China upset at Japan’s plan to buy F-35B stealth fighter ‘jump jets’ for its helicopter carriers - News Corp. ( source : Associated press )

China upset at Japan’s plan to buy F-35B stealth fighter ‘jump jets’ for its helicopter carriers

CHINA has warned another nation not to convert its warships into F-35 stealth fighter carriers — or it will revive the dark days of WWII.

Jamie Seidel

News Corp Australia NetworkDECEMBER 27, 201712:06PM

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JAPAN can’t have aircraft carriers. And just to be sure, it officially declared several of its latest warships must be called “helicopter destroyers” — even though to all intents and purposes they look like aircraft carriers.

They just don’t carry fixed-wing aircraft. Yet.

They carry helicopters.

It’s been a tenuous splitting of hairs ever since the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force introduced its new 25,000 ton flat-topped Izumo-class aviation ships to service in recent years.

Now Japan is reportedly considering abandoning the pretence.

It is reportedly considering the purchase of US jump-jet F-35B stealth fighters, and the modification of its Izumo-class ships to operate them.

And that could spark an international crisis.

Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces helicopter carrier Izumo sails out its Yokosuka Base in Kanagawa prefecture on May 1, 2017. Picture: AFP

Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces helicopter carrier Izumo sails out its Yokosuka Base in Kanagawa prefecture on May 1, 2017. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Article 9 of the Japanese constitution dictates that Tokyo will “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation ... land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained ...”

Historically, this has been interpreted as allowing Japan military forces of a purely defensive character.

But a full-blown aircraft carrier is a mobile military base.

They are inherently offensive by nature.

A newly-built aircraft carrier is transferred from dry dock into the water earlier this year at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Dalian in northeastern China's Liaoning Province. Picture: Xinhua / AP

A newly-built aircraft carrier is transferred from dry dock into the water earlier this year at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Dalian in northeastern China's Liaoning Province. Picture: Xinhua / APSource:AP

CHINA ALARMED

Beijing has today warned Japan to “act prudently” after reports of Japan’s possible intention to buy the F-35B variant of the controversial stealth strike fighter.

It’s designed to operate off aircraft carriers. Particularly small ones.

Its mission is to support marines and soldiers establish a ‘beach head’ on hostile soil.

China’s diplomatic corps last night issued a statement that Tokyo should maintain peace “through action”.

@PDChina

China hopes Japan sticks to the Article 9 of its pacifist constitution and follows the path of peaceful development, says a FM spokesperson Tuesday in response to media reports that Japan is considering refitting a helicopter carrier for stealth fighters

12:20 AM - Dec 27, 2017

Spokeswoman Hua Chunying overnight warned any such move to upgrade the Izumo helicopter carrier would draw the attention of its neighbours for “historical reasons”.

Japan infamously used its World War II carrier fleet to launch the surprise strike against Pearl Harbor which sank most of the United States Navy’s battleship fleet.

“We urge Japan to do more that may help enhance mutual trust and promote regional peace and stability,” Beijing’s spokeswoman said.

Earlier this year China launched its second aircraft carrier, and its first — Liaoning — embarked on several intensive war-game exercises.

The US Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) transits alongside Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Izumo-class helicopter destroyer JS Izumo (DDH 183) and JMSDF Akizuki-class destroyer JS Teruzuki (DD 116). Picture: USN

The US Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) transits alongside Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Izumo-class helicopter destroyer JS Izumo (DDH 183) and JMSDF Akizuki-class destroyer JS Teruzuki (DD 116). Picture: USNSource:Supplied

ASIAN ARMS RACE

Beijing’s recent bold expansion into the South China Sea through the construction of illegal artificial islands in order to establish well equipped and heavily defended fortresses has dramatically raised tensions throughout Asia and the Pacific.

But it has also ramped-up its rhetoric over the disputed Senkaku island chain in the East China Sea, over which both it and Tokyo claim ownership.

Fishing fleets backed up by Chinese coast guard and naval vessels have repeatedly entered the waters around the islands in recent years, and more recently several flights by combat aircraft have passed nearby.

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Tokyo has responded by repositioning naval patrol vessels, missile defence systems and fighter aircraft squadrons to the area — including the major joint-US military base island of Okinawa.

It has also been steadily rebuilding its defence forces.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this year approved a record $US46 billion defence budget for 2018. He justified it as a response to North Korea’s belligerent behaviour and China’s “growing military presence”.

