Month: September 2016

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BOJ adds long-term interest rate target to massive asset-buying program

 

https://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/boj-adds-long-term-interest-rate-target-to-its-massive-asset-buying-program

TOKYO —

The Bank of Japan overhauled its monetary policy framework on Wednesday, switching to targetting interest rates and sidelining more than three years of massive money printing that did little to jolt the economy out of a decades-long funk.

But the BOJ held off on deepening negative interest rates or expanding its asset purchase target, saying the modification was aimed at resetting its stimulus program for a protracted battle to hit and then keep to its 2% inflation goal.

Japanese stocks rose and the yen fell on hopes that the BOJ’s decision to reset its stimulus program would ease pressure on the country’s banks and insurers, although some analysts doubted whether the move would have a lasting positive impact on financial markets.

“The impression is that the BOJ is starting to pull back some of its troops from the battlefront,” said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior fixed-income strategist at Mitsubishi UFG Morgan Stanley Securities. “The markets could now begin testing the BOJ’s commitment to its price target in the next few months.”

Kuroda said directly targetting interest rates could work more effectively to raise inflation expectations than focusing on base money.

“It’s very effective in the long-term perspective. But in the short term, there isn’t a clear link between the base money target and inflation expectations,” Kuroda told a news conference. “That’s why the new policy framework can respond to changes in the economy and prices more flexibly.”

At the two-day rate review that ended on Wednesday, the BOJ abandoned its base money target and instead adopted “yield curve control” under which it will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at current levels around zero percent.

It will continue to buy long-term government bonds at a pace that ensures its holdings increase by 80 trillion yen ($781 billion) per year, and maintained the 0.1 percent negative interest rate it applies to some of the excess reserves that financial institutions park with the central bank.

Under the new framework that adds yield curve control to its current quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) regime, the BOJ could deepen negative rates, lower the long-term rate target, or expand base money if it were to ease again, the central bank said in a statement announcing the policy decision.

“The BOJ will seek to lower real interest rates by controlling short-term and long-term interest rates, which would be placed at the core of the new policy framework,” it said.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.

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MTR to extend Kwun Tong line from October 23

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1286329-20160921.htm

The MTR Corporation has announced that Kwun Tong line will be extended to Ho Man Tin and Whampoa on the October 23.

When the 2.6-kilometre extension opens, it will take around 15 minutes to travel to Admiralty from Whampoa. The journey will cost HK$11.9 but passengers would save around 30 minutes of travelling time.

However, MTR officials say because of the geographical constraints in Whampoa, they could only build a single-sided platform there.

Adi Lau, MTR’s operations director, said that would mean the train frequency at the Whampoa station would be slower, running every four minutes during the peak hours because of the turn around time.

During peak hours on weekdays and certain hours of weekends, some services will terminate at Ho Man Tin station, instead of going to Whampoa station. He said that is to maintain the two minute interval of the service on the Kwun Tong line.

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LDP moves closer to extending Abe’s term as party head

https://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/ldp-moves-closer-to-extending-abes-term-as-party-head

TOKYO —

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party edged closer to extending Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s term as party president on Tuesday, proposing to either raise the existing limit to three consecutive terms over a total of nine years or abolish term limits entirely.

If Abe is able to run for a third three-year term as party president, and succeeds, he could see through the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 as prime minister.

Current party rules limit LDP presidents to two consecutive terms totaling six years, meaning Abe’s term is set to expire in September 2018.

While Japanese law does not limit the number of consecutive terms a prime minister can serve, by convention he or she must be the head of the ruling party.

There were no objections to the idea of extending the party president’s term at the first board meeting Tuesday of the task force on party and political system reform, according to LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura who chairs the gathering.

The LDP is expected to prepare to revise party rules at a convention next year reflecting the action team’s conclusions.

The task force’s acting chairman, LDP policy chief Toshimitsu Motegi, told reporters following the meeting that he understands the rules would be swiftly enforced following their revision.

In the meeting, members confirmed that the change would not be carried out as a special measure for Abe alone.

According to sources close to the matter, the party is considering bringing a policy group on board, led by former Secretary General Sadakazu Tanigaki, to collect a wide range of opinions on the issue.

“The party will look at the situation in the international community as it decides on its direction (in determining) what form the role of president should best take,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference Tuesday.

Once the task force sorts out the points of contention, it will take the debate to a meeting open to all LDP lawmakers.

Attention will be paid to how potential successors to Abe, including Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, handle the issue.

While the two LDP prime ministers prior to Abe’s re-election in late 2012 resigned early, Junichiro Koizumi, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, stepped down when he reached the term limit.

© KYODO

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Pro Male Genocide, Female rapist defending Guardian Attacks Gay, Feminist, Sex Assault Victim, Declares Europe’s Migrant Rape Epidemic ‘Made Up’

The Guardian’s U.S. bureau appears to have denied the Rotherham and Cologne rape scandals as “made up” while attacking a gay, feminist, sexual assault victim and Breitbart contributor, claiming her experiences of sexually aggressive migrant men is “openly, wildly racist”.

