On This Day: NAFTA takes effect
On Jan. 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States, took effect.
And we have been losing ever since…Thank God for Trump
Under Juncker migrants flooded Europe and the Brits left the EU – Hungarian FM
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s “lecturing” others about Christian Democracy “is a bad joke”, the Hungarian foreign minister said on Sunday.
Peter Szijjarto insisted that Juncker “has not been a Christian Democrat for a long time and he is in fact a liberal, pro-migration politician”.
“Juncker has laid wreaths on Marx’s monument and commemorated Fidel Castro,” he said. In the meantime, “migrants flooded Europe and the Brits left the EU under his presidency,” the minister added.
Earlier in the day, Germany’s Welt am Sonntag quoted Juncker as saying that the policies of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz were incompatible with Christian Democratic values.
Answering a question why he allowed Prime Minister Viktor Orban “get away with his anti-EU rants”, Juncker said he was locked in a dispute with Orban and he had pressed for Fidesz’s exclusion from the European People’s Party.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/01/under-juncker-migrants-flooded-europe-and-the-brits-left-the-eu-hungarian-fm/
From a hush-hush Apple meeting to mysterious executive departures, 9 of the most important tech stories Business Insider reported in 2018
Business Insider's team of tech journalists was first to report some of the most important developments in tech in 2018.
From the surprise departure of Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene to the internal turmoil at AR pioneer Magic Leap and the problems leading up to Uber's fatal autonomous-car crash, the industry has had an eventful year.
Check out the list below for some great reads you may have missed, or to refresh your perspective and challenge your assumptions as you prepare for the new year in tech.
https://www.businessinsider.com/9-most-important-tech-stories-of-2018-2018-12
Vietnam's draconian cybersecurity bill comes into effect
HANOI: A law requiring internet companies in Vietnam to remove content communist authorities deem to be against the state came into effect Tuesday, in a move critics called "a totalitarian model of information control".
The new cybersecurity law has received sharp criticism from the US, the EU and internet freedom advocates who say it mimics China's repressive censorship of the internet.
The law requires internet companies to remove content the government regards as "toxic".
Tech giants such as Facebook and Google will also have to hand over user data if asked by the government, and open representative offices in Vietnam.
The communist country's powerful Ministry of Public Security (MPS) published a draft decree on how the law may be implemented in November, giving companies which offer internet service in Vietnam up to 12 months to comply.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asean/1603798/vietnams-draconian-cybersecurity-bill-comes-into-effect
As ever, money the root of many evils in 2018
Former DSI chief Tarit Pengdith may have stolen the headlines this month after he received a one-year prison term for his role in the police station construction scandal. However, the team which he once…
Though some suspects managed to escape and some cases require further work, the department's new chief, Paisit Wongmuang, has expressed his hope that further progress will be made in the year ahead
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/1602946/as-ever-money-the-root-of-many-evils-in-2018
Nigerian woman sells her 6-month-old baby to buy mobile phone
BENIN: A Nigerian woman from Edo state has been arrested by local police for selling her six-week-old baby allegedly to buy a cell phone with the proceeds.
According to a report by Punch Metro, the 23-year-old accused woman, Miracle Johnson had allegedly sold her baby, Greatness, to an orphanage in exchange for N200,000.
A sum of 200,000 Nigerian Nairas is the equivalent of close to 40,000 in Indian Rupees.
Johnson Kukome, the Commissioner of Police whose team is investigating the matter, called it a serious offence.
http://zeenews.india.com/africa/nigerian-woman-sells-her-6-month-old-baby-to-buy-mobile-phone-2136627.html
Trump is taking down their multi-billion dollar infrastructure. and its only been 2 years. the movie is about to become worth watching
Everybody usually misquotes that.
And the beat goes on
War is Good for Business and Organized Crime: Afghanistan’s Multibillion Dollar Opium Trade. Rising Heroin Addiction in the US
Afghanistan’s opium economy is a multibillion dollar operation which has a direct impact on the surge of heroin addiction in the US.
Despite president Trump’s announced US troop withdrawal, the Afghan opium trade continues to flourish. It is protected by US-NATO occupation forces on behalf of a nexus of powerful financial and criminal interests.
In 2004, the proceeds of the Afghan heroin trade yielded an estimated global revenue of the order of 90 billion dollars. This estimate was based on retail sales corresponding to a total supply of the order of 340,000 kg of pure heroin (corresponding to Afghanistan’s 3400 tons of opium production) (See Michel Chossudovsky, America’s War on Terrorism, Chapter XVI, Global Research, Montreal 2005)
Today a rough estimate based on US retail prices suggests that the global heroin market is above the 500 billion dollars mark. This multibillion dollar hike is the result of a significant increase in the volume of heroin transacted Worldwide coupled with a moderate increase in retail prices.
