Sunday, June 18, 2017

In the news, Tuesday, May 30, 2017


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MAY 29      INDEX      MAY 31
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

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from Asia Times Online

What Phuc can teach Trump about free trade
When Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visits the White House this week, he will bid to convince his US counterpart on the upside of more free trade

Merkel throws Trump into the Briar Patch
Trump’s unashamed nationalism elicits revulsion in a land whose 20th-century experience with nationalism was less than satisfactory. Despite differences, Germany still needs to find common ground with US in the Middle East.

As in Syria, Trump has set Obama aside in Saudi too
Regardless of the theatrics and the billion-dollar deals, Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia has accomplished one thing: reversal of the Obama administration’s policy of gradual engagement with Iran and distancing the US  from Saudi Arabia.

Islamic State jihad explodes in Southeast Asia

The siege of the southern Philippine city of Marawi likely represents the first salvo of the global extremist group's bid to extend its war deep into Asia

As US vacillates on Myanmar, Suu Kyi looks to China

Beijing has regained lost diplomatic and economic ground as American President Donald Trump sends mixed diplomatic messages to the country

Asia’s next great commercial hub?

China envisions a port, pipelines and special economic zone could transform Myanmar's Kyaukpyu backwater into a modern entrepot to rival Hong Kong and Singapore. Local residents, however, oppose the plan

Thylacine survey: Are we going to rediscover the moonlight tiger?
Reported sightings of the long-thought-extinct marsupial predator in remote northern Australia have drawn attention to a survey to begin next month

Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea has just been elected South Korea’s new president. This is the second conservative-to-liberal transition of power in the country’s democratic history. Moon will take office at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea.



Demise of the TPP has been premature as remaining signatories want to go ahead with it, which is much more than a simple trade agreement. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible, as #Vietnam’s president recently mentioned.

In an unexpected about-face, Tokyo sent a big delegation to China’s first Silk Road forum, while also signaling its readiness to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The vast transnational project, the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, that Tokyo seems to be flirting with is symptomatic of a tectonic shift in international diplomacy: the retreat of Cold War-era power dynamics and the ascent of infrastructure-building as a major diplomatic tool.

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from BBC News (UK)

Ultra-tough antibiotic to fight superbugs
Experts have repeatedly warned that we are on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", where some infections could become untreatable. US scientists have re-engineered a vital antibiotic in a bid to wipe out one of the world's most threatening superbugs. Their new version of vancomycin is designed to be ultra-tough and appears to be a thousand times more potent than the old drug, PNAS journal reports. It fights bacteria in three different ways, making it much less likely that the bugs can dodge the attack. It is yet to be tested in animals and people, however. The Scripps Research Institute team hope the drug will be ready for use within five years if it passes more tests.


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from EUobserver

Anti-fraud boss: EU parliament in 'too many' complaints
Olaf chief suggested EU Parliament should consider changing internal rules on hiring assistants due to number of allegations.

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from The Future of Freedom Foundation
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

ECONOMIC IDEAS: FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT ON THE LAW OF LIBERTY AND FREE MARKETS
The defense of economic liberty has never been an easy task. Adam Smith expressed his own despair at this problem in The Wealth of Nations. After presenting his powerful criticisms of mercantilism—the eighteenth-century system of government regulation and planning—he despondently suggested that free trade in Great Britain was as unlikely as the establishment of a utopia.

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from HumanProgress.org  Education Website

Fewer People Exposed to Horrors of War
Yesterday was Memorial Day, a federal holiday remembering all those who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. So, in today's column, I take a brief look at the declining share of men and women worldwide who can expect to be exposed to the horrors of war. Looking at armed forces personnel as a percent of the total labor force, we can observe a sustained decline since the end of the Cold War. Globally, it has dropped from 1.08 percent in 1990 to 0.8 percent in 2014. That's a 26 percent reduction. In Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, it has declined by 27 percent, 54 percent, 43 percent and 40 percent respectively. Even in the Middle East and North Africa, armed forces personnel as a share of the total labor force declined by 58 percentage points—though, admittedly, some of the conflicts in the region have become more serious since 2014.

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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)

Fmr. House Intel Chair: ‘Hallelujah’ Kushner Communicated with Russians
Hoekstra says back-channeling part of governing and 'guess what, folks, America meddles in elections'

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from Miami Herald

Paul Ryan was just snubbed by 8th graders. Should be a wakeup call for "thoughtful" conservatives.
The very need of “thoughtful” conservatives to use that modifier is a tacit concession something has gone wrong with conservatism.

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from New Statesman
"The leading voice of the British left, since 1913."

The Benedict Option: a new monasticism for the 21st century
A new book by the conservative blogger Rob Dreher asks whether Christians should turn their back on society – is he right?

Macron's climate stance may be "heroic", but it doesn't bode well for diplomacy
Emmanuel Macron is having a great PR day. The international press has dubbed him a “liberal hero” and the “new leader of the free world” after he stood up to Donald Trump and criticised, in English, the US president’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

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from Reason Magazine
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Supreme Court Rules 8-0 for Police in Major Fourth Amendment Case
In 2002 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said that the lawful use of deadly force by the police may be ruled unlawful if the police themselves "created the need to use force" by acting in an illegal manner. "Where an officer intentionally or recklessly provokes a violent confrontation, if the provocation is an independent Fourth Amendment violation," the 9th Circuit held in Billington v. Smith, the officer "may be held liable for his otherwise defensive use of deadly force." Otherwise known as the "provocation doctrine," this legal standard has served as an important check on overreaching law enforcement tactics. Today, by a vote of 8-0, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the 9th Circuit's reasoning and wiped the provocation doctrine off the books.

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from The Spokesman-Review

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from The Wall Street Journal

The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next
Whites were asked to leave for a ‘Day of Absence.’ I objected. Then 50 yelling students crashed my class.

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