| Pelosi: Clinton allowed witnesses to come forward during his impeachment trial — Trump has done the opposite Posted: 12 Jan 2020 10:09 AM PST  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday continued her calls for witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial after conceding to send articles of impeachment to the Senate in the coming weeks without Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's commitment to hear new testimony.
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| Iranians marched in fiery protests to demand Ayatollah Khamenei's resignation after officials shot down a commercial plane Posted: 11 Jan 2020 12:36 PM PST  Angry protestors reportedly chanted "death to the dictator" and "shameless" shortly after the government admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian flight.
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| More than 100,000 homes still without power after deadly winter storm ravages US Posted: 12 Jan 2020 03:22 PM PST  Hundreds of thousands of people remain without electrical power after weekend storms ravaged parts of the southeast and Midwest United States, causing 11 deaths, overturning cars, uprooting trees and reducing buildings to rubble.The PowerOutage.US website, which tracks outages, reported over 100,000 outages across the country on Sunday afternoon, with 40,000 in New York alone. More than 28,000 were without electricity in South and North Carolina on Sunday morning.
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| Supreme Court rejects appeal in texting suicide case Posted: 13 Jan 2020 09:02 AM PST  The Supreme Court on Monday left in place the conviction of a Massachusetts woman who sent her boyfriend text messages urging him to kill himself. Michelle Carter is serving a 15-month sentence after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. A judge determined that Carter, who was 17, caused the death of the 18-year-old Roy when she ordered him in a phone call to get back in his carbon monoxide-filled truck that he'd parked in a Kmart parking lot. The phone call wasn't recorded, but the judge relied on a text Carter sent her friend in which she said she told Roy to get back in.
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| Here's Why George Patton Sent American Bombers To Attack A Hawaiian Volcano Posted: 12 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  A crazy plan.
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| Four wounded in attack on Iraqi military base housing U.S. forces Posted: 12 Jan 2020 12:02 PM PST  Four people were wounded on Sunday in an attack on Balad air base in Iraq, which houses U.S. personnel.
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| Capitalism, the climate crisis and hope: your priorities for 2020 Posted: 13 Jan 2020 03:00 AM PST  Thank you! With the support of more than 30,000 Guardian supporters, we've raised more than $1.3m to fund our reporting in 2020. Here's what you asked us to cover * It's not too late to contribute. Support our fact-based journalism todayIn November, we launched an ambitious year-end campaign to to raise $1.5m from our US readers to support our journalism in 2020. We're excited to report that thanks to more than 30,000 Guardian readers from all 50 states, we've already raised more than $1.3m. Your support will give us the resources to cover what's already proving be a pivotal year for America – with everything from the presidential election to climate policy to the supreme court at stake.We also asked Guardian US readers to vote on what they want our newsroom to focus on in 2020. More than a thousand of you voted on topics, and almost as many submitted story ideas.The five topics that received the most support were, in descending order: * Disinformation and the 2020 election * America's sick healthcare system * Climate refugees and forced displacement in the US * The high price of American food production: pollution, pesticides, etc * America's neglected schools and classroomsWe've already started tackling all five winning topics in the new year, from the Americans dying young because they lack healthcare to the strain that our insatiable appetite for almonds is placing on America's bee population. And in the coming months, we'll be developing bigger series and investigations based on some of the hundreds of story ideas readers submitted. Here are some of the topics that came up most frequently. The future of capitalismDozens of you want to see more reporting on wealth inequality, executive pay, out-of-control housing costs, and the economic pressures confronting ageing Americans.Many of you also linked American capitalism to the planet's growing climate crisis. Garry Thomas, for example, asks that the Guardian "explore the economic barriers to adjusting our capitalistic society to deal with climate change". Another reader wants to hear from "scientists, ethicists, theologians and ordinary people what their ideas would be for how to shift our values to an ethical economic system that will be less destructive to our environment". The climate crisisThe plurality of story ideas we received had do with the climate crisis. Readers want coverage on clean water shortages, the climate's impact of American food production, how the Trump administration's rollback on environmental protections is contributing to the crisis, whether recycling makes a meaningful difference, species extinction, overpopulation and more."Everything must be framed through the lens of climate change as every societal ill will be exacerbated by it," writes Marshall McComb. Anne Fenimore agrees: "Climate change is the most important issue of our time. All the stories suggested are worthy of coverage, but they are meaningless if we do not address climate change."Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet's most important stories 2020 elections and voting rightsGuardian readers are particularly concerned about the health of America's elections going into 2020. Readers expressed anxiety about voter suppression, the electoral college and money in politics, among other electoral ills. "Keep us informed about the real effects of political gerrymandering and how it has taken the voice from voters in many states, and defeats the popular vote by increasingly wider margins," Mike requests. Another reader asks that the Guardian "state the number of people purged from the voter rolls since the supreme court gutted the Voting Rights Act". (We're tracking the purges closely in our Fight to vote project and will keep doing so through the election.) America's broken healthcareIn a country where up to 25% of the population delays medical care because of costs, it's no surprise that readers want more coverage of America's broken, convoluted healthcare system. A number of readers want more coverage of the pharmaceutical industry. Bart wants us to dig into the "collusion between government, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical industries". Another reader asks: "If the motive of the medical industry was wellness instead of profit, and if the goal of the insurance industry was care instead of profit, then could we realize universal healthcare for all?" Hope and solutionsWe also heard repeated requests to break up the relentless pace of bad news with inspiring, solutions-oriented reporting on activists and innovators bringing change to their communities. Here, too, the overlap with climate change