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TOKYO (Reuters) Subaru Corp.

said it was investigating whether its inspectors may


have falsified vehicle mileage readings during final inspections conducted on cars
sold in Japan, driving down the automakers shares more than 8 percent to a 1-year
low.

Subaru added that while mileage readings did not fall under vehicle safety
requirements, it was looking to see whether any possible fabrication could hurt its
official mileage readings and if any exported models may have been affected.

This news follows Subarus revelation in October that uncertified staff had for
decades been carrying out final checks on new cars sold in the domestic market. The
company this week vowed to improve oversight, but it did not mention any probe into
mileage readings at the time.

On Wednesday, Subaru said some inspectors had told external investigators that
mileage data had been altered on some sample models tested during the final
checking process. It added that it had not confirmed that any such fabrications had
taken place.

Shares of the automaker fell as much as 8.5 percent to their lowest since July
2016. They were the most heavily traded stock by turnover on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange.

Subarus announcement adds to a slew of scandals that have rocked Japans


manufacturing industry in recent months.Speech

During Russian President Vladimir Putins annual press conference on Dec. 14, a
friendly journalist asked Putin whether the escalating tension in relations with
the United States and the crumbling of arms control treaties would draw Russia into
an unsustainable arms race.

We will ensure our security without engaging in an arms race, the president
replied, citing widely diverging dollar numbers for the U.S. and Russian defense
budgets.

Thats a simplistic answer from a politician starting an election campaign (of


sorts: Putin is headed for re-election in March without giving anyone else a
chance).

The more pointed question that should be asked is this: How, with a relatively
small and decreasing military budget 2.77 trillion rubles ($42.3 billion) for
2018, down from some 3.05 trillion rubles this year is Russia still a formidable
military rival to the United States, with its enormous and increasing budget of
almost $692.1 billion in 2018, up from $583 billion this year?

The equalizing value of the two countries well-balanced nuclear deterrents is


enough of a reason to avoid direct confrontation.

But leaving that aside, Putin may well understand the nature of modern military
challenges better than U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. legislators and
Russias authoritarian system may be more efficient when it comes to military
allocations.

Note that Russia is now almost an equal to the United States as a power broker in
the Middle East, where the Russian military has just helped Syrian President Bashar
Assad effectively win a civil war in which the United States was helping the
other side.

At the same time, Russian defense spending numbers are deceptive. The country is
far more militarized than its defense spending suggests. That level of security
spending is only sustainable at the expense of Russias future.

Trumps military spending hike, which makes it necessary to remove the existing cap
on defense expenditure, is a dubious and likely outdated response to decreased
global security.

Quite aside from the cost of maintaining the worlds most powerful military, the
United States, according to the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and
International Studies, has spent at least $2 trillion on its wars since 2001.

But, considering the less transparent costs, such as those of caring for veterans,
war-related increases to the Department of Defense base budget and interest on the
debt taken on to cover defense spending, its closer to $4 trillion at the very
least.

The Afghan conflict has cost the United States at least $840 billion more than
four times Afghanistans cumulative GDP since 2001. Since the 2018 U.S. defense
budget contains additional funds for sending 3,500 more troops to Afghanistan, the
results of the massive outlay over the years are clearly suboptimal.

Todays wars arent fought with fat wads of money. The adversaries are mostly
small, agile forces that arent as well-resourced as nation states. Fighting them
requires a combination of local knowledge, brute force applied only at important
points in a conflict and ability to shift risks onto the shoulders of irregular
fighters.

Russia kept cutting its defense budget all through its participation in the Syrian
war.

Yabloko, an opposition party, earlier this year put the cost of the Syrian
operation for Russia at about 140.4 billion rubles ($2.4 billion at the current
exchange rate) since September 2015; thats about 4 percent of what the U.S.
allocated to overseas contingency operations in 2017 alone and the outcome is as
good as Russia could have expected.

The United States is pumping money into comparatively inefficient warfighting and
into preparing for the kind of large-scale war thats not likely to take place
because of existing nuclear arsenals and unauthorized nuclear proliferation. Even
North Korea, with its unknown but probably small nuclear capability, is dangerous
enough to deter the United States from attacking.

At his press conference, Putin made the point that the United States couldnt know
for sure where to strike in North Korea and if the Kim regime managed to get a
single long-range, nuclear-armed missile in the air, the results could be
catastrophic.

