World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[joshuatree]

Not exactly breaking but not sure where to post this either.....did find it interesting as Japan would not be a place I expect of this.

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The United States has issued a strongly worded criticism of the Japanese government's Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Programme, describing the scheme that supposedly aids young foreign workers as "forced labour".

Washington's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, unveiled by Secretary of State John Kerry, ranks Japan in the second tier of countries where trafficking is prevalent, putting it on a par with India and Afghanistan.

The government's trainee programme came in for particular criticism, with lawyers who have represented foreign victims of labour violations expressing fears that the situation will worsen, as the government has announced plans to extend and expand the scheme.

Introduced to promote basic industrial and technical skills among young trainees from other countries in Asia, the programme has 151,000 members in Japan. Some 73 per cent are Chinese and the majority of the rest come from Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

And while the concept is laudable, the reality has been that the scheme has been abused by employers to serve as a source of cheap labour, and participants have few rights.

The US report said trainees paid as much as US$7,300 to take part, but were required to sign "contracts that mandate forfeiture of thousands of dollars if workers try to leave".

Many of the trainees are placed in jobs that do not teach technical skills - such as labouring to bring in crops on farms - while some are underpaid. Others were charged inflated rents for "cramped, poorly insulated housing that keeps them in debt", the report said.

In some cases, company owners have confiscated trainees' passports and other personal documents, effectively making them illegal aliens and ensuring they do not try to abscond.

"We completely agree with the US report and want the system to be abolished," said Lila Abiko, a lawyer who has represented a number of interns, "The reality of the system is different from the purpose that was initially stated, and it is simply a way of exploiting cheap labour," she said. "There have been numerous cases of human rights abuses under this system."

Abiko estimates that around 20 court cases are presently being heard involving the trainee scheme. Some allege overtime payments of 300 yen (HK$22.82) an hour, far below the minimum wage of 800 yen per hour.

The most distressing case that Abiko was involved in, she said, was the death in June 2008 of a man called Jiang Xiadong from heart failure.

Jiang, from Jiangsu province, died in his sleep at the age of 31 after working more than 100 hours of overtime - in addition to the 350 hours of regular work per month - at a metal processing company in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo.

Earlier time cards showed that Jiang put in 180 hours of overtime in November 2007, meaning that he worked more than 17 hours a day for every day of the month.

Jiang's family received 57.5 million yen in compensation from the company.

Abiko welcomed the US condemnation of the system, but noted that the State Department had included the trainee scheme in the report for eight straight years and nothing had changed.

"What is really worrying to me is that the government is now planning to extend the time that trainees work here from a maximum of three years to five."

 

[joshuatree]

I doubt the US will relinquish Hawaii.....

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To help the U.S. Department of the Interior understand how some Native Hawaiians view federal recognition, DeMont R. D. Conner offered this analogy:

Your car is stolen. The person who stole the car later apologizes and offers you a bicycle.

The only proper response to such an offer, said Connor, is to insist that the stolen property be returned to its rightful owner.

“Go back and tell your boss, ‘Give ’em back da car!’” he told a panel of Interior officials as the audience that packed the Hawaii State Capitol Monday morning erupted into laughter and hearty applause.

Connor’s point was that the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 was a theft.

For federal officials to offer recognition, a 121 years later, to Kanaka Maoli as an indigenous people entitled to government-to-government status with the United States is like giving them a bike. Not just any bike, either, said Conner: a Schwinn.

He was one of 143 people who testified — and shouted, cried, pleaded, prayed, chanted and sang — for more than three hours Monday before Interior officials. It was the first of 15 public meetings in the islands scheduled over the next two weeks.

The hearings are part of a “listening tour” being conducted by Interior to solicit comments and feedback on “whether and how” the process of reestablishing a government-to-government relationship should proceed.

The answer from nearly everyone who testified Monday was that it should not. In their view, Hawaii is still a nation and the Americans are occupiers — like the U.S. military — who should leave.