kept coming up. A reader named Nicholas asks for "stories about people and organizations that are effectively organizing and working against systemic injustice, inequality, and climate change … Reading about people who are creating solutions and being their own change is also critical for instilling hope and offering models of how we can work against humanity's worst impulses." Another reader wants stories about "people doing amazing and proactive changes to better our world. I want to meet the people who made paper straws, bamboo diapers, eco-friendly products etc."We couldn't agree more with the need for more news that inspires hope and optimism. That's the thinking behind the Upside, a project that focuses on the people, ideas and initiatives trying to solve some of the world's biggest problems. For a weekly antidote to the gloom so prominently featured in daily headlines, you can sign up for the Upside's weekly newsletter here – and we're committed to finding more hopeful stories in the US as well. Less Trump?On what's perhaps a related note, a lot of you would like to see less of Trump. Literally – several readers acknowledged the necessity of reporting on the American president but want fewer visual reminders. "Skip the picture, please," writes one reader.To everyone who voted, shared an idea and supported the Guardian in the last year: thank you. Your input and support make our work possible.It's not too late to support the Guardian's journalism in 2020 and beyond; you can do so here
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| Myanmar sends nearly 200 Rohingya captured at sea to Rakhine camps Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:49 AM PST  Nearly 200 Rohingya Muslims arrested at sea last month by Myanmar's navy after a voyage of hundreds of kilometres have been sent back to Rakhine state, officials said Monday. Images taken on Monday showed 17 men, women and children looking exhausted from their ordeal as they climbed down from a wooden boat on to a beach near western Rakhine state's capital, Sittwe. Wearing identification numbers around their necks, they lined up on the sand clutching their meagre belongings before being escorted away by armed police.
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| The True Aim of the Gun Sanctuary Movement Posted: 13 Jan 2020 05:30 AM PST |
| Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says Boeing's 737 Max disaster could erase half a point from GDP this year — and economists fear even slower growth Posted: 13 Jan 2020 05:48 AM PST  The Trump administration official said he expected GDP to grow by 2.5% through the year, while economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 1.8% gain.
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| Russia to Iran: Don’t Admit Guilt—Blame the U.S. Instead Posted: 11 Jan 2020 03:52 PM PST  After initial denials of responsibility, having been confronted with mounting evidence, Iran finally acknowledged that it accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet earlier this week, killing all 176 people aboard. Following the admission, Iranian protesters have demanded Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei step down. "Commander-in-chief [Khamenei] resign, resign," chanted hundreds of people in front of Tehran's Amir Kabir University on Saturday. Speaking from Tehran, Dorsa Jabbari told Al Jazeera, "There is a lot of anger. Iranians are demanding justice and accountability. Many people including families of the victims are in shock. They do not understand why their government would have lied to them for this long."There is also a lot of anger in Russia, but for an entirely different reason. Yuri Shvytkin, deputy head of the State Duma's Defense Committee, criticized the position of the Iranian authorities, who admitted their responsibility for shooting down the Ukrainian airliner. Shvytkin told Russian radio station Moscow Speaks that the Iranians should have blamed the United States for the incident. He said, "It was a missile strike provoked by the United States, that is, Iran's retaliatory actions were unintentional. It's necessary to condemn both the actions of the United States and the actions of Iran regarding the downed plane. Within the framework of the events that took place, in the turmoil due to insufficient professional actions and hasty decisions regarding the guidance and launch of a missile, it is theoretically possible to allow this."Russian senator Alexei Pushkov echoed the same position, stating: "The United States carry their part of the responsibility for this tragedy," arguing that America creates conditions leading to wars all over the world. Pushkov also took a jab at Ukraine, claiming that whenever Ukraine calls Iran's actions irresponsible, it should be reminded about not closing its airspace for the flight of the Malaysian Boeing MH17. The Russian senator disingenuously complained that Ukraine "is still not admitting its fault" for not closing the Ukrainian airspace, "which is the reason for the crash of the Malaysian Boeing." In reality, Russia—not Ukraine—was proven to be responsible for shooting down the passenger jet over Donbas, killing all 298 on board.Vladimir Dzhabarov, graduate of the FSB Academy, who serves as the first Deputy Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, also laid the responsibility for the downing of the passenger airliner by Iran on the United States of America, blaming the U.S. for "staging a provocation that led to human casualties" that started with the killing of Qassem Soleimani.Some American critics of the U.S. administration have made similar arguments, claiming the shoot-down was the result of an artificial crisis created by President Donald Trump. But the Russians went much, much further.In the run-up to Iran's admission, Russian propagandists were looking to absolve the Iranians of any responsibility. Various theories aired by Kremlin-controlled Russian state television ranged from technological issues to the possibility of a terrorist act. Russia's Federal News Agency (RIA FAN) pushed the boundaries even further, promoting an outlandish conspiracy theory that an American drone shot down the passenger airliner. RIA FAN is a known offshoot of the notorious Russian troll factory known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA), indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for U.S. election interference. RIA FAN continues to operate various media ventures targeting Americans. After spreading a conspiracy theory that blamed the United States for the downing of the Ukrainian passenger jet, RIA FAN proudly reported what could be considered the outcome of its successful influence operation: "Americans are convinced that the Boeing was shot down by the United States." It's also entirely possible that at least some of the comments allegedly posted by Americans and referenced in the article actually represent the work product of the St. Petersburg troll factory. Before the Iranian government came clean about the tragedy, Kremlin propagandists laid the groundwork of plausible deniability for their allies. Appearing on news talk show 60 Minutes produced by Russian state TV channel Rossiya-24, Dmitry Abzalov, President of the "Center for Strategic Communications," dismissed any possibility that Iranian missiles could have shot down the Ukrainian airliner. He claimed that if any missile launches took place that night, photos and videos