Japan's Honda to shut UK car plant, as Brexit looms

Yahoo – AFP, Ben PERRY with Richard CARTER in Tokyo, February 19, 2019

The plant in Swindon has produced vehicles for more than 20 years (AFP Photo/Max NASH)

Honda will shut its UK plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs, the Japanese car maker announced Tuesday as the global auto industry faces "unprecedented changes" and the UK economy hits the skids on Brexit uncertainty.

The factory in Swindon, southwest England, which is Honda's only EU plant, will shut in 2021 "at the end of the current model's production lifecycle", the company said as carmakers worldwide increasingly invest in greener electric vehicles over diesel cars.

Business Secretary Greg Clark described Honda's decision as "devastating" and "a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain".

Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Honda's president to "express her disappointment at the decision," according to her Downing Street office.

Katsushi Inoue, Honda's chief officer for European regional operations, said the decision had "not been taken lightly".

The firm blamed "unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry" for the decision but it comes amid investment uncertainty in Britain ahead of the country's departure from the European Union next month.

Analysts said an EU-Japan trade agreement signed recently had likely also played a part in Honda's decision.

Clark said that while Honda's decision was made for "commercial" reasons, it was nonetheless "devastating... for Swindon and the UK".

He added in a statement: "The automotive industry is undergoing a rapid transition to new technology. The UK is one of the leaders in the development of these technologies and so it is deeply disappointing that this decision has been taken now."

Brexit clouds

Speaking earlier in Tokyo, Honda president Takahiro Hachigo told reporters: "I'd like you to understand this is not related to Brexit."

Clark later told parliament that "we must accept" Honda's stated reasons, but added "the motor industry, Japanese investors and Honda in particular have been very clear for many months that Brexit is an additional worry at a difficult time."

Swindon is heavily reliant on the Honda plant (AFP Photo/MAX NASH)

Nissan earlier this month axed plans to make its X-Trail SUV in the Brexit-backing UK city of Sunderland, citing "business reasons" but also uncertainty over Britain's EU departure.

Toyota, another Japanese car giant making vehicles in Britain, has meanwhile warned there would be no way to avoid a negative impact should the UK crash out of the EU without a deal.

The Bank of England earlier this month slashed its forecast for 2019 UK growth to 1.2 percent from 1.7 percent, blaming the downgrade on a global economic slowdown and "the fog of Brexit".

Honda's fellow Japanese firms Sony, Panasonic and Hitachi are also scaling back their UK operations.

Regarding Honda's decision, the company "seems to have been preparing for this for a long time", Seiji Sugiura, analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, told AFP.

"Then Brexit happened, which might have pushed the company to make the decision now."

The carmaker's Swindon plant has been producing Honda's Civic model for more than 24 years, with 150,000 units rolling off the line annually.

The firm on Tuesday announced also that it would stop manufacturing the Civic model in Turkey in 2021.

'No stone unturned'

In Swindon, local finance worker Sue Davis, 49, said the town is "finished without Honda".

She told AFP: "My ex-husband works there, has done for 20 years. He's going to be without a job, so I just think it's really, really bad news."

Local MP Justin Tomlinson tweeted that the decision had been made "based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021".

Britain's biggest union Unite said it would campaign to keep the plant open.

"We will leave no stone unturned to keep this plant going and its workforce in employment," said Des Quinn, Unite's national officer for the automotive sector.

"While Brexit is not mentioned by the company as a reason for the announcement, we believe that the uncertainty that the Tory government has created by its inept and rigid handling of the Brexit negotiations lurks in the background."

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone

DW, 1 February 2019

Almost all tariffs on trade between the European Union and the world's third-biggest economy have been removed. European companies could save around a billion euros in duties each year.

   

A free trade agreement between Japan and the EU entered into force on February 1, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world's economy.

Dubbed the world's largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement removes duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products and opens up the service sector and procurement. It also moves to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.