The sex assault-denying Guardian has attempted to discredit an article by former left-wing activist and LGBT and women’s rights campaigner Anne-Marie Waters who wrote an article in October 2015 which was subsequently tweeted out by Donald Trump Jr on Tuesday morning.

The paper’s U.S. election live blog said of the article: “What Donald Trump Jr is tweeting here would very comfortably appear in the feeds of the white nationalist accounts he approvingly retweets”. Author Tom McCarthy adds: “The Breitbart story [sic: it is an op-ed], a tourist’s out-of-nowhere description of a made-up gang-rape epidemic in Europe, is not only openly, wildy racist, describing a continental crisis of white European women under assault by “Middle Eastern-looking men” – the racist Breitbart piece is also breathtakingly unhinged from reality”.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/20/guardian-attacks-sex-assault-victim-declares-europes-migrant-rape-epidemic-made/

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Australia’s most prestigious acting school, NIDA, is staging a play called #KillAllMen.

http://archive.is/HagSK

 

#KillAllMen

Date/Time: 19 Oct 2016 – 25 Oct 2016
By Nakkiah Lui
Directed by Anthea Williams
Eight women create an internet utopia where they discuss the most intimate details of their lives, the most righteous, and the most hilarious. Dating, camming, work, love, and how to be an out and proud feminist. But when one of them disappears after being attacked everything changes. #KillAllMen suddenly moves from joke to reality.
19–25 October, 8pm
20 October, 2pm
NIDA Theatres, Space
Featuring NIDA graduating Acting, Costume, Design for Performance, Properties and Objects, Technical Theatre and Stage Management and Staging students.
Suitable for adult audiences.

Commissioned by NIDA with support from the Nick Enright AM Bequest

Tickets on sale soon.
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Woman, 37, admits sexual activity with boy, 14

Barbara Ellen:

do we seriously think that a female teacher sleeping
with a male pupil is on a par with a male teacher sleeping
with a girl pupil? I don’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/29/barbara-ellen-madeleine-martin-comment

 

20 September 2016 1:15PM

A woman wept in court as she admitted engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy.

Angela Gatt, 37, appeared at Carlisle Crown Court today and was told she must now sign the sex offenders’ register.

Gatt had previously denied a charge of sexual activity with the child and was due to go on trial this week.

But during a short hearing this afternoon in front of Judge Barbara Forrester she changed her plea to guilty.

No details about the offence, which occurred in north Cumbria on June 21 last year, were outlined in court and Judge Forrester adjourned the case until October 18.

Gatt – a mother to two young daughters – will learn her fate on that date.

However, Judge Forrester indicated she was considering either a suspended prison term or a community order.

Background information was requested by the judge and Gatt, of Dalrymple, Ayr, was remanded on conditional bail.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/latest/Woman-37-admits-sexual-activity-with-boy-14-7d46a14d-00d1-481d-a81a-71d34984252c-ds

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Woman had 2 children with underage boy

Barbara Ellen:

do we seriously think that a female teacher sleeping
with a male pupil is on a par with a male teacher sleeping
with a girl pupil? I don’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/29/barbara-ellen-madeleine-martin-comment

 

DENVER – Denver investigators say a 33-year-old woman had a relationship with an underage boy and had two children with him.

The Denver District Attorney charged Alicia Hernandez with sex assault on a child and sex assault.

According to the arrest affidavit, on September 6, DPD sex crimes unit received a report of an inappropriate sexual relationship from Denver Department of Human Services.

The victim, now 18, was 14 at the start of the relationship and Hernandez was 29-years-old at the time.

According to court records, the victim told police he met Hernandez at Garfield Park four years ago and told her he was 18. The victim told investigators after a year of dating, the couple had sex, Hernandez got pregnant and their first child was born in June of 2013.

Hernandez told police she did indeed meet the victim at a park. She believed they conceived their first child in August or September of 2012. According to court records, Hernandez then got pregnant again and their second child was born in January of 2015.

Denver DA’s office says Hernandez has been released from custody on a $50,000 bond. She’s scheduled back in court in October.

 

http://www.9news.com/news/crime/woman-had-2-children-with-underage-boy/321692826

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Japan to decide by end of month on expanded SDF peacekeeping protection role

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/19/national/politics-diplomacy/japan-decide-end-month-expanded-sdf-peacekeeping-protection-role/#.V-CErfArLIU

The government plans to make a decision by the end of this month over whether to expand the role of the Self-Defense Forces under the new security laws, allowing them to undertake rescue missions of foreign troops under attack during U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The SDF is also scheduled to start a joint exercise with the U.S. military next month under the assumption that the new regulations — which allow the right to collective self-defense — are approved.

Collective self-defense is the right to aid allies under armed attack, even if Japan itself is not attacked.

The concept was a key part of the controversial security laws that were passed by the Diet on Sept. 19, 2015.

On Wednesday, a Ground Self-Defense Force unit set to be dispatched to South Sudan in November to join U.N. peacekeeping operations began practical training for rescuing nongovernmental organization members and others under attack in remote locations.

The government will make a decision on the SDF’s new role after assessing progress in the GSDF unit’s training and the overall security situation in the African country at an upcoming National Security Council meeting.