of those strikes "would have already been shown on CNN and Fox News." Abzalov claimed that any accusations against Iran were "nothing more than a provocation" by the United States and the Iranian government's willingness to turn over the "black boxes" to the Ukrainian authorities represented further proof of Iran's total innocence.During the state TV show 60 Minutes, Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko claimed that allegations by the Ukrainian authorities that the Russian-made Tor missile system was used to target the jet were nothing more than "Russophobia" by the Ukrainian "scoundrels." Korotchenko is an editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, founder and director of the Center for the Analysis of the World Arms Trade and a Member of the Public Council under the Russian Ministry of Defense. He falsely claimed that Russian Tor systems "simply don't exist near the [Tehran] airport." "There were no Tor systems in the area of the catastrophe," he claimed, asserting that statements pinning the blame on the Iranians using Russian Tor systems represented "info-wars" launched by the competitors of Russian arms dealers.Korotchenko proceeded to accuse Ukraine—which lost 11 of its citizens in the downed airliner —of not being trustworthy, disingenuously complaining that it never admitted "to shooting down the Malaysian Boeing MH-17,"despite the overwhelming evidence proving Russia's responsibility for that incident. He demanded that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky "punish and fire" his administration officials who alleged that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by the Iranian military using Russian-made Tor systems—allegations that have now proved accurate.Hosts and panelists of 60 Minutes breathlessly accused Ukraine of irresponsibly "spreading conspiracy theories." Igor Morozov, Deputy Chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, complained that allegations about Iran's use of the Russian-made Tor missile systems to shoot down the Ukrainian airliner were merely fabrications, the result of "Russophobia" and ongoing "info-wars" against Russia. Arguably, no one knows more about info-wars than the Kremlin, whose tactics often include the dissemination of outlandish conspiracy theories. The Iranian government seemingly caught Russian propagandists off-guard by opting finally to tell the truth. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Prague inks partnership with Taipei after snubbing Beijing Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:52 AM PST  The Czech capital, Prague, on Monday signed a partnership agreement with the capital of Taiwan, Taipei - three months after canceling a similar deal with Beijing and angering the Chinese government. The disagreement over Beijing began after the Chinese insisted on having a clause in the deal stating that Prague supports the one-China principle, which does not recognize Taiwan. In reaction to Prague's decision to ink a deal with Taipei, China canceled the tours of several Prague classical music ensembles and orchestras.
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| 30 Bathroom Storage Solutions to Satisfy Your Inner Neat Freak Posted: 13 Jan 2020 08:05 AM PST |
| Potent winter storm turns deadly as it wreaks havoc across the Middle East Posted: 13 Jan 2020 07:49 AM PST  An Afghan man removes snow from his shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani A deadly winter storm brought severe impacts to millions of people from parts of the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan beginning late last week and through the weekend.At least 54 people were killed by the combination of heavy snowfall, brutal cold and severe flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the Associated Press (AP).The storm got underway on Thursday with scattered showers and a few thunderstorms from eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and far northern Oman into southern Iran.The heaviest rain arrived across the UAE, far northern Oman and southeastern Iran late on Friday and continued into Saturday.> dubairain tried all the ways to Sharjah Airport. Couldn't make it! pic.twitter.com/dJhOKWp1y4> > -- Onur Yalcin (@Onrylcn33) January 11, 2020Widespread rainfall totals reached between 25-75 mm (1-3 inches) from Thursday to Sunday across the Middle East.Dubai, UAE, reported 60 mm (2.35 inches) and Muscat, Oman, reported 42 mm (1.64 inches).This magnitude of rainfall caused severe flooding and widespread travel disruptions.Locations from Doha to Dubai and Muscat typically average 75-150 mm (3-6 inches) of rainfall for an entire year.Across the Persian Gulf, torrential rainfall caused flooding chaos and also resulted in at least one death, according to Iran Front Page.More than 1,000 people were rescued amid the flooding which has left some towns completely isolated due to inundated roadways.The worst flooding occurred in Sistan-Baluchestan province where 186 mm (7.32 inches) was reported. The yearly average total rainfall is only 119 mm (4.69 inches).CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPLocally heavy rainfall also spread across the lower elevations of Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan through the end of the weekend causing significant flooding. In this Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020, photo, people walk on a road during heavy snow fall in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. Much of the damage was caused in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province where Imran Zarkon, the head of provincial disaster management authority, said 14 people were killed in the past 24 hours because of collapsed roofs amid winter's unusual snowfall, which also blocked highways and disrupted normal life. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) This storm also produced heavy snow across higher elevations from Iran into Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.At least 30 deaths have been reported in Pakistan due to the flooding and heavy snowfall.Eleven people died in Punjab province due to flooding while at least 16 people were killed in snow-related events across the country as many locations reported more than 30 cm (12 inches) of heavy wet snow which caused roofs to collapse.Multiple avalanches were also reported in northern Pakistan. The threat for avalanches will remain high into the middle of the week. People sit around a fire to warm themselves after a heavy snowfall in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. Severe winter weather has struck parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with heavy snowfall, rains and flash floods that left more than 40 dead, officials said Monday as authorities struggled to clear and reopen highways and evacuate people to safer places. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) Severe cold weather is also a concern across Pakistan and Afghanistan.As of Saturday, frigid cold ushered into the area has been blamed for four deaths in Ghazni, Afghanistan.At least 24 totals deaths have been confirmed due to the winter storm in Afghanistan. The government added that 131 homes had been destroyed due to flooding in southern parts of the country, according to the AP.Improved weather is forecast for the region on Tuesday before another storm targets parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan with rain and snowfall late this week.