Japan's Izumo 'helicopter destroyer'. Tokyo is considering converting this and another ship of the class to be capable of operating F-35B stealth 'jump jets'.

Japan's Izumo 'helicopter destroyer'. Tokyo is considering converting this and another ship of the class to be capable of operating F-35B stealth 'jump jets'.Source:Supplied

IZUMO CARRIERS

At the centre of the growing diplomatic storm are Japan’s two new Izumo-class ships.

Whatever they’re chosen to be called, they’re currently capable of operating about 14 helicopters tasked with hunting down submarines.

Izumo and Kaga are the biggest ships Japan has built since World War II, measuring some 248m long and 38m wide. At 25,000 tons, its size is similar to that of the recently decommissioned British Invincible class of short takeoff and vertical landing (jump jet) carriers. It’s bigger than those operated by Spain and Italy.

Royal Australian Navy ships Adelaide, Toowoomba and Darwin in formation off the coast of Sydney. HMAS Adelaide has a ski ramp, but no F-35Bs. Picture: Defence

Royal Australian Navy ships Adelaide, Toowoomba and Darwin in formation off the coast of Sydney. HMAS Adelaide has a ski ramp, but no F-35Bs. Picture: DefenceSource:Supplied

Like Australia’s new Canberra-class landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships, Izumo can also carry troops — some 400 marines — and about 50 light vehicles. It does not carry landing craft to deploy them, however, instead relying upon embarking specialist heavy helicopters for the job.

Neither Izumo or Kaga have catapults — or a ski jump along the line of Australia’s Canberra class — intended to help fling fixed-wing aircraft like the F-35B into the air.

But both have large, clear decks capable — though they may need strengthening and heat-shielding to land, hold and launch ‘jump jets’. Additional modifications to provide such aircraft with the technical support they need are not likely to be dramatic.

A new air group combining the F-35B and V-22 tilt-rotor Osprey would certainly give these ships a real — if limited — strike capability.

Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan Sees Bubbles in Stocks and Bonds - Bloomberg

Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan Sees Bubbles in Stocks and Bonds

By Jeanna Smialek

February 1, 2018, 7:23 AM GMT+11

The bond bubble will be the critical one, Greenspan says

Notes that the U.S. is working toward higher interest rates

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"The bond market bubble will eventually be the critical issue," Greenspan tells Bloomberg Television.

The man who made the term “irrational exuberance” famous says investors are at it again.

“There are two bubbles: We have a stock market bubble, and we have a bond market bubble,” Alan Greenspan, 91, said Wednesday on Bloomberg Television with Tom Keene and Scarlet Fu. Greenspan, who led the Federal Reserve from 1987 until 2006, memorably used the phrase to describe asset values during the 1990’s dot-com bubble.

Greenspan’s comments come as stock indexes remain near record highs, despite selling off in recent days, and as the yields on government notes and bonds hover not far from historic lows. Interest rates are expected to move up in coming years as the Fed continues with a campaign to gradually tighten monetary policy.

“At the end of the day, the bond market bubble will eventually be the critical issue, but for the short term it’s not too bad,” Greenspan said. “But we’re working, obviously, toward a major increase in long-term interest rates, and that has a very important impact, as you know, on the whole structure of the economy.”

The Fed on Wednesday opted to leave rates unchanged and markets are pricing in an increase at the central bank’s March meeting.

Greenspan sounded an alarm on forecasts that the U.S. government deficit will continue to climb as a share of gross domestic product. He said he was “surprised” that President Donald Trump didn’t specify how he would fund new government initiatives in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech. The president last month signed into law about $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that critics say will further balloon the budget gap.

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Greenspan blamed the growing fiscal shortfall for his bond call.

“What’s behind the bubble? Well the fact, that, essentially, we’re beginning to run an ever-larger government deficit,” Greenspan said. As a share of GDP, “debt has been rising very significantly” and “we’re just not paying enough attention to that.”

Lloyds Bank bans Bitcoin purchases on its credit cards - BBC News

5/2/2018

Lloyds Bank bans Bitcoin purchases on its credit cards

Lloyds Banking Group has banned its customers from buying Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies on their credit cards.

The ban, starting on Monday, applies to Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA customers.

It will not apply to debit cards, only to the banking group's eight million credit card customers.

The move follows a sharp fall in the value of digital currencies, prompting fears about people running up debts.

Lloyds is concerned it could end up footing the bill for unpaid debts should the price continue to fall.

