Monthly Archives: December 2020

Pornanong still in contention for maiden victory #SootinClaimon.Com

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Pornanong still in contention for maiden victory (nationthailand.com)

Pornanong still in contention for maiden victory

Dec 06. 2020Pornanong Phatlum (Credit to Getty Images)Pornanong Phatlum (Credit to Getty Images) A finishing birdie saw Thai hope Pornanong Phatlum surged into contention, falling one stroke behind co-leaders after round three of the Volunteer of America Classic at the Old American Golf Club in Texas.

After trading two birdies with two bogeys, the 31-year-old sent home a birdie on the 18th hole for a round of 70 and a total three under-par-210, which placed her at joint fourth along with American Kristen  Gillman, Angela Stanford, Jessica Korda, Charley  Hull of England, Jin Young Ko of South Korea and Nasa Hataoka of Japan.

After an action-packed day at the Volunteers of America Classic, major champions Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu along with 2020 LPGA Tour rookie Yealimi Noh are tied at the top of the leaderboard at four under-par-209.

So Yeon Ryu, in just her third 2020 event on Tour, recorded a bogey-free 65 and carded six birdies with five on her opening nine holes. Hitting 17 of 18 greens, the 30-year-old couldn’t be happier with her results after starting the day in a tie for 26th.

“I have no complaints about my ball‑striking today,” said Ryu. “I hit 17 greens, I believe, and then I made so many birdie chances. I wish I could have made more putts on the back nine, but 65 is always good score and hopefully I can drop some putt tomorrow, what I could not make today.”

Park, who is in contention for her third victory at the VOA Classic after winning in 2013 and 2015, nearly shot a bogey-free round if not for an unfortunate slip on No. 11.

“I feel like I play really good on the front nine. Just the back nine I hit a lot of good shots, but just putts didn’t drop. A little disappointed back nine, but I played pretty well overall and I’m happy because we took about seven weeks of break after KPMG and coming back here first week just preparing for the U.S. Women’s Open, so I’m really happy with my game,” said Park, who hit 13 of 13 fairways and carded three birdies on Nos. 6, 8 and 9.

Noh closed with an even-par 71, after a roller-coaster third round. The 19-year-old had gotten to -6 by No. 18 after four birdies and two bogeys, but two shots in the fairway-bunker on the final hole contributed to a double-bogey to lose the solo lead heading into Sunday.

“Bad shots happen. No one’s perfect and mistakes are always there, but just to get over it and try to make the next shot or stick it close to save it,” started Noh. “I was thinking about it after the round too, like what was good and what was bad. But I think I just ‑‑ I didn’t hit as many greens as I thought, but overall ‑‑ I had some good up and downs today, so that really helped me save par,” said Noh.

Seven players are in the hunt one stroke back at -3, including major champions Jin Young Ko and Angela Stanford, as well as Texas resident Kristen Gillman, after a third-round 66, her lowest 18-hole score since a round-two 66 at the 2019 Buick LPGA Shanghai.

“Definitely happy with how today went,” said Gillman. “I haven’t been hitting my driver as good the last two days, so I kind of focused on putting myself in the fairway because I’ve been hitting my irons well and I knew I’d give myself more birdie chance if I did that.”

Swedes Madelene Sagstrom and Anna Nordqvist, who slipped from a tie for first to a tie for 11th heading into the final day, sit at -2.

WITH A WIN

Inbee Park would become the third winner of 2020 with multiple victories along with Danielle Kang (LPGA Drive On Championship – Inverness Club, Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana) and Sei Young Kim (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Pelican Women’s Championship presented by DEX Imaging and Konica Minolta); it would be her 21st career Tour victory

With the $262,500 winner’s check, Park would pass Sei Young Kim for the No. 1 spot on the LPGA Tour Official Money list with $1,329,020 this season

Park or So Yeon Ryu would become the fourth different player from the Republic of Korea to win the VOA Classic since its inception in 2016

It would be Ryu’s first win since the 2018 Meijer LPGA Classic and her seventh career victory; it would be her second professional victory this year after winning the Korean Women’s Open on the Korean LPGA (KLPGA) this past June

Yealimi Noh would become the fourth Rolex First-Time Winner of 2020, joining Madelene Sagstrom (Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio), Mel Reid (ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer) and Ally McDonald (LPGA Drive On Championship – Reynolds Lake Oconee)

At 19 years, 4 months and 11 days on Sunday, Noh would be the first 2020 Tour Rookie to win this season and the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour since Lydia Ko at the 2016 Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana (19y/2m/23d)

Noh would also be the first player to win under the age of 20 since Nasa Hataoka at the 2018 TOTO Japan Classic; she would be the first American to win in her teens since Lexi Thompson at the 2014 ANA Inspiration (19y/1m/18d)

Noh would be the third LPGA*USGA Girls Golf alum to win on the LPGA Tour after Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel

ROOKIE YEALIMI NOH “SUPER EXCITED” TO PLAY FINAL ROUND WITH ROLE MODELS RYU AND PARK

Ever since she was a young golfer, Yealimi Noh took inspiration from many players that hailed from the Republic of Korea, most notably LPGA Tour winners such as 20-time LPGA Tour winner Inbee Park and six-time Tour champion So Yeon Ryu.

