1
Opinion
Judges and Justice for Sale
The special-interest money unleashed by recent Supreme Court rulings has made judicial elections worse than ever.
2
Business Day
Zendesk Shares Soar in Debut
The cloud-based software start-up had a buoyant trading debut on Thursday, defying a broader slump in the shares of young companies.
3
U.S.
Ivy League Degrees, Elite Consulting Jobs, and Now Tea Party Candidacies
Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Tom Cotton of Arkansas are running for the Senate as common-man conservatives but share high-flying pedigrees.
4
Technology
Video: Facial Recognition Software in Action
Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the founder of FST Biometrics, demonstrates how his company’s technology can identify people from their appearance and movements.
5
World
As U.S. Looks to Nuclear Deal, Book Faults Handling of Iranian Defector
A new book asserts that an Iranian intelligence officer who is living in the United States under C.I.A. protection oversaw the bombing of the American Embassy in 1983.
6
Opinion
Always Hungry? Here’s Why
Are we fat because we overeat, or do we overeat because we’re fat?Sugar: The Bitter Truth - UCTV - University of California ...
www.uctv.tv/.../Sugar-The-Bitter-Trut...
Sugar: The Bitter Truth.
UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presents Mini Medical School
for the Public. Premiere Date: 7/27/2009; 89 minutes ...
University of California Television
7
Your Money
Partnerships That Blend the Skills of Two Generations
Multigenerational ventures defy the stereotype about younger and older people battling over jobs in the still-shaky economy.
8
World
Philippine Fishermen Caught in Geopolitical Tussle
China’s claim to a coveted fishing area in the South China Sea is endangering the economy of a Philippine fishing town.Islands and seamounts
See also: South China Sea Islands
The South China Sea contains over 250 small islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars,
most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are naturally
under water at high tide, and some of which are permanently submerged.
The features are grouped into three archipelagos (listed by area size),
Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal:
- The Spratly Islands
- The Paracel Islands
- The Pratas Islands
- The Macclesfield Bank
- The Scarborough Shoal
The largest singular feature in the area of the Spratly Islands is a 100 km wide seamount called Reed Tablemount, also known as Reed Bank, in the northeast of the group, separated from Palawan Island of the Philippines by the Palawan Trench. Now completely submerged, with a depth of 20 m, it was an island until it sank about 7,000 years ago due to the increasing sea level after the last ice age. With an area of 8,866 km², it is one of the largest submerged atoll structures of the world.
Resources
It is an extremely significant body of water in a geopolitical sense. It is the second most used sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage, over 50% passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait. Over 1.6 million m³ (10 million barrels) of crude oil a day are shipped through the Strait of Malacca, where there are regular reports of piracy, but much less frequently than before the mid-20th century.The region has proven oil reserves of around 1.2 km³ (7.7 billion barrels), with an estimate of 4.5 km³ (28 billion barrels) in total. Natural gas reserves are estimated to total around 7,500 km³ (266 trillion cubic feet). A 2013 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration raised the total estimated oil reserves to 11 billion barrels.[15] In 2014 China began to drill for oil in waters disputed with Vietnam.[16]
According to studies made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines, this body of water holds one third of the entire world's marine biodiversity, thereby making it a very important area for the ecosystem. However the fish stocks in the area are depleted, and countries are using fishing bans as a means of asserting their sovereignty claims.[17]
Territorial claims
Main article: Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- Indonesia, China, and Taiwan over waters NE of the Natuna Islands
- The Philippines, China, and Taiwan over Scarborough Shoal.
- Vietnam, China, and Taiwan over waters west of the Spratly Islands. Some or all of the islands themselves are also disputed between Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
- The Paracel Islands are disputed between the PRC/ROC and Vietnam.
- Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam over areas in the Gulf of Thailand.
- Singapore and Malaysia along the Strait of Johore and the Strait of Singapore.