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| Death row inmate requests execution by firing squad instead of lethal injection Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:58 AM PST  A man on death row has filed a lawsuit in an effort to have himself executed by firing squad, rather than lethal injection.Michael Wade Nance, who shot and killed a man during a botched bank robbery in 1993, is due to be killed shortly.
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| America Should Be Wary Of A China-Japan Naval Showdown Posted: 12 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST  It could escalate out of control.
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| Iraq in Talks to Purchase Russian Missile Defense System amid Soleimani Fallout Posted: 13 Jan 2020 10:06 AM PST  The Iraqi ambassador to Iran said on Monday that the country is in negotiations to purchase the Russian S-300 missile defense system.Iraq has sought to purchase such a system from Russia since 2017, but has been held back by pressure from the U.S. Turkey has purchased the S-400 system from Russia, a move that caused considerable tension between the country and the Trump administration."It's possible that Iraq will buy the [S-300] system," said Iraq's ambassador Saad Jawad Qandil, adding that it was part of a push to diversify the country's military.The killing of Soleimani "clearly shows the need for Iraq to improve its air defenses," said Igor Kurushchenko, a member of the Russian defense ministry general council, in comments to The National, a Dubai-based outlet. "Iraq must be able to protect itself from missiles fired from the US and Iran."The negotiations continue after the U.S. airstrike at Baghdad International Airport on January 2 that killed senior Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. The strike came just days after Soleimani orchestrated a violent riot outside the American embassy in Baghdad and, according to administration officials, was timed to prevent an "imminent attack" on U.S. forces in the region.In response to the strike, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has repeatedly called for U.S. forces to leave the country. The U.S. State Department has dismissed Mahdi's proposal.The Iraqi Parliament passed a non-binding resolution on January 5 calling for all foreign troops to leave Iraq, but almost half of the body's lawmakers didn't show up to the vote, including representatives of Sunni Arab and Kurdish voters.The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, signed by President Trump in 2017, allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on countries that complete "significant transaction[s]" with Russian defense bodies. Iraq is currently bound by a strategic agreement to the U.S. that allows the American military to maintain a significant presence in the country.
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| Human Rights Watch head denied entry to Hong Kong ahead of report launch Posted: 12 Jan 2020 09:33 AM PST  The global head of Human Rights Watch said he was denied entry on Sunday to Hong Kong, where he was scheduled to launch the organization's latest world report this week. Kenneth Roth, the group's executive director, said he was blocked at Hong Kong airport from entering for the first time, having entered freely in the past.
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| Does Iran Have Secret Armed Dolphin Assassins? Posted: 13 Jan 2020 08:59 AM PST  Twenty years ago, Iran bought a fleet of military mammals from the Soviets. Are they still alive?
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| European leaders issue defiant support for Iran nuclear deal after Trump tells them to drop 'foolish' agreement Posted: 13 Jan 2020 02:21 AM PST  France, Germany, and the UK issued bullish support for the Iran nuclear deal despite President Donald Trump telling them to walk away from it.
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| Austrian BASE jumper rescued from side of Thai cliff Posted: 13 Jan 2020 05:14 AM PST  An Austrian BASE jumper was rescued in southern Thailand on Monday after being stuck for hours almost 200 meters (yards) above the ground when his parachute became snagged on the rocky side of a cliff. Nearby residents of Phattalung province spotted 28-year-old Johannes Grasser dangling by his parachute cords at about 8:30 a.m. BASE jumping stands for building, antenna, span and earth — the four common objects from which such jumpers launch their descent.
