Japan, Indonesia agree to strengthen security cooperation with eye toward China
InternationalOct 22. 2020Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, second from left, and his wife Mariko, left, pose with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, third from left, and his wife Iriana for a commemorative photo at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Pool photo / The Yomiuri Shimbun)
By Kensaku Fujiwara and Takeyuki Hitokoto Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer and Correspondent
BOGOR, Indonesia — Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Indonesian presidential palace in Bogor on Tuesday and agreed to strengthen security cooperation with a view to dealing with China, which is increasing its maritime activities. To help Indonesia cope with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Suga announced that Japan would extend ¥50 billion in yen-denominated loans to Indonesia.
After the meeting, which lasted about one hour and 20 minutes, Suga said at a joint press conference that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN） is the cornerstone for realization of the free and open Indo-Pacific vision. “Japan will take the lead in contributing to the peace and prosperity of this region.”
Widodo said, “We want to make the South China Sea safe and stable waters.”
The two leaders confirmed that they will hold a “two-plus-two” ministerial meeting involving their foreign and defence ministers at an early date, which will be the second time after the first such meeting in 2015, and will accelerate talks on exports of defense equipment from Japan.
At the meeting, the Japanese prime minister also expressed Japan’s intention to help Indonesia develop human resources, including those of its coast guard agency.
The two leaders exchanged views on regional situations, including North Korea and the South China Sea, and confirmed that they will cooperate closely.
Suga asked the Indonesian president for cooperation in resolving the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea. Suga also pledged to provide ¥50 billion in yen loans to Indonesia and more than ¥4.4 billion in medical supplies and equipment to medical research institutions in the country.
The two leaders agreed to make arrangements to exempt short-term business travelers from the 14-day quarantine required at the time of entry as soon as possible.
They also confirmed that the two countries will cooperate on infrastructure development, including construction to extend a subway line that opened in Jakarta last year and the development of remote islands.
VN, Japan agree on quarantine-free procedures for short-term entries
InternationalOct 22. 2020Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (right) and his visiting Japanese counterpart Suga Yoshihide had farewell talks before the latter left Việt Nam for Indonesia on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất
By Viet Nam News/ANN
HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and Japan have mutually agreed to implement an expedited arrival procedure which will allow certain groups from one country to enter another without undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine on short-term visits.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday issued a press release regarding the procedure, which will take effect starting November 1, following an agreement reached during the official trip of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to Việt Nam earlier this week at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.
The Vietnamese foreign ministry noted that the procedure, called priority travel for short-term entries from Japan into Việt Nam and “business track” for Vietnamese entering Japan, basically will waive quarantine requirement for people from either country who are going on trips shorter than 14 days for the purposes of investment, trade, diplomacy, official businesses or highly skilled workers.
However, prior to arrival, the entrant must obtain proof of negative tests for SARS-CoV-2 and still needs to be medically examined and monitored.
Following the entry into Việt Nam and Japan, the entrant will still have to be tested for the coronavirus, their health status will be frequently checked, and they could only engage in activities according to an agenda that has been registered and approved with the receiving host country’s authorities.
The Vietnamese and Japanese relevant agencies will in the future provide detailed guidelines on the eligible entries, requirements, and regulations on the short-term entry procedure between the two sides, the foreign ministry noted.
Việt Nam has closed its border to most foreign entries since March to prevent the spread of coronavirus but has taken steps to allow in diplomats, business executives, skilled workers, and students, but they all have to be quarantined for two weeks.
Japan is also easing its border restrictions starting in October.
The two countries are considered to have had a competent handle on the pandemic, with a low caseload and death toll. — VNS
By The Washington Post · Ellen Nakashima, Amy Gardner, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Craig Timberg · NATIONAL, WORLD, POLITICS, COURTSLAW, NATIONAL-SECURITY WASHINGTON – The nation’s top intelligence official on Wednesday evening accused Iran of orchestrating a spoofed email campaign threatening Democratic voters who did not vote for Donald Trump.
