June 2018 - Page 16 of 19

Google Leading Computer Training in Vietnam

06/06/2018 by WPit Leave a Comment

In and around the Mekong Delta, school children will spend this summer moving rainbow-colored blocks and cartoon animals around a screen to get an early taste of computers in a program backed by Google.

The tech company is paying for Vietnamese students to learn some introductory programming, along the way perhaps earning some goodwill from Vietnamese officials who are taking an increasingly strict view toward global internet firms.

The Mekong Community Development Center will run the classes, which make use of Scratch, a very basic computer language that lets children create their own virtual games.

“To support Vietnam’s development in the direction of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in the most effective and practical way, Google is focused on developing projects to build and raise awareness and capacity in information technology in Vietnam,” said Ha Lam Tu Quynh, who is the director of communications and public relations in charge of Vietnam at Google Asia Pacific. “We believe children in particular will be the best creators of the future.”

She was referring to a tech revolution that has been a buzz word around the Communist country, encompassing all kinds of new tech, from the internet of things, to big data analysis.

Google, which did not disclose how much it is spending, is far from alone in stressing its corporate social responsibility, allowing firms to do good or look good, or both. It would not hurt to earn some goodwill with Vietnam, which has been overhauling its legislative and regulatory system in a way that has not always gone over well with tech companies.

Last year the Southeast Asian country pressed local advertisers to boycott Facebook and Google’s YouTube because they had permitted content critical of the state. In a more recent example, the National Assembly is debating a draft law on cyber security that would require businesses to store data inside the borders and delete online information that is deemed objectionable.

The U.S. embassy in Hanoi expressed “concerns about Vietnam’s proposed cyber security law, including the impact of localization requirements and restrictions on cross-border services for the future development and growth of Vietnam’s economy.”

Also contributing to the child-friendly computer lessons, with laptops and technical support, is the Dariu Foundation, which focuses on micro-finance and education for low-income people in Vietnam, Myanmar, and India. Nguyen Van Hanh, the director of the Dariu Foundation, noted that roughly 65 percent of those now in primary school will be doing jobs someday that do not exist right now, citing data from the World Economic Forum.

“With all of the economic and social changes brought on by technology, we do not know exactly the kind of skills children will need in order to develop and become citizens who contribute positively to the world in the future through work,” he said in discussing his group’s participation in the Scratch classes. “However, we can be sure that today’s children need to be equipped with many skills to adapt to the challenges and the requirements of the digital era.”

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology invented the simple Scratch language so that computer programming would be more widely accessible. First-time programmers do not type dense lines of code, but rather use logic to design things like animation and games, dragging colorful objects and command labels around the software interface. Even an 8-year-old can do it, and in fact they do.

So will 1,200 public school students in the Vietnamese metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City and the nearby delta provinces of Vinh Long and Tien Giang.

The initiative “Programming the Future with Google,” also includes digital training for 30 local school teachers, will run from now through August.
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Senators Probe Culture of Hidden Abuse in US Sports

06/06/2018 by WPart Leave a Comment

U.S. senators on Tuesday questioned the former president of Michigan State University and several former USA Gymnastics officials to determine what could be done in the future to prevent sexual abuse of athletes. A Senate panel is conducting a series of hearings investigating how much officials knew about years of sexual misconduct by a former USA Gymnastics doctor. Larry Nassar is serving long sentences for sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Senators Probe Culture of Hidden Abuse in US Sports

06/06/2018 by WPart Leave a Comment

U.S. senators on Tuesday questioned the former president of Michigan State University and several former USA Gymnastics officials to determine what could be done in the future to prevent sexual abuse of athletes. A Senate panel is conducting a series of hearings investigating how much officials knew about years of sexual misconduct by a former USA Gymnastics doctor. Larry Nassar is serving long sentences for sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Security Breach at MyHeritage Website Leaks Details of 92 Million Users

06/06/2018 by WPit Leave a Comment

A security breach at family networking and genealogy website MyHeritage leaked the data of over 92 million users, the company said in a blog posted on Monday.

The breach took place on Oct. 26 last year, and consisted of the email addresses and hashed passwords of users who signed up to the website up to the date of the breach, according to the blog post.

The company said it learned about the breach on Monday, when its chief information security officer was notified by a security researcher who found a file with the email addresses and hashed passwords on a private server outside of MyHeritage.

MyHeritage said no other data was found on the server, and that there was no evidence of data in the file being used.

Information about family trees and DNA data are stored on separate systems and were not a part of the breach, the blog said.

MyHeritage said it was investigating the breach and taking steps to engage an independent cybersecurity company to review the incident.

The company advised users to change their passwords.