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| Alcohol-related deaths have increased dramatically among women, according to a new study Posted: 11 Jan 2020 01:16 PM PST  Alcohol-related deaths increased among women by 85%, according to a study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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| Japanese Women Face a Future of Poverty Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:55 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- At first glance, things seem to be getting better for Japanese women. In an economy that's historically lagged other developed nations when it comes to female workforce participation, a record 71% are now employed, an 11 point leap over a decade ago.The Japanese government boasts one of the most generous parental leave laws in the world and recently created a "limited full-time worker" category aimed primarily at mothers looking to balance job and family. And one of the most important needs for working families—child daycare—is slowly being expanded.But even with these advantages, Japanese women—whether single or married, full-time or part-time—face a difficult financial future. A confluence of factors that include an aging population, falling birth rates and anachronistic gender dynamics are conspiring to damage their prospects for a comfortable retirement. According to Seiichi Inagaki, a professor at the International University of Health and Welfare, the poverty rate for older Japanese women will more than double over the next 40 years, to 25%.For single, elderly women, he estimated, the poverty rate could reach 50%.In Japan, people live longer than almost anywhere else and birth rates are at their lowest since records began. As a result, the nation's working-age population is projected to have declined by 40% come 2055.With entitlement costs skyrocketing, the government has responded by scaling back benefits while proposing to raise the retirement age. Some Japanese responded by moving money out of low-interest bank accounts and into 401(k)-style retirement plans, hoping investment gains might soften the blow. But such a strategy requires savings, and women in Japan are less likely to have any.Japan's gender pay gap is one of the widest among advanced economies. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Japanese women make only 73% as much as men. Japan's demographic crisis is making matters worse: Retired couples who are living longer need an additional $185,000 to survive projected shortfalls in the public pension system, according to a recent government report.A separate study did the math for Japanese women: They will run out of money 20 years before they die. Dire pension calculations published by Japan's Financial Services Agency in June 2019 caused such an outcry that the government quickly rejected the paper, saying it needlessly worried people. But economic observers said the report was dead-on: Japan's pension system is ranked 31st out of 37 nations due in part to underfunding, according to the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index. Takashi Oshio, a professor at the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, said private pensions and market-based retirement investments are now much more important than they once were. Machiko Osawa, a professor at Japan Women's University, was more blunt: The days of being "totally dependent on a public pension" are over.But there are additional obstacles for Japanese women. Although 3.5 million of them have entered the workforce since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, two-thirds are working only part-time. Japanese men generally see their compensation rise until they reach 60. For women, average compensation stays largely the same from their late twenties to their sixties, a fact attributable to pauses in employment tied to having children or part-time, rather than full-time, work. Since the mid-2000s, part-time employment rates have fallen for women in more than half the countries that make up the OECD. But in Japan, the trend is reversed, with part-time work among women rising over the past 15 years.One of Abe's stated goals is to encourage more women to keep working after giving birth, part of his so-called Womenomics initiative. But according to a recent government study, almost 40% of women who had full-time jobs when they became pregnant subsequently switched to part-time work or left the workforce. Machiko Nakajima's employment trajectory is typical of this state of affairs. Nakajima, who used to work full time at a tourism company, left her position at age 31 when she became pregnant. "I had no desire to work while taking care of my kid," she said in an interview. Instead, Nakajima spent a decade raising two children before returning to work. Now 46, the mother of two works as a part-time receptionist at a Tokyo tennis center. Though her husband, who also is 46, has a full time job, Nakajima said she fears for her future, given the faltering pension system. "It makes me wonder how I'm going to live the rest of my" life, she said. "It's not easy to save for retirement as a part-time worker." According to government data, the monthly cost of living for a Japanese household with more than two people is 287,315 yen ($2,650). Some 15.7% of Japanese households live below the poverty line, which is about $937 per month. More than 40% of part-time working women earn 1 million yen ($9,100) or less a year, according to Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. The lack of benefits, job security and opportunity for advancement—hallmarks of full-time employment in Japan—make such women financially vulnerable, particularly if they don't have a partner to share expenses with. Yanfei Zhou, a researcher at the Japan Institute for Labor Policy & Training and author of a book on the subject, "Japan's Married Stay-at-Home Mothers in Poverty," contends there's a gap of 200 million yen ($1.82 million) in lifetime income between women who work full-time and women who switch from full-time to part-time at the age of 40."It's not easy to save for retirement as a part-time worker," she said. Single mothers need to make at least 3 million yen annually, or about $27,600—numbers you can't hit "if you work part-time." In Japan, public pensions account for 61% of income among elderly households. The system provides basic benefits to all citizens and is funded by workers from age 20 to age 59—and by government subsidies. Many retirees get additional income from company pension plans. While widows can claim some portion of a deceased spouse's pension, the number of unmarried Japanese is steadily rising, having more than tripled since 1980. The latest survey showed the rate for women is 14% versus 23% for men.One "reason why women's retirement savings is lower than men's is that the lifetime salary is low," said Yoshiko Nakamura, a financial planner and president of Alpha and Associates Inc. "Traditionally, many women chose to limit their workload in order to take advantage of social security spousal benefits, and that created many 'women's jobs' that pay less than 1 million yen." Japan has historically created incentives for married women to limit their employment to such non-career track jobs; lower pay means they (and their husbands) can take advantage of spousal deduction benefits. For example, the government gives a 380,000 yen ($3,133) tax deduction to a male worker if his wife earns less than about 1.5 million yen ($13,700) per year.The private sector does it, too. Many companies give employees a spousal allowance as long as their partner earns less than a certain amount. Some 84% of private companies in Japan offer workers about 17,282 yen per month ($159) as long as their spouse earns less than a certain amount annually—usually 1.5 million yen, though the ceiling is lower for most companies.Yumiko Fujino, who works as an administrative assistant, should have been happy when the government raised the minimum wage. But she wasn't: In order for her husband to keep receiving spousal benefits, she had to cut back on her hours. These limits are known among married women in Japan as the "wall." Unless a wife is making enough money on a part-time basis to afford income taxes and forgo spousal benefits, it doesn't make sense to work additional hours. But to work those kind of hours means less time for kids, which is usually the point of working part-time in the first place. Women who qualify for the spousal benefit, Fujino said, "think