in Cambodian history,” he said. The hybrid court, which uses a mix of Cambodian and international law, was created with U.N. backing in 2006 to try senior Khmer Rouge leaders. Only three people have been convicted by the court, costing more than $300 million. Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife died without facing justice, while Pol Pot passed away in 1998. The number of allegations against Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan was so vast the court split the trials into a series of smaller hearings in 2011. Many believe Friday’s decision will be the last for the tribunal, which has been marred by allegations of political interference. Prime Minister Hun Sen — himself a former Khmer Rouge cadre — has repeatedly warned he would not allow more investigations to proceed, citing vague threats to stability. Clair Duffy, a senior teaching fellow at Australia’s Bond University who monitored the tribunal for years, said the court’s “excessively high” bill compared to other tribunals was due to “persistent political barriers to justice erected by the Hun Sen government.” The court has launched investigations into four more Khmer Rouge cadres, though one was dismissed in February 2017, highlighting the difficulties of bringing lower level members of the brutal regime to justice. Craig Etcheson, who previously served as an investigator in the tribunal, said that despite the “expensive, slow, complex” process of the tribunal, the ECCC has provided some form of symbolic justice to the victims. “It is not enough, perhaps, but some justice is better than no justice,” he said.

khieu samphan
nuon chea
courts
history
khmer rouge cambodia


'Sense of closure': Khmer Rouge leaders face genocide verdict for first time as troubled tribunal wraps up

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Two senior leaders of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime face a verdict Friday on genocide charges, in a ruling that experts say will bring down the curtain on the troubled U.N.-backed tribunal’s quest for justice. The Khmer Rouge’s former head of state, Khieu Samphan, 87, and “Brother Number 2” Nuon Chea, 92, are the two most senior living members of the ultra-Maoist group that seized control of Cambodia from 1975-1979. The reign of terror led by “Brother Number 1” Pol Pot left around 2 million Cambodians dead from overwork, starvation and mass executions. The two defendants were previously handed life sentences in 2014 over the violent and forced evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975. But Friday’s judgment at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) will decide whether the pair are guilty of overseeing genocide against ethnic Vietnamese and the Cham Muslim minority, as well as a host of other crimes. “The verdict is essentially the Nuremberg judgment for the ECCC and thus carries very significant weight for Cambodia, international criminal justice, and the annals of history,” said David Scheffer, who served as the U.N. secretary general’s special expert on the Khmer Rouge trials from 2012 until last month. The revolutionaries who tried to re-create Buddhist-majority Cambodia in line with their vision of an agrarian society attempted to abolish class and religious distinctions by force. Forced marriages, rape, the treatment of Buddhists, and atrocities that were carried out in prisons and work sites throughout the country fall under the additional list of charges against the two men. “(The verdict) will affirm the collective humanity of the victims and give recognition to the horrible suffering,” said Youk Chhang, head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia — a research organization that has provided the court with evidence. It could also “provide a sense of closure to a horrible chapter in Cambodian history. About 800 people, including some 200 Cham Muslims, are expected to attend the hearing on Friday, said ECCC spokesman Neth Pheaktra. The hybrid court, which uses a mix of Cambodian and international law, was created with the backing of the U.N. in 2006 to try senior Khmer Rouge leaders. Only three people have been convicted by the court, which has cost more than $300 million. Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife died without facing justice, while “Brother Number 1” Pol Pot passed away in 1998. The number of allegations against Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan was so vast the court split the trials into a series of smaller hearings in 2011. Many believe the decision will be the last for the tribunal, which has been marred by allegations of political interference. Prime Minister Hun Sen — himself a former Khmer Rouge cadre — has repeatedly warned he would not allow more investigations to proceed, citing vague threats to stability. The court has launched investigations into four more Khmer Rouge cadres, though one was dismissed in February 2017, highlighting the difficulties of bringing lower level members of the brutal regime to justice. Scheffer said that “challenges of efficiency, funding, and access to evidence” are issues that plague all international criminal courts, but argued the successes of the Cambodian tribunal should not be diminished.

