Kim
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A Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s F-35A stealth fighter jet, which Kyodo says is the same plane that crashed during an exercise on April 9, 2019, is seen at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Komaki Minami factory in Toyoyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo June 2017. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
April 10, 2019
By Tim Kelly
TOKYO (Reuters) – Search and rescue teams found wreckage belonging to a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter that disappeared on Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
“We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35,” a spokesman for the Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing.
The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa 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 aircraft was less than a year old and was delivered to the ASDF in May last year, the spokesman said. Japan’s first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernize its air defenses as China’s military power grows.
The crash marks only the second time an F-35 has gone down since the plane began flying almost two decades ago. It was also the first crash of an A version of the fifth-generation fighter, which is designed to penetrate enemy defenses by evading radar detection.
Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the aircraft, said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation.
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 F-35s 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.
The F-35s are shipped to Japan by Lockheed Martin and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. Each costs around $100 million, slightly more than the cost of buying a fully assembled plane.
A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment.
(Additional reporting by Chris Gallagher, Chang-Ran Kim and Takashi Umekawa in Tokyo, and Idrees Ali and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry & Simon Cameron-Moore)
Source: OANN

FILE PHOTO – A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-metre tower in North Korea’s propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from the Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
April 10, 2019
By Josh Smith and Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea will hold a plenary session of its ruling party’s central committee on Wednesday, a day after leader Kim Jong Un chaired a politburo meeting to discuss ways to make progress under the “prevailing tense situation”, state media reported.
The plenary session, which occurs regularly, comes in the wake of Kim’s second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in February in Hanoi, where the two leaders failed to make any agreements over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program or international sanctions.
The ruling party officials will gather to “discuss and decide the new orientation and ways of struggle in line with the need of the prevailing revolutionary situation,” state news agency KCNA said on Wednesday.
In a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea on Tuesday, Kim told officials they need to work more responsibly to carry out his strategy in the face of international pressure.
“The Supreme Leader urged the need for leading officials to fully display a high sense of responsibility and creativity, and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude in an attitude befitting the masters of the revolution and construction under the prevailing tense situation and thus follow through on the new strategic line of the Party,” KCNA said.
At a plenary session last year, Kim formally announced a “new strategic line” of focusing on economic progress and improving North Koreans’ lives, rather than the previous two-pronged approach of both economic and nuclear weapons development.
Despite his failure to secure any sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit, Kim has continued to highlight his economic push in recent weeks.
Over the past week state media published images and reports of Kim visits to at least four economic projects in five days, including a remodeled department store, tourist resorts, and an economic hub near the border with China.
North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
Wednesday’s ruling party plenary session comes as South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Washington to meet with Trump and try to jumpstart talks between North Korea and the United States.
“In a situation where it’s difficult to take a completely new path, they’re emphasizing self-reliance to show the U.S. that they can go their own way,” said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
“North Korea is targeting the U.S., sending a message that we will not back down, so the U.S. must change its stance.”
(Reporting by Josh Smith and Joyce Lee; Editing by Michael Perry)
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FILE PHOTO: Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda attends a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo, Japan December 20, 2018. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
April 10, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday the central bank was seeking to create a condition in which any acceleration in inflation is accompanied by rises in corporate profits and wages.
“The BOJ isn’t seeking to push up inflation alone. We want to create a situation where wage and employment conditions improve too … and a positive economic cycle is created,” Kuroda told parliament.
Finance Minister Taro Aso told the same parliament committee meeting that pushing up inflation alone “won’t do any good,” as people’s livelihoods would not improve without increases in capital expenditure and wages.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
Source: OANN

Apr 6, 2019; Orlando, FL, USA; Colorado Rapids midfielder Cole Bassett (26) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Orlando City SC during the second half at Orlando City Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
April 9, 2019
The Colorado Rapids were left seeing red after their last match Saturday at Orlando City.
Only not the type of red they wanted.
The Rapids (0-4-2), who play host to the Seattle Sounders (4-0-1) on Wednesday night in Commerce City, Colo., held a one-goal lead midway through the second half when Orlando City’s Nani went down inside the penalty box after a challenge by Kellyn Acosta.
Nani, upset that he didn’t receive a penalty kick from referee Jair Marrufo, jumped to his feet and appeared to twice head-butt Acosta.