Israel’s MyHeritage helps families around the world find their history with family tree tools, DNA tests, and a library of historical records.
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Aiming at Trump Strongholds, Mexico Hits Back With Trade Tariffs

06/05/2018 by WPbiz Leave a Comment

Mexico put tariffs on American products ranging from steel to pork and bourbon on Tuesday, retaliating against import duties on metals imposed by

President Donald Trump and taking aim at Republican strongholds ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November.

Mexico’s response further raises trade tensions between the two countries and adds a new complication to efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

American pork producers, for whom Mexico is the largest export market, were dismayed by the move.

Trump last week rattled some of the closest U.S. allies by removing an exemption to tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that his administration had granted to Mexico, Canada and the European Union.

Meanwhile, Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow revived the possibility on Tuesday that the president will seek to replace the trillion dollar North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico, something both countries say they oppose.

Following news of the new Mexican tariffs, which take effect immediately, the peso tumbled to its weakest level since February 2017, making it one of the worst performers among major currencies.

Mexico’s retaliatory list, published in the government’s official gazette, included a 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork legs and shoulders, apples and potatoes and 20 to 25 percent duties on types of cheeses and bourbon.

A net importer of U.S. steel, Mexico is also putting 25 percent duties on a range of U.S. steel products.

Mexico’s trade negotiators designed the list, in part, to include products exported by top Republican leaders’ states, including Indiana where Vice President Mike Pence was formerly governor, according to a trade source familiar with the matter.

Bourbon-producing Kentucky is the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

The new tariffs could also have political implications in some hotly contested races as the Republicans seek to maintain control of both chambers in Congress in November’s election, illustrating the potential perils of Trump’s aggressive efforts to set right what he sees as unfair trade balances with allies and rivals.

Midwestern worries

Iowa, where one incumbent Republican representative, Rod Blum, is seen as vulnerable, is an example of a place where Trump’s party could be hurt. The state is the top pork producing state in the United States and Mexico is its main export market by volume.

“We need trade and one of the things we’re concerned about is long-term implications that these trade issues will have on our partnerships with Mexico and Canada and other markets,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, a Republican.

“Our customers around the world start going to other parts of the world for their supplies, that is a serious problem,” he said.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures at one point fell more than 2 percent following the Mexico pork tariff announcement.

“It certainly casts a negative pall over the market,” said CME livestock futures trader Dan Norcini.

The president of the U.S. National Pork Producers Council, Jim Heimerl, said Mexico accounted for nearly 25 percent of all pork shipments last year, adding that “a 20 percent tariff eliminates our ability to compete effectively in Mexico.”

“This is devastating to my family and pork producing families across the United States,” said Heimerl, a pork producer from Johnstown, Ohio.

In Minnesota, about 14 percent of the state’s $7.1 billion of annual agricultural exports goes to Mexico, one of the state’s top export markets, said Matthew Wohlman, Minnesota Department of Agriculture deputy commissioner.

The Mexican tariffs will hit its pork, dairy and potato exports, Minnesota state officials said.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, called the new tariffs a “gut punch” to farmers in his state, who he said exported more than $68 million in pork to Mexico last year.

“The President’s trade war is going to cost Virginia ag jobs,” he wrote in a tweet.

America first

Mexico announced its response to Trump’s move last week but it did not provide details of tariff levels or a full list of products at the time.

The United States and Mexico do $600 billion in annual trade and about 16 percent of U.S. goods exports go to its southern neighbor. However, the Mexican economy relies more on trade than does the U.S. economy, with about 80 percent of its exports sold to America.

The trade fights with Mexico and Canada are part of the Trump administration’s “America First” economic agenda, which has also put Washington on a collision course with China over trade.

Washington and Beijing have threatened tit-for-tat tariffs on goods worth up to $150 billion each, as Trump has pushed Beijing to open its economy further and address the United States’ large trade deficit with China.

The United States imposed tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum in March, citing national security grounds. Last week Washington said it was ending a two-month exemption it had granted to imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The dispute with Mexico over tariffs makes it more difficult to conclude talks on renegotiating NAFTA between the three countries, discussions that began last year because Trump said the deal needed to be reworked to better serve the United States. Canada has also strongly objected to the metals tariffs.

The U.S. side has linked lifting its tariffs to a successful outcome of the NAFTA negotiations.

Separately, Mexico took steps on Tuesday to make it more attractive for other countries to send it pork by opening a tariff-free quota for some pork imports. Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said his country would now “surely” look to Europe for pork products, used in many traditional dishes in Mexico.
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Trump Wants Separate Trade Talks With Canada, Mexico

06/05/2018 by WPbiz Leave a Comment

U.S. President Donald Trump is “seriously contemplating” trying to reach separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico instead of reshaping the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement with both neighbors, a White House economic adviser said Tuesday.

Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News, “He prefers bilateral negotiations, and he is looking at two much different countries.”