The disclosure by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe marked the first known effort by a foreign adversary this election cycle to reach specific voters in a bid to undermine democratic confidence. The announcement came two weeks before the Nov. 3 election.
Speaking at a hastily-called news conference, Ratcliffe said both Iran and Russia had “obtained” voter registration data. He warned that voter information – some of which is publicly available and some of which can be purchased – could be used by foreign actors in an attempt to “cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy.”
Ratcliffe accused Iran of using the data to send “spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump,” he said.
The emails claimed to be from the Proud Boys, a far-right group supportive of Trump, but instead were engineered by someone working at the behest of the Iranian government, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The operation appeared to exploit a vulnerability in the group’s online network.
The messages advised that the group was “in possession of all your information” and instructed voters to change their party registration and cast their ballots for Trump.
“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” warned the emails, which by Tuesday night were said to have reached voters in as many as four states, three of them hotly contested swing states in the coming presidential election.
Analysts said targeting Democratic voters may have been an effort by Iran to prompt complaints about a far-right group associated with Trump. “If it became apparent that the threats were coming from the Trump campaign or his allies, it would reflect poorly on the president himself,” said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, cautioned that divining motive can take time.
“Getting at intent is as hard as understanding the context of people’s minds, and nobody has an easy time of that,” he said.
First divulged on Tuesday by local law enforcement and elections officials in Florida and Alaska, the emails prompted an investigation that quickly escalated to federal authorities, according to U.S. officials.
Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran was also distributing a video “that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas.” The video, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, shows Trump making disparaging comments about mail-in voting, followed by a logo with the name of the Proud Boys. It then documents what was made to appear as a hack of voting data in an effort to produce a fraudulent ballot. The video was also posted on a Twitter account that has since been suspended.
“This video, and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots, are not true,” Ratcliffe said at a Wednesday news conference. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries.”
Relations between Tehran and Washington have grown far tenser under the Trump administration, which withdrew from the nuclear deal that Iran reached with the United States and other world powers. The U.S. has applied escalating pressure on Iran through sanctions and other actions, including the targeted killing in January in Iraq of Iran’s most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani.
In August, the U.S. intelligence community’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina, issued an assessment that “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections.” Its efforts, he wrote, “probably will focus on online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content.”
By suggesting the group had gained access to privileged data, and also possibly penetrated electronic systems to detect how people were voting, the emails and video content attributed to Iran seemed designed to create the appearance of an election breach. Such a move may serve to undermine confidence in the integrity of the democratic process without posing a genuine risk to the election, said cybersecurity and disinformation experts.
“In recent years, Iranian information operations have continued to push boundaries using bold and innovative approaches. However, this incident marks a fundamental shift in our understanding of Iran’s willingness to interfere in the democratic process,” said John Hultquist, senior director of analysis for Mandiant Threat Intelligence. “While many of their operations have been focused on promoting propaganda in pursuit of Iran’s interests, this incident is clearly aimed at undermining voter confidence.”
Department of Homeland Security officials warned state and local election administrators on a call Wednesday that a foreign government was responsible for the online barrage, according to U.S. officials and state and local authorities who participated in the call, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. A DHS official also said authorities had detected holes in state and local election websites and instructed those participating to patch their online services.
Metadata gathered from dozens of the emails pointed to the use of servers in Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, according to numerous analysts.
“It’s clearly organized and very much planned,” said Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group.
The domain enlisted for the misleading operation, officialproudboys.com, was recently dropped by a hosting company that uses Google Cloud services, according to Google Cloud spokesman Ted Ladd. Without a secure host, the domain stood vulnerable to exploitation, cybersecurity experts said. Voters using Comcast, Yahoo and Gmail accounts were affected.
In addition to reports from Florida and Alaska, a voter in Pennsylvania told The Washington Post she had received one such email, though she suspected it may have been linked to her previous registration in Alaska. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office had not received reports about the messages, a spokesman, Mark Shade, said Wednesday.
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said her organization had received at least one report that a similar email had reached a voter in Arizona. The Arizona secretary of state’s office was looking into the matter, said a spokeswoman, Sophia Solis.