“I’m super, super excited,” said Noh, who holds the 54-hole lead for the second time in her career. “I was telling my parents in the beginning of the week how it would be so cool to play with either one of them. I really wanted to play with them to see just up close how amazing they are and to learn and it will be really fun tomorrow.”

With so many reasons to be nervous, the 19-year-old who is still waiting to obtain a driver’s license is trying her best to remain calm—which she’s done well leading up to the final round at the VOA Classic.

“No matter how many times I’m in contention, I think it’s always nerve racking on the final day, but I have to just be really calm tomorrow and stay patient,” said Noh, who is looking for her first win on the LPGA Tour. “Patience is key and just play my game and see where it takes me.”

NO MATTER THE COURSE, QUEEN INBEE SHINES AT VOA CLASSIC

When it comes to the VOA Classic for Rolex Ranking No. 5 Inbee Park, she’s most famous for winning the event in both 2013 and 2015. But, the event wasn’t played at Old American Golf Club. This week, the “Queen” of the LPGA Tour proved venue doesn’t matter, as she looks to be the third Tour  winner of 2020 with multiple victories this season.

“This golf course, the greens are just so pure. I had a couple of mistakes, you know, greens are just too fast for me. I have been practicing a little bit on the slower green than this, you know, last couple of months,” said Park. “So I’m just trying to still adjust a little bit of speed, but the course is in really good condition. Greens are a little bit softer than last year, but with the cold weather it is playing tough. Once you miss the green, it is really hard to get up and down so you have to hit a lot of greens on this golf course.”

Flying back home to the Republic of Korea after taking second at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in early October, the 32-year-old LPGA veteran had lower expectations for the week. Instead, she presented the week more as an opportunity to warm up for next week’s U.S. Women’s Open, which she won in 2008 and 2013.

“I think I was probably thinking that I am going to be a little bit rusty and just trying to get things going before the Open, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I mean, it is tough with the little bit chillier weather, but that’s how we’re going to get next week so trying to get used to playing in cold conditions, and I feel like I’m doing just fine,” said Park.

SO YEON RYU RECORDS EVENT’S LOWEST 18-HOLE SCORE THROUGH THREE ROUNDS

6-under par is a great score for any golfer, yet, when the athlete knows they can shoot even lower, it’s merely acceptable.

“Actually I’ve been hitting the ball really, really well today, so hopefully I can shoot some low number. And even though I played a few events in Korea, I never really had low scores. So I really wanted to shoot like 8 under, 7 under, so that’s what I was looking for. I was expecting little better than 65, but once again, 65 is always good score to have,” said So Yeon Ryu, tied for the lead at the Volunteers of America Classic.

Her first LPGA Tour event since ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in February, Ryu didn’t come in with any particular expectations. Yet, she knew her swing was off, so coming back to the United States and seeing her coach again for the first time in months helped her, which showed this week.

“Well, to be honest, was bit of struggle with the ball‑striking the last two days, but I went to see my coach on Monday. I haven’t seen him for nine months and finally got to see him, and he gave me couple of swing thoughts and that one really worked out well today. So I have no complaint about my ball‑striking today,” said Ryu.

Chinese team unveils exceedingly fast quantum computer #SootinClaimon.Com

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Chinese team unveils exceedingly fast quantum computer (nationthailand.com)

Chinese team unveils exceedingly fast quantum computer

Dec 06. 2020An experimental device used for Jiuzhang, a prototype quantum computer, is unveiled by Chinese scientists on Dec 4, 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] An experimental device used for Jiuzhang, a prototype quantum computer, is unveiled by Chinese scientists on Dec 4, 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

By China Daily

A new approach to computing by a group of Chinese scientists raises the possibility that today’s supercomputers may not be so super for long.

The scientists revealed a prototype quantum computer that can calculate 100,000 billion times faster than today’s best supercomputers.

The group, led by professors Pan Jianwei and Lu Chaoyang of the University of Science and Technology of China, unveiled their prototype on the website of the journal Science on Friday.

The computer, which they named Jiuzhang, after the ancient Chinese mathematics text, was able to manipulate 76 quantum bits, or qubits, for calculations.

Quantum mechanics is defined as the body of scientific laws regarding nature at the smallest scale — the energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

Unlike classical computers, which handle data in binary bits, quantum computers process data using qubits, which can be identified as 0, 1or both. As a result, the computing power of quantum computers can increase exponentially as the number of qubits increases.

The computing speed of a quantum computer could appear overwhelming — so much that no classical computer could perform the same task in a reasonable amount of time.

The advantage enjoyed by quantum computers is unlikely to be overturned by classical computers’ algorithms or hardware improvements, even though the two types of computers are still in competition, Pan said.

His team prefers to call it the quantum computational advantage, though it is more widely known as quantum supremacy.

“The achievement of the quantum computational advantage is the first milestone for quantum computing research, and our latest breakthrough has brought China to that point,” Pan said.