khmer rouge
genocide
tribunal
cambodia
khieu samphan
pol pot
cham muslims
hun sen
vietnam


Family and supporters of deceased English teacher urge Japan to minimize use of physical restraints at mental health institutions

Abstract: Family members of a New Zealand man who died last year after he was strapped down at a mental hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture submitted a petition to the health ministry Friday calling for Japan to take measures to restrict use of restraints at mental institutions. In the petition, signed by 31 psychiatrists from the United States, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan, they urged the government to set up an international panel to improve the nation’s restraint practices at mental institutions. Kelly Savage, 27, died in May last year only days after being admitted to Yamato Hospital, a privately run psychiatric institution in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, after a manic episode linked to bipolar disorder. After Savage was found in a state of cardiac arrest 10 days later, he was rushed to another hospital in Yamato where he was resuscitated. He died from severe brain damage several days later. Savage’s mother Martha and his brother Patrick submitted the petition to the health ministry. “What we want in the panel are independence and international perspectives,” which would enable experts to come up with alternatives to restraints in comparison with more progressive practices abroad, Patrick told a news conference. “Cases like this happened frequently abroad once upon a time, but investigations done by independent and international groups, not internal review, would shed a spotlight on them.” The use of restraints has been harshly criticized, but in Japan hospitals are allowed to restrain patients to prevent them from harming themselves. Toshio Hasegawa, a professor of health sciences at Kyorin University in Tokyo who is working to reduce the use of restraints, expressed his concern about the growing number of cases in Japan where restraints are being used. A record high 10,933 patients were restrained in 2016. Hasegawa, who was also at the news conference, urged the government to revise relevant legislation to minimize the period of time patients are restrained. In a 2013 peer-review study cited in the petition, most developed countries ban restraints or limit the practice to up to a few hours. “We’ve been told that the (health) ministry was acting on it but that it takes time and they asked us for patience,” Patrick said. “He was my only brother and my best friend. … I want to do my part to make sure others wouldn’t have to suffer this kind of tragedy so that my brother’s death will not be in vain.” The Savages allege the use of prolonged restraints could have led to the formation of deep vein thrombosis, a condition in which blood clots block the flow of blood, leading to his death. Yamato Hospital claims the treatment was appropriate. The family is not planning to sue the hospital, Patrick said. Savage, who had a history of mental issues in New Zealand, came to Japan in August 2015 under the government-sponsored JET programme to teach English in Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture. “We were horrified that we thought that he was going to be safe in hospital. We were sure that we were doing the right thing because in New Zealand he had similar problems and the hospital helped him,” Martha said. “We had no idea that Japan would do that to him.”

restraints
new zealand
kanagawa
kelly savage


Cabinet Office poster about sexual harassment draws online criticism

Abstract: An attempt by the government to encourage men to take responsibility for preventing sexual harassment in the workplace has drawn an uproar online, with Twitter users saying it makes excuses for willful ignorance of the issue. The Cabinet Office poster features Japanese actor Mikihisa Azuma, who asks, when translated from Japanese: “Is this sexual harassment too?” The background contrasts his comments: “You’re prettier now that you’ve lost weight,” and “Cute outfit today — that’s my type of look,” with illustrations of disapproving women. “You’re not the one to decide what’s sexual harassment!” it extols. Users replying to a tweet this week unveiling the poster campaign said it serves to let sexual harassers off the hook by taking too sympathetic a view of their conduct. “I realized immediately that women weren’t involved at any stage of making this,” said one Twitter user. “They really don’t get it … this is why there aren’t women politicians,” another said. Other users defended the poster. One said: “I think it’s fine, because it’s a poster telling people who lack an understanding of sexual harassment that this is something that might involve you too.” The Cabinet Office said it’s aware of the criticism and is taking it seriously, though it has no plans to redesign the poster. “It’s true that we decided to aim this at the perpetrators of sexual harassment and increase consciousness of the issue among men, because it’s such a wide-ranging problem and it can be difficult for victims to speak up,’ Takanobu Hirowatari, of the office’s Gender Equality Bureau, said by phone. Hirowatari said women were involved in the project and the poster received the blessing of civic groups before its release. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to draw more women into the labor force and management positions as part of his womenomics policy as the country struggles with a shrinking and rapidly aging workforce. The poster is part of an annual education campaign about violence against women, which this year runs until Nov. 25. Earlier this year, a group of activists launched #WeToo Japan after deciding on a need for widespread support for victims of sexual harassment, saying it goes beyond the self-identification of victims in the #MeToo movement started in the U.S. last year.