less about retirement security and more about the current cost of living." Abe's government is considering changes that would require more part-time workers to contribute to the pension program and mandate that smaller companies participate as well. Takero Doi, professor of economics at Keio University, said the expansion would be a small step toward giving women a financial incentive to work more.Yoko Kamikawa, a former gender equality minister, agreed that the current pension system—last updated in the 1980s—should be expanded to include part-time workers. Forty years ago, single-income households made up the overwhelming majority in Japan. Since then, Kamikawa said families have become more diverse.Machiko Osawa, a professor at Japan Women's University, went farther, saying social security should be based around individuals, not households. "Marriage doesn't last forever," she said. "Women used to rely on their husbands for financial support, but now there's the danger of unemployment, and more men are in jobs where their pay doesn't rise." "It's not easy to save for retirement as a part-time worker." However, one of the biggest reforms proposed by Abe, "limited full-time worker" status, doesn't always work as advertised. "Limited full-time" employees often face the same workload they would if they were full-time. Junko Murata, 43, a mother of two, said juggling both work and taking care of her children proved too difficult, so she eventually returned to a part-time job with spousal benefits. While an increasing number of companies have been giving women the opportunity to work more flexible hours after they return from maternity leave, some women complain of being marginalized, with few opportunities for career growth and advancement. A government survey released last year offered a bleak outlook. It showed no improvement in gender equality in the workplace, with some 28.4% of women saying they are treated equally at work, up only 0.2 percentage points since 2016. Yasuko Kato, 42, returned to work as limited full-time accountant three years ago, but said there's been little change in her responsibilities.Because she drops off and picks up her kids, she works from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. "I have no extra time at work," she said. But because of a chronic staff shortage, she doesn't get any help from full-time employees. As a result, Kato said "it's difficult to raise my hand for a new role."(Adds spousal benefits in the 33rd paragraph. An earlier version corrected a yen conversion.)\--With assistance from Isabel Reynolds, Lisa Fleisher and Kurumi Mori.To contact the author of this story: Marika Katanuma in Tokyo at mkatanuma@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Architecturally Bound: 20 of the World’s Most Stunning Libraries Posted: 12 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| China set to strengthen cooperation with Zimbabwe Posted: 12 Jan 2020 12:57 PM PST  China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday pledged to strengthen cooperation with Zimbabwe despite a spat over bilateral aid figures in November. The two countries butted heads after Zimbabwe's government said it had only received $3.6 million in aid from Beijing in 2019 -- 40 times lower than the figure claimed by China. Yi met his Zimbabwean counterpart Sibusiso Moyo on Sunday during the final leg of an Africa tour that also took him to Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea and Burundi.
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| Ocasio-Cortez stockpiling campaign cash after first year in Congress Posted: 13 Jan 2020 02:10 AM PST |
| Energy Idiocracy: Global Policymakers are Creating More Problems Than Solutions By Embracing Renewables Posted: 12 Jan 2020 11:35 AM PST  What we are seeing is "a first-world problem" that is obsessed with global warming/climate change instead of being concerned with the two billion people globally without electricity.
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| In 2015, Iran Practiced Destroying America's Aircraft Carriers Posted: 13 Jan 2020 04:08 AM PST  Could they sink one today?
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| Rudy Giuliani: Chief Justice Can Dismiss Trump’s Impeachment Posted: 11 Jan 2020 08:42 PM PST  Rudy Giuliani appeared on Fox News late Saturday to argue that the Supreme Court should dismiss the impeachment trial against President Trump, bizarrely likening the charges against the president to an indictment for "not looking nice." In a rambling interview, the president's personal lawyer appeared to simultaneously argue that the Supreme Court can and should nullify the impeachment while in the same breath admitting the Senate trial would benefit Trump.Claiming that the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges against Trump are essentially made up, Giuliani said, "The remedy is to go before the Supreme Court of the United States and have it declared unconstitutional."Acknowledging that "there's nothing in the Constitution that would allow the Supreme Court" to do that, Giuliani said: "There's also nothing in the Constitution … that allows the Supreme Court to declare a law of Congress unconstitutional. Marshall made it up." "Suppose somebody charged me with not looking nice tonight … and brought me on trial before the New York Supreme Court. … It would be dismissed," he said. "The rules are set by the Senate. Then the Chief Justice interprets the rules. The Chief Justice will be given the power to dismiss," Giuliani argued. If the impeachment trial is not blocked, he said, Trump would be "acquitted" but there would be no limits on impeachment and then "the next group of maybe crazy Republicans are going to go after some Democrat." "I can even argue that politically it would be better to go to trial! They'll find out about Biden, they'll find out what a big crook Biden is," Giuliani said. Apparently forgetting about Ukraine entirely—the country where his own crusade to expose Biden's supposed corruption has proven central to the impeachment proceedings—Giuliani said a trial means that "they'll find out that Biden just didn't make money in Iran, but he made money in China, and he made money in Iraq." Trump himself has previously vowed to "head to the U.S. Supreme Court" in case of impeachment proceedings against him, and he singled Giuliani out on Twitter for a "thank you" late Saturday after the lawyer pushed the argument on Fox News. In a 1993 opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, however, the Supreme Court itself ruled that "the judiciary, and the Supreme Court in particular, were not chosen to have any role in impeachments."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Drone flies over pedophile cardinal's Australian prison Posted: 11 Jan 2020 11:33 PM PST  Disgraced Cardinal George Pell has been transferred from a Melbourne prison after a drone illegally flew overhead in a suspected attempt to photograph the famous inmate, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse had been transferred from the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he has been held since February last year on convictions of molesting two choirboys at the city's cathedral in the late 1990s, the Herald Sun newspaper reported. The move came after a drone flew over a prison garden where Pope Francis' former finance minister is employed weeding and watering plants, the newspaper reported.
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| Exclusive: India urges boycott of Malaysian palm oil after diplomatic row – sources Posted: 13 Jan 2020 01:54 AM PST  Indian palm oil importers have effectively stopped all purchases from top supplier Malaysia after the government privately urged them to boycott its product following a diplomatic spat, industry and government sources said. The warning, issued last week, comes almost in parallel with New Delhi's move to restrict imports of refined palm oil and palmolein after Malaysia's Prime Minister criticised India's actions in Kashmir and its new citizenship law. Consequently, Indian importers were not buying any crude or refined palm oil from Malaysia, at least five industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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| Trump mocked for bizarre tweet on incorrect weather Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:43 AM PST  The White House of President Trump came under fire Sunday after a tweet that critics are already slamming as the "dumbest" lie of 2020.