Pan is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China, based in Hefei, Anhui province.

Last year, Google claimed it had reached this milestone by using a 53-qubit processor named Sycamore to solve an arbitrary mathematical computation in 200 seconds. The same task would take what was then the world’s most powerful supercomputer, the Summit, more than 10,000 years to complete, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

However, IBM, the creator of Summit, later challenged Google’s findings by adjusting the way its supercomputer approached the task and said it could come up with a solution in 2.5 days, a reasonable amount of time.

Pan said his team could have achieved the breakthrough a little earlier if it didn’t have to deal with restrictions placed on international scientific collaboration by the United States government.

“Scientific research requires international collaboration, and it will benefit all of humankind,” Pan said, adding that future universal fault-tolerant quantum computers will enjoy wide application in areas including weather forecasting and medicine design.

“The restrictions will turn out to be useless because we will ultimately overcome all the obstacles by ourselves,” he said.

A fight for forest equity takes on new urgency amid pandemic #SootinClaimon.Com

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A fight for forest equity takes on new urgency amid pandemic (nationthailand.com)

A fight for forest equity takes on new urgency amid pandemic

Dec 06. 2020Nathan Harrington, executive director of Ward 8 Woods Conservancy, picks up trash at Oxon Run Park in Southeast Washington on Oct. 28. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post phtoo by Matt McClain.Nathan Harrington, executive director of Ward 8 Woods Conservancy, picks up trash at Oxon Run Park in Southeast Washington on Oct. 28. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post phtoo by Matt McClain. 

By Special To The Washington Post · Gabriel Popkin · NATIONAL, SCIENCE-ENVIRONMENT 

WASHINGTON – On an overcast but mild morning in late October, Nathan Harrington pulled up at a dead end in the southern reaches of Washington D.C. His gray pickup truck carried a magnet with the name of the Ward 8 Woods Conservancy – the organization Harrington founded and directs – and a collage of left-wing and environmental bumper stickers.

His work crew of three men – Shaw Turner, Davon Abney, and Henderson Blount – were already assembled. Soon they donned bright yellow vests and plunged into the woods. Above them towered magnificent sycamores, tulip trees and even a rare swamp white oak. Oxon Run, one of Washington’s largest free-flowing streams east of the river, beckoned with wide sandbars and bluffs that evoke a far wilder place than the heart of a major city. 

But on the ground, the illusion of remoteness vanished. Hundreds of empty bottles and food wrappers, many probably washed in by recent rains, were strewn about. Aggressive vines choked out much of the other vegetation.

Over the next 31/2 hours, the crew – joined by James Penn, who was trying out for a job – piled Harrington’s truck high with dirty mattresses, rusted bike wheels, moldy drywall, window frames, something that looked like part of an engine, the end of a toilet plunger and dozens of bags full of bottles, chip wrappers and other detritus. They hauled out four shopping carts and left them on the side of the road for the local Giant to pick up.

Those aren’t the strangest finds the team has had in their two years cleaning up Ward 8’s forested parks. “You’d be surprised how many bowling balls there are,” Harrington said. This year, the team has collected more than 100,000 pounds of trash – about the weight of a tank. 

“Pretty much, if you can think of it, we’ve found it in the woods,” Harrington said.

Blount, who had started the job just several weeks earlier, said he values keeping the woods clean. But he’s never actually spent time in them, or known anyone who has. 

The group spending their Wednesday morning in the park hopes to change that. While low-income neighborhoods in many cities have fewer trees, the reality in Washington is more complicated. Ward 8, the city’s poorest, has over 500 acres of forest; its total tree cover tops that of four wealthier wards. But Ward 8’s forests are littered, overrun by invasive species and all but closed to people, with virtually no signage and fewer than 1.5 miles of official hiking trails. By comparison, 1,754-acre Rock Creek Park has more than 36 miles of hiking trails.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken more lives in the majority-Black Ward 8 than anywhere else in Washington, the inaccessibility of the ward’s forests has gone from an environmental injustice to a full-blown public health threat, Harrington and other advocates say. Opening them up, however, will require overcoming decades of neglect and underfunding. 

“We’re the only environmental organization based in Ward 8, focused on Ward 8,” Harrington said. “Nobody else is paying attention to these woods.”

This summer, however, the National Park Service released an ambitious plan to transform one of the green spaces where the conservancy has been working. 

Although he had weighed in on the plan at several public meetings, Harrington said he and his team were unaware of its release until informed by a reporter.

A former teacher and tour guide, Harrington got his start as a woods advocate in 2011 with the Committee to Restore Shepherd Parkway. The group formed to clean up and activate a nearly 200-acre swath of federally owned woods that run much of the length of the ward, including near the Congress Heights house where Harrington has lived since 2009. 

Harrington hoped he might convince the National Park Service to blaze hiking trails through one of the largest pieces of contiguous woodland in Washington. But he said his entreaties received discouraging responses: The service lacked funds; the environment was too sensitive; and – most galling, he says – he was told local residents didn’t value or respect their parks.

“There’s all this resistance to changing the status quo,” Harrington said. “It’s what I can only call racism or racial bias.”