Clarke said her organization, after putting out a call on social media, had received 104 complaints of emails with the same pattern. One research group, Proofpoint, said its analysis showed one of the batches had more than 1,500 emails.
Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys and the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump, denied involvement, saying the group operates two sites, and was increasingly migrating away from the domain used in the email campaign.
“Two weeks ago, I believe, we had Google Cloud services drop us from their platform, so then we initiated a url transfer, which is still in process,” he said in an interview. “We kind of just never used it.”
Democrats in Alachua County, in north-central Florida, began receiving the threatening messages on Tuesday morning, said a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Art Forgey. So, too, did voters in Alaska, said Casey Steinau, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.
Even as the president sows doubt about mail balloting, federal law enforcement officials as well as election administrators have underscored the security of the process, which has been routine in some states for years. They also have warned about possible disinformation designed to create the appearance of fraud or to stoke fears of voter intimidation – which itself threatens to keep voters away from the polls.
Tarrio, determined to beat back the perception of involvement by the Proud Boys, said he had spoken to an FBI agent about the episode. Amanda Videll, a spokeswoman for the bureau in Jacksonville, Fla., declined to comment.
Bennett Ragan, campaign manager for a Democratic State House candidate in Gainesville, Fla., said he received two of the threatening messages on his Gmail account and knows of at least 10 other similar emails that had reached friends or associates. He said the home address cited in the emails he received could have come only from a Florida voters’ roll from 2018 because he has moved several times in recent years.
Ragan said he believed the purpose was to intimidate Democratic voters in a swing state with hotly contested races up and down the ballot on Nov. 3.
“When you have people who have a voter roll and then send off emails, they will make a big splash. They will scare people. That is without a doubt the intent,” he said.
The hosting service that previously carried the Proud Boys domain canceled the registration after Google Cloud notified the customer that a nonprofit group had raised concerns about the controversial organization, said Ladd, the Google Cloud spokesman.
Following the action from the hosting service, the domain appears to have been left unsecured, allowing anyone on the Internet to take control of it and use it to send out the menacing messages, said Trevor Davis, CEO of CounterAction, a Washington-based digital intelligence firm.
The lapse, which began on Oct. 8, “likely made them vulnerable to this kind of hijacking,” Davis said. “Bad actors are constantly scanning the Internet for opportunities. Given the public profile of the Proud Boys and the likelihood that whoever’s sending these emails has access to a voter file, this appears to be opportunism.”
An Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with metadata in at least one email had previously been reported, pointing to its likely use in scam or phishing operations, said Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and vice president of analysis for Alethea Group, an organization combating online threats and misinformation.
The Proud Boys rose to national prominence last month during the first presidential debate between Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, when the president passed up an invitation by moderator Chris Wallace, of Fox News, to denounce White supremacists. When Biden suggested that Trump denounce the Proud Boys, he said they should “stand back and stand by” – a comment that was widely celebrated on social media by the group as a call to action.
Memes circulated online with the words integrated into the Proud Boys logo. One doctored image showed Trump wearing one of the Proud Boys’ signature polo shirts. Another online poster used the moment to advertise T-shirts and hoodies bearing the group’s logo and the words “PROUD BOYS STANDING BY.”
The group’s leaders say they do not support White supremacy, but they had a contingent at 2017’s notorious Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The Proud Boys also have been frequent participants in the protests demonstrating against coronavirus shutdowns and, more recently, the protests in Portland, Ore. Facebook has banned the group as a hate group, and the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies it as a hate group and says its leaders “regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists.”
By The Washington Post · Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim · NATIONAL, BUSINESS, POLITICS, CONGRESS
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump accused congressional Democratic leaders Wednesday evening of blocking a new economic relief deal, further narrowing the path for any agreement to emerge ahead of the election.
“Just don’t see any way Nancy Pelosi and Cryin’ Chuck Schumer will be willing to do what is right for our great American workers, or our wonderful USA itself, on Stimulus. Their primary focus is BAILING OUT poorly run (and high crime) Democrat cities and states . . . Should take care of our people,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
His comments – which were inaccurate in some respects – came at the end of a day when Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats blocked a narrowly crafted GOP relief bill, which itself was much smaller than what the president wants.