It will also decide whether to give the SDF another new task of jointly protecting camps during peacekeeping operations with troops of other countries.

Once the decisions are made, the government will at a Cabinet meeting revise the current operational plans for SDF dispatches. The decision will also allow the SDF to begin training in preparation for situations that fall under the purview of collective self-defense.

In October and November, all three branches of the SDF are slated to participate in the Keen Sword exercise with the U.S. military. Those drills will be held in waters around Japan, where the SDF will practice, among other scenarios, defending a U.S. warship from attack.

The security laws also allow Japan to provide ammunition to the U.S. military and refuel U.S. jets when Japan itself is not under direct attack.

Tokyo and Washington are expected to sign a revision to the bilateral acquisition and cross-servicing agreement (ACSA) to enable such cooperation soon. The Abe government is aiming to have the revised ACSA enacted during the extraordinary Diet session that begins next Monday.

Still, observers say the government has its work cut out for it in explaining to a skeptical public the need for Japanese troops being deeply involved in operations with the U.S. military.

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Taxi cameras planned to rein in abusive behaviour

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1285915-20160919.htm

 

A taxi group representing a third of the 18,000 cabs in Hong Kong said on Monday that it plans to install recording devices in the vehicles to try to prevent unscrupulous behaviour.

The Association for Taxi Industry Development said the plan was aimed at countering the government’s proposal to introduce premium taxi services.

It hopes installing video cameras in taxis could prevent drivers from overcharging, refusing hire and from being rude. It said this would also help enhance their service.

Under the plan, recording would begin when a journey starts and the data would be encrypted to ensure it could not be tampered with. The association said the recordings will only be given to the police when they are asked to assist in investigations.

The association hopes to install the devices in about 2,000 taxis within a year. Each device will cost around HK$1,000 and the association will bear the cost.

A spokesman for the group, Chan Man-keung, said they have consulted the Privacy Commissioner’s office that said it will have no objections so long as certain conditions were fulfilled.

But the Privacy Commissioner, Stephen Wong, said his office has not, and will not support the move.

In a statement, he said his office thinks a balance has to be struck between public interest and protecting passengers’ privacy.

The office recommends that the taxi trade consider other options and evaluate the risk of invading people’s privacy.

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Has The Infamous Lecturer Who Trashed Sir Tim Hunt Had Her Course Hours Cut?

The ugly fat lying cunt facing karma

 

University journalism lecturer and (alleged) journalist, Connie St. Louis, has seemingly had her postgraduate course at City University in London downgraded or axed, with her teaching hours apparently cut, Heat Street has established.

If so, St. Louis would also be presenting herself as the director of a non-existent course – following many similar ’embellishments’ of her CV.

Last year, St. Louis accused Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Tim Hunt of making “sexist” remarks at a conference for women in South Korea.

While giving a toast at the conference, Hunt joked: “It’s strange that such a chauvinist monster like me has been asked to speak to women scientists. Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry. Perhaps we should make separate labs for boys and girls? Now, seriously, I’m impressed by the economic development of Korea. And women scientists played, without doubt an important role in it. Science needs women, and you should do science, despite all the obstacles, and despite monsters like me.”

St Louis was later found to have quoted Hunt selectively,  but by falsely claiming his words were misogynist she triggered a worldwide debate and ultimately derailed his career. Among her many lies were that Hunt had gone ‘on and on’, when he joked for two minutes, that he sat down to a ‘deathly silence’ when there was applause and laughter, and that a lunch that finished normally five minutes later was ‘ruined’. St. Louis also lied to other journalists stating that Tim Hunt had refused to answer her questions during a later session he was not present at; she confused him with a Wall Street Journal reporter and never apologised for this lie.

Futhermore, St. Louis and her co-conspirators Ivan Oransky and Deborah Blum failed to report that the exact same people who had hosted the lunch invited Sir Tim Hunt to open the WCSJ that very night. Sir Tim’s persecutor Deborah Blum happily shared the stage with him the evening after the uneventful lunch, and the WCSJ’s head of PR was photographed clapping him enthusiastically.

St. Louis then attended a two hour reception with Sir Tim Hunt during which time she never put any of her false allegations to him.

The BBC apologised to Louise Mensch and to Mary Collins and Tim Hunt for putting the words of the Today Show’s presenter in Hunt’s mouth. They also admitted that their understanding of Connie St. Louis basic credibility had ‘evolved’ as the scandal of her gross misresporting grew.

Incorrect and misleading quotes weren’t the only problem for the university lecturer.

The Daily Mail ‘s superb investigative journalist, Guy Adams, had a look at her CV and exposed outright lies and fabrications in her alleged experience as a journalist.

Now it appears St Louis’ misfired crusade against a pioneering scientist is coming back to haunt her.

City University in London, where she used to be the MA director in Science Journalism, appears to have dropped her course, according to a timetable seen by Heat Street  – the only one in the university’s journalism department to apparently suffer this fate.

As a result she will have plenty more free time to play with: the university seems to have given her only one 2 hour-long class to teach every week for two months.

http://heatst.com/world/has-the-infamous-lecturer-who-trashed-sir-tim-hunt-had-her-course-hours-cut/