Latest news with #JohnGeddie
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Israel's Gaza aid model is 'distraction from atrocities', UNRWA chief says
By John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday Israel's model for providing aid to Gaza was wasteful and a "distraction from atrocities", criticising a chaotic distribution by a U.S.-backed foundation this week. On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians rushed an aid distribution site set up in the Israeli-held southern Gaza city of Rafah operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with desperation for food overcoming wariness about biometric and other checks Israel said it would employ. "The model of aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with core humanitarian principles," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told reporters at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. "We have seen yesterday the shocking images of hungry people pushing against fences, desperate for food. It was chaotic, undignified and unsafe," Lazzarini said. "I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities," he added, referring to civilian deaths during Israel's air and ground war in the small coastal enclave. Israel says its military operations target only Hamas-led militants and accuses them of using civilians for cover, which they deny. As a trickle of aid has resumed, Israeli forces - now in control of wide areas of Gaza - have kept up their offensive, killing 3,901 Palestinians since a short ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The GHF, backed by Israel and its close ally, the United States, said it had distributed about 8,000 food boxes, equivalent to 462,000 meals, since Israel eased an 11-week-old blockade of the war-shattered Palestinian enclave last week. The United Nations and other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, which they say undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce dismissed criticism of the aid program as "complaints about style". Israel says one advantage of the new aid system is the opportunity to screen recipients at designated sites to exclude anyone found to be connected with Hamas. Israel, at war with Hamas since October 2023, accuses Hamas of stealing supplies and using them to entrench its position. Hamas denies this.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US invites Asian officials to Alaska, eyes $44 billion LNG project
By John Geddie, Tim Kelly and Timothy Gardner TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. has invited officials from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to Alaska to discuss projects including a vast gas pipeline, two people familiar with the planning said, as Asian governments consider U.S. investments in the hopes of relief from President Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump's energy czar, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will host the June 2 event, the sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity as the details are not public. The event will include a visit to Alaska's remote North Slope, one source said, home to stranded gas fields the U.S. is seeking to unlock through the proposed $44 billion pipeline. It would traverse 800 miles (1,300 km) across the huge state before the gas is liquefied for shipment, mainly to Asian customers. Trump has pushed allies like Japan and South Korea to buy U.S. energy while threatening trade tariffs. He has said Tokyo and Seoul want to invest "trillions of dollars each" in the pipeline project. It is unlikely the Alaska meeting will yield major deals related to the long-delayed pipeline project, as originally hoped, and the size and seniority of the foreign contingent is unclear, the sources said. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed optimism about the Alaska LNG project during a private meeting with Trump in February, despite doubts in Tokyo about its viability. Japanese and South Korean officials and executives have sounded caution on a project in the works for decades that has made little progress because of cost and logistical challenges. The White House declined to answer specific questions about the event, saying in a statement that Trump "has a proven history of bolstering American energy production and will restore our nation's position as a global energy leader". The Energy and Interior departments did not respond to requests for comment. Officials from Taiwan's state-run energy company CPC, which in March signed a non-binding agreement to invest in and purchase offtake from the pipeline project, will attend the Alaska meetings, the Economic Ministry said. CPC did not respond to requests for comment. South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said last week his government had been invited but that the timing was "very tricky". South Korea holds a presidential election on June 3. Japan's trade minister, Yoji Muto, has also been invited, two sources said. A Japanese government source said it would be difficult for Muto to attend due to parliamentary commitments, while Tokyo's level of participation may be influenced by the progress of Japan-U.S. trade negotiations. An official at Japan's trade ministry said on Friday that no decision had been made on Japanese participation. Locking in binding agreements on the pipeline project may take time as developers have not yet conducted a front-end engineering design study, needed to clarify overall project costs, one source said. The study is expected to begin later this year. The June 2 meeting will also broadly discuss collaborating on energy projects in the Arctic, the sources said. Burgum and Wright are then scheduled to participate in the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage from June 3 to 5. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis-Japan is a test case for Trump's tariff deals. But talks may be tortuous