At the same time, House Speaker Pelosi, D-Calif., reported progress in her ongoing but laborious negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a much bigger package, while acknowledging it might not be possible for Congress to finalize a bill ahead of the election less than two weeks away. Trump’s Twitter post came 84 minutes after Pelosi’s spokesman said the Democratic leader and Mnuchin were close to putting “pen to paper” on legislation.
The developments all came a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., disclosed that he had counseled the White House against making a deal with Pelosi ahead of the election, partly because it could interfere with the Senate’s plans to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court next week.
Senate Republicans are largely opposed to a bill along the lines of the $2 trillion measure Trump has demanded and which Pelosi and Mnuchin have been negotiating. Although Pelosi has continued to hold out hope for a deal to emerge in coming days, Trump’s tweets suggested he was giving up on the process, just the latest abrupt shift from the president, who has moved around erratically in the course of the negotiations.
McConnell, meanwhile, tried to advance a slimmed-down, approximately $500 billion bill on the Senate floor, but Democrats blocked it, just as they did last month when McConnell tried to move a nearly identical bill. The vote in the Senate was 51 to 44 along party lines, well short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to advance the legislation.
Senate GOP leaders argued that their “targeted” stimulus bill was the appropriate response and would have provided at least some help to needy Americans who have been waiting months for more relief from Congress as layoffs mount and coronavirus cases rise. The bill included new money for small businesses, schools, health-care systems and the unemployed, but it omitted Democratic priorities such as state and local aid – as well as $1,200 stimulus checks for individuals, a provision supported by Trump.
The legislation “would move us past Speaker Pelosi’s all-or-nothing obstruction and deliver huge support right now for the most pressing needs of our country,” McConnell said ahead of the vote.
Democrats and many Republicans have said major problems continue to exist in the economy months after the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States. But they are divided on what kind of federal response to pursue.
Schumer called the vote on the GOP bill a political stunt that was designed to fail, saying the legislation “leaves so many Americans behind.”
At the same time, Pelosi voiced optimism about her continued talks with Mnuchin on the much larger measure sought by Trump. But the House speaker acknowledged that final passage might have to wait until after Nov. 3.
“We obviously want to have a deal by November 3rd. That really is going to be up to whether the president can convince Mitch McConnell to do so,” Pelosi said in an interview on Sirius XM radio. “I think Mitch McConnell might not mind doing it after the election.”
Pelosi held another in what have become daily phone negotiating sessions with Mnuchin on Wednesday afternoon. Her spokesman Drew Hammill said on Twitter that their conversation “brings us closer to being able to put pen to paper to write legislation. With the exchange of legislative language, we are better prepared to reach compromise on several priorities.”
“Differences continue to be narrowed on health priorities, including language providing a national strategic testing and contact tracing plan, but more work needs to be done to ensure that schools are the safest places in America for children to learn,” Hammill wrote.
Earlier, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows joined Senate Republicans for a closed-door lunch as GOP senators continued to voice opposition to a massive new spending bill.
Meadows was questioned by one senator at the lunch about Trump’s desire to spend even more money than Pelosi, according to several people familiar with the event who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. Meadows replied that Mnuchin has been moving closer to Pelosi’s position without any movement by the speaker, the people said.
“Obviously there are a number of senators that have concerns over the amount we’re spending,” Meadows told reporters as he exited the lunch, adding: “There are some that think we’re not spending enough.”
A few Republicans in tough reelection fights, such as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., do support passing a big new relief bill – though not necessarily the one taking shape between Pelosi and Mnuchin. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, another senior lawmaker who is up for reelection, told reporters that it’s not just the size of the bill but some of the policies it contains.
Senate Republicans have blasted a number of items under consideration, including expanding Affordable Care Act tax credits and sending stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants.
“I think part of the problem is that people have just been focusing on the top line,” Cornyn told reporters. “There’s more than just the top line, it’s the substance that we haven’t been talking about or focusing on.”
