This article was about making a movie of the Panama Paper. Steven Soderbergh is producing and may direct a film. The film will be an adaptation of “Secrecy World” which journalist Jake Bernstein’s upcoming book, but he won’t be writing the screenplay. Instead, Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns will tackle the difficult work of tax-avoidance schemes into the stuff of cinema. No casting details are available but the producers can strike Jackie Chain, Emilio Estevez, and Emma Watson. They are in the data leak. There is one big question of this film. It is where the producers will hide their profits if the film becomes a big hit.
Opinion
I think we, especially Japanese workers, should know about tax haven, so I hope this movie will be published as soon as possible. Tax haven is the serious problems in the world. In Japan, some famous companies, for example Marubeni and Softbank, are on the list. If they watch the movie, people who don’t know about tax haven will notice the importance of improving the tax system, and will perhaps be angry with evasion of taxes. I wish the movie will become an instigator of an argument about imposing legal controls on tax haven in the Diet.
Recently in America, the suit about e-cigarettes are increasing. This is because there are many accidents caused by explosion of e-cigarette batteries. E-cigarettes spread through America, because it is said to be safety compared to traditional cigarettes and it could be a chance for smokers to quit smoking. In America most of the batteries of the e-cigarettes are made in China. The quality of most things that are made in China is not high, so you can say that the accidents caused by batteries is not so strange. From this result people are moving to solve this problem.
Opinion
I do not smoke, so I do not know how smokers think. However, I think there is not a big difference between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. This because both are dangerous and I think that both things do not have any positive effects to yourself. Both cigarettes are expensive and dangerous so there is no reason for me to use it. Some people think that smoking will calm you down and make you feel better. However, I think there are other ways that are better to calm yourself down and feel better than smoking.
It was heavy rains then huge rubbish dump collapsed on Wednesday in Guatemala. Although four bodies had been found, some peoples were still buried by huge rubbish dump. One of the important reasons is poverty. Damp was very dangerous this day, but about 1000 rubbish pickers work at the dump. Authorities said an evacuation alarm. However they did not evacuate.
The rubbish is well known for landslides because of steep slope susceptible to instability, especially during and after heavy rains, and deforestation.
Jorge Perez who is Guatemala’s Prensa Libre newspaper he tried to rescue his brother.
Opinion
I think that the most important reason is differential of wage. I surprise about 1000 rubbish pickers work at the dump. I feel there are too much.
I think that similar things will happen in Japan. The differential spread now. The money, it is used by people of livelihood protection will clean out, and then they will come to hunt for garbage. Japan does not have huge rubbish dump, so people will hunt at the small dump. It is safety but it does not have moral.
We will have to help each other in the near future, thereof we must work seriously. Work seriously, or you will not be helped.
Asylum-seekers are fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras at a scale never before seen in the region, the United Nations refugee agency said. It released the figures Wednesday at the start of a two-day meeting in San Jose to discuss regional solutions to flood of Central Americans fleeing violence. U.N High Commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said “They will not stop tomorrow or next day.” It means that the number of refugees will be increasing in the future.
Opinion
When I examined for the refugees, I knew that there was the organization called Amnesty International. It is an international human rights NGO that gathered people to pray, “I want to help people who are suffering.” I thought it was a great organization. I hope to realize that Human rights of all people are protected and everyone is not suffering from human rights violations such as conflict and poverty, torture and discrimination. I also want to actively participate in, such as volunteers and donations for refugees.
El Chapo is famous as a drug lord in Mexico. He had been taken to a prison because of smuggling drugs, but he has broken out of prison twice. He was recaputured in January 2016, and he has been in prison now.
But no reputable media organization was reported he had got out. Several different websites published stories saying El Chapo had escaped again. And people just keep sharing and sharing. It was not the first time that unsubstantiated rumors of El Chapo’s escape circled the internet.
Opinion
The internet has some good points and bad points. Most important point is that we can make the websites and we can express our opinion. Last Sunday we voted the party but its votes are influenced by mass media. We don’t have many places to express.