U.S. defense budgets, of course, feed a large, powerful domestic industry; even the
indirect U.S. involvement in a conflict lifts the stock prices of major defense
contractors, research has shown.

In Russia, the biggest contractors are state-controlled; they have far less
lobbying clout, and the technocratic Russian government has kept them on a short
leash, though some of the militarys purchasing decisions have served regional
development rather than defense purposes.

Such an arrangement, which would have been inefficient in most other industries,
probably reduces wasteful spending in the budget-dependent military-industrial
complex.
That said, in relative terms, Russia is spending more on force-related functions
than the United States does.

Trumps budget proposal allocated $71.8 billion to the Department of Homeland


Security and the Justice Department. Add that up with the defense spending, and the
total security budget will stand at $764 billion, less than 19 percent of total
federal spending.

Russia will spend a combined 29 percent of its federal budget about 4.8 trillion
rubles on defense and domestic security. Thats probably not all of the security-
related outlay either, as Mark Galeotti pointed out earlier this year: Even some of
the education and development spending in Russia goes toward military goals.

In the United States, federal law enforcement outlay is a fraction of defense


spending. In Russia, the two areas of government expenditure are almost equal.

Thats the difference between a country with a relatively liberal domestic order
and a near-dictatorship, which relies heavily on the suppression of dissent and
must keep large law enforcement agencies under centralized control.

Russia could show the world how to spend efficiently on more than adequate defense
but instead it is engaged in an arms race against its own development.

For years, it has been underfunding areas such as education and health, undermining
what Putin told the press conference was his vision of the countrys future
flexible, technology-driven, highly productive.

Judging by Putins answers to reporters on Thursday, he still prefers not to notice


that.

Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist.

Jiji Press
BEIJING (Jiji Press) Former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called on Japan and China
to beef up efforts to improve their relations, at a two-day forum meeting that
started in Beijing on Saturday.

Addressing the 13th Tokyo-Beijing Forum, Fukuda noted that the political
foundations for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have
been stable.

Now is a good time for the two major countries with stable political foundations to
discuss global challenges and act together, he said, adding that Japan and China
should move forward hand in hand.

Jiang Jianguo, director of Chinas State Council Information Office, stressed that
China is ready to work with Japan to accelerate Asias development.

The forum meeting, organized by Japanese private-sector organization Genron NPO and
China International Publishing Group, is participated in by experts from the two
countries

Jiji Press
TOKYO (Jiji Press) The government is considering granting the Peoples Honor
Award to 47-year-old shogi master Yoshiharu Habu and Yuta Iyama, a 28-year-old
champion of the board game Go, an official said Wednesday.

Last week, Habu became the first-ever shogi player to win eisei lifetime honors
for all seven major shogi titles. In October, Iyama accomplished the unprecedented
feat of holding all seven major Japanese Go titles simultaneously for the second
time.

They marked historic achievements that have given the public bright hope and
courage, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed us to consider whether to honor them.

The government is set to make formal decisions after hearing opinions from experts.

In a match held on Dec. 5 in Kagoshima Prefecture, Habu won the Ryuo title for the
seventh time, winning an eisei honor for the last remaining title.

Except for Iyama, no one in the Go or shogi world has managed to monopolize all
major titles twice.

Habu received the prime ministers award in 1996, followed by Iyama in 2016.

The government created the Peoples Honor Award in 1977 to recognize those who are
widely respected by the public and have achievements that give hope to society.

The Associated Press


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) Giancarlo Stanton eased his 1.98-meter frame into a
pinstriped No. 27 jersey, ready to join 2.01-meter Aaron Judge as the Towers of
Power on the resurgent New York Yankees.

Theyre winners, Stanton said after his trade from the Miami Marlins to New York
was finalized Monday. Theyre young, and theyre in a good position to win for a
long time, and I lost for a long time. So I want to change that dynamic and be a
winner.

New York sent second baseman Starlin Castro and a pair of minor leaguers to the
Marlins for the NL MVP, also giving up right-hander Jorge Guzman and infielder Jose
Devers. The Yankees became just the fourth team in big league history with the
reigning home run champions in each league, joining Hank Greenberg and Ralph Kiner
of the 1947 Pirates, Joe DiMaggio and Johnny Mize of the 1949 Yankees, and Mike
Schmidt and Dick Allen of the 1975 Phillies.