“Part of the message from Senate Republicans is we need to have a discussion about the substance and whether irrespective of the top line whether the policy makes sense,” the senator said.
In an afternoon interview on Fox News Channel, Meadows acknowledged the policy concerns from GOP senators and said Mnuchin had now moved up to around $1.9 trillion in the talks with Pelosi.
“When you look at $1.9 trillion, is Nancy Pelosi really going to tell that, I’m not going to send that relief to you just for political reasons?” Meadows said. “And I don’t think our chances get better after election. I do think the next 24 to 48 hours will tell us a whole lot.”
Trump has adopted one stance after another on the Mnuchin-Pelosi talks, at one point calling them off altogether but more recently demanding even more money than Democrats have proposed spending, and criticizing Mnuchin for failing to “bring home the bacon.”
His tweets Wednesday evening suggested a new downbeat stance, while repeating the incorrect claim that Democrats are trying to “bail out” blue states. Republican governors and municipal leaders have also pleaded with Washington for additional aid as tax revenue plummets.
Some Senate Republicans said it was unclear why exactly Meadows came to Capitol Hill after lawmakers have made their views well-known on another stimulus bill.
“Maybe he just needed to get out of the White House, I don’t know,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Blunt also voiced pessimism about prospects for advancing significant relief legislation during Congress’s “lame duck” session that will take place after the election. He said getting anything done during a lame duck is always difficult.
“If we’re going to do it this year, I think it’s now or never,” Blunt said.
Pelosi and Mnuchin are scheduled to talk again Thursday.
The Ayala group’s power generation platform is revving up a construction binge overseas as it gears up, along with its partners, to build a second project in India—a 70-megawatt solar farm in the Gujarat state priced at $36 million.
AC Energy said in a statement the facility was expected to go online in the first half of 2021, delivering 50 MW into the grid, but with capacity peaking at 70 MW.
This was disclosed just three months after announcing a 100-MW solar project in Rajasthan state.
Dubbed Paryapt Solar, the Gujarat facility is being developed by UPC-AC Energy Solar, a joint venture with UPC Solar Asia Pacific.
Paryapt Solar will supply energy to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. through a 25-year contract that UPC-AC Energy Solar won through competitive bidding.
“India has emerged as a country with one of the biggest renewable energy expansion programs, with support from the government and investors driving the growth,” AC Energy said.
The state of Gujarat alone is targeting to have 8,000 MW of solar power by 2022.
AC Energy earlier this year announced its plans to integrate its international business. It aspires to become the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with plans to build a portfolio of 5000 MW of renewables-based capacity by 2025.
Through its partnership with UPC Renewables, AC Energy has invested in PT UPC Sidrap Bayu Energi, developer of a 75-MW wind farm in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The partnership was more recently expanded with the development of two wind projects in Vietnam, which has a combined capacity of 60 MW. INQ
Indonesia to launch sovereign wealth fund in January next year
InternationalOct 21. 2020Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo
By Jakarta Post
Indonesia will launch its own sovereign wealth fund in January next year as the government seeks to attract more investment and support the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said on Tuesday the government would soon establish the fund to handle government investments. The establishment of the sovereign wealth fund, which will be called the Indonesia Investment Authority, was included in the Job Creation Law.
“We will launch the Indonesia Investment Authority soon as the Job Creation Law mandates its establishment,” he told a virtual discussion but did not go into more details.
The government is preparing Rp 75 trillion (US$5.1 billion) in capital for the nation’s sovereign wealth fund as global heavyweights from the United States to the United Arab Emirates have expressed interest to join.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Rp 30 trillion of the capital would be in cash, while the remaining would be in the form of shares in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and other state assets.
The law has met with widespread protests and criticism from labor unions and civil groups over the potentially negative impacts it could have on labor rights and the environment, although the government’s goal is to attract investment, boost economic growth and create jobs.
The fund is aimed at attracting Rp 225 trillion in investment, with the United Arab Emirates, Japanese conglomerate Softbank and the US International Development Finance Corporation (IFDC) already lining up to invest in the fund, officials said previously.