The highlights of the deal

• Japan will have scrappped duties on 97 percent of goods imported from the EU once the agreement is fully implemented.
• Open access to the Japanese market will save EU companies from paying €1 billion ($1.14 billion) of duties annually.
• The EU will eliminate tariffs on 99 percent of imports from Japan.
• In the automotive sector, the EU will eliminate duties over a seven-year transition period.
• Both sides will eliminate duties on nearly all food and agricultural products.
• The service market will be opened, including financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications and transport.
• For the first time, the trade agreement includes countries' Paris climate deal commitments.
• The text also addresses sustainable development and sets standards for labor, safety, environmental and consumer protection.

'Protecting brand names'

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said: "This agreement has it all: it scraps tariffs and contributes to the global rulebook, whilst at the same time demonstrating to the world that we both remain convinced by the benefits of open trade."

The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: "The new agreement will give consumers greater choice and cheaper prices; it will protect great European products in Japan and vice-versa, such as the Austrian Tiroler Speck or Kobe Beef; it will give small businesses on both sides the chance to branch out to a completely new market; it will save European companies 1 billion euro in duties every year and turbo-boost the trade we already do together."

Trade groups also welcomed the move.

"This agreement is the perfect example that building bridges is better than raising walls," said Pierre Gattaz, president of BusinessEurope. "When protectionism is on the rise, the EU and Japan show to the world they remain open to modern and rules-based trade."

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said the agreement "will stimulate additional growth and create jobs for both sides."

Read more: Japan wants to attract more European travelers

The deal protects 'Geographical Indications' such as Cheddar, Kobe beef and
Scotch whiskey

What is the status of EU-Japan trade?

Japan is the EU’s second-largest trade partner in Asia after China. EU businesses export €58 billion in goods and €28 billion in services to Japan every year. The EU estimates exports to Japan will increase 13 percent, or €13 billion, as a result of the free trade zone.  Japan exports €69 billion in goods and €18 billion in services to the EU annually.

How did we get here and what’s next?

The EU and Japan began negotiations for a free trade agreement in 2013. The European Parliament and Japan’s parliament approved the deal last year after both sides finalized negotiations in December 2017.

EU and Japan are continuing investment protection negotiations and hope to reach an understanding as soon as possible.

Sweden wants EU to switch to emission-free cars by 2030

Yahoo – AFP, October 22, 2016

Sweden's environment minister urged the European Union to ban petrol and
diesel-powered vehicles from 2030 (AFP Photo/Fred Tanneau)

Stockholm (AFP) - Sweden's environment minister on Saturday urged the European Union to ban petrol and diesel-powered vehicles from 2030.

Speaking to the Aftonbladet daily, Isabella Lovin of the Green Party hailed a non-binding resolution adopted by Germany's upper house of parliament to switch to emission-free cars by 2030.

"It's a really interesting proposition ... In order to achieve it, we will need to implement an EU-wide ban along the same lines," she said.

"As the environment minister, I do not see any other way than to relegate vehicles powered by fossil fuels to the dustbin of history."

The Swedish government aims to produce all of its power from renewable energy sources by 2040.

Leaked papers allege US pressuring EU over TTIP free trade deal

German media say secret documents reveal the US has pressured the EU to approve a transatlantic free trade deal. The reports say Washington may block easier car exports if the EU doesn't open up its agricultural market.

Deutsche Welle, 2 May 2016

German media say 240 pages of text from secret transatlantic free trade talks obtained by Greenpeace show that the US is pressuring the EU.

Washington was blocking European car exports into the US to force the 508-million-population EU to buy more environmentally risky US farm produce, claimed the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) newspaper and two German public television channels.

Greenpeace said it would publish the material later on Monday, contrary to strict secrecy maintained by US and EU negotiating teams during three years of talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The TTIP is unpopular in Germany. On the eve of US President Barack Obama's visit to a major Hanover trade exhibition last week, tens of thousands of opponents demonstrated.

Documents seem authentic

The German news agency DPA said persons close to the talks had confirmed the authenticity of the documents. Accessibility so far has been strictly limited.

By blocking an easing of car exports into the US, Washington wanted the EU to replace its precautionary consumer safety principle with the liberal US approach of permitting foodstuffs until risks are proven, said the media outlets, including the ARD network's channels NDR and WDR.

The EU's principle that goods must first be certified as safe has often been cited by the EU to constrain imports of American gene-manipulated and hormone-treated produce.