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| A man caught a 350-pound fish off the coast of Florida that's believed to be at least 50 years old Posted: 13 Jan 2020 07:16 AM PST  The massive Warsaw grouper was caught off southwestern Florida, using a hook and line, on December 29.
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| Clinton allowed witnesses in impeachment trial — Trump has done the opposite Posted: 12 Jan 2020 11:18 AM PST  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday continued her calls for witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial after conceding to send articles of impeachment to the Senate without Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's commitment to hear new testimony.
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| Pakistan court annuls Musharaff's death sentence Posted: 13 Jan 2020 05:01 AM PST  A Pakistan court on Monday annulled the death sentence handed to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, ruling a special court which found him guilty of treason last year was unconstitutional, a government prosecutor told AFP. The original ruling had marked the first time a former leader of the armed forces had faced such a sentence for treason in Pakistan, where the military maintains strong influence and senior officers are often considered immune from prosecution. It caused huge controversy, with Musharraf -- exiled in Dubai -- slamming it as a "vendetta", and the military expressing its disappointment.
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| China's latest move in its Uighur crackdown is forcing Muslims to redecorate their homes to make them look more Chinese Posted: 13 Jan 2020 07:16 AM PST  The US estimates China has up to three million Uighur people in internment camps camps, where those who left speak of torture and medical experiments.
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| The U.S. Air Force Could Transform Old Tankers Into New Command-and-Control Planes Posted: 12 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST  The U.S. Air Force has a problem. The world's leading air arm wants to reshape its force structure for a possible high-tech war with Russia or China. That means replacing many of the big, lumbering surveillance and command-and-control aircraft that the service relies on to direct forces during combat, but which also are increasingly vulnerable to enemy missiles. But replace them with what?
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| Trump a dangerous, irresponsible narcissist who bombed Soleimani to distract from impeachment, Canadian CEO says Posted: 13 Jan 2020 01:05 AM PST  Donald Trump's decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani was rooted in the US president's narcissism and designed to distract voters from his impeachment, a furious Canadian corporate leader has said.Michael McCain, the chief executive of meatpacking firm Maple Leaf Foods, said one of his employees had lost his wife and 11-year-old son in the downing of a Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet on 8 January, following "a needless, irresponsible series of events" instigated by Mr Trump.
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| Israeli police raid religious cult-like group in Jerusalem Posted: 13 Jan 2020 05:40 AM PST |
| Angola holds off on chasing dos Santos' assets abroad: prosecution Posted: 13 Jan 2020 02:17 AM PST  Angolan courts have refrained from action to seize billionaire ex-first daughter Isabel Dos Santos' assets abroad but will not hesitate to do so if necessary, a prosecution spokesman said. Angola seized dos Santos's domestic assets on Dec. 31, alleging she and her husband steered payments of more than $1 billion from state oil company Sonangol and official diamond trading group Sodiam to companies where they held stakes. The asset freeze pertaining to dos Santos, her husband Sindika Dokolo and associate Mario da Silva will not be treated as a corruption allegation because it is a civil matter about debts to the state, the spokesman added.
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| Girl dead, boy missing after wave sweeps family out to sea on Oregon coast Posted: 13 Jan 2020 07:08 AM PST |
| America dreams of Chinese state capitalism Posted: 12 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  The U.S. economy is in the 11th year of a record-long expansion. Unemployment is at a 50-year low. And most of the biggest, most innovative companies in the world hail from America. Given such abundant good news, one might think that American policymakers would exude deep confidence in the American Way of Capitalism.Not so much. Democrats are making their usual arguments about inequality, saying the economy has been failing workers for decades. No surprise there. What's new is the skepticism coming from some Republicans who, not so long ago, enthusiastically extolled the wonder-working power of free-market economics. As Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a speech at Catholic University last month, "The market will always reach the most efficient economic outcome, but sometimes the most efficient outcome is at odds with the common good and the national interest."One aspect of the national interest that concerns Rubio and many other conservatives is the geopolitical threat from China. They're worried that the Chinese Way of Capitalism — particularly government backing of key sectors such as AI and robotics — might actually work and make China the economic and technological leader of the 21st century.So maybe it's time for Washington to play China's game. Chinese capitalism with American characteristics. Rubio, for instance, wants a "pro-American industrial policy" that would target funding to "strategically important" sectors such as aerospace and telecommunications. Others on the right would greatly expand basic research funding, as well as applied research fields like advanced materials. At the core of these approaches is an acceptance that if China can successfully pick winners and losers, so can America.But maybe China can't. It may seem like the central planners in Beijing have figured a new and better way to do capitalism. After all, their managed version continues to produce high economic growth growth rates — though many observers think they're overstated — as well as some large and innovative tech firms such as Tencent and Huawei. But a deeper dive shows a troubled economic model. Compared to the U.S., China is an old country and a poor country, at least on a per capita basis. It needs to become far more productive, which is one reason Beijing massively funds cutting-edge technology.But state capitalism isn't working so well anymore. As The Economist recently noted, "There is evidence that China's heavy-handed intervention is becoming increasingly ineffective. Total factor productivity growth in China in recent years has been a third of what it was before the 2008 global financial crisis." Indeed, some analyses see no productivity growth at all. