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☆ Amazon to donate supplies to Turkey’s earthquake victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Amazon (AMZN) has announced that it will help victims of the Turkey earthquake by donating food, medicine and equipment from its Istanbul warehouse. Amazon, which has almost 2,000 employees in Turkey, said it was preparing to donate relief items, including blankets, tents, food, baby food and medicines. “This immediate delivery is just the beginning of Amazon’s response,” Abe Diaz, head of Amazon’s disaster relief program, said in the statement. Another company that could help Turkey is Elon Musk’s SpaceX. On Monday, Musk responded to a tweet about SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, which said: “Hey @elonmusk a massive earthquake hit Turkey and neighboring countries.

☆ George Santos' first House race took days to call in 2020. So he came to DC for new member orientation and had a blast before finding out he lost.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In 2020, Santos ran his first campaign and lost — but still went to DC for new member orientation. 'He seemed nice'In cases where a congressional election takes more than a few days to fully determine, both candidates are sometimes invited to take part in new member orientation. Adam Frisch, a Democrat who almost unseated Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert this past year, attended the orientation sessions in November as the vote-counting in Colorado dragged on. In 2018, current Republican Rep. Young Kim of California attended as well, despite ultimately losing her race that year. Santos at 2020 new member orientation, seated near Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas and Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California.

The difference with TikTok is that the app has kept out of the crosshairs of commercial interests in Europe. "The user base of TikTok is a lot bigger than a lot of people in Europe think," he said. More than half of people aged 16 to 24 in France and Germany use TikTok, according to data.ai. He is worried the platform poses "several unacceptable risks for European users," including "data access by Chinese authorities, censorship, [and] tracking of journalists." Why Europe's tone is changingLast month, ByteDance admitted to using two journalists' TikTok data to locate their physical movements, according to a widely-reported internal memo.

☆ Toshiba buyout heralds a big step back for Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

MUMBAI, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end of a long battle to wring some value from Toshiba (6502.T) is finally within reach. Such an outcome won’t encourage private equity firms, and big policy shifts underway may stifle the industry just as it hits a new high. Instead, after an accounting scandal in 2015, Toshiba came to epitomise Japan Inc’s pervasive value destruction. Japan typically outperforms private equity deals in other developed markets, partly because existing incentive structures for company bosses are so poor. The country’s private equity industry is only just finding its feet.

☆ First raise for Japan day labourer in 20 years, but McDonald's out of reach
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Masami Fujino got his first raise in 20 years recently, but it's still not enough to let the Tokyo day labourer treat himself to plain McDonald's hamburgers as much as he used to. "Last year, I finally got a bit of a raise at one place," said the 54-year-old, who works for a moving company and in construction. "It brought me up to minimum wage there at last," 1,072 yen ($8.31) an hour in Tokyo. But many of the small and midsize firms that employ the vast majority of Japanese workers cannot keep up. When they raise pay for their salaried workers, they need to cut back in other places.

☆ Trump boasts that Mar-a-Lago was a secure place to keep classified documents, despite evidence that it clearly wasn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Mar-a-Lago is a highly secured facility, with Security Cameras all over the place, and watched over by staff & our great Secret Service," wrote Trump. In the post, Trump compared Mar-a-Lago to President Joe Biden's "flimsy, unlocked, and unsecured" private residence in Wilmington, Delaware. This was recently spotlighted by the Justice Department investigation into the mishandling of classified documents and presidential records at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times reported that of the more than 100 classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, most were located in a non-secure storage area. During its August 2022 raid, FBI agents found classified documents in Trump's "45 Office" — located above Mar-a-Lago's main ballroom.

☆ Economists say BOJ's Amamiya is top governor candidate, tightening this week unlikely
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Kantaro Komiya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Of the 24 economists who replied to the Jan 5-12 poll, 16, or 67%, chose Amamiya as the most likely candidate to become the next BOJ governor. Four economists in the poll, or 17%, chose Nakaso, who is seen less dovish than Amamiya, as the most likely candidate. In a September poll that asked the same question, Amamiya and Nakaso received 61% and 33% of economists' votes, respectively. Five analysts expected the unwinding of easing to start in April, at the first BOJ meeting under the new governor. Elsewhere in the poll, 83% of economists said Japanese nominal wages were unlikely to outpace rising consumer prices in 2023.

☆ Japan's top economic panel debates potential shift away from 'Abenomics'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The Japanese government's top economic policy panel on Monday held its first round of special sessions that will discuss the medium-to-long term direction of fiscal and monetary policies, including the pros and cons of "Abenomics". Japan pursued a reflationary policy led by monetary stimulus under former premier Shinzo Abe which has helped pull the world's No. Financial markets are, however, now more focused on if and when the central bank will pull back on monetary stimulus given sharp rises in inflation. It was not clear how many special sessions the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) has planned. The sessions do not intend to discuss the Bank of Japan's exit strategy or draft new policy objectives to review a 2013 written mission statement between the government and the central bank, Cabinet Office officials said.