TTIP opponents rallied as Obama headed to Hannover

Public arbitration panels blocked

The German outlets said the documents disclosed by Greenpeace also showed that the US was blocking an EU demand that arbitration panels to handle corporate lawsuits be public not private as sought by Washington.

Greenpeace trade expert Jürgen Knirsch said what had so far trickled out of the talks had "sounded like a nightmare."

"Now we know that this could very much become reality," said Knirsch.

The head of Germany's consumer advisory bureaus Klaus Müller told the SZ that the texts confirmed "pretty much all of our fears in terms of what the US-Americans want to achieve on the food produce market through TTIP."

Merkel and Obama called for 'urgency' on TTIP

Urgency sought by Obama, Merkel

Visiting Hanover last week, US President Barack Obama together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for urgency at the TTIP negotiations.

Obama said he hoped it would the talks would be concluded in 2017, beyond the next US presidential election due in November this year.

Last Friday in New York, the lead US and EU negotiators - US Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and the European Commission's Ignacio Garcia Bercera - said they hoped to reach a deal before Obama leaves office in January.

ipj/jr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

Related Article:

TTIP: Free trade at expense of the environment?

Lack of transparency is being criticized: TTIP negotiations have been taking 

place behind closed doors

Volkswagen scandal puts EU lobbying under spotlight

Yahoo – AFP, Marine Laouchez and Alex Pigman, 2 Oct 2015

Volkswagen has admitted 11 million of its vehicles worldwide are equipped with 

software that dupes pollution emission testing (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Brussels (AFP) - Scandal-hit Volkswagen has for years hired a cadre of lobbyists in the EU capital of Brussels who work intensely behind-the-scenes to influence policy and secure European regulation with a lighter touch.

Activists have long warned of the power of lobbying in Brussels, with German automakers the most powerful in the industry, although French, Japanese and US auto manufacturers also push hard.

The auto lobby is second only to the financial industry in the hallways of EU power as reported to the European Union's transparency registry.

Activists have long warned of the

 power of lobbying at the EU, with the

 auto lobby second only to the financial

 industry in the hallways of EU power as

 reported to the European Union's

 transparency registry  (AFP Photo/

John Thys)

That official list is considered a low estimate but in it, Volkswagen hires 43 full-time lobbyists who work to protect its interests.

"It's impossible to estimate how many there are," said Jos Dings, head of the non-governmental group Transport and Environment.

Though lobbying is perfectly legal, the thousands of lobbyists in Brussels often work "under the radar", he said.

The car industry annually spends about "20 million euros ($22.3 million), with half of that from the big German players: Volkswagen, Daimler and Opel," said Pascoe Sabido, of lobby watchdog the Corporate European Observatory.

These lobbyists solicit the European Commission at all levels, from commissioners and their chiefs of staff to the estimated 700 expert groups that guide EU policy at the most detailed level.

'Starts early'

"It all starts very early," said Dings. "The Commission starts a strategy process, say on climate change or air pollution. This is where the lobbying starts, long before there is any regulation."

At first, he said corporate lobbyists fight for the Commission to do nothing.

"But if by sheer luck, the Commission decides to regulate, the next stage comes: it becomes delay and weaken," Dings said.

All new regulation emerges from expert groups: incubators for European laws that once passed will deeply impact the lives of the EU's 500 million citizens.

"The Commission is quite small in terms of staff, about the same as city hall in Paris, so they look for experts outside," said Sabido.

"This becomes a very nice opportunity for lobbyists," he said, adding that VW sits on four or five such groups.

Long exposure view of the Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, central 

Germany, at night on September 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)

Under EU rules, NGOs and stakeholders also participate in expert groups, but their influence is much weaker.

"We have four people who have to follow the entire automotive file," said Dings.

"We have to be selective, in quite a few we are not represented at all," he said.

'Guess who?'

Bas Eickhout, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, described a process rife with the potential for conflict of interest.

He hoped the VW scandal was "opening eyes".

In later stage technical groups "it's the national experts who sit around the table and also, guess who?, the car industry," he said.

"There is a huge grey zone: are they at the table to provide information or to participate in the decision-making? The technical information and the political decision making are happening at the same time," he said.