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have for months engaged in talks to revise NAFTA, which has been in force since 1994. But Kudlow said separate deals “might be able to happen more rapidly.”

However, Kudlow said Trump does not plan to withdraw from the three-nation agreement.

“He is seriously contemplating a shift in the NAFTA negotiations … [and] he asked me to convey this,” Kudlow said. The adviser said Trump “believed bilateral is always better. He hates large treaties.”

Trump has long assailed multinational trade deals and within days of assuming power last year, withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other Pacific rim nations.

On Monday, he said on Twitter, “The U.S. has made such bad trade deals over so many years that we can only WIN!”

He declared, “China already charges a tax of 16% on soybeans. Canada has all sorts of trade barriers on our Agricultural products. Not acceptable!”

Trump contended, “Farmers have not been doing well for 15 years. Mexico, Canada, China and others have treated them unfairly. By the time I finish trade talks, that will change. Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses, will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer!”

The NAFTA talks have stalled on U.S. demands to increase American components in duty-free NAFTA autos, as well as its argument that any new agreement end after five years.

Kudlow said he told top Canadian officials Monday about Trump’s hope for bilateral trade talks and is awaiting for reaction from Ottawa.

“The important thought is he may be moving quickly towards these bilateral discussions instead of as a whole,” Kudlow said.

Trump’s trade talks with China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union have proved contentious. The U.S. leader last week drew the ire of Canada, Mexico and the EU by imposing tariffs on their aluminum and steel exports.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the tariffs “insulting and unacceptable.” In a weekend television interview, Kudlow called the U.S.-Canada trade dispute a “family quarrel.”

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Indian Himalayan Town’s Water Woes a Wake up Call

06/05/2018 by WPart Leave a Comment

As the vast Indian plains sizzle during the summer months, the picturesque hill resort of Shimla turns into a tourist haven. But after the Himalayan town’s water supplies virtually ran out, panicked residents sent out “Stop Visiting Shimla” social media posts, schools were temporarily shut, and authorities faced angry protests as people lined up to get meager supplies from water tankers.

Like other residents, Nilu Parmar faced a crisis since the problem erupted two weeks ago, even though she lives in an upmarket area that is usually spared the worst of Shimla’s water woes. “Even the tanker did not have enough water. So they were giving like three buckets per family,” she says.

The water crisis in the hill town, home to about 180,000 people, has eased slightly, although supplies are still strictly rationed. But it served as a wake up call for India, where sprawling metropolises such as New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai routinely face critical water shortages as ground water levels deplete and lakes and rivers dry up.

Although Shimla is much smaller, comparisons were drawn to Cape Town, the South African city that faces the prospect of “Day Zero” when taps could run dry.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur of Himachal Pradesh state, of which Shimla is the capital, blamed the water woes on meager snowfall and rainfall, which feeds mountain rivers and streams.

Others cited many more reasons for the chronic shortfall that has been steadily worsening: massive construction over the lush green slopes to accommodate the rush of tourists, an old water pipe system that results in leaks and unchecked extraction of ground water that is rapidly depleting water levels.

Experts also warned although the situation may not have reached Shimla’s proportion in other cities, they confront similar problems putting them also at risk of facing similar crises.The countryside is not much better off: women often walk for miles to fetch water in many areas.

“The trajectory we are on is of course one that is worrisome,” says Arunabha Ghosh, founder of the Council for Energy, Environment and Water in New Delhi. Citing India’s rapidly growing population and economy he points out that “while traditionally one would normally move from agriculture to industry to services, in India all these three sectors are growing simultaneously.”

While demand has grown enormously in a country of 1.3 billion people, experts also say India’s water woes are not as much due to scarcity as poor management of water sources and supplies.

Almost 70 percent of India’s population depends on groundwater for drinking and irrigation, but indiscriminate pumping over the past four decades has sent water plunging to dangerously low levels, warns Professor Abhijit Mukherjee, a hydrologist at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, who has done several studies.

“I call it the largest extraction of ground water extracted in human history. If you look at the volume of water that has been extracted from India, it is more than the U.S. and China have taken out,” says the hydrologist.

Urban residents increasingly dig wells in their backyards to bypass unreliable municipal supplies. Farmers pump out water for their crops, even in areas close to rivers and streams because these are choked with urban and industrial waste and of little use in irrigating fields.

To underline the urgency of reviving the depleting water table, experts repeatedly point out that India has 18 percent of the world’s population and four percent of its water resources. Some states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have reported success after building recharge structures says Abhijit Mukherjee.

“They did small community level interventions, building small check dams, ponds, recharge canals.” But he warns that India has a small window in which to ensure that those in other parts of the country do not face the situation that Shimla residents coped with.

“Beg, borrow, steal: you do all sorts of things. You learn to have a bath in a basin and then throw that water in the flush,” says Nilu Parmar.
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