“The establishment of the sovereign wealth fund is aimed at optimizing asset value in the long-term as part of the efforts to support sustainable development,” the law states.
However, it remains unclear where the wealth fund will be invested, although Sri Mulyani mentioned a combination of development funds and stabilization funds.
Officials have previously mentioned projects in sectors such as infrastructure, health care, energy and resources, tourism and technology. Sovereign wealth funds elsewhere also invest in financial markets.
Key machines for long cherished Rooppur power plant arrive in Mongla
A nuclear reactor and a steam generator, the key components of the first unit of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, arrived in Bangladesh yesterday, paving the way for completing the main phase of the mega project.
Traversing 14,000km, a ship carrying the equipment reached Mongla Sea Port in Khulna from Russia around 4:00pm yesterday. The components weigh 673.6 tonnes, said project officials.
“The arrival marks a major milestone in the construction of our dream project with a total capacity of 2,400MW,” Md Shawkat Akbar, project director of the nuclear power plant construction project, told The Daily Star.
The ship carrying the VVER-1200 reactor pressure vessel and the steam generator left for Bangladesh on August 20. The components were manufactured at the “Atommash” plant in Volgodonsk, the largest nuclear engineering production site in Russia. The reactor vessel weighs 333.6 tonnes and the steam generator 340 tonnes.
Now, these will be first shifted to a special barge for transportation to the Rooppur construction site in Pabna’s Ishwardi upazila, about 160 kilometres northwest of the capital.
Those will then be sent through rivers from Mongla via Kawkhali, Barisal, Chandpur, Mawa and Rajbari to the newly constructed Rooppur river port near the power plant site.
The special barge carrying the components is expected to leave Mongla port on November 5 and reach Rooppur river port on November 21, according to a press release by the science and technology ministry.
In easy terms, a nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled and sustained at a steady rate. The life cycle of a reactor is 60 years with the possibility of further extension, according to Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom.
Each reactor unit comprises a reactor and four circulation loops, with each loop having circulation pipelines, a reactor coolant pump and horizontal steam generator.
Amid growing demand for electricity, the government moved to build the country’s first-ever nuclear power plant in Pabna and gave Rosatom the task of implementing it. The government put this ambitious mega project on the list of 10 top priority projects or fast-track projects for completing it on time.
The power plant will have two units — Rooppur Unit-1 and Unit-2 — with a power generation capacity of 1,200MW each. A third-generation technology is being used to construct the plant with a five-layer security system.
The first unit is expected to go into commercial operation by 2023 and the second one by 2024.
The foundation stone of the Tk 113,092-crore power plant was laid in October 2013 and construction began on 1,062 acres of land in November 2017.
Project officials said that as of August this year, the project saw 37 percent progress and there will be a major leap in its implementation once the reactor is installed.
“The real progress will be visible from January next year,” said a project official seeking anonymity.
Md Shawkat Akbar said, “The reactor for the second unit will arrive in the country soon.”
The work of loading uranium fuel to the first reactor will begin in February, 2023, he mentioned.
The project director said they expect to supply power to the national grid from April 2023 on a test basis, and that there will be a test run for a year.
Project officials said the containment walls of the first reactor building have already been built, and construction of the second building will be completed by next year.
The reactor support truss in Unit-1 has already been installed. The purpose of the support truss is to fasten the reactor vessel and to bear its weight loads.
Besides, the work of manufacturing other machinery and equipment for the plant is going on in full swing, mentioned the officials.
They said the government plans to meet 9 percent of the country’s electricity requirement from nuclear power. It also seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels by the middle of the next decade when both reactors of the new power plant will be in operation.
With the first nuclear power plant at Rooppur, Bangladesh will become the third Asian country — after India and Pakistan — to harness the power of atoms.
Nuclear power plants built with VVER-1200 reactors are characterised by an unprecedented level of safety, which allows them to be classified as generation “3+”.