By John Geddie, Yoshifumi Takemoto and Trevor Hunnicutt TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When Tokyo's top trade negotiator met U.S. President Donald Trump for tariff talks at the White House earlier this month, he presented him with a gold-coloured piggy bank. One detail, seemingly unnoticed by those in the room, is that the gift was made in China, the focal point for Trump's sweeping trade war that has engulfed Japan and dozens of other countries, roiled financial markets and stoked recession fears. As Trump seeks to leverage his tariff threats to strike scores of bilateral deals in a matter of months, the well-travelled present was an unintended reminder of the complexity of the global supply chains he is seeking to redraw. Negotiating a speedy deal with Japan, a close U.S. ally that counts rival China as its biggest trading partner, has been billed as a "test case" for Trump's chances of success. There are already signs, however, that negotiations with Tokyo may prove tortuous, especially as its embattled ruling party worries about signing up to a bad deal ahead of a dicey election. "Trump needs to get some concessions from Japan so that he can show he is a 'tough president'," said Daisuke Kawai, an economic security specialist at The University of Tokyo. "He needs to create a kind of example as soon as possible." While some analysts expect Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump to announce an agreement when they meet at the G7 summit in Canada in June, others say it will be risky for the Japanese government to cede ground on thornier issues before upper house elections expected in July. Polls show the ruling coalition is poised to lose its majority in that ballot, a result that could force Ishiba's ouster after he suffered the same fate in elections for the more-powerful lower house last year. Trump has hit Japan with 24% tariffs on its exports to the U.S., although, like most of his levies, they have been paused until early July to allow room for negotiations. A 10% universal rate remains in place, as does a 25% duty on cars, a mainstay of Japan's export-heavy economy. Japan's trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa is set to depart for Washington for a second round of negotiations next week. A spokesperson for the U.S. trade representative declined to comment on negotiations. The White House and Japan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked about the gift to Trump - modelled on the otherworldly mascot Japan chose for the World Expo it is hosting in the city of Osaka - Akazawa said on Friday it had no meaning other than to encourage Trump to visit the event. He declined to comment on the item's origins, adding only that "Trump loves gold". The item is listed on the Expo's website as being 'Made in China' and Reuters confirmed this with the producer, Osaka-based Heso Production. THE PRICE OF RICE? While Tokyo is still sizing up what Washington will prioritise in the negotiations, it anticipates demands to lower barriers to U.S. agricultural and automotive imports, a government official close to Ishiba said. One of Trump's big gripes, Tokyo's tariffs on foreign rice, should be relatively easy to adjust as Japan faces a shortage of the staple and has seen prices rocket in recent months. However, bureaucrats hoping to score a bargaining chip in the negotiations are facing resistance from influential ruling party lawmakers wary of alienating voters in their farming constituencies ahead of the elections, the officials said. Trump's seeming unwillingness to offer exceptions for the 25% tariffs he has slapped on global auto imports, which make up nearly a third of all Japan's exports to the U.S., its biggest market, has also made Tokyo hesitant to offer concessions in other areas like rice, the officials said. A group of lawmakers from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party issued a statement on Friday saying they would not accept any negotiation strategy that "sacrifices" agricultural products to gain exemptions on auto tariffs or protect other industries. On the plus side, Japan's initial concern that Trump may try to insert negotiations on foreign exchange rates into the talks has faded, while the U.S. President told reporters on Thursday that military matters were also likely to be treated separately. Trump had previously indicated he wanted to discuss Japan and South Korea's payments towards the cost of hosting U.S. troops in the trade discussions. Yet the anxious mood in Tokyo stands somewhat in contrast to the optimism Trump struck after his initial meeting with Akazawa, which he hailed as 'big progress'. The U.S. and Japan are working to reach an interim agreement, but many of the biggest issues are being put off, Reuters reported earlier this week. While Trump will face bigger battles ahead, especially as he hunkers down in a trade war with the world's No.2 economy China, getting a quick win in Japan is far from certain, analysts say. "A 'quick' deal means excessive compromise by one of the parties," said Joseph Kraft, a financial and political analyst at Rorschach Advisory in Tokyo. "I think Japan's strategy is to wait for the U.S. to show their hand ... They are likely to prioritise content over time. I speculate Trump will prioritize time over content."
