Senior leaders of Japan’s Ministry of Defense, U.S. Forces Japan, Pacific Air Forces and Lockheed Martin gather in a Japan Air Self-Defense Force hangar for the commemorative ceremony welcoming the first operational F-35A Lightning II to JASDF's 3rd Air Wing at Misawa Air Base, Japan, February 24, 2018. Picture taken February 24, 2018. U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton/Handout via REUTERS
April 9, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s military said on Tuesday it lost contact with one of its Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan.
Japan’s first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at the Misawa air base and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernize its air defenses as China’s military power grows.
The advanced single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday, when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said.
The military has launched a search for the missing aircraft and its pilot, it said in a statement.
A crash would be only the second time an F-35 has gone down since the plane began flying almost two decades ago. It would also be the first crash of an A version of the fifth-generation fighter designed to penetrate enemy defenses by evading radar detection.
A U.S. military short take off and landing (STOVL) F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed Martin also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers.
Japan’s new F35s will include 18 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) B variants that planners want to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Stanley White; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Commuters walk past an advertisement discouraging the dissemination of fake news at a train station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
April 2, 2019
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s parliament on Monday began considering a law on “fake news” that an internet watchdog has called the world’s most far-reaching, stoking fears the government could use additional powers to choke freedom of speech and chill dissent.
Governments and companies worldwide are increasingly worried about the spread of false information online and its impact on everything from share prices to elections and social unrest.
Human rights activists fear laws to curb so-called “fake news” could be abused to silence opposition.
Here are details of such laws around the world:
SINGAPORE
Singapore’s new law would require social media sites like Facebook to carry warnings on posts the government deems false and remove comments against the “public interest”.
Singapore, which ranks 151 among 180 countries rated by the World Press Freedom Index, defines “public interests” as threats to its security, foreign relations, electoral integrity and public perception of the government and state institutions.
Violations could attract fines of up to S$ 1 million ($737,500) and 10 years in prison.
RUSSIA
Last month, President Vladimir Putin signed into law tough new fines for Russians who spread what the authorities regard as fake news or who show “blatant disrespect” for the state online.
Critics have warned the law could aid state censorship, but lawmakers say it is needed to combat false news and abusive online comment.
Authorities may block websites that do not meet requests to remove inaccurate information. Individuals can be fined up to 400,000 rouble ($6,109.44) for circulating false information online that leads to a “mass violation of public order”.
FRANCE
France passed two anti-fake news laws last year, to rein in false information during election campaigns following allegations of Russian meddling in the 2017 presidential vote.
President Emmanuel Macron vowed to overhaul media laws to fight “fake news” on social media, despite criticism that the move was a risk to civil liberties.
GERMANY
Germany passed a law last year for social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, to quickly remove hate speech.
Called NetzDG for short, the law is the most ambitious effort by a Western democracy to control what appears on social media. It will enforce online Germany’s tough curbs on hate speech, including pro-Nazi ideology, by giving sites a 24-hour deadline to remove banned content or face fines of up to 50 million euros.
Since it was adopted, however, German officials have said too much online content was being blocked, and are weighing changes. [https://reut.rs/2RP1OeW]
MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s ousted former government was among the first to adopt a law against fake news, which critics say was used to curb free speech ahead of last year’s general elections, which it lost.The measure was seen as a tool to fend off criticism over graft and mismanagement of funds by then prime minister Najib Razak, who now faces charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad.
The new government’s bid to deliver on an election promise to repeal the law was blocked by the opposition-led Senate, however. [https://reut.rs/2R4IR6I]
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union and authorities worldwide will have to regulate big technology and social media companies to protect citizens, European Commission deputy head Frans Timmermans said last month.
EU heads of state will urge governments to share information on threats via a new warning system, launched by the bloc’s executive. They will also call for online platforms to do more to remove misleading or illegal content.
Union-level efforts have been limited by different election rules in each member nation and qualms over how vigorously regulators can tackle misleading content online.
(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Clarence Fernandez; and Joe Brock)
A survey released Thursday reveals that while the majority of NATO members are content to rely on the American military for defense, they may not be willing to reciprocate and assist the United States.