With backing from the Anacostia Coordinating Council, Harrington converted the committee to the Ward 8 Woods Conservancy in the summer of 2018 to fight what he had come to view as not just neglect, but injustice. “He started with absolutely no resources other than his two hands and his burning commitment to make things better,” said longtime Ward 8 activist Philip Pannell, who has supported and mentored Harrington and also serves as executive director of the council.

Harrington has since raised enough money from government grants and private foundations and donors – his budget for 2020 was $110,000 – to pay himself and his team of park stewards, usually around four strong. In January, Ward 8 Woods became an independent 501(c)(3).

Wages begin at $16 an hour for up to 20 hours a week. Harrington has prioritized hiring from the ward and giving a chance to people whose employment or, sometimes, criminal records might give other employers pause. He hopes his stewards can use the positions as steppingstones toward full-time green jobs – a vision he said will be advanced by a new partnership with the D.C.-based nonprofit Casey Trees.

Turner discovered the organization in August via Facebook. He previously worked in fast food, but he appreciates working outdoors.

“This is something new to me,” he said. “I would say it’s a blessing. It’s peaceful.” 

But he said the five-man crew struggles to keep up with the volume of trash and invasive plants they confront. “We need more help.”

The coronavirus pandemic has increased the urgency Harrington said he feels to make the forest accessible. Trees provide cooling shade during Washington’s hot summers and can ameliorate poor air quality, which has proved to be a risk factor for the virus. And with many social and physical outlets off limits, including many of the city’s indoor recreation facilities, time outdoors has become critical to millions of peoples’ physical and mental health regimens. 

“I think the trees are like free medicine,” said Brenda Richardson, an environmental advocate and member of Friends of Oxon Run, a D.C.-owned park located in Ward 8.

When the woods are inaccessible, however, people are pushed indoors toward sedentary lifestyles, Richardson said. Harrington hopes his group’s cleanups can lay the groundwork for new trails and an environmental education program that will help residents learn about and be comfortable in their forests. 

Not everyone shares a desire for more heavily used parks. Kemi Morten, director of the Ward 8-based nonprofit Unfoldment and a Ward 8 Woods board member, fears that hikers could disturb the wildlife that inhabits Shepherd Parkway. She also worries about safety. 

One thing everyone can agree on: Ward 8’s parks are underfunded.

National Capital Parks-East, which oversees federal parkland in the ward, manages more than 8,000 acres spread over 13 sites in Maryland and eastern D.C. – including Shepherd Parkway, Oxon Run Parkway and Fort Stanton – with a budget of less than $17 million and around 140 full-time employees. The Mall and Memorial Parks’ budget is more than double that. Rock Creek Park gets more than $9 million for less than a quarter of the acreage and is aided by at least two long-established nonprofits: Rock Creek Conservancy, with a nearly $1 million budget of its own, and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.

Harrington thought local leaders might be more amenable to his vision of investing in Ward 8’s forests. But in late summer, he said he received an email from a staff member at D.C.’s Urban Forestry Division strongly objecting to the idea of a hiking trail along Suitland Parkway, a large forested tract managed by the District. The residents had shown disrespect for the land, the official wrote, according to Harrington. 

Harrington was frustrated. “That’s because there’s nothing worth respecting right now,” he said. “That sort of thinking is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Earl Eutsler, head of D.C.’s Urban Forestry Division, emphatically disputed that Ward 8 has been neglected. He pointed out a publicly accessible fruit tree orchard the division has planted along Suitland Parkway, and a grant from the city’s Department of Transportation, which oversees Urban Forestry, that funded Ward 8 Woods to clean up the Suitland Parkway bicycle trail. His team has increased street trees in the ward by a greater proportion than in any other ward, Eutsler added. 

Duff McCully, a supervisory forester with the city who wrote the email that discouraged Harrington, praised Ward 8 Woods’ work and said the email expressed an opinion, not that of the Urban Forestry Division. He added that his views on a trail’s appropriateness are immaterial because a separate DDOT unit manages new trail construction on city land. Harrington is now preparing an application to that program.

Both Eutsler and McCully also noted with exasperation the large volumes of trash that routinely accumulate in the Suitland Parkway woods, including appliances and construction debris. Harrington has handed out literature encouraging park neighbors to avoid littering and report dumpers and has urged Washington’s environmental crimes unit to step up enforcement.

Others agree that Ward 8’s forests are under-resourced but blame the neglect on agencies preferentially responding to more vocal constituencies in wealthier areas.

“It’s just a fact that the environment is not the top priority of political and civic leaders in this ward,” Pannell said. “Nathan hasn’t gotten the type of support I think he deserves.”

Ward 8 Woods has received awards from the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, but Pannell pointed out that neither came with funds to help Harrington grow his operation.

In July, the Park Service released a multimillion-dollar plan for Shepherd Parkway that includes both construction of new trails and restoration of existing trails, as well as overlooks, signage and better interpretation of the park’s Civil War-era forts. Park Service spokesman Sean McGinty credited Ward 8 Woods with caring and advocating for the park.