Hong Kong leader seeks Beijing’s aid to revive economy
InternationalOct 21. 2020Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor
By China Daily
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she has sought the central government’s help in finding new growth engines and fortifying existing advantages to revive the special administrative region’s battered economy.
Support has been sought mainly in four areas — financial services, innovation and technology, the aviation sector and projects to improve people’s livelihoods, Lam said in a newspaper interview days before she is expected to visit Beijing to present her proposals to the central authorities.
Support has been sought mainly in four areas — financial services, innovation and technology, the aviation sector and projects to improve people’s livelihoods, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a newspaper interview
The new policy initiatives are also expected to be the highlight of her annual policy address this year. Originally scheduled to deliver the address on Oct 14, Lam postponed it last week and now intends to deliver it by the end of November.
Speaking to the newspapers Wen Wei Po and Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Lam revealed she proposed to the central government the expansion of mutual access to financial markets between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong to boost the city’s status as an international financial center.
Greater and deeper mutual access will also be beneficial to Hong Kong’s offshore renminbi business, she said.
Propelling innovation and technology has been on Lam’s agenda since she took office in 2017. It dovetails with her proposal to the central government, seeking support to join hands with Shenzhen in building a world-class innovation and technology hub.
Noting that Hong Kong should not just focus on itself, Lam said she thinks the cooperation between the two cities will definitely produce the effect that “one plus one is greater than two”.
Lam also revealed that she is in talks with Shenzhen on a joint program to attract top scientists, especially those who plan to return from the United States.
The SAR government is considering attracting overseas scholars by providing more teaching posts and resources such as lab facilities, and allowing them to come back with their research and research teams, she explained.
Also on her list are requests for support for Hong Kong’s pandemic-hit aviation sector and Hong Kong International Airport.
Confident government
The reopening of border checkpoints with the mainland is also on the list of Lam’s proposals, as the pandemic has forced their closure for about nine months and this situation is not expected to change as Hong Kong continues to report new cases of coronavirus infection.
Lam said that Hong Kong residents currently need a more confident government and a clearer blueprint regarding the city’s future. Residents will be more confident about the city if more detailed measures backed by Beijing can be included in her next policy address, she added.
Lam said she had received a positive response after submitting her proposals to the central authorities.
But it will take time to allow the range of policies to get off the ground, as many central-level authorities are involved, she said. That’s why it’s better for her to explain in person why these policies are necessary for Hong Kong and to discuss how the measures could be implemented, according to Lam.
Business leader Lo Man-tuen agreed with Lam’s efforts to get central government help to deal with the difficulties the city is facing.
The chairman of Wing Li Group (International) Ltd said Hong Kong residents would be glad to see a policy address with more initiatives supported by the central government to help the city revive its battered economy.
The governments of Japan and China are set to agree this week to allow businesspeople and expatriates to resume traveling between them, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Japan and China have strong economic ties, and this move is aimed at boosting their economies, which have been hit hard by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
According to Japanese government sources, the envisaged agreement will allow mainly businesspeople to make short-term trips. They will be exempted from the 14-day quarantine on condition that they take virus tests prior to departure and upon arrival; submit in advance the address of their accommodations; and restrict their movements to work-related locations.
Expatriates will be allowed to make mid- to long-term stays, but will not be exempted from the 14-day quarantine.
Tokyo and Beijing have been negotiating the arrangement, as the spread of infections in China has been under control recently with only a few dozen cases confirmed per day.
China will be the fourth country to agree with Japan on the resumption of short-term trips, and the 11th country and region to agree on the resumption of mid- and long-term stays.
According to the Japanese government, about 373,000 people from China entered Japan for business purposes in 2019, more than from any other country or region.
In 2017, there were about 32,000 Japanese companies in China, also more than in any other country or region.Speech
InternationalOct 21. 2020Underwater image of lion fish and coral reef Photo credit: The Statesman
By The Statesman
On an annual basis, coral reefs release their gametes (reproductive cells) simultaneously. This phenomenon is most likely prompted by the right phase of the lunar and solar cycles as well as optimum water temperature.