cabinet office
# metoo
social media
sex crimes


Japanese expat overcame 'color bar' to become decorated war hero for Britain in WWI

Abstract: LONDON - During the early days of World War I, a young Japanese man who had left his country behind seeking a new life enlisted in the British Army to fight the Germans. In the four ensuing years of war, Harry Fusao O’Hara would be wounded almost 70 times, receive multiple medals for bravery, and become the first and only known Japanese national to have ever flown in the Royal Air Force. According to his youngest and only surviving daughter, Geraldine Reedijk, 87, O’Hara was born in Yokohama in 1891. He attended Waseda University as a young man, where he developed “leftist ideas,” dropped out and ran off to India to work as a reporter for Japanese newspapers. He volunteered to join the British Army soon after the war broke out — Britain and Japan were allies at the time — and went on to amass what several contemporary newspapers called “a record unsurpassed in gallantry” before being seriously wounded in combat. Receiving a medal for his bravery, O’Hara then joined the Royal Air Force in 1917 as a mechanic before working his way up to becoming the force’s first and only known Japanese pilot. At the beginning of June 1918, O’Hara was shot in the jaw and evacuated to Britain, bringing an end to his military career a few months before the armistice was signed on Nov. 11. O’Hara applied to become a pilot at exactly the right time, according to RAF Museum curator Peter Devitt. Until World War II, the RAF officially discriminated against anybody of “non-European heritage” and barred them from becoming officers. “The color bar was explicit … you can’t get away from the fact that it was racist. In peacetime, you would never have seen these people (of non-European heritage) being accepted,” Devitt said. Devitt explained that the heavy number of casualties and acute need for more personnel in the latter part of World War I forced the RAF into letting O’Hara become a pilot alongside a “handful” of other ethnic minorities, although he never received an officer’s commission. A portrait of an intense-looking O’Hara stands out among the heroes — the only Asian among the portraits — that decorate the wall at the RAF Museum. After the war ended, O’Hara married a British woman named Muriel McDonald and settled in London, where they had three children. Although he remained a Japanese citizen for the rest of his life, he never went back to Japan. “He loved England, and the English way of life,” Reedijk, 87, said at her home in the Netherlands. O’Hara’s injuries made it difficult for him to hold down steady work. With only a meager pension the family struggled financially until he eventually found a job at a charity decorating trays and boxes with lacquer. “We weren’t rich, but we were very happy,” she said. “We had enough.” Reedijk described her father as a kind, quiet man who adored his children and “fitted in very well.” “He would go shopping and the girls would flock to help him, because he was very friendly,” she said. “He would bow, and they thought that was marvelous.” According to Reedijk, O’Hara hardly ever encountered discrimination in Britain for being Japanese, although she also said she rarely asked her father about his past because she was so young and World War II was breaking out. “We never asked him about the flying and so on, because we were in the middle of the war,” she said. “My brother was called up, and immediately the worry about my brother … filled our lives really,” she added. Reedijk has no memory of her father being interned during World War II and his name does not appear on any such records. O’Hara died from cancer six years after World War II ended at the age of 59, survived by his wife and three children. Although his injuries troubled him for his entire life, Reedijk said he was able to walk until shortly before his death. Reedijk’s son, Wim, 61, a retired theologian, is now researching his family’s past and has visited Japan to reconnect with his heritage. “Sometimes I have thought it all sounds too fantastic to be true, but then all of a sudden it is true,” he said. “He was even more interesting than I thought he was.” “He was very adventurous,” Geraldine Reedijk said. “I’m very proud of him.”