☆ Shinzo Abe Assassination Suspect Is Charged With Murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Miho Inada | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tetsuya Yamagami, suspect in the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. NARA, Japan—Prosecutors on Friday brought murder charges against Tetsuya Yamagami, the suspect in the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last July 8. Mr. Yamagami, now 42, shot and killed Mr. Abe at an election campaign rally in the western city of Nara using a homemade gun, according to prosecutors and videos of the event.

☆ Suspect in Shinzo Abe assassination to face murder charge, lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors are expected to formally charge the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with murder on Friday, his lawyer said. Later that month, Yamagami was sent to an Osaka detention center and given a five-month mental evaluation, which ended Tuesday. One of his lawyers, Masaaki Furukawa, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he expects prosecutors to charge Yamagami with murder and gun control law violations. Police say Yamagami told them that he killed Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of Abe’s apparent links to a religious group that he hated. Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s popularity has plunged over his handling of the church controversy and for insisting on holding a rare, controversial state funeral for Abe.

☆ Japan prosecutors indict Yamagami for murder of ex-Prime Minister Abe -Yomiuri
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors on Friday indicted the man suspected of killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Yomiuri newspaper reported. Nara District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Tetsuya Yamagami, 42, on murder charges as well as for violating gun laws after concluding a roughly six-month psychiatric evaluation, the newspaper reported. The Unification Church was founded in South Korea in 1954 and famous for its mass weddings, relying on its Japan followers as a key source of income. The approval rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government had fallen to record laws amid revelations about connections between the church and many LDP lawmakers. In November, Japan launched a probe into the church that could threaten its legal status following the assassination of Abe.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ Ex-BOJ deputy Yamaguchi emerging as next c.bank head contender -Sankei
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Former Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi, a vocal critic of Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's stimulus programme, is emerging as a strong candidate to become next head of the central bank, the Sankei newspaper reported on Thursday. Yamaguchi had been considered a less likely candidate compared with deputy governor Masayoshi Amamiya and former deputy Hiroshi Nakaso. But Yamaguchi is attracting more attention as a strong candidate as Kishida's administration distances itself from Abenomics, the Sankei said, adding that Kishida's choice of new BOJ governor will become clear as early as next month. A career central banker with deep experience in monetary policy drafting, Yamaguchi served as deputy governor for five years until 2013. Since retiring from the BOJ, Yamaguchi has warned of the rising cost of prolonged easing and criticised Kuroda's stimulus as relying too much on the view that central banks can influence public perception with monetary policy.

☆ Fourth Japan minister exits PM Kishida's four-month-old cabinet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Sakura Murakami | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Japan's Reconstruction Minister Kenya Akiba visits at Yasukuni Shrine on the 77th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, in Tokyo, Japan August 15, 2022. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Japanese reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, becoming the fourth minister to leave the cabinet created by Kishida in August. Three other ministers have quit in close succession due to scandals, some involving funding and ties with the Unification Church. "It was a difficult decision to make, but I tendered my resignation to the prime minister as I felt I must not hamper the debates in parliament," he added. Akiba will be replaced by former reconstruction minister Hiromichi Watanabe, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday.

☆ Japan PM Kishida to replace reconstruction minister Akiba - NHK
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will replace reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba with former financial services agency minister Tatsuya Ito, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday. Akiba would be the fourth minister to be let go from the cabinet of Kishida, whose approval ratings have remained low after the killing of former premier Shinzo Abe revealed close connections between ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and the church, which critics say is a cult. Reporting by Rocky Swift Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Japan PM Kishida to replace embattled reconstruction minister Akiba - NHK
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Sakura Murakami | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is battling low approval ratings, will replace a government minister for the fourth time since he created his current cabinet in August, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday. Discussions on a replacement for Kenya Akiba, minister responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of areas hit by Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, are still underway, the broadcaster said. NHK initially reported that Akiba will be replaced by former financial services agency minister Tatsuya Ito, but later corrected that report to say a successor has not been picked. That's all I can say," Kishida said on Monday when asked whether he planned to replace Akiba. Kishida also plans to replace Mio Sugita, his Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs, Kyodo reported on Monday citing multiple unidentified government sources.

☆ Arizona judge dismisses election denier Kari Lake's bid to overturn vote results
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An Arizona judge on Saturday rejected defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's effort to overturn the results of her election loss in the state's governor race. Lake was one of the most high-profile Republican candidates in the midterm elections to embrace former Republican President Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud in 2020. Her lawsuit targeted Lake's Democratic opponent, Governor-elect Katie Hobbs, currently Arizona's secretary of state, along with top officials in Maricopa County. The suit claimed "hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election" in Maricopa, the state's most populous county. Lake, a former television news anchor, was one of a string of Trump-aligned Republican candidates who lost battleground state races in the midterm elections.