“Get out of our house!” several speakers told the Interior panel, which included Esther Kiaaina, a senior adviser to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “Go home!”

Many of the testifiers, some proudly identifying themselves as Hawaiian, said the U.S. government had no jurisdiction in the islands. They cited analyses of treaties, bills, acts, resolutions, petitions and law that led them to passionately believe that Hawaii is quite independent of the other 49 states.........

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

The primary backers of this are members of Native Hawaiian groups demanding restoration of there sovereignty. even if it was unanimous across that groups ( which is impossible) that would only represent at best 10% of the Hawaiian population and even that is a stretch as that population figure includes other pacific islanders. by Far the largest population Demographic is Asian 39% particularly those of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino decent, followed by Caucasian 25% ( based on 2010 census data.)
Then there is the Economics the US military alone brings in millions of Tax dollars and revenues to the Hawaiian Economy.
The Hawaii Independence Party holds 0 seats in the Hawaiian state government.

 

[Jeff Head]

The primary backers of this are members of Native Hawaiian groups demanding restoration of there sovereignty. even if it was unanimous across that groups ( which is impossible) that would only represent at best 10% of the Hawaiian population and even that is a stretch as that population figure includes other pacific islanders. by Far the largest population Demographic is Asian 39% particularly those of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino decent, followed by Caucasian 25% ( based on 2010 census data.)
Then there is the Economics the US military alone brings in millions of Tax dollars and revenues to the Hawaiian Economy.
The Hawaii Independence Party holds 0 seats in the Hawaiian state government.

I've heard these clamorings all of my life.

Nothing substantive will come of it.

Every now and then, one or a few of them go off the deep end though.

 

[joshuatree]

The primary backers of this are members of Native Hawaiian groups demanding restoration of there sovereignty. even if it was unanimous across that groups ( which is impossible) that would only represent at best 10% of the Hawaiian population and even that is a stretch as that population figure includes other pacific islanders. by Far the largest population Demographic is Asian 39% particularly those of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino decent, followed by Caucasian 25% ( based on 2010 census data.)
Then there is the Economics the US military alone brings in millions of Tax dollars and revenues to the Hawaiian Economy.
The Hawaii Independence Party holds 0 seats in the Hawaiian state government.

And how have the Native Hawaiians become a minority in their own land? Through policies that they have no control over because their country was conquered and overthrown. Even in the days of the Hawaiian Kingdom, there were Asian residents who gladly held Hawaiian citizenship. Question is, would the US govt allow such a plebiscite within Hawaii? There are many Asian and Caucasian decent whose lineage predates the US. These folks did not suffer under the Hawaiian Kingdom, some did very well.

The economics of the US military comes with a price. One of the largest land owners in the state is the federal govt and the military. That's land that could contribute to the economy. Also, the state is beholden to archaic relic laws like the Jones Act that has minimal impact to the 48 states because there are alternate land routes to transport goods, but increases the cost of living significantly to places like Hawaii. A return to Hawaiian sovereignty does not preclude the kingdom from leasing bases to the US and that would still contribute to the economy.

 

[Jeff Head]

And how have the Native Hawaiians become a minority in their own land? Through policies that they have no control over because their country was conquered and overthrown

The economics of the US military comes with a price. One of the largest land owners in the state is the federal govt and the military. That's land that could contribute to the economy

A return to Hawaiian sovereignty does not preclude the kingdom from leasing bases to the US and that would still contribute to the economy.

Not going to happen Joshuatree...no matter how loudly a very minuscule minority clamors for it. The people on the island decided to become a US state. That's how the process works.

If the US had not been there, well in 1941 the island would have easily been occupied by the Japanese who would have mercilessly handled the indigenous peoples...and then when the US took it back, there would have been a horrible fight that would have killed even more civilians and destroyed all of the infrastructure.