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Explaining the ban, a Lloyds spokeswoman said: "We continually review our products and procedures and this is part of that."

Bitcoin ended last week down 30% at $8,291.87 - its worst week since April 2013 and far below the $19,000 it reached last November.

However, the cryptocurrency is still ahead of the $1,000 it was trading at this time last year.

Police have warned that digital currencies remain popular among criminals as they can use them to evade traditional money laundering checks and other regulations.

Prime Minister Theresa May recently said that action against digital currencies may be required "precisely because of the way they are used, particularly by criminals".

She told Bloomberg: "In areas like cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, we should be looking at these very seriously."

The Treasury said that it intends to update regulation to bring virtual currency platforms into anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulation.

Facebook recently announced it would block any advertising that promotes cryptocurrency products and services.

Democrats seek to release their answer to Nunes memo 'correcting' Donald Trump over Russia claims - Independent

5/2/2018

Democrats seek to release their answer to Nunes memo 'correcting' Donald Trump over Russia claims

Senate Democratic leader urges Donald Trump to back public release, saying refusal to do so would show his intent to undermine Russia investigation

Samuel Osborne @SamuelOsborne93

Donald Trump says GOP-produced memo 'totally vindicates' him AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Democrats are pushing to have their own memo on the FBI and its Russia investigation released by Congress, after a similar note penned by Republicans was made public with President Donald Trump's blessing.

The Republican memo accuses senior FBI and Justice Department officials of using unverified information from a politically biased source when they sought a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and his ties to Russia.

Mr Trump said he was "vindicate[d]" by the memo drafted by the Republican House Intelligence Committee chair, Devin Nunes, after it was declassified on Friday.

Tweeting from his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, the President called special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt" and a "disgrace".

Despite it being embraced wholeheartedly by Mr Trump, the Republican memo features "mischaracterisations" of the FBI's actions and lacks crucial context, Democrats told the New York Times. They say their 10-page rebuttal would "correct" these errors.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee rejected a move to release the Democrat memo. One Republican member said revisions were needed so it wouldn't endanger national security.

The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, urged Mr Trump to back the public release and said refusing to do so would show the President's intent to undermine the Russia investigation.

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The Republican memo takes aim at the FBI's use of information from former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier containing allegations of ties between Mr Trump, his associates and Russia.

The memo's central allegation is that agents and prosecutors, in applying in October 2016 to monitor Mr Page's communications, failed to tell a judge the opposition research that provided grounds for the FBI's suspicion received funding from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Mr Page had stopped advising the campaign sometime around the end of that summer.

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Mr Steele's research, according to the memo, "formed an essential part" of the warrant application. But it's unclear how much or what information Mr Steele collected made it into the application, or how much has been corroborated.

Republicans say a judge should have known "political actors" were involved in allegations that led the Justice Department to believe Mr Page might be an agent of a foreign power, an accusation he has consistently denied.

The memo confirms the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign began in July 2016, months before the surveillance warrant was sought, and was "triggered" by information concerning campaign aide George Papadopoulos. He pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI.

The committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, branded the GOP memo "a political hit job."

He questioned whether the chairman, Mr Nunes, had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the President to vent his grievances against the nation's premier law enforcement agencies.

"The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president's bidding," Mr Schiff said. "I think it's very possible his staff worked with the White House."

Mr Nunes was asked during a committee meeting on 29 January whether he had coordinated the memo with the White House. "As far as I know, no," he responded, then refused to answer when asked whether his staff members had communicated with the White House.

He had previously apologised for sharing with the White House secret intelligence intercepts related to an investigation of Russian election interference before talking to committee members.

Nuclear Posture Review: US wants smaller nukes to counter Russia - BBC News

Nuclear Posture Review: US wants smaller nukes to counter Russia

2 February 2018

The US nuclear force is based on land, sea and air-based weapons

The US military has proposed diversifying its nuclear arsenal and developing new, smaller atomic bombs, largely to counter Russia.

The latest thinking was revealed in a Pentagon policy statement known as the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

The US military is concerned Moscow sees US nuclear weapons as too big to be used - meaning they are no longer an effective deterrent.

Developing smaller nukes would challenge that assumption, it argues.

Low-yield weapons are smaller, less powerful bombs with a strength below 20 kilotons.

They are still devastating, however. The atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki at the end of World War Two had about the same explosive power, and killed more than 70,000 people.

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"Our strategy will ensure Russia understands that any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is unacceptable," the document said.