All coral reefs start off as a single polyp. A polyp is essentially a small tissue from the surface inside the body, somewhat similar to a sea anemone. Stony coral species live in colonies and discharge calcium carbonate, which acts as an external skeleton. Like jellyfish and sea anemone, which are their relatives, coral polyps have tentacles that are used to catch food. The tentacles are tucked away during the day, but reach out to catch their prey, mainly plankton, by stinging them.
On an annual basis, coral reefs release their gametes (reproductive cells) simultaneously. This phenomenon is most likely prompted by the right phase of the lunar and solar cycles as well as optimum water temperature. Millions of eggs and sperm rise to the surface and undergo fertilization – turning the ocean into a bright blizzard-like setting which can sometimes be seen from space!
However, due to the rise in water temperatures and ocean pollution, the timing of the release of gametes in some coral species has shifted and some corals are spawning out of sync. This has been attributed to the rise in water temperatures and ocean pollution. Missing the window by a few minutes can lead to lower fertilization rates, while missing the window by hours or days suggests that individual corals are unable to fertilise. The threats climate change poses to synchronized coral spawning have not been studied, but its links to global warming and coral bleaching have been well established.
Corals can reproduce asexually and sexually. When a coral reproduces asexually, new clonal polyps bud off from their respective parent polyps and begin to expand and establish new colonies. Most stony coral species are broadcast spawners, which means they release a plethora of eggs and sperm into the water, distributing their offspring over a large area. The eggs and sperm form planktonic larvae called planulae by means of fission. Once the planulae are formed, they swim back down and settle on a site consisting of its favourable conditions and will form colonies which will progressively become larger.
This phenomenon occurs over the course of a few days or a week. This is done because different species will release their gametes on different days in an attempt to prevent the hybridisation of species. This opens up the possibility of the use of evolved reproductive strategies by the corals, which, if studied to a further extent, could help us understand the science behind the ‘blizzard’.
Since colonies may be separated by long distances, the timing of the release of gametes must be precise, and usually occurs in response to various environmental cues or stimuli. The spawning occurs with respect to temperature, day length and the rate at which temperature changes. While the date of spawning depends on the lunar cycle, the minute at which this event occurs is set by the solar cycle. This exposes the topic to a myriad of questions, such as how do these simple yet amazing creatures manage to tell the time of the lunar month and sunset, with only a simple nerve net and no specialized organs?
Inside the body of a coral are highly productive algae. The algae use carbon in the water and energy from the sun to photosynthesise, and as a result the algae give approximately 95 per cent of this produced energy to the coral. In return, the algae get its essential intake of nitrogen to thrive. This is an example of a symbiotic relationship, and an example of a delicate communication process between the algae and the coral. For this, the algae have to constantly remind the coral that they belong there, and essentially tell the coral to ignore its presence. Otherwise the coral would consider the algae to be a parasite or an invader, and attack and kill it.
If the algae growth does get out of hand, the coral will send out a ‘distress call’, a chemical which will attract the Gobi fish. This allows the Gobi fish to eat as much of the algae as the coral wants. In protected areas where fishing is non-existent, coral reefs thrive. However, where there is overfishing, the coral reefs wither and die.
A further understanding about the timing and synchrony of coral spawning is not only beneficial for understanding the ecology of coral reef ecosystems, but the management side as well. There is a deficit with respect to data regarding timing of spawning from many coral reefs, particularly from equatorial regions. To understand this phenomenon, further research should be undertaken. Perhaps there is more to it than what meets the eye, like the use of telepathy or a particular wavelength of signals, a revolutionary form of evolved communication.
Corals are under increasing stress due to climate change, thermal stress, and light pollution. Protecting coral reefs should be as much of a focus of sustainable development as anything else. Future generations have every right to experience this little explored, least understood, beautiful aspect of nature, one that may even be supporting human lives in ways we do not comprehend.
The writer is a student of the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, Sonipat.
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Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (right) and his visiting Japanese counterpart Suga Yoshihide had farewell talks before the latter left Việt Nam for Indonesia on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất 
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Underwater image of lion fish and coral reef Photo credit: The Statesman 