From jet-setting superstar to jailed suspect: Carlos Ghosn's crazy week

Abstract: When Carlos Ghosn’s private Gulfstream jet touched down at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at around 4:35pm on Nov. 19, the millionaire auto tycoon had an unexpected welcoming committee: an elite unit of prosecutors. The weak winter sun had set moments before and the brightly lit interior of the plane — call-sign ‘N155AN’ — twinkled through the oval windows as the boarding steps unfurled. The first sign Ghosn would have had that all was not as normal was when a white van pulled up onto the tarmac and a line of men in dark suits rushed up the steps. These were top investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, preparing to interrogate the 64-year-old businessman over allegations he underreported his income by about half over five years — concealing some $44 million. As the interviews began, shutters descended over the plane’s windows to offer privacy to the very public figure inside. This was all captured on a video that appeared on the website of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which broke the story in a special digital edition — “Ghosn to be arrested” — sparking pandemonium in newsrooms and trading rooms around the world. Meanwhile, investigators were springing into action. At around 5:00 p.m., more than 10 men suddenly appeared at the glass-walled reception desk at Nissan’s plush Yokohama headquarters. Another team stormed Ghosn’s luxurious apartment high up in a skyscraper in the affluent Tokyo neighborhood of Motoazabu. By 5:30 p.m., word was out and hoards of camera crews swarmed around the building — home to wealthy ex-pats and celebrities. The Brazil-born Frenchman himself spent hours inside the plane with prosecutors — initially on a voluntary basis — and was later arrested, a stunning development in a glittering career that made him a rare foreign household name in Japan. Lines soon began to form outside Nissan’s Yokohama HQ in expectation of a press conference by Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa that would be watched around the world. Hundreds of journalists clutching cameras and laptops waited patiently for three hours under a huge Nissan ad — “Innovation is our Finish Line” — before the doors opened and the press crammed into a windowless room as the tension built. At around 10:00 p.m., Saikawa delivered an extraordinary news conference dripping with emotion that lasted around an hour and a half. A trim bespectacled 65-year-old, his short black hair tinged with gray, Saikawa was known as one of “Ghosn’s children,” a company lifer who owed his career to his mentor. His voice sometimes catching, he spoke of his “resentment and dismay” at the allegations and lashed out at what he called “the dark side of the Ghosn era. Standing alone in front of hundreds of flashing cameras, he pointedly refused to offer the “apology” deep bow usually associated with corporate scandals in Japan and announced a board meeting in three days to oust Ghosn as chairman. As heavy rain now lashed the Japanese capital, Ghosn was spending his first night in a detention center in northern Tokyo — a far-cry from the jet-setting and glamorous life he usually leads. Rooms there are typically small and basic, with bars on a single window in the door. Experts say Ghosn is almost certain to be alone in his cell. Regulations at the concrete 12-floor center state he has a right to 30 minutes of exercise per day and two baths a week. The wake-up call is shortly before 7:00 a.m. and lights out at 9:00 p.m. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided. For an extra charge, inmates can order additional food from pre-approved options. Ghosn received consular visits from the French ambassador and the Brazilian consul. The latter told AFP he chatted in Portuguese with Ghosn through a screen and found him “in good health,” dressed in detention center uniform. Meanwhile, near-daily allegations surface in the Japanese media. Ghosn is said to deny them and he has not been formally charged. Fast forward to Thursday as Nissan board members gathered in the conference room near the top of the 22-story Yokohama HQ to jettison the boss credited with saving the company. The meeting started just after 4:00 p.m. and crowds of journalists huddled outside were told it would last probably a couple of hours. In the event, the five Japanese and two Frenchmen joining by video-conference spent more than double that time scouring the allegations. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Saikawa saw the two French executives — former Renault men Jean-Baptiste Duzan and Bernard Rey — as “very close” to Ghosn and needed more time to explain the scope of the internal investigation which had worked for months in secret to gather evidence. By the time the briefing was over, “everyone was at a loss for words,” according to the Asahi. Outside, photographers snapped every black saloon car exiting the building and reporters speculated feverishly on social media that the meeting could be over. But inside, a rare vote was taking place. Executives were asked to vote on the motion to dismiss Ghosn as chairman by simply saying “agree.” By 9:30 p.m., Ghosn’s fate as head of the company he had turned around was sealed. Nissan announced he had been sacked as chairman. Unanimously.


