"Japanese employees work significantly longer hours than their counterparts in the US, Britain and other developed countries. Japan’s employees used, on average, only 8.8 days of their annual leave in 2015, less than half their allowance, according to the health ministry. That compares with 100% in Hong Kong and 78% in Singapore."
"While President Trump has praised Duterte’s approach to combating drug addiction — namely, encouraging vigilantes to extrajudicially murder drug users by the thousands — Tillerson suggested that this policy was not good, but also irrelevant to the question of whether the U.S. should intervene against ISIS on Duterte’s behalf."
"Champions of the warfare state and multi-trillion dollar military-industrial-counterterrorism complex maintain that unimagined technological progress including nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles require presidential wars to protect the national security. If they have a persuasive case, they should seek a constitutional amendment under Article V that would transfer the war power from Congress to the Oval Office. The amendment would need approval by two-thirds of the House and Senate and three-quarters of state legislatures. I am convinced it would be DOA in Congress. Americans do not want a king." Continue reading →
"According to a just released South Korean poll, 80 percent of South Koreans want inter-Korean dialogue with North Koreans. 60 percent of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, support direct negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang." Continue reading →
"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has authorized a 'Geographical Travel Restriction' on Americans to forbid them from entering North Korea, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. 'Once in effect, U.S. passports will be invalid for travel to, through and in North Korea, and individuals will be required to obtain a passport with a special validation in order to travel to or within North Korea,' Nauert said. The move was due to 'mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement,' she said." Continue reading →
"'As for the regime, I am hopeful we will find a way to separate that regime from this system,' Pompeo said. 'The North Korean people I'm sure are lovely people and would love to see him go.'" Continue reading →
"A newly published report by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), reveals details of ‘Project Ubin’ its blockchain effort 'which places a tokenized form of the Singapore Dollar (SGD) on a distributed ledger' platform." Continue reading →
"If we’re not going to war, we’re doing a really good imitation." Continue reading →
"President Rodrigo Duterte made a joke about rape as he urged soldiers to use the powers of martial law to take control of a besieged city in the southern Philippines. In the speech Friday, Duterte said he will pay the consequences if any soldiers are accused of abuses. He said: 'I will go to jail for you. If you happen to have raped three women, I will own up to it.' On Tuesday, Duterte imposed 60 days of martial law in the southern Philippines as government forces battle militants in Marawi, a city of some 200,000 people. Duterte is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers casual statements with profanities." Continue reading →
"Mr. Moon’s strategy is the opposite: to offer an outstretched hand to the North Koreans first, in the hope of reducing tensions with the promise of economic integration. Just because that effort failed the last time it was tried, he argued during a hard-fought campaign, does not mean it will fail again as he deals with an erratic, 33-year-old leader in Pyongyang whose main interest is remaining in power." Continue reading →