“It’s in the FIFA rulebook. That’s a red card,” Rapids striker Kei Kamara told the Denver Post. “We’ve seen softer red cards.”
To make matters worse for the Rapids, Orlando City rallied to tie the score, and then Nani made a penalty kick in the 89th minute for the winner in a 4-3 match.
“These things affect results,” Rapids coach Anthony Hudson told the Post. “The story line is Nani’s goals and the comeback, but the reality is he shouldn’t have been on the pitch.”
It was the second consecutive game in which Rapids yielded four goals, giving them a league-high 16 goals allowed.
That doesn’t bode well against a Seattle side that is tied for fourth in MLS with 11 goals scored. The Sounders have allowed a league-low three goals.
The Sounders are 18-5-2 all-time against the Rapids, including a 2-0 victory in Seattle in the second week of this season. Kelvin Leerdam and Raul Ruidiaz scored in the opening eight minutes, and Stefan Frei posted a shutout.
The Sounders, who have a history of slow starts, are off to their best this season.
Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said because of that history, the Sounders won’t be looking past the Rapids.
“MLS is such, and we know it all too well, you can start off slow and continue (to the playoffs),” Schmetzer told reporters after practice Monday. “(The Rapids) will be a desperate team that will be at home and will try to get as many points as possible. This is MLS, we’re not taking anything for granted or lightly at all.”
The Sounders hope to have Ruidiaz, a forward who shares the team lead with three goals, back after he missed Saturday’s 1-0 home victory against Real Salt Lake with an ankle injury.
–Field Level Media
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FILE PHOTO: A shopper looks at Sony Corp’s Bravia television monitors at an electronics store in Tokyo June 20, 2013. REUTERS/Issei Kato
April 9, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Sony Corp were untraded early Tuesday with a glut of buy orders after Reuters reported that Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point LLC was building a stake in Japanese electronics conglomerate again to push for changes.
Third Point, which has about $14.5 billion in assets under management, is raising a dedicated investment vehicle to target between $500 million and $1 billion in capital, so it can buy more Sony shares, people familiar with the matter said.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
Source: OANN

FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn accompanied by his wife Carole Ghosn, arrives at his place of residence in Tokyo, Japan, March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
April 7, 2019
TOKYO/PARIS (Reuters) – The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has left Japan and flown to Paris to appeal to the French government to do more to help him.
Japanese prosecutors arrested Ghosn for a fourth time on Thursday on suspicion he had tried to enrich himself at the automaker’s expense, in another dramatic twist that his lawyers said was an attempt to muzzle him.
“I think the French government should do more for him. I don’t think he’s had enough support and he’s calling for assistance. As a French citizen, it should be a right,” Carole Ghosn told the Financial Times in an interview before boarding a flight out of Japan late on Friday.
Carlos Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, has denied charges against him and also called on the French government for help.
France, which holds a 15 percent stake in Nissan’s alliance partner Renault, said it was monitoring the situation.
“We fully exercise consular protection. The French ambassador is in regular contact,” an official from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Sunday.
“The wife of Carlos Ghosn has been received by the (Elysee) Secretary General during his (Ghosn) previous incarceration,” the official added.
“A DIFFERENT PERSON”
Carole Ghosn said her husband’s previous 108-day imprisonment had left him “a different person” and that normal life under bail conditions had been impossible.
Tokyo prosecutors, Ghosn’s lawyer and his spokesperson were not immediately available for comment.
Public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday that prosecutors suspected Ghosn siphoned off payments through a company where his wife is an executive to purchase a yacht and a boat.
The prosecutors asked her to meet them for voluntary questioning as an unsworn witness, but the request was turned down, which prompted them to ask judges to question her on their behalf, the broadcaster said.
Such a request gives judges the power to question on a mandatory basis witnesses who refuse to testify, according to NHK.
Ghosn’s lead lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, said on Thursday prosecutors confiscated Ghosn’s mobile phone, documents, notebooks and diaries, along with his wife’s passport and mobile phone.
The FT said prosecutors had confiscated his wife’s Lebanese passport in a dawn raid on their apartment in central Tokyo on Thursday morning, but did not discover her U.S. passport.