Tokyo stocks extend rally on brisk U.S. equities

Abstract: Stocks rose further on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, tracking an overnight advance in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei average gained 224.62 points, or 1.02 percent, to 22,177.02, its first finish above 22,000 since Nov. 12. It climbed 140.40 points Tuesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 9.50 points, or 0.58 percent, at 1,653.66, after advancing 11.96 points the previous day. The key market gauges extended their winning streaks to a fourth session, thanks to the yen’s weakening against the dollar and a solid performance of Chinese stocks in addition to higher U.S. stocks, market sources said. “A sense of relief spread” among investors thanks to higher U.S. share prices, an official of an asset management firm said. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., indicated that the Tokyo market attracted buybacks after the recent sharp falls. Wednesday’s rise reflected growing hopes for a successful summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week, Fujii said. Such expectations were fueled by remarks by U.S. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow showing an optimistic view about the closely watched summit, Fujii said. Kudlow said Tuesday that Trump sees a good possibility that the United States and China can reach a trade deal at the summit. On the TSE’s first section, rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,416 to 612, while 85 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.388 billion shares from 1.325 billion shares Tuesday. Kao Corp. closed 4.79 percent higher after the cosmetics maker announced Tuesday its development of a new technology to make a skin-like substance by spraying ultrathin fibers onto consumers’ skin, brokers said. Messaging app provider Line Corp. was also upbeat after announcing Tuesday its plan to offer online banking services in partnership with Mizuho Financial Group Inc. Other major winners included Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. and clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. By contrast, Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Subaru Corp. met with selling on a news report that Trump could impose tariffs on imported vehicles as early as next week, brokers said. Also on the minus side were optical equipment-maker Olympus Corp. and convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average rose 230 points to 22,230.


Dollar rises close to ¥113.90 in Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar rose close to ¥113.90 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, supported by higher Japanese stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.86-87, up from ¥113.58-59 at the same time on Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1277-1278, down from $1.1311-1311, and at ¥128.42-42, slightly down from ¥128.48-48. The dollar was aided by a rise in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average and the Shanghai Composite stock index. “A view that Washington could win a trade war with Beijing continued to support the dollar” ahead of a summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. “Risk appetite has been growing on the back of higher Japanese and U.S. stock prices, as U.S. plans to raise tariffs on imports from China next year have been factored into the market,” an official of a major Japanese bank said. For now, market players are paying keen attention to a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell set for later on Wednesday. Powell is expected to signal the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates gradually, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. “If this happens, an upward pressure will be put on the dollar,” the official said.


Nissan's executive pay may have topped shareholders' ¥3 billion cap for fiscal 2017, sources say