We can know the newest news and what we can’t understand about our study. But it is not always correct. It is the bad points about the internet. We should pay attention that the website is reliable or not.
When I use SNS I always lock my account. If we don’t lock it we are always seen by people who we don’t know. Recently there are many incidents on SNS. I think SNS should be used between people who know each other.
It has been argued about which is better to live in the center of the city or countryside for a long time. Both of the areas have each good points. It is difficult to decide which is better. However, if I am asked about which is better to live, I believe that living in the center of the city is more comfortable than countryside. There are three reasons.
First, the transportation is more convenient in the center of the city. There are many kinds of vehicles. For example, train, the Shinkansen, taxi, bus. If an accident resulting in injury or death happens and train network stops, people can get to the destination by using other transportations except train. On the other hand, the train leaves every two or three hours and other transportation is few in countryside. If you miss the train or an accident happens, people cannot help waiting. Therefore, people who live in the center of the city can spend time more effectively.
Second, many kinds of facilities are substantial. One example is commercial facilities. Recently, many shopping malls are developed and many people visit them. They include many kinds of facilities, for example food, fashion and so on. Thanks to this fulfillment, people can get something which they want to get easily. The most important thing is the fulfillment of a medical institution. In countryside, we can’t rescue people who we might be able to rescue with a substantial medical institution. On the other hand, in the center of the city, there are many excellent doctors and ambulances come at once, so possibility that people in danger are saved is much higher.
Lastly, there are many varieties of schools such as private schools, public schools, vocational schools. People can commute the school that suits their tastes the most. In addition, most of main universities in Japan are located in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Therefore, people who live in the area can commute a university easily. Of course, people who live in countryside can commute a university in the Tokyo metropolitan area. However, they have to live alone, so it costs them a lot of money. People who live in the urban area can choose favorite type of schools and commute the school in the lower cost.
To conclude, there are three advantages to live in the center of the city. Transportation is developed, commercial and medical facilities are substantial, and there are many types of schools. Thanks to these advantages, people can live safely and conveniently. Therefore, I believe that living in the center of the city is more comfortable than countryside.
In Pennsylvania, a crash involving a Tesla car occurred and the accident is investigated by the US authorities. Tesla cars, which include a self-driving feature known as Autopilot, has caused now accidents.
Tesla’s opinion is that they have no reason to believe that Autopilot had anything to do with the accident because the system have many functions such as an automated alert and airbags to prevent accidents.
But NHTSA found that the accident happened because the Tesla car failed to detect a large tractor-trailer. And they told Tesla to make their safety manuals stronger.
My opinion
I think a self-driving system have both merits and demerits. The merit is that it will enable elderly and handicapped people to move to anywhere that they want freely by car. And, the demerits is that if the system like that installed into all cars completely, people would lose the ability to drive themselves. They will rely the system too much and they can do nothing when the systems are broken. In my opinion, the self-driving system should be installed only for the people who can’t drive themselves. And, the system must be more safety not to cause accidents like Tesla cars crashes.
President Barack Obama’s administration estimated that between 64 and 116 civilians have died during the years 2009-2015 from U.S. drone strikes outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. Human rights groups, however, were unsatisfied by the government’s disclosed figures, which came in far lower than independent estimates of civilian causalities. Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project said “The American public can’t be confident that the government is using lethal force legally and wisely with a disclosure that’s so limited as to be virtually meaningless.”
My opinion
My image of drones was flying over sky at a disaster site with a camera. But after reading this news, my image of them has been changed. I didn’t know that drones are used for killing people so much. I think drones should be regulated because there are too much ways to use for wrong purposes, such as military attack, terrorism and breach of privacy.
Many people come up with more bad use than good use of them. Drones should be used for only life-saving. Drones also have ethical problem. Military personnel who controls them will do the attacks like a FPS game, and lost humanity finally. American government should not be taken this problem lightly.