Harrington, when made aware of the plan, lamented a lack of clarity on whether unpaved hiking trails will actually be blazed in the wooded section of the park, providing the access he’s long pushed for. The Park Service hopes to begin developing the popular northern section of the park, known as Parklands, in 2021, but funding for some aspects of the plan still needs to be secured, McGinty said. 

The Great American Outdoors Act, signed into law this summer, may provide new funding, Harrington hopes. But he’s not holding his breath. For now, he plans to continue his cleanups and laying the groundwork for closer connections between people and nature. 

“Sometimes I look at Nathan, and say he’s got the patience of Job in the Bible,” Richardson said. “He’s very patient and methodical in his approach to fulfilling his vision.”

Suga positions carbon goal, digitization as pillars for economic revitalization #SootinClaimon.Com

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Suga positions carbon goal, digitization as pillars for economic revitalization (nationthailand.com)

Suga positions carbon goal, digitization as pillars for economic revitalization

Dec 06. 2020

By The Japan News

Prime Minister pledged to work on measures to combat global warming and digitization as the central pillars of economic revitalization efforts at a press conference on Friday ahead of the end of the extraordinary Diet session.

With the coronavirus pandemic not yet under control, Suga apparently aims to revitalize the economy with signature policies, ahead of a dissolution of the House of Representatives for a general election.

“What our nation needs are sources of growth for the post-coronavirus era. Green [initiatives] and digital policies are key,” Suga said at the press conference. He expressed a commitment to realizing the development of large-scale hydrogen production equipment, low-cost storage batteries and 6G, the successor to the high-speed, large-capacity 5G telecommunications standard.

Concerning a digital agency to be established as the headquarters for digitization, Suga expressed his intention to appoint about 100 experts from the private sector, saying that he would create a model for personnel who can advance their careers while moving back and forth between the public and private sectors.

■ Resumption of economic activities

Since the start of the Suga Cabinet in September, the prime minister has attached importance to promoting the resumption of economic activities while taking measures against the coronavirus. However, experts of a government subcommittee on coronavirus measures have been increasingly cautious about the Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign amid a spike of infections in winter.

Nevertheless, Suga has told his aides that the campaign should be promoted resolutely. He plans to propose an extension to the government’s additional economic measures to deal with the coronavirus to the end of June next year. He mentioned the significance of the campaign during the press conference, saying: “There are about nine million people involved in the tourist industry in Japan. The government has made decisions based on what will be most useful for regional economies.”

The prime minister is also focusing on environmental measures and the digitization of public administration as part of long-term steps to strengthen the economy.

He probably believes that it would be easy for the administration to achieve results in fields concerning the environment and digitization, “unexplored areas” that were not prioritized by the administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Suga’s leadership within the administration is expected to be tested by an increase in out-of-pocket medical expenses for people aged 75 years and older, one of the major issues in the reform of “social security for all generations” that will review the structure of burdens and benefits for elderly people and working generations.

Suga said to his aides that unless this issue is resolved, the reform cannot be said to be a reform for all generations in the true sense. At the press conference, Suga said, “It’s important to decrease the burdens of younger generations as much as possible.”

However, Liberal Democratic Party coalition partner Komeito is cautious about expanding the target of those whose out-of-pocket expenses would increase, because of concerns about the impact it would have on the general election, which will take place in autumn next year at the latest.

A meeting to discuss a draft for the reform was abruptly canceled just before it was to start on Friday as the coalition parties could not reach a consensus on the issue.

“The future handling of the government will depend on whether Komeito gets its way or the prime minister stands firm,” an LDP member with ministerial experience said.

■ Lower house dissolution

The decision to dissolve the lower house for a general election will be a focal point for the future management of the government.

Asked about the timing of the dissolution at the press conference, Suga indicated that economic revitalization and measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are the main priorities. “I’d like to devote all my efforts to these issues for the time being,” he said.

“I will think it over carefully,” he added, with an eye seemingly on the expiration of the term of lower house lawmakers in October next year.

Suga has been cautious about dissolving the lower house early next year, but reportedly is considering the idea as one of his options. Many within the LDP have called for an early dissolution while the Cabinet’s approval rating remains strong. But, in addition to the sudden increase in coronavirus cases, scandals on money and politics involving former Prime Minister Abe and former agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa have come to light, dampening the momentum.

The government plans to convene the ordinary Diet session on Jan. 18 and submit proposals for a third supplementary budget for fiscal 2020 and a fiscal 2021 budget.

The prime minister intends to focus on realizing the early passage of budget plans and implementing a series of measures.

For that reason, the lower house is more likely to be dissolved in spring or later after the passage of the fiscal 2021 budget, or after the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for next summer.

Key policies of the Suga Cabinet have begun to produce results. Regarding the lowering of mobile phone fees, NTT Docomo Inc. unveiled Thursday the lowest-price large-capacity mobile plan in the industry. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for a digital agency, which is expected to be launched in September next year.

A mid-ranking LDP lawmaker said that if dissolution is delayed, there could be a dissolution immediately before the expiration of the term of lawmakers, which tends to work against ruling parties.