ASEAN in general, and Malaysia in particular, has been keen to ensure that the territorial disputes within the South China Sea do not escalate into armed conflict. As such, Joint Development Authorities have been set up in areas of overlapping claims to jointly develop the area and dividing the profits equally without settling the issue of sovereignty over the area. This is true, particularly in the Gulf of Thailand. Generally, China has preferred to resolve competing claims bi-laterally,[18] while some ASEAN countries prefer multi-lateral talks,[19] believing that they are disadvantaged in bi-lateral negotiations with the much larger China and that because many countries claim the same territory only multilateral talks could effectively resolve the competing claims.[20]
The overlapping claims over Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Putih including neighboring Middle Rocks by both Singapore and Malaysia were settled in 2008 by the International Court of Justice, awarding Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia.
In July 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the Peoples Republic of China to resolve the territorial dispute. China responded by demanding the US keep out of the issue. This came at a time when both countries have been engaging in naval exercises in a show of force to the opposing side, which increased tensions in the region.[21] The US Department of Defense released a statement on August 18 where it opposed the use of force to resolve the dispute, and accused China of assertive behaviour.[22]
In May 2011, Chinese naval ships attacked and cut the cable of Vietnamese oil exploration ship. This incidence sparked several protests against China in Vietnam.[23]
On July 22, 2011, one of India's amphibious assault vessels, the INS Airavat which was on a friendly visit to Vietnam, was reportedly contacted at a distance of 45 nautical miles from the Vietnamese coast in the disputed South China Sea on an open radio channel by a vessel identifying itself as the Chinese Navy and stating that the ship was entering Chinese waters.[24][25] The spokesperson for the Indian Navy clarified that as no ship or aircraft was visible from INS Airavat it proceeded on her onward journey as scheduled. The Indian Navy further clarified that "[t]here was no confrontation involving the INS Airavat. India supports freedom of navigation in international waters, including in the South China Sea, and the right of passage in accordance with accepted principles of international law. These principles should be respected by all." [24]
In September 2011, shortly after China and Vietnam had signed an agreement seeking to contain a dispute over the South China Sea, India's state-run explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said that its overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh Limited had signed a three-year deal with PetroVietnam for developing long-term cooperation in the oil sector and that it had accepted Vietnam's offer of exploration in certain specified blocks in the South China Sea.[26] In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu issued a protest.[27][28] The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India responded by saying that “The Chinese had concerns but we are going by what the Vietnamese authorities have told us and have conveyed this to the Chinese.”[27] The Indo-Vietnamese deal was also denounced by the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times.[26][28]
9
World
Afghan Lovers’ Plight Shaking Up the Lives of Those Left in Their Wake
However matters eventually turn out for the Afghan Romeo and Juliet who eloped into hiding, a happily-ever-after ending is eluding many of those whose lives crossed theirs.
10
11
U.S.
Arizona’s All-Points Bulletin: Who Can Take in a Chihuahua?
The popular breed is overpopulating areas where spaying and neutering are not embraced, and groups are getting creative to find homes for the dogs.
12
U.S.
Phone Company Pushed Back Against N.S.A.’s Data Collection, Court Papers Show
A judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had suggested that no company raised any legal concerns about the bulk collection of its customers’ calling records.
"The
national security official said the court papers concerning the January
2010 episode had been declassified at the request of the first carrier.
President
George W. Bush created the bulk email and phone data programs outside
of any statutory framework or judicial oversight. In 2004, after the
Justice Department decided that the email program was illegal, the Bush
administration persuaded the surveillance court to grant its legal
blessing to the program.
The court brought the call records program under its authority in 2006."
13
The Upshot
There’s a Better Way to Measure Who Has Raised the Most Money
Has Marco Rubio outperformed Rand Paul in fund-raising? It’s not easy to tell, but we should focus on the money available to spend on campaigns, not the amount brought in.
14
Opinion
No Slowdown in Unfair Marijuana Arrests
Extreme racial disparities in the arrest statistics for low-level possession make it imperative that the city take a closer look.