I believe that the death penalty can be abolished. In Japan, the heaviest penalty is the death penalty. It’s established to such 15 grave crimes as murder. But the Constitution of Japan says that cruel punishments are absolutely forbidden. Is not the death penalty a cruel punishment?
“The gallows isn’t cross with a cruel penalty” for the Supreme Court in March, 1948, a judgement was indicated. The United Nations, however, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December. They admitted that the right to live can’t be infringed. After that, the world has trended toward the death penalty abolition. It’s a small number to maintain the death penalty at so-called developed countries on today.
The United States and Japan are the examples, but the United States sometimes abolishes the death penalty by a state, and would abolish the death penalty as the whole country during recent years. On the other hand, in Japan, 3 condemned criminals also were executed and were still keeping the posture of the death penalty maintenance last year. According to investigations by Amnesty Japan, 143 condemned criminals are detained at present.
There are persons who are insisting on a false charge in the condemned criminal and are doing petition for retrial, too. It has been proved that a fixation condemned criminal was innocent in 2013, and he has been released. If taking the life of an innocent person by a wrong judgement, nobody can recoup. The death penalty also contains such the risk.
In addition, a recent study has showed that it was improper to assume that the gallows isn’t cruel. There even is a possibility of separating a head from a body. If it isn’t so, involving pain cannot be avoided.
Lastly, does establishing the death penalty make criminal deterrent? In conclusion, there is no one. The investigation by the United Nations couldn’t have proved that the death penalty has the criminal deterrent effect beyond the life sentence. In fact, people who come to a crime from the motive to which they say “I wanted to be executed.”
Even if it is a state power, it isn’t permitted infringing one’s right to live. “An eye for an eye.” such as, it will be impossible to form the society which sympathizes with mutual out of retaliatory judiciary. Although humans make mistakes, we can live through the crime and compensate. The death penalty can be abolished.
I believe that it is important to doubt everything before you believe in it. Generally, attitude to doubt is regarded as a bad thing, and heart to believe as a virtue. However, I think it is necessary for everyone to assume an attitude to doubt, because doubting things will eventually let you believe in it with confidence. This sounds like a paradox, but it actually isn’t, and I’ll discuss the reasons about it in the paragraphs below.
By acquiring a skill of ‘doubt’, you will be able to think deeply about one thing before making a certain decision. Now, I will explain why we need a skill to doubt and think deeply about one thing.
Living in a society in which the information level has been highly developed, we get massive information everyday throughout SNS, also known as social networking service. Therefore, the world is filled with wrong and false information, and whether this is on purpose or on accident, it is very dangerous for us to believe in those information. It is important for you to decide on your own, and investigate whether that information is true or not.
Existence and importance of the media is one of the issues I also want to discuss about too. Although people seems to be aware of false information on SNS, they tend to believe without any doubt in an information which comes out of social media, such as TVs, radios and newspapers. We have to be aware of it, and realize that what social media tells us are only a part of the whole, just the one side of a problem. We have to doubt the information and search the fact that might be hidden from the public or that had not been told. The things that are hard for us to see with our own eyes, such as politics and international issues are hard for us to intake as a knowledge in daily life. Therefore, we tend to acquire it in an easy way; believing in every bits of facts that are on TVs, radios, and newspapers. Although, it is very dangerous for us to do so, since as I’ve written before, just because an information is on TV, radio, or newspaper, doesn’t mean that it is a right and believable information.
To ‘doubt’ things means not to believe in just one fact. It means you have to compare several information from different sources and collect evidences that that information is not a false one. Looking at one thing from different perspectives are the most important thing when considering about information. The process of thinking in your head is necessary. Once you are influenced by preconceptions, it is hard for you to throw that preconceptions away and look away from the real fact.
As I said before, it is important to first ‘doubt’ the information, and to ‘doubt’ things means to gain knowledge. See as much as you can, and think from different points of view. Do not think that you know everything, and keep doubting things. I believe this is one of the important skills people need to acquire.