US Deputy Secretary of Defence, Patrick Shanahan, said the country's nuclear arsenal had kept it safe for over 70 years.

"We cannot afford to let it become obsolete," he told a media briefing in Washington.

It is the first time since 2010 that the US military has outlined its perception of future nuclear threats.

The proposed "tactical" nukes would not increase America's arsenal, which is already considerable, but would repurpose existing warheads.

Nonetheless, critics have accused the Trump administration of challenging the spirit of non-proliferation agreements.

The NPR also highlights the White House's concerns about North Korea, China and Iran.

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Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent

For the Trump Administration the goal of this review is to modernise and adapt the US nuclear arsenal for unsettled times.

The three main elements of America's nuclear forces - Land-based ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and air-delivered weapons - are to be extensively modernised.

These are programmes which actually began under the Obama Administration.

What is new is the perceived need for two new types of nuclear weapons to provide - in the words of US officials - "more flexible capabilities to give tailored deterrence".

These include the modification of some submarine-launched nuclear warheads to give a lower-yield or less powerful detonation, as well as bringing back sea-based nuclear cruise missiles.

US officials insist that this makes the US deterrent more credible and thus actually raises the nuclear threshold.

But critics worry that such weapons could blur the distinction between nuclear and non-nuclear systems, and actually make a nuclear war more likely.

Companies Are Losing Millions After #MeToo Allegations Like Kate Upton’s Claim Against Guess’ Paul Marciano - TIME Business

Companies Are Losing Millions After #MeToo Allegations Like Kate Upton’s Claim Against Guess’ Paul Marciano

Posted: 02 Feb 2018 12:37 PM PST

Hours after Kate Upton used Twitter Thursday to accuse Guess co-founder Paul Marciano of using his power to “sexually and emotionally harass women,” the company’s shares dropped almost 18%.
Guess lost more than $250 million in market value in one day. Despite the company issuing a denial of Upton’s claims, shares continued to slide on Friday.
Upton’s allegations show that #metoo sexual misconduct claims can hurt company’s shares big time – even when those accused offer strenuous denials.

In the case of casino mogul Steve Wynn, the loss is in the billions.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 26 that Steve Wynn, the casino mogul and founder and CEO of Wynn Resorts, had been accused of sexual harassment and assault by several employees, including one allegation that lead to a $7.5 million settlement. In a statement to the Journal, Wynn denied the allegations.
A denial from Wynn didn’t stop the damage to his company. Shares for Wynn Resorts fell by 10% on the day that the Journal published its story and another 9% on Jan. 29, shaving off about $3.5 billion of the company’s value, according to Fortune. Wynn lost $412 million of his net worth.
Upton, who has modeled for the fashion brand, first made her claims against Marciano in a Twitter post on Thursday, writing: “It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo.” She then posted a screenshot of her tweet on Instagram, adding the caption: “He shouldn’t be allowed to use his power in the industry to sexually and emotionally harass women #metoo.” Upton did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.

It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo

— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) January 31, 2018

Marciano, who did not respond to TIME’s request for comment, denied the claims. He told TMZ that he didn’t know what Upton’s allegations were, and said that “if she has a claim, there’s one place to tell the truth and that’s in court or to the police.”
In an SEC filing on Thursday, the company said: “Mr. Marciano denies any misconduct toward Ms. Upton,” but said the company would investigate her allegations. It also said that it had investigated, with the help of outside counsel, claims from two other women, which were published on Jan. 31 on entertainment website The Blast. It said Marciano also denied those allegations and that the company was unable to substantiate the claims.
 Bloomberg – Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBillionaire Steve Wynn, chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd.Wynn, in responding to sexual misconduct claims in the Journal said in a statement: “The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous. We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits. It is deplorable for anyone to find themselves in this situation.”
But some companies who have had prominent employees face allegations of sexual harassment haven’t seen their stock prices take a hit. Marketwatch noted that CBS, Netflix and Amazon’s stock prices remained steady after prominent employees were accused of sexual misconduct.
Sexual harassment allegations have cost companies in other ways beyond share prices. In May 2017, Fox News said it had paid $45 million related to litigation costs related to sexual harassment allegations. Netflix reportedly lost $39 million for cutting ties with Kevin Spacey, who was accused of sexual misconduct by several men. (Spacey apologized and said he didn’t remember the first allegation, made by actor Anthony Rapp, but hasn’t commented on subsequent allegations.)