However, achieving tangible results ahead of a general election appears to be Suga’s basic strategy. He is expected to determine the timing of the dissolution, taking into consideration the infection situation and other factors.

Indonesia greenlights adoption of major COVID-19 vaccines #SootinClaimon.Com

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Indonesia greenlights adoption of major COVID-19 vaccines (nationthailand.com)

Indonesia greenlights adoption of major COVID-19 vaccines

Dec 06. 2020

By The Jakarta Post

As countries begin taking the leap by approving the use of candidate vaccines to fight the pandemic, the Indonesian government issued on Friday a decree to allow for the use of vaccines currently being developed by certain drugmakers.

In a decree signed by Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto on Dec. 3, the government has stipulated that the vaccines that can be used for vaccination programs in Indonesia must come from local pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, United Kingdom-based AstaZeneca, China’s Sinopharm or Sinovac Biotech, or US pharma Moderna. The vaccine being jointly produced by US firm Pfizer and German company BioNTech also made the list.

The decision came after the UK’s major step of approving the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. In Indonesia, the candidate vaccines being produced by the companies are either entering or completing phase three clinical trials.

There have been disputes among regulators in various countries surrounding emergency authorization for the vaccines, since all of them have just finished or are in the early stage of human trials.

UK regulators in particular have been criticized for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approval, with critics claiming that they compromised safety by skipping several parts of the process to speed up the authorization.

But the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has rebuffed the accusations, saying that it had used overlapping trials and “rolling reviews” since June to reach the determination in record time.

“That doesn’t mean any corners have been cut – none at all,” June Raine, its chief executive, said at a press conference. “The safety of the public will always come first.”

The Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) said earlier it would not grant emergency use authorization (EUA) to a candidate vaccine from Sinovac in December because of a lack of data on its effectiveness.

“We have explained to the President that we cannot meet the deadline for emergency use authorization in the second or third week of December,” said BPOM head Penny Kusumastuti Lukito in a hearing at the House of Representatives last month. She said that approval could come in the third or fourth week of January 2021.

Read also: No emergency vaccine approval this year in Indonesia, says BPOM

The latest decree from the Health Ministry also stipulates that each candidate vaccine should obtain an EUA from the agency before it can be used for a vaccination program.    

The government has also identified the priority groups for receiving the vaccine once it arrives in the country.

The first priority group comprises 3.5 million frontline workers, including health workers, contact-tracing paramedics, and military and law enforcement personnel.

The second priority group consists of religious and community leaders and local authorities at district, village, community and neighborhood units, who altogether comprise over 5 million individuals.

The third priority group includes more than 4 million teachers at various levels of education. The fourth group is government officials and legislatives council members with more than 2 million individuals.

The fifth group includes members of the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) whose fees are paid by the government. Their number exceeds 86 million individuals. The last group of more than 57 million is the general public. (wit)

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.

Chinese patrols in PH waters getting brazen despite pandemic, says US think tank #SootinClaimon.Com

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Chinese patrols in PH waters getting brazen despite pandemic, says US think tank (nationthailand.com)

Chinese patrols in PH waters getting brazen despite pandemic, says US think tank

Dec 06. 2020

By Global News

MANILA, Philippines—The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop or slow China’s deployment of coast guard ships “around symbolically important features” in the West Philippine Sea, including those lying inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) like Panatag (Scarborough) and Ayungin (Second Thomas) shoals.

An analysis of data from automatic identification systems (AIS), which track vessel position at sea, gathered by the website MarineTraffic showed that China was apparently intending to make its presence felt in these reefs, according to Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

From Dec. 1, 2019 to Nov. 30, 2020, the China Coast Guard not only kept a “persistent presence” in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Luconia Shoal, but appeared to have “increased the frequency of patrols” during the pandemic, AMTI said.

For 287 of the last 366 days, at least one and often two China Coast Guard (CCG) ships broadcast from Panatag Shoal, it said. This was a “substantial increase” from 162 days in 2019, said AMTI.

CCG ships patrolled Ayungin Shoal for 232 days and 279 days in Luconia.

“That CCG vessels so frequently broadcast AIS from these reefs, which are not physically occupied by China, suggests that they want to be seen signalling China’s claims,” AMTI said.

The AIS is a real-time tracking system that transmits a ship’s position so its presence would be known.

Chinese vessels patrolling Ayungin Shoal “often made loops” around Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal, a submerged geological feature, which is located some 60 nautical miles of Palawan, well within the Philippines’ EEZ. AMTI said 11 Chinese fishermen had been arrested for poaching in the area in 2014.

Chinese vessels deployed around Luconia “occasionally challenged” Malaysian oil and gas exploration activities.

AMTI also reported the “noteworthy addition to the regular CCG patrol route” of Vanguard Bank off Vietnam’s southeast coast, site of the months-long standoff between Vietnam and China over oil and gas drilling in 2019.

The number of CCG ships in the contested areas could be “likely an undercount” as many coast guard ships conceal their presence by not broadcasting their AIS signals.