The facts are what they are...the forum rules indicate that we are not to dredge up these old issues precisely because there is no good answer either way. As it is, Hawaii is a proud state of the United States for the vast majority of people living there. And will remain so for the forseeable future.

Best to let it rest.

 

[joshuatree]

Not going to happen Joshuatree...no matter how loudly a very minuscule minority clamors for it. The people on the island decided to become a US state. That's how the process works.

If the US had not been there, well in 1941 the island would have easily been occupied by the Japanese who would have mercilessly handled the indigenous peoples...and then when the US took it back, there would have been a horrible fight that would have killed even more civilians and destroyed all of the infrastructure.

The facts are what they are...the forum rules indicate that we are not to dredge up these old issues precisely because there is no good answer either way. As it is, Hawaii is a proud state of the United States for the vast majority of people living there. And will remain so for the forseeable future.

Best to let it rest.

How am I dredging up issues when it's in the news? The US Dept of Interior is meeting with these folks for several rounds and I think it's worthy to note it because it will show how far the US will go with their apology for wrongs done in the past. I'm going to leave out commenting on everything else above but one issue. This whole thing about how the people decided.....let's not go there, when the indigenous population gets systematically displaced, talk of process by a loaded majority is really....well, I will leave it there. It basically makes any criticism of what happens in other parts of the world ring hollow.

 

[solarz]

How am I dredging up issues when it's in the news? The US Dept of Interior is meeting with these folks for several rounds and I think it's worthy to note it because it will show how far the US will go with their apology for wrongs done in the past. I'm going to leave out commenting on everything else above but one issue. This whole thing about how the people decided.....let's not go there, when the indigenous population gets systematically displaced, talk of process by a loaded majority is really....well, I will leave it there. It basically makes any criticism of what happens in other parts of the world ring hollow.

Honestly, any territorial criticisms based on supposed morality are fundamentally hollow. Throughout human history, territory has always been held by the conqueror. Any group of people who claim to be "native" to a region most likely displaced another group of people. The idea that there are people who are "morally entitled" to a land is, frankly, morally indefensible.

 

[Jeff Head]

How am I dredging up issues when it's in the news?

....well, I will leave it there. It basically makes any criticism of what happens in other parts of the world ring hollow.

Joshuatree...history is what it is.

That does not mean it was pretty...or that it happened in a way others feel good about.

Hawaii is a US state. It's not going to be changing in the forseeable future, irrespective of all else.

As to, "it's in the news." So?

So are ten million other things. Most of them, like this, are failry obscure and inconsequential. That's why we call it "World Breaking News."

Besides, just because it is in being reported by someone, somewhere does not mean it adheres to the ruiles of the forum that forbid bringing up historical grievances. And the reason is obvious. It simply gets too emtotional and leads to arguement, flaminig, accusations, etc., etc. Irrespective of the merits of one side or the other. Each will always feel it is "right," and seek to convince everyone else of it. That's why we have the rule.

 

[bd popeye]

Some news from Iraq...

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By Oliver Holmes and Isabel Coles

BAGHDAD/ARBIL (Reuters) - Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities.

Eyewitnesses said battles were raging in the city, hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein, which fell to Sunni Islamist fighters two weeks ago on the third day of a lightning offensive that has given them control of most majority Sunni regions.

The helicopters were shot at as they flew low over the city and landed in a stadium at the city's university, a security source at the scene said. Government spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment and by evening the assault was still not being reported on state media.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said fierce clashes ensued, centred around the university compound.

Ahmed al-Jubbour, professor at the university's college of agriculture, described fighting in the colleges of agriculture and sports education after three helicopters arrived.

"I saw one of the helicopters land opposite the university with my own eyes and I saw clashes between dozens of militants and government forces," he said.

Jubbour said one helicopter crash landed in the stadium. Another left after dropping off troops and a third remained on the ground. Army snipers were positioning themselves on tall buildings in the university complex.