15
Business Day
Euro Zone Economy Grows More Slowly Than Expected
Gross domestic product in the 18 nations rose 0.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, as Germany helped make up for France and Italy.Demography and the Bicycle Effect
When Alvin Hansen first proposed the
concept of secular stagnation, he emphasized the role of slowing
population growth in depressing investment demand (and his warnings were
made moot by the postwar baby boom.) Modern discussions
return to that emphasis: Japan’s shrinking working-age population looks
like an important source of its problems, and slowing population growth
in Europe and America are important reasons to believe that we may be
entering a similar regime.
But whenever I raise these points, I get questions from people who ask why I don’t regard slowing population growth as a good thing. After all, it means less pressure on resources, less environmental damage, and so on.
What’s important to realize, then, is that
slower population growth indeed could and should be a good thing — but
that what passes for sound economic policy is all too likely to turn
this potentially good development into a major problem. Why? Because
under the current rules of the game, there’s a strong bicycle aspect to
our economies: unless they’re moving forward sufficiently rapidly, they
tend to fall over.
It’s a pretty straightforward point. To have
more or less full employment, we need sufficient spending to make use of
the economy’s potential. But one important component of spending,
investment, is subject to the accelerator effect: the demand for new
capital depends on the economy’s rate of growth, rather than the current
level of output. So if growth slows due to a falloff in population
growth, investment demand falls — potentially pushing the economy into a
semi-permanent slump.
Now, you could say that this should be easy
to deal with; just reduce the interest rate sufficiently to sustain
investment demand despite population slowdown. The problem is that the
required real interest rate on safe assets may end up being negative,
and is therefore achievable only if we have sufficient inflation — which
runs into an ideological commitment to price stability.
This is basically a technical problem, and in
a better world we would simply deal with that problem while enjoying
the benefits of a less crowded planet. In this world, however, technical
problems — magneto trouble — can in fact do immense damage, because so
few people are willing to think clearly about their nature. And that’s
why we worry about slowing population growth."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/secular-stagnation-in-the-euro-area/
Secular Stagnation in the Euro Area
Most discussion about the possibility
of secular stagnation has focused on US data, partly because most of the
new secular stagnationists are American, partly because the data are
easier to work with. But as Izabella Kaminska and James Mackintosh
point out, the euro area seems closer to Japanification than the US. So
are there structural changes in Europe that arguably will lead to
persistently lower demand unless offset by policy?
Indeed there are. Start with demography: a
falling rate of growth in the working-age population leads, other things
equal, to lower investment as a share of GDP, because there is less
need to equip workers with new factories, office buildings, houses, etc.
And if we look at working-age population for the US, the euro area
(EA), and Japan we see that Europe is now where Japan was around 1998,
when I and other Japan worriers started talking in earnest about
liquidity traps:
Add to this the end of ever-increasing
leverage. In the US we focus on how ever-growing household debt was a
major source of demand before 2008, which won’t come back; in Europe
much the same was going on, but it also makes sense to focus on a
different measure, large capital flows to peripheral countries, which
won’t come back even if the woes of austerity abate. And these flows
were a big part of overall European demand before the crisis:
So with a shrinking working-age population
and without the boost to demand caused by the capital-flow bubble,
Europe is extremely likely to have a significantly lower natural real
rate of interest heading forward than it had in the past. This in turn
suggests that it’s a really really bad idea to let inflation drift down,
whether or not it turns into outright deflation."
16
N.Y. / Region
Reports of Gas Odors Surge After East Harlem Blast
The number of calls to Consolidated Edison has led to a backlog of pipe repairs nearly twice as big as state regulators consider acceptable.
17
World
Germany: Snowden Approved for Honorary Doctorate
Academics at the University of Rostock approved a proposal on Wednesday to honor Edward J. Snowden, the former contractor who leaked National Security Agency documents.
18
N.Y. / Region
Possible Deal May Bring Money to Repair Pier 40 in Manhattan
State officials and a developer have struck a tentative deal to rehabilitate Pier 40 by transferring unused development rights from a nearby site for more than $100 million.
19
U.S.
Arkansas: Ruling on Voter ID Law Tossed Out
The Arkansas Supreme Court tossed out a judge’s ruling striking down the state’s voter ID law on Wednesday, but it stopped short of ruling on the constitutionality of the measure.
20
N.Y. / Region
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