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis-Resource-poor Japan was girding for an AI energy surge. DeepSeek raised the stakes
By John Geddie and Katya Golubkova TOKYO (Reuters) - Weeks after Japan revealed details of a landmark energy plan partly designed to keep up with an expected AI surge, the shock rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek has upended conventional wisdom over the sector's future power demands. It was only last year that Tokyo abandoned its long-held forecasts that its future electricity needs would dwindle with its ageing population, and began accounting for higher AI-driven usage from data centres and microchip makers. In late December, the government released a draft of its basic energy plan, a major policy document reviewed about every three years, projecting electricity generation would rise between 10-20% by 2040 and citing those factors. While Tokyo will not likely hurry to rejig its forecasts, DeepSeek's seemingly leaner models have triggered a broad rethink of AI energy needs that the world's most resource-poor major economy would be remiss to ignore, analysts say. "It would be risky (for Japan) not to take this seriously," said Andrew DeWit, professor at Rikkyo University's School of Economic Policy Studies in Tokyo. DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, it had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares. Power producers, whose stock prices had outperformed on expectations of ballooning electricity demands needed to scale AI technologies, also took a hit as investors weighed DeepSeek's seemingly more energy-efficient models. But as analysts parse DeepSeek's potential impact, an alternative view has emerged: its success may lower the barrier to entry in a sector dominated by Silicon Valley giants and catalyse higher overall electricity demand from new AI entrants. This is a potential headache for Japan, which produces just 13% of its energy needs from domestic sources, the second lowest ratio of all 38 OECD countries, besting only Luxembourg. "If AI proves to be cheaper to develop than currently expected, that would accelerate its mass introduction rather than slow it. If anything, it would increase power demand in the country," said Yuriy Humber, CEO of K.K. Yuri Group, an energy research and consulting firm based in Tokyo. "Japanese officials have taken their time to adjust power demand forecasts even though the AI boom was apparent two years ago. I expect they will monitor the new developments carefully," he said. The trade ministry, which oversees the country's long-term energy planning, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A senior official at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been briefed on DeepSeek in December and concluded that, while impressive, the technology did not advance existing systems. He said he thought markets had over-reacted. Tepco, Japan's biggest power company by sales, said it was monitoring DeepSeek's potential impact on power demand closely but has yet to assess its full effects. 'BITTER LEARNING' Japan's grid monitor had for years predicted future electricity demand would decline gradually due to the adoption of energy-efficient equipment and a shrinking population. But in 2024, it revised its outlook to reflect an overall increase, largely driven by an expected 5.14 million kWh of new power demand from data centres and chip plants by 2034. Senior government officials have also cited AI-related energy needs as a reason to restart nuclear reactors, a sensitive subject in a country that suffered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters when the Fukushima plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Mika Ohbayashi, director at Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo, said that DeepSeek's emergence was a "clear indication" that AI may become more efficient and demand less power. She criticised Japanese officials linking AI energy needs to the promotion of nuclear power, and said the government needs to do more to develop renewable energy instead. The jury is out over whether DeepSeek's models could trigger more or less AI energy demands in the future, and analysts say its technology needs to be rigorously stress tested before countries rush to change their plans. But Japan has had a bitter experience of getting its energy preparations for technology wrong in the past, said Rikkyo University's DeWit, pointing to the years before its economic bubble burst in the late 1980s. "Japan was a chip leader at the time and they figured they were going to become number one and they built out the power system. And of course, as they entered the 90s as the bubble collapsed, that power demand did not eventuate. "They've had a bitter learning. So it behoves the policy makers to take this seriously," he said.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Baltic Sea shipping tax could pay for undersea cable protection, says Estonian minister
By John Geddie and Tim Kelly TOKYO (Reuters) - Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia's defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches. NATO said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and drones in the Baltic Sea after a series of incidents where ships have damaged power and communications cables with their anchors in acts of suspected sabotage. In addition to the patrols, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said countries are weighing other measures to protect cables, including installing sensors to detect anchors dragged across the sea floor or constructing casings or walls around the cables. But this will come at a cost, and whether countries or cable operators end up paying for it, consumers may be left ultimately footing the bill through higher taxes or utility costs. Another option, Pevkur said, is levying a tax on vessels that sail through the Baltic Sea, that is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia. "Let's say that when you go to the airport you have the landing fee, you have the airport fee and this is paid in the ticket," he told Reuters in an interview in Tokyo. "So in one moment maybe we will see that when you are passing through the Danish straits there will be a cost for the companies to pay this because this is basically an insurance fee to damaging the cables." Pevkur added that there were different options on the table and that countries would have to find a common solution. Globally, around 150 undersea cables are damaged each year, according to the UK-based International Cable Protection Committee. The telecoms cables, power lines and gas pipes in the shallow Baltic are seen as particularly vulnerable due to its very intense traffic, with as many as 4000 ships crossing its surface every day, according to some estimates. Swedish authorities seized a Maltese-flagged ship on Monday in connection with damage caused to a cable running between Latvia and Sweden, one of four similar incidents in just over a year that have also affected power and telecoms lines running between Estonia and Finland. Pevkur said while official investigations are ongoing, the series of incidents point to coordinated action by ships that are part of Russia's "shadow fleet". "When we see that all those ships are part of the shadow fleet of Russia although having different flags on their of course you know we have to connect the dots," he said. Moscow has accused Western countries of making "evidence-free" assertions about its involvement in the incidents.