Based on the most recent (UNODC) data (2017) opium production in Afghanistan is of the order of 9000 metric tons, which after processing and transformation is equivalent to approximately 900,000 kg. of pure heroin.
With the surge in heroin addiction since 2001, the retail price of heroin has increased. According to DEA intelligence, one gram of pure heroin was selling in December 2016 in the domestic US market for $902 per gram.
The Heroin trade is colossal: one gram of pure heroin selling at $902 is equivalent to almost a million US dollars a kilo ($902,000) (see table below)
https://www.globalresearch.ca/war-is-good-for-business-and-organized-crime-afghanistans-multibillion-dollar-opium-trade-rising-heroin-addiction-in-the-us/5664319
What's ahead for news, politics in 2019
Jan. 1 (UPI) – The dawn of 2019 ushers in a new Congress and a new year of government and politics.
Several events issues are expected to make headlines this year – from important cases before the Supreme Court to the emergence of Democrats to challenge President Donald Trump's office.
This year will test the new coalition of power in the U.S. Supreme Court, with President Trump's picks of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh now aboard. Some court watchers will be looking to see if Chief Justice John Roberts positions himself as the new swing vote on the court, replacing retired justice Anthony Kennedy.
The court will hear arguments Feb. 19, where 17 states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors challenge the Commerce Department's decision to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census.
There are also federal gerrymandering cases in nine states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Several abortion cases are also expected to move beyond U.S. district court to the high court.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/01/01/Whats-ahead-for-news-politics-in-2019/1201546186345/
SET sheds nearly 11% in rough year for stocks
Most Southeast Asian stock markets saw lacklustre trade on Friday, finishing off a year in which equity sell-offs driven mainly by trade tensions led to significant annual losses.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand staged a modest rally of 15.51 points to end the day — and the year — at 1,563.88 points, a decline of 10.8% from 1,753.71 at the end of 2017. It was the worst performance by the local bourse since 2015, when it lost 14%. It gained 19.8% in 2016 and 13.7% in 2017.
In a grim year for equities all round, only two exchanges in all of Asia Pacific — Mumbai and Wellington — finished in the black. Shanghai, with a loss of 24.9% for the year to Dec 27, was the world’s second-worst performer behind Athens (-25.5%).
Foreign investors were net sellers on the SET for the fourth year out of the past five (2016 was the exception with net buying of 77.9 billion baht). But their net sales in 2018, at 287.45 billion baht, were more than 10 times the 2017 total of 25.75 billion.
Local institutions were net buyers of 184.26 billion baht, and retail investors had a net-buy position of 118.26 billion. Brokers were net sellers of 15.27 billion in proprietary trading.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1602458/set-ends-rough-year
Year in Space: From the Falcon Heavy’s first flight to the solar system’s last frontier
Launches, launches, launches! 2018 was a big year for liftoffs, particularly for SpaceX and its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk. The past year also saw a number of notable trips to interplanetary destinations, including the Martian surface and two asteroids. What’s up for next year? More of the same, only way different.
For more than two decades, I’ve been writing year-end roundups of the top stories in space science and exploration, with a look-ahead to cosmic coming attractions. 2019 could well bring about developments I’ve been predicting on an annual basis going as far back as a decade, such as the rise of commercial human spaceflight.
Other trends are easier to predict, because they’re based on the cold, hard facts of celestial mechanics. Check out these tales from 2018, expected trends for 2019 and my year-end space roundups going back to 2001 (with lots of failed predictions). Then feel free to weigh in with your comments to tell me what I missed.
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/year-space-falcon-heavys-first-flight-solar-systems-farthest-frontier/
As China option fades, Bill Gates urges U.S. to take the lead in nuclear power, for the good of the planet
In his year-end letter, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says his to-do list for 2019 includes persuading U.S. leaders to regain America’s leading role in nuclear energy research and embrace advanced nuclear technologies such as the concept being advanced by his own TerraPower venture.
“The world needs to be working on lots of solutions to stop climate change,” Gates wrote in the wide-ranging letter, released Saturday night. “Advanced nuclear is one, and I hope to persuade U.S. leaders to get into the game.”
Gates acknowledged that tighter U.S. export restrictions, put in place by the Trump administration, have virtually ruled out TerraPower’s grand plan to test its traveling-wave nuclear technology in China.
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/china-option-fades-bill-gates-urges-u-s-take-lead-nuclear-power-good-planet/