According to The Charles Koch Institute, the survey was conducted by YouGov and released by both the Charles Koch Institute and RealClearPolitics. The survey polled citizens of the United States, Turkey, France, the United Kingdom and Germany in honor of NATO‘s 70th-anniversary on April 4.
The survey also found NATO members are unsure that military intervention in Afghanistan has been successful.
“People in key European NATO countries seem to want the military benefits of the alliance but aren’t so excited about meeting its most important obligations,” said Vice President of Research and Policy at the Charles Koch Institute, William Ruger. “While they are happy to have the U.S. come to their defense, a striking number of respondents thought it would be bad to be asked to assist the U.S. if it were attacked.”
51 percent of German respondents, 59 percent of French respondents, 66 percent of respondents in the United Kingdom and almost 50 percent of those in Turkey said they believed it was a good thing to be allied with the United States.
However, 51 percent of German respondents and 57 percent of Turkish respondents believe it would be bad if they were asked to assist the United States, and only 27 percent of German respondents, 42 percent of French respondents, and 45 percent United Kingdom respondents said it would be good if they were called upon to assist the United States.
The authoritarian establishment media is now openly reporting anyone who disagrees with them to front organizations of the military industrial complex.
Survey findings also demonstrate that European countries recognize that they should do more to maintain their own defense and that they respondents were unsure that NATO has been successful in Afghanistan.
“This poll shows us that while Americans and Europeans are somewhat favorable when it comes to NATO in the abstract – even if they’re not convinced of its benefits – the more they hear about the costs and possibility of intervention, the less sanguine they are,” said David Craig, editor of RealClearDefense. “Germany, in particular, doesn’t share in the concept of mutual defense, echoing public comments regarding defense spending and their perception that Russia does not pose a direct threat.”
Erel Margalit , Founder and managing partner of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), speaks during the third annual tech conference "Inno Generation" organized by French investment bank Bpifrance at AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
February 20, 2019
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) said on Wednesday it closed a new fund with investment commitments of $220 million.
It has attracted investors from the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK, and from Asia, including Japan. Among them are U.S. and European sovereign funds, corporations, insurance companies and university endowments.
The fund is investing in early-to-mid-stage companies in areas such as computer vision, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and big data.
Several of the companies are U.S.-Israeli or European-Israeli, JVP founder and Executive Chairman Erel Margalit said.
“It’s a sign that the next generation of Israeli companies don’t just want to be bought by multinationals but want to create their own international business leadership,” Margalit said.
JVP, which has investment hubs in Jerusalem, the southern Israeli city of Beersheba and a new one in New York, has raised $1.4 billion to date in nine funds.
(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)
Yuki, a wolfdog hybrid, was rescued by the Shy Wolf Sanctuary in 2008. (Shy Wolf Sanctuary)
A giant wolfdog hybrid named Yuki who "loves to be the center of attention" is living his dream at a sanctuary in Florida.
The animal was rescued by Shy Wolf Sanctuary in Naples in 2008 when he was around 8 months old and is a mixture of breeds — 87.5 percent gray wolf, 8.6 percent Siberian Husky and 3.9 percent German Shepherd, according to the sanctuary.
Because he's mostly wolf, he's considered a "high content wolfdog." Wolfdog hybrids, according to the International Wolf Center, live roughly 12 to 14 years in captivity, the same as a large domestic dog.
While both dogs and wolves are able to breed together, it's "rare" that hybrids can come about naturally, as "the territorial nature of wolves leads them to protect their home ranges from intruding canines such as dogs, coyotes and other wolves," the center said.
Yuki, described as a "ladies man" and a "ham" with a "strong personality," gained attention in recent months after a volunteer posted photos of the wolfdog to her Instagram account.
Unfortunately, the 12-year-old, who often finds his way onto the Facebook page of Shy Wolf, is terminally ill. The sanctuary said Yuki has blood cancer, and is not available for adoption.
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
March 11, 2019
By Amy Caren Daniel
(Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures eked out gains on Monday as investors took a cautious stance after a weak U.S. jobs report raised questions of slowing global growth, while a slide in planemaker Boeing’s shares pressured Dow futures.
