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China and Thai Junta Flip-Flop Over Blasting of Mekong River Inlet in Chiang Rai Province

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CHIANG RAI – At the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, China’s central government acknowledged Rak Chiang Khong’s concerns about the impacts on people’s livelihoods of the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project, while indicating the possibility of amending or even cancelling the project.

Nevertheless,  Chiang Rai’s local environmentalist group Rak Chiang Khong and TEAM Consulting Engineering and Management, the representative of the Chinese project’s owner, have said a study on the environmental impacts of the project was continuing as planned and there had not been any change in progress.

A fisherman guides his boat through the Khon Pi Luang rapid in the Mekong River in Chiang Rai. – Photo Pianporn Deetes

Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said yesterday he had discussed the project with Chinese authorities at the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Mekong-Lancang Cooperation in China’s Yunnan province last Friday.

Don said Chinese officials had acknowledged the concerns of Thai people about the plan, which includes blasting rapids in the Mekong River, and said they were ready to change the scope of the project or cancel it altogether to relieve those concerns.

Despite his statement, a representative from TEAM Consulting, Tuangsaung Sakulkonchak, said there had not been a change to the project and the company was continuing to work on the environmental study and public hearings.

TEAM is representing the Chinese project owner, CCCC Second Harbour Consultants, to gather information as part of an environmental impact assessment study.

Tuangsaung said the study had started in October and would conclude in May. The company held a public forum in Chiang Rai in September and there would be another public hearing in the same area after the study in August next year.

Thai activist Niwat Roykaew says China’s plan to blast rocks and islets will “kill” the Mekong River’s ecology and environment. Photo: Tom Fawthrop

Jirasak Inthayot, coordinator of the local environmentalist group Rak Chiang Khong, or “Love Chiang Khong”, said the study was ongoing and there was still no sign that the project would be cancelled.

The Mekong River navigation channel improvement project is a part of the Mekong-Lancang international navigation development plan for 2015-2025.

One of the boats surveys the water level and the machinery hydraulic system; another examines soil layers, sediment and submerged rocks

The project aims to improve the navigation channel of the Mekong River, which is known as the Lancang in China, to allow large vessels up to 500 tonnes to navigate from China’s Yunnan province to Luang Prabang in Laos.

The Thai Cabinet approved the plan in December 2016, allowing for the study to proceed in Thailand.

The project has been the subject of strong protests from environmentalists and local people along the Mekong River in Thailand, who have said the navigation channel improvements include the removal of rapids in the river, which are indispensable features of the Mekong ecosystem.

A statement by the opposition group said modifying the river by blasting the rapids and dredging its islands would not only destroy the rich ecosystem that sustains the livelihood of local people, but also change the river’s features and affect the boundary between Thailand and Laos.

Meanwhile the Bangkok Post published an editorial saying the attempt by the Chinese company CCCC Second Harbour Consultants to normalize its plans to blast a corridor down Thailand’s Mekong River channels needs urgent comment from the Thai government.

Prauth Dismisses Blasting Concerns of Mekong Rapids in Chiang Rai

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha promised earlier this year to let the public know when or if he approves this disastrous attack on the Thai environment.

But the Chinese firm last week indicated Gen Prayut’s approval is already a given. The prime minister should dispute this.

The immediate controversy in a nutshell is simple enough. China, all the way up to the central government in Beijing, wants a Mekong channel cleared for its river ships of up to 500 tonnes.

China is officially concerned that current Mekong depths during the annual dry season permit river boats of no more than 250 tonnes.

Thailand, all the way up to the central government in Bangkok, has been wary of contesting China’s plan. This is despite the fact the Thai Mekong littoral along nearly 100km of scenic and economic importance is at immediate risk from the Chinese dynamiters.

China and its disappointing apologists on the Mekong River Commission (MRC) have conducted one of the greatest misleading propaganda campaigns to soft-sell this destruction.

TNT “will only be used when necessary”, said a CCCC Second Harbour Consultants public relations expert at a Chiang Rai “public hearing” last week. And “only some islets will be removed” by the blasting.

Another claim is that the company, ever solicitous towards the river’s fish, will not blow up shoals and islets during fish-breeding season. The other, conservationists’ way of saying the same thing is that current fish shelters, fishing grounds and the scenic Chiang Rai riverfront will be destroyed if Gen Prayut agrees — or even, if statements at the public hearing are correct, if he does not.

China is officially concerned that current Mekong depths during the annual dry season permit river boats of no more than 250 tonnes.

To properly expand trade with Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, Beijing claims it needs a waterway able to handle river freighters twice as large, to travel from China to Luang Prabang. That is far downriver from Chiang Rai, and well inside Lao territory. From China’s view, all countries concerned agreed to this 10 years ago.

Thai villagers protest at Chinese Embassy in Bangkok to demand a halt to blasting rapids on the Mekong

The Thai public has never been consulted. At last week’s meeting, Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn took the side of the public. He encouraged all Thais to give their opinions. Mr Narongsak also called on the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport to become more active on the issue.

Any blasting of the Mekong is irreversible. Up to now, and partly because of Gen Prayut’s promise to speak up, the public response in general has been muted. Local conservation groups around Chiang Rai have protested vociferously.

However, since this dispute involves both the environment and actual loss of Thai territory to an altered river course, much more consultation with the public is necessary.

The government, of course, wishes both to expand trade and to play nicely with China. It will not be easy to say “no” to Beijing on this issue, although that is the only obvious answer. But conservation concerns and the livelihood of Thais along the river must come first.

Map of Chinese Dams on the Mekong – Click to Enlarge.

China’s mistreatment of the Mekong, and its control of upstream water supplies, already shows the problem. Treating the mother of rivers like an international canal is no way to conserve and protect the environment, fishing and Thai people’s traditional lifestyle.

The prime minister and every member of the cabinet concerned must attend to this pressing issue.

It is obvious from last week’s meeting that China is trying to manipulate Thai opinion on the matter, and it is vital the government support all efforts to counter the Chinese claims that blasting the Mekong is a proper treatment of the great waterway.

Source: The Nation, Bangkok Post

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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

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Trudeau's Gun Grab
Trudeau plans to purchase 2,063 firearm from legal gun owners in Canada - Rebel News Image

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.

The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.

This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.

The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.

In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.

Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened

“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.

Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.

Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.

In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.

An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.

Enforcement efforts Questioned

By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.

“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.

The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.

“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.

Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem

Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.

“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.

Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.

Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.

“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.

“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

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(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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