EU referendum: Osborne warns of Brexit budget cuts

George Osborne says he will have to slash public spending and increase taxes in an emergency Budget to tackle a £30bn "black hole" if the UK votes to leave the European Union.

The chancellor said this could include raising income and inheritance taxes and cutting the NHS budget.
But 57 Tory MPs have said his position would be "untenable" if he tries to cut NHS, police and school spending.
And Vote Leave criticised Remain's "hysterical prophecies of doom".
The UK votes on whether to remain in the EU or to leave on 23 June.
In other referendum news:
In the latest of a series of government warnings about the consequences of a vote to leave, Mr Osborne shared a stage with his Labour predecessor, Lord Darling, setting out £30bn of "illustrative" tax rises and spending cuts.

These include a 2p rise in the basic rate of income tax and a 3p rise in the higher rate, while they will also say spending on the police, transport and local government could take a 5% cut.
They also said the ring-fenced NHS budget could be "slashed", along with education, defence and policing.
Mr Osborne and Lord Darling said the measures - £15bn of tax rises and £15bn of cuts - are based on the Institute for Fiscal Studies' predictions about the economic impact of a vote to leave from lower trade, investment, and tax receipts.
The IFS has said such an outcome could trigger between an extra one to two years of austerity measures.

"We know all too well what happens when Britain loses control of its public finances," they wrote. "We're agreed that a vote to leave risks doing the same thing to Britain all over again."
Mr Osborne told Radio 4's Today that leaving the EU would be an "irreversible" step that would cause "financial instability" and leave the UK "with no economic plan", demanding an immediate response from government.
"There would have to be increases in tax and cuts in public spending to fill the black hole," he said.
The UK, he suggested, would not be able to "afford the size of the public services that we have at the moment" outside the European Union and would have to "cut its cloth accordingly".
He also played down the threat of Conservative MPs blocking an emergency Budget, suggesting that Labour and Conservative MPs would join forces to "take the necessary measures".

'Damascene conversion'

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose party is on the same side as Mr Osborne in the referendum debate, said he would not support an emergency budget.
"We would oppose any post-Brexit austerity Budget, just as we have opposed any austerity Budget put forward by this government," he told David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions.
He urged the prime minister to "condemn the opportunism of 57 of your colleagues who are pro-Leave", who he said had "suddenly" undergone "a Damascene conversion to the anti-austerity movement".
Mr Cameron said "nobody wants to have an emergency Budget, nobody wants to have cuts in public services, nobody wants to have tax increases," but he said the economic "crisis" that would follow a vote to leave could not be ignored.
"We can avoid all of this by voting Remain next week," he told MPs.
In his interview, Mr Osborne ruled out seeking any further concessions from the EU on immigration rules, saying his focus was on implementing restrictions on benefits negotiated by David Cameron earlier this year.
Mr Darling told ITV's Good Morning Britain that the consequence of a vote to leave the EU would be that "we'll have less money to spend on things like the NHS or education".

'Breaking pledges'

The Conservative government last year introduced legislation not to raise income tax rates, VAT or National Insurance for the duration of the Parliament.
Leave campaigners dismissed the warning from Mr Osborne.
Iain Duncan Smith, Liam Fox and Owen Paterson are among the Conservative MPs who have signed a statement saying they "cannot possibly allow" cuts to services their party promised to protect in their 2015 manifesto.
'We find it incredible that the chancellor could seriously be threatening to renege on so many manifesto pledges," they said.
"It is absurd to say that if people vote to take back control from the EU that he would want to punish them in this way."
They added: "If he were to proceed with these proposals, the chancellor's position would become untenable."

'Shocked'

Conservative MP and Vote Leave campaigner Steve Baker said: "I am shocked that the chancellor is threatening to break so many key manifesto pledges on which all Conservative MPs were elected."
And a senior Conservative told the BBC it was "laughable" to think Mr Osborne would still be chancellor if the UK voted to leave, adding: "He'll be carried away by the men in white coats before he gets the chance to make these ludicrous proposals."
And opposition sources told the BBC that no shadow Labour chancellor "would respond to an economic shock in this manner".
"Any credible economist would tell you that raising taxes or cutting spending or both in response to an economic shock is the wrong thing to do. It's deeply worryingly that this suggests the current Tory Chancellor thinks this is a sensible response," they said.