Abstract: Nissan Motor Co.’s executive remuneration for fiscal 2017 may have exceeded the nearly ¥3 billion cap set by shareholders, with a large sum going to arrested former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, sources said Wednesday. While only ¥735 million ($6.5 million) was stated in the company’s securities reports as remuneration for Ghosn in the year that ended March, the sources said the payment to him may have actually been about ¥2.5 billion. In that case, Nissan may have paid Ghosn, who is facing allegations of falsifying securities reports, and other executives a total of more than ¥2.99 billion in fiscal 2017, eclipsing the cap that was adopted at a general shareholders’ meeting in 2008. The act could be a “grave breach of trust” to shareholders that could even lead to the delisting of the company, some experts say. Under company rules, remuneration payments for each executive should be decided through talks involving the chair of the board and representative board members. But the sources believe that Ghosn, the 64-year-old who led the company for nearly 20 years, had effectively been deciding the sum alone. Ghosn was arrested last week by Tokyo prosecutors for allegedly violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by underreporting his remuneration by around ¥5 billion over five years to March 2015 . Prosecutors say he actually received ¥10 billion over the period. The prosecutors are also considering building a case against him on the suspicion that he underreported a further ¥3 billion in remuneration received over three years from April 2015. Ghosn has denied intending to falsify the financial statements, but admitted that he did not include in the documents part of the remuneration he was set to receive when he retires because the “payments have not been settled,” according to the sources. Ghosn allegedly believed he should receive some ¥2 billion annually as remuneration. But authorities suspect he instructed Greg Kelly, a former Nissan representative director who was arrested along with him for alleged conspiracy, to submit that he earned ¥1 billion a year in securities reports and was planning to receive the remaining amount after retirement. The post-retirement payment that was not reported was allegedly about ¥8 billion over the eight years from fiscal 2010. According to the sources, Ghosn is apparently trying to argue the validity of a purported document that showed Nissan agreed on the payment, arguing that he has not signed it. Under the financial instruments law, remuneration needs to be disclosed in a securities report when it is fixed, even if the actual payout is planned in the future. Kelly has denied any wrongdoing, according to his family lawyer in the United States who is offering him legal advice. “He absolutely believes what he did was legal. He believes it was appropriate. He believes it was with company interest, and he also believes he is not guilty of any criminal conduct, be it in Japan or be it in the United States,” Aubrey Harwell, a lawyer in Tennessee, said in a phone interview. Harwell also said Kelly “had plans to be with his family back in the (United) States for Thanksgiving,” but he is now in a “difficult situation” as he is detained and being subjected to interrogation. In a separate revelation, Nissan’s auditor had repeatedly questioned transactions at the heart of allegations of financial misconduct by Ghosn but Nissan said they were proper, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC questioned Nissan’s management several times, chiefly around 2013, about purchases of overseas luxury homes for Ghosn’s personal use and of stock-appreciation rights that were conferred on him. But the automaker said the transactions and financial reporting were appropriate, the source said on condition of anonymity. The revelation shows Nissan and its auditor were discussing the transactions, in apparent contrast with Nissan’s contention that the alleged misreporting of benefits for Ghosn was masterminded by Ghosn and Kelly. A spokesman for Ernst & Young ShinNihon, the Japanese affiliate of global accounting firm Ernst & Young, said he could not comment on specific cases. A Nissan spokesman declined to comment. Ghosn remains in custody and is unable to speak publicly. He is represented by former prosecutor Motonari Otsuru, according to media. Otsuru’s law firm declined to comment on Wednesday, and Otsuru has not responded to requests for comment. Nissan has largely pinned the blame on Ghosn and Kelly. “As a result of the investigation, we are certain these two are the masterminds,” CEO Hiroto Saikawa told a news conference on Nov. 19, referring to Ghosn and Kelly. He declined to say whether others at Nissan were involved in the alleged wrongdoing. An internal investigation is ongoing, and Nissan says it is cooperating with prosecutors. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have removed Ghosn as chairman in the wake of his arrest. The French member of the three-firm alliance, Renault SA, retains him as chairman and CEO. Ernst & Young ShinNihon questioned Nissan management about Zi-A Capital BV, asking whether the Dutch unit — which purchased the overseas homes for Ghosn’s use — was conducting business in line with its stated aim as an investment company, said the source, who is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The carmaker said Zi-A was conducting its business appropriately, the source said. Japanese media have valued the transactions at more than ¥2 billion. Similarly, the source said, the auditor asked whether the stock-appreciation rights — which are like stock options but pay out in cash if a share rises to a certain price — should be declared, but Nissan replied that was not necessary. Japanese media say the rights were worth some ¥4 billion. Ernst & Young ShinNihon had been auditor for Toshiba Corp. and Olympus Corp. during financial scandals at the two companies in recent years.