“I’m all alone here. It’s traumatising what happened,” she was quoted as saying while awaiting her flight.
Under Japanese law, prosecutors will be able to hold Ghosn for up to 22 days without charging him. The fresh arrest opens up the possibility that he will be interrogated again without his lawyer present, as is the norm in Japan.
The additional charge would likely prolong Ghosn’s trial, which is expected to begin later this year, his lawyer has said, adding that loss of access to Ghosn’s trial-related documents could put his client at a disadvantage in fighting his case.
Ghosn faces charges of financial misconduct and aggravated breach of trust over allegedly failing to report around $82 million in salary and temporarily transferring personal financial losses on to Nissan’s books during the financial crisis.
Released on $9 million bail on March 6, the executive says he is the victim of a boardroom coup.
The scandal has rocked the global auto industry and shone a harsh light on Japan’s judicial system.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Marine Pennetier, Dominique Vidalon in Paris; Editing by Kim Coghill/Keith Weir)
Source: OANN

Participants take part in the 30th Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released on April 7, 2019 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
April 7, 2019
By Karolos Grohmann
(Reuters) – North Korea’s Pyongyang marathon may be among the most complicated to enter but an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula has made it a stage to highlight the power of sport amid growing interest for the race.
Athletes can only register through one operator, Koryo Tours, for a chance to run through the capital of the reclusive state in the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, as the race is officially known.
But close to 1,000 foreigners — several hundred more than last year — signed up in the sixth year foreign runners are allowed to compete on Sunday, according to officials, as tensions between North Korea and South Korea have eased since 2018.
Among those running were two Olympians — retired Swiss freestyle skier Mirjam Jaeger and British snowboarder Aimee Fuller — who are part of a documentary produced by the Olympic Channel on the Pyongyang marathon and the pair’s experience of the local sports culture.
The Olympic Channel is a media operation of the International Olympic Committee and the documentary is set to air in September.
“The start (in Kim Il Sung Stadium) was very busy, the stadium completely full,” Fuller, who took part in the 2014 and 2018 winter Olympics, told Reuters in a telephone interview from the North Korean capital.
“It felt as if we were on a world stage competition. That was completely surreal. It was like the Olympics in an Olympic stadium.”
Large crowds also lined the street at the start of this world athletics body IAAF-accredited bronze label road race with women wearing traditional costumes ready at refreshment stations.
“Around mile 13 it definitely started to thin out. Having that unique opportunity to move from Pyongyang out into the countryside was really surreal.”
Politics, however, is never too far away from the Pyongyang marathon, with visitors promised a tour of the capital’s landmarks “including a visit to the famous Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum and captured spy ship USS Pueblo.”.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have met twice in the past year to discuss denuclearization while North and South Korea are planning for a joint Olympics bid in 2032.
Relations between the North and South greatly improved last year, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un at several summits.
North Korea had for years pursued nuclear and missile programs in defiance of U.N. sanctions but the neighbors moved to thaw relations in 2018.
“I would do it again. It was totally worth it,” Jaeger, a 2014 Sochi Olympic participant, told Reuters.
“I met so many different people. I know it from my 12-year career as a skier. Sports really has no borders.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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FILE PHOTO: U.S. Dollar and China Yuan notes are seen in this picture illustration June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
April 7, 2019
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a fifth straight month in March as growing optimism about the prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal offset concerns over slowing economic growth.
Chinese reserves, the world’s largest, rose by $9 billion in March to $3.099 trillion, central bank data showed on Sunday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected reserves would rise $5 billion to $3.095 trillion.
The yuan fell 5.3 percent against the dollar last year as trade relations with the United States deteriorated and the Chinese economy slowed. But it has rebounded over 2 percent so far in 2019 on hopes Washington and Beijing will reach an agreement to end their bruising trade war
In March, the yuan fell 0.3 percent against the dollar due to the strength of the greenback. The dollar was up 1 percent against a basket of major currencies.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators wrapped up their latest round of trade talks on Friday and were scheduled to resume discussions this week to try to secure a pact that would end a tit-for-tat tariff battle that has roiled global markets.
The value of China’s gold reserves fell slightly to $78.525 billion from $79.498 billion at the end of February.
(Reporting by Coci Li in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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