Pragmatic Mitsubishi edges away from Tokyo

TOKYO -- Japan Inc. seems to have begun distancing itself a little from Japan as a nation, an impression left by two recent developments tied to the Mitsubishi group.
The first involves the rehabilitation of beleaguered Mitsubishi Motors following the company's fuel economy scandal. The Mitsubishi group initially was expected to bail out the automaker. But Nissan Motor volunteered for the job instead, taking the top shareholder spot. France's Renault is Nissan's largest shareholder, which leaves Mitsubishi Motors indirectly under the umbrella of a foreign business.
This reporter asked an old acquaintance and former top group official whether the Mitsubishi group could accept this foreign influence. The surprisingly calm response was that the group "let the chips fall where they may."
Mitsubishi Motors had recovered from a scandal in the prior decade involving cover-ups of vehicle defects, and the automaker was in the process of building a structure that could generate over 100 billion yen ($941 million) a year in operating profit. But the company's next growth strategy was unclear. As a midsize automaker with annual sales of around 1 million vehicles, options to recover from the fuel economy scandal were limited.
"It doesn't matter whether Nissan is foreign or not," my acquaintance said. "I'm actually glad [Mitsubishi Motors] could find a reliable partner after this recent issue."
Three major group companies including trading house Mitsubishi Corp. rescued Mitsubishi Motors during its 2004-05 crisis, providing capital through steps such as buying preferred shares. In hindsight, the drama seems to have just bought the automaker time until it could find a real partner in Nissan.
The other news is that Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ intends to quit as a primary dealer of Japanese government bonds. "With more government-bond yields turning negative, it will become difficult to fulfill all of our bidding duties as a primary dealer," President Takashi Oyamada said.
The rising risk of exchange rate fluctuations has made it tough to buy even government debt unconditionally. BTMU's move to give up primary-dealer status may express the idea that the nation and banks do not share a common destiny.
The group with the famous three-diamond emblem worked hand in hand with the government as far back as the Meiji era, when Mitsubishi Shokai was the sole transporter of government troops during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Mitsubishi later bought a massive tract in Tokyo's Marunouchi district and a state-run Nagasaki shipyard from the government, forming the foundation of the group's present prosperity.
"Corporate responsibility to society" is one of the three principles set down by the group's fourth president, Koyata Iwasaki.

Sony brings big guns to virtual reality at game expo

A user experiences virtual reality at an event held by Sony in Los Angeles on June 13. © Reuters

LOS ANGELES -- The world's largest annual video game conference and show kicked off here Tuesday, the day after a Sony unit made a flurry of announcements further cementing the idea of 2016 as the year of virtual reality.
Sony Interactive Entertainment used a news conference Monday ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo to unveil VR titles for such major franchises as Square Enix's "Final Fantasy" and Capcom's "Resident Evil." Most VR games to date have come from startups.
As the Sony group member responsible for the PlayStation brand, SIE plans to steer the hugely popular PlayStation 4 console into the virtual reality age and take a leading role in the VR game market, with 50-plus titles available before the end of the year.
Unlike conventional games, VR games take up the entire field of vision for a fully immersive experience.
A number of companies have developed the head-mounted displays that make such gaming possible, including Facebook-owned American startup Oculus VR, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC, and Samsung Electronics of South Korea.
Sony joins this club with the PSVR, a virtual reality headset for the PS4.
SIE will release the PSVR on Oct. 13 but has already begun accepting preorders in the U.S. and Europe. It will start taking preorders in Japan on Saturday. Preorders have already sold out in some markets, according to President Andrew House.
Total global sales of the PS4 surpassed 40 million units in record time, and the gap with Microsoft's Xbox One console continues to widen. Hopes are high that the PSVR is just what the PS4 needs to solidify its lead.
Microsoft announced Monday the newest member of the Xbox family, the Xbox One S, as well as a system dubbed the Scorpio that will feature both VR compatibility and 4K-resolution video output.
New game systems traditionally come out once every six to seven years, but Microsoft intends to release the Scorpio at the end of 2017. Compressing the cycle in this way reflects the competition consoles now face from online games for such platforms as computers and smartphones. Newer, better smartphones arrive every year, and some already nearly match consoles in performance.

Bacteria gaining upper hand in war against humans

This 2006 colorized scanning electron micrograph image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the O157:H7 strain of the E. coli bacteria. U.S.health officials on May 26, 2016 reported the first case in the country of a patient with E. coli bacteria carrying the mcr-1 gene, an infection resistant to all known antibiotics. © AP

TOKYO -- Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is drawing attention around the world as antibiotic development has all but disappeared in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria and other microorganisms.
The matter is gaining some urgency. When the leaders of seven major industrialized nations in May met in Japan's Ise-Shima, Mie Prefecture, they issued a declaration that mentions the need for more AMR studies. More than a month earlier, Japan's government adopted a plan to reduce the use of antibiotics by 30%.
There's a war going on, man versus microorganisms. So far, the pathogens have won every battle.

Nearly a century ago, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic to become available to humans. It was available during World War II and saved a large number of soldiers who would have otherwise died from infected wounds.
But eventually, penicillin would lose its effectiveness as bacteria gained resistance to the miracle drug.