nissan
pay
carlos ghosn
renault
scandals


South Korea moves closer to space launch vehicle with successful rocket engine test

Abstract: SEOUL - South Korea on Wednesday successfully conducted a rocket engine test launch, officials said, paving the way for the development of its own space launch vehicle. Video footage showed the single-stage rocket, propelled by a liquid fuel engine, lift off from the Naro Space Center on the southern coast and surge into the sky, trailing yellow and blue flames. “The test vehicle was successfully launched,” Vice Science Minister Lee Jin-gyu told journalists, adding collected flight data showed the engine was functioning normally. The rocket, weighing 52 tons and measuring 25.8 meters (84.6 feet) long, was fitted with a single engine with 75-ton thrust, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said. The engine, designed and developed as part of a $1.8 billion project, will be used to propel the country’s first indigenous three-stage launch vehicle — the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2). Engine combustion lasted for 151 seconds, surpassing an initial goal of 140 seconds, bringing the vehicle to an altitude of 75 km (46 miles) before the engine stopped. But it continued flying due to inertia, reaching a suborbital altitude of 209 km, 319 seconds after liftoff. It then splashed down into the ocean 429 km southeast of the southern resort island of Jeju. “This is a significant step forward in developing a launch vehicle with our own technology,” a KARI spokesman said. It is the first such launch in South Korea since 2013 when the country successfully put a small satellite into orbit following failures in 2009 and in 2010. But the significance of the 2013 launch was widely discounted as the launch vehicle had to rely on a Russian-developed engine for its first stage. On its launch — scheduled for 2021 — KSLV-2 will use five of the newly developed engines, a cluster of four for the first stage, another one for the second stage and a small, 7-ton thrust engine for the third stage, Lee said. Wednesday’s test was deemed successful as the engine combustion was maintained for more than 140 seconds during the test launch, he said. The KSLV-2 rocket, which will be South Korea’s first space vehicle wholly designed and built by itself, will be used to place satellites into the Earth’s orbit and for other commercial applications.