Boeing Co tumbled 8.9 percent in premarket trading after many airlines grounded the world’s biggest planemaker’s new 737 MAX 8 passenger jet following the second deadly crash in just five months.
The S&P 500 index is now nearly 7 percent away from its record high hit on Sept. 20. The benchmark index ended the week 2.2 percent lower, its biggest weekly decline since the market tumbled at the end of 2018.
The U.S. report on Friday showed employment growth almost stalled in February, which added to economic fears that were already fanned by a sharp fall in China’s exports and after the European Central Bank slashed growth forecasts for the region last week.
As concerns of a slowing economy linger at the surface, the Commerce Department’s retail sales data at 8:30 a.m. ET, will be closely monitored.
The numbers are expected to show retail sales dipped 0.1 percent in January after a shocking 1.2 percent fall in the month before, which suggested a sharp slowdown at the end of 2018.
In a bright spot, the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stuck to his dovish message on Sunday. He said the central bank does “not feel any hurry” to change the level of interest rates again as it watches how a slowing global economy affects conditions in the United States.
At 6:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 173 points, or 0.68 percent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.05 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or 0.19 percent.
China and the United States are still working day and night to achieve a trade deal that matches the interests of both sides and the hopes of the world, including eliminating tit-for-tat tariffs, a senior Chinese official said on Saturday.
Apple Inc rose 1.7 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the iPhone maker’s shares to “buy” from “neutral” saying the pulling back in its shares present a buying opportunity.
Nvidia Corp fell 1.4 percent after the chipmaker said it will buy Mellanox Technologies Ltd for more than $6.78 billion in cash. The Israeli chip designer jumped 9.4 percent.
In other news, President Donald Trump on Monday will ask lawmakers to hike spending for the military and the wall he wants to build on the U.S.-Mexico border and slash other programs in his 2020 budget.
The Republican president’s proposal, slated for release at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), is expected to be rejected by Congress.
(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
Former coaches from the University of Southern California and Georgetown University are among a dozen people due in court on Monday to face charges that they participated in the largest college admissions fraud scheme uncovered in U.S. history.
The 12 people are expected to plead not guilty to charges that they took part in a $25 million racketeering conspiracy in which wealthy parents paid for help cheating on admissions exams and to bribe coaches who secured spots for their children in elite universities as fake athletic prospects.
Federal prosecutors in Boston this month charged some 50 people, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman and top corporate executives, with paying into a scheme that ran for eight years and bought admission to difficult to get into universities such as Yale, USC and Georgetown.
The defendants due in Boston federal court on Monday include Gordon Ernst, Georgetown's former head tennis coach; Jorge Salcedo, the former men's soccer head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Donna Heinel, who was fired from her post as associate athletic director at the University of Southern California once the fraud was disclosed.
Their lawyers either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, led to the scheme's accused mastermind, William "Rick" Singer, pleading guilty to running the fraud through his California-based college admissions counseling service The Key.
He called the scam a "side door" way of gaining admission and used it on behalf of clients including Douglas Hodge, the former chief executive of asset manager Pimco, and "Full House" actress Loughlin, who prosecutors say paid bribes to have their children admitted to USC.
Prosecutors said Singer paid Ernst $2.7 million in bribes, which Ernst used to buy a house on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, in exchange for helping students get preferential admission to Georgetown as "bought-and-paid-for" tennis recruits.
The charges have illustrated the power that coaches of even lower-profile college sports have to influence admissions decisions.
Prosecutors said Singer also bribed administrators of the SAT and ACT college admissions exams to allow an associate to help students with their answers or correct their answers.
Those administrators were Igor Dvorskiy, the director of a private elementary and high school in Los Angeles, and Niki Williams, an assistant teacher at a Houston high school. Both are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero
April 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake
April 26, 2019
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.
Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS
April 26, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.
“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.
He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)
A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.
Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.
“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.
Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.
“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”
They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.
The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.
The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.
Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)
The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.
Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.
“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara
April 26, 2019
By Ulf Laessing
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.
Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.
Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.
Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.
He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.
He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.
“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.
Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.
Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.
But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.
Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.
With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.
The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.
Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.
“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.
According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.
Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.
However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.
Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.
FOREX SURCHARGE
Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.
Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.
Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.
But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.
Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.
The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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