Global tech summit 2017

Endy Bayuni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta   ● Thu, May 19, 2022 2022-05-19 02:17 0 02c2f042c5018a82e8094ec75262fb2f 1 Academia ASEAN,Joe-Biden,US,Kamala-Harris,summit,China,Indo-Pacific,outlook,strategy,South-China-Sea,Quad,investment Free The United States and ASEAN may have many things in common when it comes to the future of the Indo-Pacific, even on security issues, but they differ on how to deal with China. While Washington is trying to build alliances in the region to contain the rise of China, ASEAN has accepted China’s growing power and tries to include, rather than exclude, Beijing in the emerging regional architecture. There is one problem, though. China has not fully subscribed to the geographical definition of the Indo-Pacific region, suspecting that this framework is tailored to suit the US agenda. Besides, China does not have direct access to the Indian Ocean. But then, neither does the US for that matter, but this has not stopped it from … [Read more...] about ASEAN-US: On the same page, but not in the same boat on Indo-Pacific

A NASA spacecraft on Mars is headed for a dusty demise. The InSight lander is losing power because of all the dust on its solar panels. NASA said on May 17 that it will keep using the spacecraft’s seismometer to register marsquakes until the power peters out, likely in July. Then flight controllers will monitor InSight until the end of this year, before calling everything off. “There really hasn't been too much doom and gloom on the team. We're really still focused on operating the spacecraft,” said Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Bruce Banerdt, the principal scientist. Since landing on Mars in 2018 , InSight has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes; the biggest one, a magnitude 5, occurred two weeks ago. It will be NASA's second Mars lander lost to dust: A global dust storm took out Opportunity in 2018. In InSight's case, it's been a gradual gathering of dust , especially over the past year. NASA's two other functioning spacecraft on the Martian surface — rovers Curiosity … [Read more...] about NASA’s InSight Mars lander to run out of power due to dusty solar panels

Disruptive humans have played a major role in wiping out at least 187 species of birds since 1500. Two natural enemies – rodents and cats – have almost been as lethal. According to the State of the World’s Birds, a global study on the status of avian species, introduced mammals or invasive predators are the primary driver of extinctions of localised bird species. While rodents have been linked to the extinction of 52 bird species, cats have accounted for 40. “At least 187 avian extinctions have been confirmed or suspected since 1500 [baseline year for the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature], 90% of which pertain to endemic insular species concentrated on the Hawaiian Islands, mainland Australia and islands, the Mascarene Islands, New Zealand, and French Polynesia,” the study says in the section on patterns and trends of extinctions. The birds that vanished from these islands belonged to 109 taxa or taxonomical groups, most of them (33) in the Hawaiian … [Read more...] about Together, rodents and cats wiped out 92 species of birds, says study

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- A number of foreign dignitaries and heads of international organizations on Wednesday congratulated the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on its 70th anniversary. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who attended a video summit marking the anniversary, said Indonesia and China have a lot in common as trade cooperation has developed rapidly, and investment in various sectors, particularly in mining and metallurgy, electricity and infrastructure, manufacture, agriculture, and fishery, reflects common interests. Today, the world needs greater collective actions and inclusive collaborations between developed countries and developing economies, he said. Indonesia will optimize its G20 presidency for the matters, the president said. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said that looking to Asia is looking to the future of the world, and that is why Ecuador has made joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for … [Read more...] about Foreign dignitaries, heads of int’l organizations congratulate CCPIT on 70th anniversary

South Korea's ongoing sex crime crisis forms the focus of a gripping new Netflix documentary— Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror. The latest program reveals just the tip of the iceberg of sex crimes in the Asian country, which can be traced back to a "deep-rooted gender inequality " and an increase in gender-based violence, Boram Jang, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International, told Newsweek. "According to the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, violent crimes such as murder, robbery and arson are generally decreasing in Korean society, but crimes involving sexual violence are steadily rising," Jang said. Released on Wednesday, the new Netflix documentary follows the exposé of a sexual abuse scandal that saw dozens of women—including minors—allegedly being blackmailed into capturing non-consensual , sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. The footage was shared and sold via online chat rooms—known collectively as the "Nth Room"—on … [Read more...] about ‘Cyber Hell’ only scratches surface of South Korea’s sex crime crisis

Luxury automobile makers like Lamborghini, Mercedes Benz, and BMW, are all seeing strong demand for their models in the premium end, despite the COVID-related disruptions, largely due to a shift in customer profile to younger, first-generation entrepreneurs, who believe in the ‘you only live once’ philosophy. Varun Kalyanasundaram, a 33-year-old director at Chennai-based Polimer Media, bought his first luxury car nearly 10 years ago “because of the sheer driving pleasure, technology and most importantly comfort.” Mr. Kalyanasundaram currently owns a BMW X7, Mercedes Benz S class, Mercedes Benz GLS, an Audi E-tron, and is now eyeing the Mercedes Benz Maybach GLS. “I drive by myself. I don’t have a chauffeur. I like long drives and the pleasure of driving is most important. The technology should be included, but I need comfort. That is it.,” he says. Sharad Agarwal, Head, Lamborghini India, says there has been a shift in the customer profile over the years. “We are seeing younger, … [Read more...] about Younger clientele driving luxury car sales in India

The following content is sponsored by Alliance for Consumers. Consumer protection rarely seems to be focused on actual consumers. Think of how often consumers only get a coupon at the end of lawsuit even as trial lawyers walk away with millions of dollars in fees. Or consider how state attorneys general used the massive state opioid settlement with McKinsey, the global consulting powerhouse, to send $15 million to their National Association of Attorneys General and made no concrete promise to put money into the pockets of the victims of the opioid crisis or their families. What needs to be highlighted is how this systematic neglect of consumers is a symptom of the partisan hijacking of consumer protection in furtherance of a left-wing political agenda. Look no further than the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline: private trial-lawyer firms who nab lucrative public contracts from politicians under the guise of consumer protection, contracts that help propel millions of dollars of highly … [Read more...] about ALERT: Shady Trial lawyers Are Diverting Your Tax Dollars for Radical Left Schemes

Over the last 25 years, polarization, extremism, and support for political violence have drastically increased in the U.S., while trust in government and democratic institutions has eroded. These troubling trends led to President Trump's 2016 election and the deadly January 6 insurrection. And today, far-right forces are campaigning on the Big Lie, with at least 57 insurrectionists running for office across the country as of January 2022. The threat to our democracy is real, and the stakes couldn't be higher. We're at a turning point. We can sit back and watch our politics become more and more toxic, or we can elect moderate, pragmatic leaders willing to defend our democracy. It's clear which path we should take. As extremes of the political spectrum get louder and move farther apart, the key to protecting our republic rests in the center. That is who we in the New Democrat Coalition are, and what we represent. New Dems have defended democracy and governed for the majority of … [Read more...] about Meet the New Dems—the moderate members defending our democracy | Opinion

by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, May 18 (Xinhua) -- After two monotonous years of working from home amid the pandemic, Americans are opening their wallets, going out and spending - despite record inflation. But this may not last. Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spend on products including food, automobile and gasoline, increased 0.9 percent in April from the prior month, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday. "The surprisingly robust jump in retail sales is a very good sign," Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at The Economic Outlook Group, told Xinhua. "I think it's an indication that Americans are still willing to spend, despite the fact that they have shown to be in a dour mood when the confidence surveys are taken," Baumohl said. "The key thing here is to keep an eye on what consumers are actually doing, not how they describe their feelings," Baumohl said, referring to recent consumer sentiment polls that do not track actual spending. The … [Read more...] about News Analysis: Americans shell out cash on retail, despite record inflation