Gene-edited baby trial 'paused': Chinese scientist

Abstract: HONG KONG - The Chinese scientist who claims to have created the world’s first genetically-edited babies said Wednesday the trial had been paused, following an international outcry over the highly controversial procedure. He Jiankui defended his work in front of a packed Hong Kong biomedical conference, saying he had successfully altered the DNA of twin girls born to an HIV-positive father, an apparent medical first. A total of eight volunteer couples — HIV-positive fathers and HIV-negative mothers — had signed up to the trial, with one dropping out before it was halted. He said there had been “another potential pregnancy” involving a second couple, but when questioned further agreed it had been a chemical pregnancy — a term referring to a very early miscarriage. “I must apologize this result was leaked unexpectedly,” He said of the apparent breakthrough. “The clinical trial was paused due to the current situation.” The conference has been upended by the gene-edited baby revelations claims, after university professor He posted a video claiming the twin girls — born a few weeks ago — had had their DNA altered to prevent them from contracting HIV. The move prompted a heated debate among the scientific community, with many raising concerns over the lack of verified data and the risks of exposing healthy embryos to gene editing. Editing human embryos can create unintended mutations in other areas — so-called “off-target effects” — which can be carried through to birth, experts warned. But He took to the stage Wednesday to justify his work, and was bombarded with questions as he told the audience that the parents were aware of the potential dangers when they signed up. “The volunteers were informed of the risk posed by the existence of one potential off-target and they decided to implant,” he said. He also said the university where he works had been “unaware of the study’s conduct.” Southern University of Science and Technology, in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, had earlier distanced itself from He, saying he had been on unpaid leave since February and had “seriously violated academic ethics and codes of conduct.” Organizers of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, which opened Tuesday, also said they had been unaware of He’s work. Conference moderator Robin Lovell-Badge said He’s trial was a “backward step” for the science industry, but described the babies’ birth as “momentous” nonetheless. “This is an example of an approach that was not sufficiently careful and cautious and proportionate,” he said. “Clearly however it is a point in history. … These two babies would appear to be the first gene-edited babies. So it is a momentous point in history.” Summit chair David Baltimore, a Nobel laureate, said there had been “a failure of self-regulation by the scientific community because of a lack of transparency.” He’s claim would “be considered irresponsible,” Baltimore said. He, who was educated at Stanford University, said the twins’ DNA was modified using CRISPR, a technique which allows scientists to remove and replace a strand with pinpoint precision. Gene editing is a potential fix for heritable diseases but it is extremely controversial because the changes would be passed down to future generations and could eventually affect the entire gene pool. In many countries the editing of human DNA is tightly controlled. Qiu Renzong, formerly the vice president of the Chinese Ministry of Health’s ethics committee, told reporters at the conference that lax regulations in China mean that scientists who break the rules often face no punishment, and think of the ministry as being “without teeth.” China’s National Health Commission ordered an “immediate investigation” into the case, the official Xinhua news agency reported, while the Shenzhen hospital meant to have approved the research program denied its involvement. A union of Chinese scientists issued a statement saying it “resolutely opposes so-called scientific researches and biotech applications that violate the spirit of science and ethics,” Xinhua said. The case has damaged China’s international reputation in the field, said the Chinese Union of Life Science Societies. This is not the first time Chinese researchers have experimented with human embryo technology. Last September, scientists at Sun Yat-sen University used an adapted version of gene-editing to correct a disease-causing mutation in human embryos. There is also a history of fraud within China’s academic community — including a scandal last year that led to the withdrawal of 100 “compromised” academic papers. A joint statement Monday from a group of 100 scientists in China criticized He Jiankui’s claims and called them a “great blow to the global reputation and development of biomedical research in China.”


Philippine President Duterte's 'death squad' plan causes concern among rights groups

Abstract: MANILA - Rights groups raised fears Wednesday after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced plans to create a “death squad” targeting suspected communist rebels, saying it would worsen the “calamity” triggered by his deadly drug war. The Philippines’ 50-year fight against communist militants, one of Asia’s oldest insurgencies, long pre-dates his anti-narcotics crackdown that has killed thousands and drawn international censure. Duterte, like previous governments, initially held peace talks with the communists but shelved negotiations last year over deadly attacks against soldiers and police. In a speech Tuesday night, he took aim at the communist rebels’ hit squads known as “sparrow units.” “What I lack is my own sparrow. That is where they (communists) have an edge … So I will create my own sparrow, Duterte Death Squad against the sparrow,” the president said. “I will match their talent also for assassinating people,” he added. Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Wednesday his team would study the plan “very closely. Who will compose it, who will supervise it, who will be the targets,” adding there was “great danger of abuse.” Since negotiations with the rebels broke down, Duterte also formally designated the Communist Party of the Philippines and its 3,800-member armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist organizations. The low-level, simmering insurgency has claimed 30,000 lives by the government’s count. The founder of the Communist Party, Jose Maria Sison, said on Wednesday that “sparrow units” only existed in the 1970s and 1980s at the height of the insurgency. “He is inventing so many sparrow units to justify his own death squads which are illegal,” Sison told ABS-CBN television. The president’s announcement drew immediate concerns from campaigners, who said the death squad would worsen the already lethal environment encouraged by the drug war. Police say they have killed nearly 5,000 alleged users and pushers, while rights groups say the toll is at least triple that and could amount to crimes against humanity. “His (Duterte’s) statement is a declaration of open season against rebels, leftists, civilians, and critics of the government,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “This new policy will only worsen the ongoing drug war-fueled human rights calamity in the Philippines.” Amnesty International also expressed alarm, citing the practice of labelling government critics as communist rebels or sympathizers. “What is scary is that anyone can be a target,” the group’s human rights officer Wilnor Papa said.

philippines
death squads
president rodrigo duterte
police
crime
human rights