Here even diplomats from the EU's 28 member countries can do the bidding of big companies.

In documents leaked to AFP last week, Germany is seen to lobby hard to maintain European pollution tests that are widely considered ineffective.

Even the industry's allies in the European Parliament acknowledge that the influence of auto giants may have reached the limits of acceptability.

A measuring hose for emissions inspections in diesel engines sticks in the exhaust 

tube of a Volkswagen (VW) Golf 2,0 TDI diesel car at a garage in Frankfurt an der

Oder, eastern Germany, on October 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Patrick Pleul))

"I am aware that the car industry in Europe and in Germany is very important..., but it doesn't mean we have to accept everything they propose," said MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz from the right of centre EPP group that is traditionally close to big industry.

"They do a good job, they convince a lot of members," he said.

However, they also "never lie", he added.

For the car lobby, what they are fighting is competition from Asia, where they feel looser pollution laws bring bigger profits, threatening European jobs.

A new EU pollution test to be implemented next year, "makes Europe the only region in the world to implement such real world testing for cars," the powerful ACEA lobby said after the VW scandal broke.

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) would "continue to engage with the European Commission and national governments" to "ensure trust" in the auto industry, it added.

Related Article:

VVD leader in Europe is paid RAI advisor, lobbies for car industry

VVD leader in Europe is paid RAI advisor, lobbies for car industry

DutchNews, September 30, 2015

Photo: Moritz Kosinsky via
Wikimedia Commons

Dutch MP Hans van Baalen, who leads the VVD delegation in Brussels, is a paid advisor to the car industry, according to news website F-site. 

Van Baalen, who has had a modest €4,000 role as advisor to the motoring organisation RAI, now earns €8,000 a year as a supervisory board member at Mercedes-Benz in the Netherlands, the website says. 

Last year Van Baalen called for ‘fewer rules’ for the car industry in an opinion piece in the Volkskrant. He also urged the Dutch government to ensure ‘taboo-free’ negotiations with the US over a trade treaty that will make it easier for car manufacturers to do business in the US and harmonise some rules. 

He wrote the article as VVD leader in the European parliament but did not mention his role with the RAI, which considers European lobbying to be a key task. 

Van Baalen is also on the Mercedes-Benz payroll as a member of the supervisory board. Mercedes-Benz is also active in influencing Brussels policy and opposes tougher environmental roles for car manufacturers. 

According to F-site, Van Baalen’s work conflicts with the strict integrity rules which the VVD applies to its politicians. These state: ‘you will not hold any other positions which could form a risk to you carrying out your job with integrity’. 

Van Baalen told the website he did not consider his independence was under threat. ‘I keep the VVD’s rules. I am not a spokesman for the car industry so there is no problem. And I do declare my earnings to the tax office.’ 

He said he did not consider his comments in the Volkskrant had broken the rules or highlighted a conflict of interest.

Related Articles:

VVD boss in Europe cuts car industry ties - New

Germany launches criminal probe against VW's ex-CEO

Volkswagen CEO apologizes for cheating on US auto emissions tests

Shell scraps oil exploration in Arctic off Alaska over costs

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

Diesel cars break emission limits in real-world tests: TNO

DutchNews, September 27, 2015

A 2013 report by Dutch research institute TNO showed that diesel car systems in the Netherlands were adapted to appear as if the vehicles were less polluting than they actually were, current affairs programme Nieuwsuur said on Sunday. 

The report, which did not name the manufacturers involved, said the nitrogen oxide emissions from ‘a number’ of diesel cars which officially met Euro 6 emission standards were higher than would have been expected in practical situations. 

The reports said that systems had been installed so that ‘they operated during functional driving conditions in a test but in real-world situations were (partly) switches off for economic reasons’, Nieuwsuur reported. 

The TNO research was carried out on behalf the transport ministry. A ministry spokesman told Nieuwsuur that the ministry was not aware of the deliberate manipulation of the emissions data. In addition, the ministry had not read into the report the claim that the systems had been adapted or switched off, the spokesman said. 