Stanton joined a team that reached Game 7 of the AL Championship Series against
Houston, led by Judge and fellow young sluggers Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird. The
Yankees expect top infield prospect Gleyber Torres to join the big league team next
season.

New Yorks a marquee town, and I think its important to have some marquee
players, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said. But more important than that, I
think its important to have veteran players that could be mentors for the young
kids.

Stanton, a 28-year-old who like Judge plays right field, is owed $295 million over
the final decade of his record $325 million, 13-year contract.

The payroll-slashing Marlins, with new CEO and former Yankees star Derek Jeter
presiding over the teams fourth roster purge in two decades, will send $30 million
to the Yankees if Stanton doesnt exercise his right to opt out of the deal after
the 2020 season in six future installments. Under a change in baseballs new labor
contract, that money will be prorated for the luxury tax and Stanton will count as
$22 million annually.

Its a win-win for both sides, Marlins president of baseball operations Michael
Hill said. Opportunity for him to start fresh, and an opportunity for us to gain
needed flexibility.

Stanton led the majors with 59 home runs and 132 RBIs last season, and Judge was
second in the majors with 52 homers. The daunting duo figures to create must-see
BP, and new Yankees manager Aaron Boone isnt sure yet who will play right or left,
figuring they also will see time at designated hitter.

A 10-year commitment to any player, any position, should be a concern for the
owner, without a doubt, Steinbrenner maintained, but having said that, hes 28
and in great shape, and I think theres going to be many, many years.

Stantons contract includes a no-trade provision, and last week he turned down
prospective deals to St. Louis and San Francisco. He told the Marlins he was
willing to accept trades only to the Yankees, his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, the
Astros and Chicago Cubs.

New York hasnt had a losing record since 1992. The Marlins havent had a winning
season since Stanton made his big league debut in 2010.

He spends his Octobers in Europe, said Stantons agent, Joel Wolfe. It was
killing him.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke briefly with Hill about Stanton at last
months GM meetings but didnt move forward, wanting to save DH at-bats in case New
York added Shohei Otani. But the Japanese pitcher/outfielder eliminated all East
Coast teams in early December and talks with Hill resumed.

I felt maybe Wednesday of last week I thought it was not going to happen, Cashman
said. And then he re-engaged me Thursday.

TOKYO (Jiji Press) The Japan Sumo Association at an extraordinary board meeting
on Wednesday put off its decision on its possible action against Takanohana,
stablemaster of Takanoiwa, over former yokozuna Harumafujis assault on the junior
wrestler.

Harumafujis stablemaster, Isegahama, resigned from the board to take


responsibility for the incident.

Some in the association have rapped Takanohana, chief of the professional sumo-
governing bodys local tours, for failing to fulfill his responsibility of
reporting to the group the assault case, which happened while wrestlers were on a
regional sumo tour in late October.

At an extraordinary meeting of the yokozuna promotion council, held earlier on


Wednesday, most of its members criticized Takanohana, saying that he failed to meet
his responsibility as a board member of the sumo association.

The board of the association has received a final report from its crisis management
committee on the investigation of the assault case. But it refrained from making a
decision on its action against Takanohana, because the committee has still been
unable to interview the stablemaster.

On Harumafujis violence against Takanoiwa, the committee said, Using violence can
never be tolerated for any reason.

Harumafujis use of violence by itself deserves strong condemnation, the committee


added. Harumafuji retired from the professional sumo world late last month to take
responsibility for his assault on Takanoiwa.
Both Harumafuji and Takanoiwa are from Mongolia. The incident happened over drinks
in Tottori during the sumo tour.

The yokozuna promotion council concluded that Harumafujis assault deserved


retirement from professional sumo.

At the meeting, the association decided to slash pay for yokozuna Hakuho and
Kakuryu, acting on the councils view that the two Mongolian grand champions, both
of whom took part in the drinking party, had a chance to stop Harumafuji.

For Hakuho, all of his pay for January and half of his February salary will be cut.
Kakuryu will have the whole of his January pay reduced.

Hakkaku, chief of the association, will receive no pay for the remaining three
months of his term

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