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review concludes that "absent a major pivot in thinking and approach, [Chinese firms] will be unable to deliver the productivity gains needed to offset the consequences of the steepening decline in the country's working-age population." And as Reuters recently reported, "Chinese productivity growth has gone into reverse for the first time since the Cultural Revolution tore the country apart in the 1970s, according to a new study, highlighting the failure of recent reforms to set China on a sustainable development path."The bottom line here is that for China to succeed over the long-term, it must return to the pro-market path. It must become a lot more like America where companies rise and fall based on market forces, not the whims of politicians. And while America could surely use more science investment, that's far different than creating a massive new system of business interventions and subsidies directed from Washington and influenced by all manner of interest groups.America has a history of overestimating the economic strength of rival nations. Back in the 1980s, the U.S. also flirted with industrial policy because Japan seemed so successful at it. That was just before Japan entered a long period of stagnation. Then there was the Soviet Union. And after the Evil Empire's sudden implosion, some in Washington attacked the Central Intelligence Agency for producing analysis that overestimated the USSR's economic strength. With more accurate estimates, some critics suggested, perhaps the United States would have avoided its expensive military buildup during the Reagan era.Maybe there's again more reason for confidence and optimism than we think.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The death of rock's master craftsman Trump reportedly okayed assassinating Soleimani 7 months ago Bernie Sanders says his potential running mate 'will not be an old white guy'
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| TSMC Hires Ex-Intel Lobbyist to Deal With U.S.-China Tensions Posted: 13 Jan 2020 01:19 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major chipmaker to Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., has recruited rival Intel Corp.'s former top lobbyist Peter Cleveland to spearhead an unprecedented effort in Washington to mitigate impact from U.S.-Chinese trade tensions.The world's biggest contract chipmaker joins a growing number of companies with Chinese business interests that are stepping up U.S. lobbying, aiming to gauge and lessen the fallout from Washington's ongoing dispute with Beijing. The Taiwanese company indicated in July it was considering starting government relations operations in the U.S.Cleveland, who headed Intel's lobbying effort for over a decade, updated his LinkedIn profile this month to reflect new responsibilities including representing TSMC on policy, legislative and regulatory matters. There's been speculation U.S. sanctions may affect TSMC's shipments to Huawei. But the Taiwanese chipmaker has publicly quashed talk of U.S. pressure for it to stop supplying its No. 2 customer, which Washington blacklisted and views as a national security threat.Read more: TSMC to Keep Supplying Huawei, Quashes Talk of U.S. Pressure"Peter Cleveland is helping TSMC enhance communications with stakeholders including government officials at a global level," TSMC spokeswoman Nina Kao told Bloomberg News by phone, adding Cleveland is based in Washington D.C.While there have been TSMC staffers tasked with similar responsibilities previously, Cleveland's arrival coalesces the effort under one independent position, according to Kao. TSMC plays an indispensable role in the global semiconductor industry, commanding more than 50% of the global foundry market. U.S. and Chinese tech companies from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to Nvidia Corp. rely on it for the production of their most advanced chips.It joins a wave of companies that in recent months have begun to play a more active role in lobbying Washington. Huawei spent a company-record $1.8 million on federal lobbying in the past quarter as it struggled against U.S. sanctions that deprived it of key components or software from American suppliers like Intel, Xilinx Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google. TikTok, the popular music-video app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Inc., is also expanding its U.S. lobbying operations.Huawei is TSMC's largest customer after Apple, according to Bloomberg supply chain data, contributing roughly 10% of the chipmaker's revenue. Cleveland managed 200 attorneys and policy professionals while at Intel, and his areas of expertise include antitrust reviews, 5G spectrum allocations, and global IP enforcement and protection, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before Intel, he served as California Senator Dianne Feinstein's chief of staff.Read more: Trump's Blacklisting of Huawei Is Failing to Halt Its Growth\--With assistance from Ian King.To contact the reporter on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Two WWII bombs made safe in Germany Posted: 12 Jan 2020 05:39 PM PST  Two World War II-era bombs were made safe in the western German city of Dortmund after around 14,000 people were evacuated, the city said Sunday. Officials there warning on Saturday that unexploded bombs dropped by Allied forces during the war might be buried in four sites in a heavily populated part of the city centre. Two unexploded bombs weighing 250 kilogrammes (550 pounds) each, one British and the other American, were found and made safe.
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| The US warned Iraq that its access to a key bank account holding billions is in jeopardy if the country expels American troops Posted: 11 Jan 2020 12:03 PM PST  The warning to Iraq is the latest in the fallout from the US missile strike on Iraqi soil last week that killed a top Iranian general.
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| Russia's Akula-Class Submarines Were Kings Of The Article Circle Posted: 11 Jan 2020 08:00 PM PST  And doomsday weapons.
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| Bernie Sanders goads Trump after sudden poll surge: ‘It means you’re going to lose’ Posted: 13 Jan 2020 09:47 AM PST  Bernie Sanders has goaded Donald Trump after a recent surge in polling for early voting states has reinvigorated his campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination.The senator has risen sharply in polls for the first two states to vote in the Democratic primaries, Iowa and New Hampshire, with less than a month to go before voting begins.
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| Israel to speed up extradition of woman in sex-abuse case Posted: 13 Jan 2020 03:40 AM PST  Israeli officials are seeking to expedite an extradition hearing for a woman facing dozens of sexual-abuse charges in Australia after a psychiatric panel concluded she had lied about suffering from mental illness, the Justice Ministry announced Monday. The panel's decision last week that found Malka Leifer fit to stand trial marked a major breakthrough in a years-old case that has strained relations between Israel and Australia and antagonized members of Australia's Jewish community.
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