Real world

In a 2015 English-language summary of four reports into diesel car emissions, TNO stated: ‘almost all Euro 6 vehicles that were measured emitted significantly more NOx in real-world conditions on the road than during a type-approval test in the laboratory.’ 

The report continued: ‘It is striking that in real-world conditions the NOx emissions are more than eight times higher than the type-approval value.’ TNO is campaigning to have real-world conditions incorporated into official emissions tests, which are currently lab based. 

Two German newspapers said on Sunday Volkswagen’s own staff and one of its suppliers warned years ago about software designed to thwart emissions tests. Last week, Volkswagen acknowledged installing software in diesel engines designed to hide their true emissions of toxic gasses.

US government has expanded its investigation of pollution-skirting devices in

 diesel vehicles to other manufacturers after Volkswagen admitted it used them

to thwart environmental standards (AFP Photo/Thomas Samson)

Related Articles:

Germany launches criminal probe against VW's ex-CEO - New
VW chief quits as cheating scandal snowballs
US expands VW pollution-skirting probe to other carmakers
Auto expert: 'A conscious breach of US law'
Volkswagen CEO apologizes for cheating on US auto emissions tests

Volkswagen CEO apologizes for cheating on US auto emissions tests

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has apologized for manipulating US diesel emissions tests. Fines and recalls loom on the horizon. But the biggest price to pay is VW's loss of face - and that of the German auto industry.

Deutsche Welle, 20 Sep 2015

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has been forced to apologize after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the firm had been using software to trick regulators into thinking the carmaker was complying with clean air laws.

Fresh from presenting the Volkswagen Group's latest models to champagne and flashing lights at the Frankfurt International Motor Show earlier this week, Winterkorn on Sunday avoided directly admitting willful deception. But the EPA's evidence was presumably strong enough to merit an apology.

Long winter ahead?

"I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public," said Winterkorn in a statement. "We will cooperate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly, openly and completely establish all of the facts of this case."

He added that VW has also ordered an external investigation. And in the spirit of further damage control, the carmaker has pulled from YouTube its ads marketing the diesel-powered cars as being better for the environment.

VW is facing fines of up to $18
billion in the US

The technology used by VW in the EPA tests allowed its diesel cars to release fewer smog-causing pollutants during tests than in real-world driving conditions.

Environmental, consumer health hazards

Despite the apology, things are already looking grim for the carmaker. The EPA said VW installed the software in nearly half a million cars in models from the last seven years, including the Audi A3, VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat - and that the software may have hidden up to 40 times the acceptable level of harmful pollutants, causing both environmental and consumer health hazards.

VW is facing fines of up to $18 billion (15.9 billion euros). It will also have to fix the cars at its own expense. But the bigger cost of the EPA's discovery is to VW's image - and potentially that of the German car industry as a whole.

Daimler, which shares the German auto industry's Big Three label along with VW and BMW, commented sparingly on the issue.

"I know too little about the case to judge just how justified the accusations against Volkswagen are, and whether we can be a 100 percent certain of them in every way," said CEO Dieter Zetsche.

Coming clean

But a transparent approach to an impending crisis is key, said Stefan Bratzel, a professor specializing in innovation research at the Bergisch Gladbach University of Applied Sciences.

"This is obviously negative for the German car industry, but speculation has to be kept in check," Bratzel told DW. "Volkswagen and - if it comes to it - other German carmakers have to be proactive and transparent and say whether this was an isolated problem in the US, or whether this is a pattern."

Volkswagen will also eventually have to make clear who within the organizational structure is responsible, and just how high up they are.

"An administrator didn't just decide this on his own," said Bratzel. "Somebody would have signed off on this."

Trouble on the homefront

Calls for an investigation have already come in VW's native market. Germany's Green Party wants a probe to determine whether emissions test manipulation has also taken place in Germany.

"We will emphatically demand an investigation in parliament and examine whether German authorities have helped along illegal activities by deliberately looking the other way," said Bärbel Höhn, the chair of the Green Party's environmental committee.

All this comes at a time when the biggest threat to the German car industry was thought to be the Chinese economic slowdown. But as VW's shareholders are bound to learn when markets open on Monday, what's bad for the environment and for health will likely end up being bad for business.