AMTI said one instance when a Chinese vessel muted its broadcast was last May 14 when AIS data indicated there were no vessels around Scarborough but “high-resolution satellite image” revealed two Zhaoyu-class patrol vessels in the area.

Analysts have been saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has become a smokescreen for China’s aggressive enforcement of its claim to own nearly the entire South China Sea, including Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.

Southeast Asian claimants, however, often refrain from sending law enforcement or naval vessels to confront Chinese patrols.

“This suggests that China is successfully normalizing its presence,” AMTI said.

Aside from frequent CCG patrols and intimidation of fishing boats, government vessels, oil and gas rigs of other countries, China has upped its game in the South China Sea this year by creating two new administrative districts, naming all geographical features as if to claim ownership, launching two new research centers, among others.

The Philippines, China, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important waterways.

Defense chief to attend virtual Asia-Pacific defense ministers’ meeting this week #SootinClaimon.Com

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Defense chief to attend virtual Asia-Pacific defense ministers’ meeting this week (nationthailand.com)

Defense chief to attend virtual Asia-Pacific defense ministers’ meeting this week

Dec 06. 2020Defense Minister Suh Wook (Ministry of National Defense)Defense Minister Suh Wook (Ministry of National Defense) 

By Korea Herald

Defense Minister Suh Wook will join his counterparts from the United States, China, Japan and other countries in an annual Asia-Pacific defense ministers’ meeting this week, officials said Sunday.

The 7th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) will be held via video link on Thursday, which will bring together top defense officials from 18 countries, also including the 10 ASEAN member states, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand.

This year’s event was supposed to take place in Vietnam, but the organizer and participants decided to hold the multilateral meeting online due to the global COVID-19 situation, according to the officials.

“Major international and regional security issues are expected to be on the table. This year’s event will also serve as a venue to discuss both traditional and non-traditional security challenges such as the new coronavirus,” a ministry official said.

Last month, the countries held working-level ADMM talks, and South Korea sought support for efforts for a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and shared the military’s role in fighting the new coronavirus, according to the defense ministry.

Last year, South Korea’s defense minister held one-on-one meetings with his counterparts from major countries, such as the US, China, and Japan, on the sidelines of the ADMM-Plus meeting in Bangkok.

Since taking office in September, Suh has held dialogues with US and Chinese defense ministers but not with his Japanese counterpart amid frayed diplomatic ties between the neighbors.

Launched in 2010, the ADMM-Plus has been a venue for consultations on major regional security issues, counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. It had been held every two or three years but became an annual event from 2018. (Yonhap)

Sri Lanka, India and Maldives agree to strengthen cooperation in dealing with maritime challenges #SootinClaimon.Com

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Sri Lanka, India and Maldives agree to strengthen cooperation in dealing with maritime challenges (nationthailand.com)

Sri Lanka, India and Maldives agree to strengthen cooperation in dealing with maritime challenges

Dec 06. 2020

By The Island

Agreement was reached on further strengthening cooperation in dealing with maritime challenges in the Indian ocean and ensure peace and security in the region for common benefit, at the trilateral 4th National Security Adviser level meeting on ‘Maritime Security Cooperation’, which concluded at the Colombo Hotel Taj Samudra on Saturday (28).

The sessions were held with the participation of Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser of India, Ms. Mariya Didi, Minister of Defence of Maldives and Maj. Gen. (retd) Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dinesh Gunawardena, was the chief guest at the inauguration.

The High Commissioner of India, Ambassador for the Maldives, Foreign Ministry Secretary Admiral (retd) Prof. Jayanath Colombage, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army and Head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID 19 Outbreak, Navy and Air Force Commanders, Inspector General of Police, Director-General of Sri Lanka Coast Guard, senior officials of Sri Lankan Foreign and Defence Ministries and senior military officers were among the attendees.

Several experts in the field of maritime defence from India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, together with observers from Mauritius and Seychelles, India and the Maldives were represented during the sessions at Senior Officials’ level.

The forum, fourth in sequence, took stock of the current maritime security environment in the region and the existing cooperation in the areas of Maritime Domain Awareness, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Joint Exercises, Capacity Building, Maritime Security and Threats, Marine Pollution and Maritime Underwater Heritage, Covid-19 challenges, etc. They agreed to further strengthen cooperation in dealing with these challenges to ensure peace and security in the region for common benefit, a joint media statement issued by the Defence Ministry said.

Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne, delivering the welcome address, underlined the momentous importance of dialogue at trilateral level on a regular basis. The Minister of Foreign Affairs made the keynote address before the sessions began deliberations. Lalith Weeratunga, Advisor to the President made the closing remarks.

In view of COVID-19, the dialogue was conducted adhering to strict health guidelines using ‘Air Bubble’ concept for the visiting delegations, the statement noted.

Sri Lanka, India and Maldives launched the Trilateral NSA level Meeting on Maritime Security Cooperation in 2011 and three meetings had been held so far. The last meeting was held in March 2014 in New Delhi. The past deliberations and outcomes have helped the three countries in improving close coordination in maritime security of the region. These were supplemented by Deputy NSA level meetings for sustained engagements and implementation of the discussions at the NSA level meetings.