Methicillin, an antibiotic against staphylococcus aureus, which causes food poisoning, skin and other infections, went on sale in 1962 in the U.S. Two years later, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, appeared.
The humans would counterattack in 1972 by unleashing Vancomycin, effective in fighting MRSA. In 1996, bacteria appeared that resisted the antibiotic.
The superbug
The war is one of survival. As humans used to come up with stronger antibiotics, the bacteria world would evolve to adapt to the new enemy.
Microorganisms split by copying their genes. Errors occur in the copying process once every 100 million splits, resulting in a mutated gene. Depending on the mutation, microbes resistant to antibiotics are accidentally born, according to experts.

Chinese naval ship briefly enters Japan's territorial waters

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Chinese naval ship briefly entered Japan's territorial waters off an island in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima early Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said.
 Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft spotted the Dongdiao-class intelligence vessel sailing in territorial waters to the west of Kuchinoerabu Island at around 3:30 a.m., Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told a press conference.
 The ship travelled on a southeasterly bearing and left Japanese territorial waters south of the prefecture's Yakushima Island around 5 a.m., Seko said.
 The incident follows the intrusion last Thursday of a Chinese navy frigate into a contiguous zone just beyond Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. China lays territorial claim to the islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
 It was the first time a Chinese naval ship had been spotted in the zone, although Chinese coast guard vessels have been seen in contiguous zones and Japanese territorial waters on many occasions.
 At around 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry lodged an expression of concern with the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo over Chinese military activities in general in light of the intrusion earlier in the morning, Seko said.
 "The government will continue to exert every effort in warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace surrounding the country," Seko said.

LULU; IFIKE MUDA TUTUMIE MITANDAO YA KIJAMII KUSAIDIANA MAWAZO NA SIO KUTUKANANA

Moja ya mambo sita tuliyoandika kuwa ni sababu ya watanzania kuupenda mtandao wa Instagram, ni kushuhudia matusi ambayo mastaa wanayavuna kutoka kwa followers wao.

Lakini unadhani Instagram inapaswa kuwa sehemu ya kihuni kiasi hicho? Hapana.

Muigizaji wa filamu, Elizabeth ‘Lulu’ Michael anaamini hawezi kufikia malengo yake kwa mawazo yake pekee bali anahitaji msaada kutoka kwa vijana wenzake ambao nao wana nia na malengo kama yake katika kufikia ndoto zao. Ndio maana anahisi Instagram inaweza kuwa ni sehemu nzuri ya vijana kupenda michongo na sio matusi.

“Nikiwa Kama Kijana Mpenda Maendeleo, mwenye ndoto na malengo ya kufika mbali najua mawazo yangu peke yangu yanaweza yasitoshe mimi kufika ninapopataka,” ameandika kwenye Instagram.

“Najua wapo vijana wengi wenye nia kama yangu..!Nadhani umefika wakati wa kutumia mitandao ya kijamii Kwa kujengana na kusaidiana hasa ki mawazo Ili wote tuweze Kuwa sehemu fulani siku moja.”

Lulu ameonesha wazi kuwa hapendezwi na tabia ya baadhi ya watu ambao wamekuwa wakitumia mitandao ya kijamii vibaya hasa kwa kudhalilishana.

Gaidi wa Kitanzania Aliyekamatwa Nchini Kenya Kwenye Tukio la Mauaji Garissa Ahojiwa

Mtanzania mmoja ambaye alikamatwa kuhusiana na shambulio la kigaidi katika Chuo Kikuu cha Garissa, Kenya (jina linahifadhiwa) ahojiwa.

Taarifa zilizopatikana juzi usiku na kutangazwa na Shirika la Utangazaji la Uingereza (BBC), zilieleza kuwa Mtanzania huyo alihojiwa kuwapo kwake katika eneo hilo hasa ikizingatiwa kwamba siyo mwanafunzi wala mtumishi katika chuo hicho.

Taarifa hizo zinasema kuwa Mtanzania huyo ni miongoni mwa watu wanne waliokuwa wamejificha katika mabweni ya chuo hicho na kati yao, wawili walibainika kuwa ni wanafunzi.

Baada ya kuhojiwa akakiri kuwa wamepanga kufanya shambulio kubwa nchini Tanzania katika Tamasha la Pasaka lilopangwa kufanyika tarehe 05/04/2015 Dar es salaam.


Hata hivyo, Msemaji wa Jeshi la Polisi, Advera Bulimba alipoulizwa jana kuhusu Mtanzania huyo,alikiri hayo na kusema bado wamemuweka chini ya ulinzi kwa ajili ya uchunguzi zaidi.