(dpa, AP)

US government has expanded its investigation of pollution-skirting devices in

 diesel vehicles to other manufacturers after Volkswagen admitted it used them

to thwart environmental standards (AFP Photo/Thomas Samson)

Related Articles:

VW chief quits as cheating scandal snowballs - New
US expands VW pollution-skirting probe to other carmakers

Auto expert: 'A conscious breach of US law'

Russia bans transvestites and transsexuals from driving

Yahoo – AFP, January 9, 2015

Russia bans transvestites and transsexuals from driving

Moscow (AFP) - Russia has passed a controversial law banning transvestites and transsexuals from driving, prompting sharp criticism from rights activists, including a prominent Kremlin advisor.

The legislation that entered into force this week bans anyone diagnosed with a range of personality and gender identity disorders, including transvestites and transsexuals, from taking the wheel.

The list also includes people with sexual fetishes, voyeurs and paedophiles, as well as pathological gamblers and kleptomaniacs.

The law follows other legislation passed in Russia discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation.

In 2012, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans providing information on gays to minors, despite opposition from international rights activists as well as global stars such as Madonna.

The legislation claims to be aimed at lowering Russia's high road accident death rate by taking drivers with certain medical conditions off the roads.

But a member of the rights council that advises the Kremlin publicly questioned the justification for the legislation, saying it appeared to be a breach of human rights.

Yelena Masyuk, a journalist and member of the Kremlin rights council, spoke out against the driving ban in a statement Thursday on the council's website.

She highlighted the "possible unfairness of removing the right to drive for those suffering from disorders of gender identity and sexual preference."

"I don't understand why, for example, people with fetishes, kleptomaniacs and transsexuals can't drive a car," Masyuk said in her blog on the rights council's website.

"It seems to me that this is a breach of the rights of Russian citizens."

Russia needs to "study global practice" and "judge whether a ban on people with fetishes, exhibitionists, voyeurs, kleptomaniacs and others from taking the wheel is well-grounded," Masyuk said.

The Association of Advocates of Russia for Rights said the law bans from driving "all transgender people, bi-gender, asexual, transvestites, cross-dressers and people who need gender correction (surgery)."

The ban "obviously contradicts international norms and standards," it said in a statement.

The legal advocacy group pointed out that the ban would cover many comedians and pop stars popular in Russia, including drag performer Verka Serdyuchka, who performed at the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine.

"If a (male) driver is dressed as a woman and he gets recorded on a police camera, he'll lose his licence," wrote a commentator, Kolya Bakhtinov, on Gay.ru news website. "More and more restrictions, hello North Korea!"

Sports world reacts to Schumacher's hospital transfer

Friends and associates of former F1 driver Michael Schumacher have greeted the news of his transfer to a hospital near his family home in Switzerland. The racing ace was injured in December.

Deutsche Welle, 17 June 2014

Schumacher has been transferred to the University Hospital in Lausanne on Lake Geneva where he will continue his rehabilitation. He suffered severe head injuries when he fell and hit his head on a rock while skiing in the French Alps on December 29.

Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm spoke on behalf of his family on Monday, thanking the hospital in Grenoble which has been treating him. "Michael has left the hospital in order to continue a long phase of rehabilitation. He is no longer in a coma," she said in a statement. "For the future, we ask for your understanding so that his continuing rehabilitation takes place out of public view."

Lausanne hospital spokesman Darcy Christen confirmed the 45-year-old German was admitted but stressed that the facility wanted "to ensure that he and his family fully enjoy privacy and medical confidentiality."

The 45-year-old sportsman's family also thanked everyone who had sent wishes for his recovery, they "certainly helped him," they said.

As the news broke of his transfer on Monday, friends and colleagues took to social media to share their comments. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso tweeted, "Good start of the week with the news of Michael! So happy this is going in the good direction!"

Germany midfielder Lukas Podolski tweeted before his team's World Cup match on Monday to say: "What a great news!!! Get well soon Schumi!!! I'm so glad and happy when I just heard it!!"

Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 after winning a record seven Formula One titles.

jm/slk (dpa, AFP)

Related Articles:

Schumacher's fate: from accident to recovery

New ways to detect brain activity