The three countries also exchanged views on common security threats and agreed to broad base cooperation by expanding the scope to improve intelligence sharing and include issues like terrorism, radicalization, extremism, drugs, arms and human trafficking, money laundering, cyber security and effect of climate change on maritime environment, the statement further said.

The Heads of Delegations agreed to meet regularly to share, discuss and ensure timely implementation of decisions taken at the Meeting. They also decided to hold Deputy NSA level working group meetings biannually for cooperation at operational level, it added.

Indic voice #SootinClaimon.Com

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Indic voice (nationthailand.com)

Indic voice

ColumnsDec 06. 2020

By The Statesman

An Indian representative, for perhaps the first time from a global platform, queried this selectivity in a sober, historically accurate and effective manner.

The shambles which is the United Nations with its in-built hypocrisies and behind-the-scenes puppeteers was clinically exposed by India at the UNHQ on Thursday. Fostering of a culture of peace and condemnation of violence against religious groups, the Indian First Secretary to its UN Mission told the General Assembly, cannot be restricted to Abrahamic faiths.

“This august body fails to acknowledge the rise of hatred and violence against Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism… India agrees fully that anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and anti-Christian acts need to be condemned and we firmly condemn such acts… (but) UN resolutions on such important issues speak only of these three Abrahamic religions,” he said while referring to the UN draft resolution on the Freedom of Religion or Belief.

An Indian representative, for perhaps the first time from a global platform, queried this selectivity in a sober, historically accurate and effective manner. It was about time someone called out the double standards of the mutually beneficial global talk-shop for warring Abrahamic traditions in their avatars as post-World War II nation-states that the UN has essentially become.

These countries, it ought to be kept in mind, are not too different ~ with honourable exceptions ~ from the religious monarchical states that fought the viciously violent Crusades in the medieval era. It ought to be a matter of pride for every Indian that it was our representative at the UN who belled the cat, as it were. But this is just the beginning and those with a sense of history would do well not to get carried away.

The political and by extension media narrative is already indulging in juvenile one-upmanship by focussing on the specifics which were cited by India at the UNGA merely as illustrations which do not in any way constitute the definitive stand of the Indian State.

So, while it is true that Pakistan’s move to hand over the decision-making role in the management of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara to non-Sikhs, the Taliban’s blowing up of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir and the rising tide of Hinduphobia particularly but not exclusively in South Asia are all contemptible, that is not the full story. It is a mindset that needs to change.

And that is a process, not an event. For example, those who (rightly) lionise a towering intellectual such as Edward Said for his pathbreaking academic work in explaining the fault lines between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions, or East and West, fail to even recognise arguably the most seminal philosophical work of the 20th century in locating the Indic dharmic traditions’ encounters with Abrahamic religions by the brilliant academic SN Balagangadhara.

Last but not least, the normalisation of the nomenclature ‘religion’ to define Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and followers of other non-Abrahamic traditions needs to be resisted with far greater intellectual force than has been hitherto exhibited.

Former Australian FM calls on Australia to ‘get out of the hole’ with China #SootinClaimon.Com

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Former Australian FM calls on Australia to ‘get out of the hole’ with China (nationthailand.com)

Former Australian FM calls on Australia to ‘get out of the hole’ with China

InternationalDec 06. 2020

Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans

Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans

By Chinadaily

CANBERRA — Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has called on his country to “get out of the hole” into which it has dug itself with China.

In a recent article published on “Pearls and Irritations,” a specialist blog focusing on policy development, Evans, who was the Australian minister for foreign affairs between 1988 and 1996, pointed out four key failures of Australia in managing its relationship with China.

“The first is … too much tone-deaf stridency in our language, starting with the way Malcolm Turnbull introduced the undue influence legislation in 2017; too much over the top behavior, as in the ASIO/AFP raids on Chinese journalists”, and too much unchecked offensiveness in parliamentary performances, he wrote.

The second point, as he mentioned, is the failure to fully factor in the risks of “not only irritating but hurting China, as we have done in not just joining but leading the international charge on Huawei, tough foreign investment restrictions and foreign influence laws.”

He then talked about Australia’s stands, too many of which “have played all too readily into the United States ‘deputy sheriff’ narrative.”

The last point was the “insufficient recognition that there is not a lot of downside for China in getting stuck into Australia.”

“China may like our coal, and agricultural products, and to have Australia as a student and tourist destination, but it does not need us for any of them,” Evans wrote.

He then moved on to suggestions of how to get out of the hole, including “stop digging” and “moderate the official language.”

“…our leaders should make absolutely clear, when we take a negative position on anything to do with China, that this is a matter of independent national judgment and not of looking over our shoulder for guidance from our own imperial masters,” Evans said.

The next point was that Australia should acknowledge the legitimacy and inevitability of some of China’s international aspirations as well as commercial concerns.

Finally he called on the Australian government to find issues on which there is common ground. “In areas like on climate, nuclear weapons, peacekeeping, counter-terrorism, arms control and — for the most part — response to pandemics, it (China) has played a more interested, constructive and potentially cooperative role than has generally been recognized,” said Evans.