☆ Japan prosecutors to indict suspected Abe assassin - Kyodo
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors have decided to indict the man suspected of shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media reported on Saturday. The decision follows psychiatric examination of the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 42-year-old. Abe was killed with a handmade gun during an election campaign in July. Yamagami's detention for mental examination will end on January 10, and Nara prosecutors will likely indict him by January 13, according to Kyodo. Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-Image inspired by The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album cover, showing celebrities who died in 2022, is annual artwork produced by British artist
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An image showing dozens of celebrities who have died in 2022 is inspired by the cover art for The Beatles’ 1967 album, ‘Sgt. It is a piece of work produced annually by a British artist and it includes different popular figures each year. However, the picture shows this year’s take on the annual project and includes celebrities who have died from numerous causes in 2022. British artist Chris Barker posted the image on Instagram (here and here), the latter of which includes the caption, “#sgtpepper2022 update. The artwork is an annual project produced by an artist and includes celebrities who have died from numerous causes in 2022.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ Japan govt to consider revising joint statement with BOJ - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO (Reuters) -The Japanese government will consider revising next year a joint statement it signed with the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in 2013 that commits the central bank to meeting a 2% inflation target as soon as possible, sources told Reuters. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File PhotoThe revision, if made, would be done after a new BOJ governor is appointed in April, they said, a move that may heighten the chance of a tweak to incumbent governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ultra-loose monetary policy. There is no consensus within the government on what changes could be made, as much will depend on the views of the new BOJ governor, said four government and ruling party officials with knowledge of the matter. “Given we’ll have a new BOJ governor, there will likely be a new statement,” one of the government officials said. Kyodo news agency reported on Saturday that the government is set to revise the joint statement to make the BOJ’s inflation target a more flexible goal, with some leeway.

☆ Japan to consider revising Abe-era deflation fighting mandate - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan next year will consider revising its decade-old blueprint for fighting deflation, sources said, as financial markets bet that a weak yen and rising consumer prices will force the central bank to finally drop its ultra-loose monetary policy. The pledge has served as the backbone of Kuroda’s radical monetary stimulus and justification for keeping Japan’s interest rates ultra-low, even as other central banks tighten monetary policy to combat stubbornly high inflation. Kyodo news agency reported on Saturday that the government is set to revise the joint statement to make the BOJ’s inflation target a more flexible goal, with some leeway. SHIFTING FOCUSA revision to the joint statement would mark the final nail in the coffin for former premier’s Abenomics stimulus programme, which relied heavily on Kuroda’s massive stimulus to pull Japan out of deflation. Analysts say any revision that waters down the status of the BOJ’s 2% inflation target could serve as a trigger for phasing out Kuroda’s stimulus programme.

☆ As Kuroda bows out, Bank of Japan's rising hawks eye end to unloved yield cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

PUBLIC DISCONTENTAfter a tumultuous year for the world's third-largest economy, Japan's central bank and its leadership face a critical moment. While ruling out the need to ditch the yield cap now, Takata recently said he saw positive developments in wage growth. "The BOJ must start worrying about the possibility of inflation accelerating more than expected," he told Reuters, adding the BOJ may abandon its yield cap as early as next year. Such a reaction was seen in March when the BOJ was forced to pledge unlimited bond buying to defend its yield cap from speculative market attacks. "That's why the BOJ won't provide advance signals and remove the yield cap in a single step."

☆ Japan lawmaker in Taiwan says China threat needs more military spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TAIPEI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Japan needs to increase its military spending in the face of the "grim reality" of the threat from China and North Korea, a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said on Sunday during a visit to Taiwan. Although Chinese-claimed and democratically-governed Taiwan and Japan do not have formal diplomatic ties, they have close unofficial relations and both share concerns about China, especially its increased military activities near the two. Hagiuda pointed to China's massive increase in military spending, as well as North Korean missile tests, as reasons for Japan to raise its defence budget. Japan hosts major U.S. military bases, including on Okinawa, a short flight from Taiwan, which would be crucial for any U.S. support during a Chinese attack. Addressing a think-tank in Taiwan last December, the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan and the United States could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this.

☆ New Japan law targets Unification Church fundraising abuses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Hideyuki Teshigawara, general manager of reform promotion headquarters of the Japan branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, bows at the beginning of a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2022. Japan's parliament on Saturday enacted a law to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups, which mainly targets the Unification Church, whose fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party caused public outrage. A revised national security strategy, which is expected to be released later this month, would allow Japan to develop a preemptive strike capability and deploy long-range missiles. "Our ongoing project will involve a major change to our national security and finance policies," Kishida said. The suspect who fatally shot Abe at an outdoor campaign rally in July told police he targeted the former prime minister because of his links to the Unification Church.

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