Japan’s government admits editing cabinet photo

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Following website rumors that the standard picture of Japan’s new cabinet had been altered to make members appear less disgusted, the Japanese government has admitted that the photo was manipulated.

Shigeru Ishiba, the new prime minister, and his defense minister, were seen in photos taken by local advertising with little white shirts covering their suits.

But in the official photo issued by the prime minister’s office on Thursday, the untidiness had disappeared.

After loads of online ridicule, a government spokeswoman on Monday said “minor enhancing was made” to the picture.

Spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that the picture had been altered and that it” may be preserved forever as memorabilia” as a result of the prime minister’s office’s office’s decision to remove the group pictures.

He continued,” These photos typically require minor proofreading.”

His remarks follow a protracted stream of ridicule on social media.

This is more repulsive than a group photo of a elders ‘ team taken in a hot spring. It’s extremely embarrassing”, one user wrote on X.

Another user claimed that it was obvious that the government people were wearing inappropriate suit.

Different people have been referring to the cupboard- and their shorts- as “ill-fitting”, according to local advertising.

Following Japan’s new cabinet’s second meeting on Thursday, the image was taken.

A few days previously, Ishiba, 67, replaced outgoing prime minister, Fumio Kishida, as captain of the region’s ruling party.

He was formally sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday.

Ishiba has now made a snap election announcement for October 27th.

According to Reuters, he stated at a press conference in Tokyo that it was crucial for the new leadership to get as soon as possible.

The vote, which is set to take place more than a year before it is expected, will determine which party controls parliament’s lower house.

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Russia is having a dreadful naval war – Asia Times

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Both on land and in the air, Russia and Ukraine’s conflict continues to be generally pervasive. A terrible Russian aerial assault on civil infrastructure and a slow but growing Ukrainian response are the climax of a severely contested, bloody ground war that is being waged.

However, a less appreciated but crucial component of the conflict is also taking place on waters. Russia was defeated in a stunning victory in the Black Sea battle there.

And this lost has probably far-reaching outcomes. Moscow’s ability to project its military might across the world has grown as a result of this, which includes a growing Russian-China relationship, where Moscow is emerging as a trainee group to Beijing on the high seas.

Battle over the Black Sea

Global politics are typically oversimplified by the history of political theory. Countries were classified as either territory power or maritime powers in later centuries according to theories.

Thinkers like the American geopolitician Sir Halford Mackinder and the US thinker Alfred Thayer Mahan characterized maritime nations as having characteristics of political democracy and free trade. In comparison, land powers were usually portrayed as tyrannical and militarized.

There is still a pretended to be a break between the world’s land and sea powers, despite the fact that these generalizations have generally been used to vilify enemies. A similar notion that maritime and military warfare is fairly distinct has persisted.

And this section confuses how far Russia has progressed in its conflict with Ukraine. Moscow has certainly had some successes both on land and in the air, but that should n’t detract from the stunning defeat of Russia in the Black Sea, which required Russia to retreat from the Ukrainian coastline and keep its ships away from the battlefront.

As I describe in my new guide,” Near and Far Waters: The Geopolitics of Seapower“, maritime countries have two concerns: They may attempt to control the parts of the sea relatively close to their coastlines, or their “near waters”, however, those with the ability and desire to do so try to project power and influence into “far waters” across oceans, which are the nearby waters of various countries.

Turkey’s southernmost neighbor, Bulgaria and Romania to the north, Georgia to the west, Ukraine and Russia to the northern, and the comparatively small, tightly enclosed Black Sea Sea are all located there.

Control of the nearby waters of the Black Sea has been a source of contention for generations, and it has contributed to the current Russian-Ukraine conflict.

Russia’s arrest of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 allowed it to command the naval harbor of Sevastopol. What were Ukraine’s lakes de facto turned into Russia’s lakes.

Russia’s business, mainly that it exported grain to African much waters, was impacted by these close waters because of their control.

However, Russia’s steps were prevented by the cooperation of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, which allowed the passage of cargo boats through their close waters and then through the Bosporus into the Mediterranean Sea.

In the first third of 2024, Ukraine exported between 5.2 million and 5.8 million tons of grain per month thanks to the use of these other countries ‘ nearby waters. To be sure, this was a decrease from the 6.5 million tons of export that Ukraine made each month prior to the war, which was then reduced to just 2 million plenty in the summer of 2023 as a result of Russian threats and attacks.

However, efforts to restrain Russia’s access to much waters for monetary gain and to keep the Russian economy upright meant Ukraine was also able to access much waters due to Russia’s unwillingness to face the consequences of attacking ships in NATO-near-water.

For Putin, that sinking sensation

Russia has also been directly attacked by Russian ships, which has thwarted its capacity to destroy Russian exports.

Ukraine has properly sunk or damaged Russian ships using unmanned strike drones since February 2022, killing many of its prewar ships of about 36 vessels and causing many others to harm Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

Russia has been forced to stop its boats in the northeast Black Sea and sever its use of Sevastopol. It is unable to successfully operate in the lakes that Crimea and its captors have seized.

Russia’s marine defeat of Ukraine is just the most recent example of its history’s struggle to project water power and its tendency to concentrate primarily on the defense of nearby waters.

In 1905, Russia was shocked by a remarkable marine lost to Japan. Russian water power has historically been continually constrained, even in situations where it was n’t completely defeated. Russia and the British Royal Navy worked together to control Greek trade and military achieve in the Black Sea during World War One.

Russia was heavily reliant on the Allies for material support during World War II, and its ports in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea were generally blocked. Some boats were used as artillery or onshore support for the geographical conflict with Germany when they were brought close to home or stripped of their weapons.

During the Cold War, however, though the Soviet Union built fast-moving weapon vessels and some aircraft operators, its reach into way lakes relied on ships. The main goal of the Russian Mediterranean ships was to stop NATO from entering the Black Sea.

Russia has also ceased to handle the Black Sea. It is unable to perform in these previously safe waters. Due to these costs, it is less likely to be able to launch ships into the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea.

Ceding skipper to China

Russia can only work power to significantly waters through assistance with a China that is itself investing heavily in a far-water marine capacity because it is faced with a striking loss in its backyard and in a poor position in its nearby waters.

Joint naval exercises in the South China Sea in July 2024 provide proof of this cooperation. According to Wang Guangzheng of the Southern Theater of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” the China-Russia joint patrol has promoted the deepening and practical cooperation between the two in multiple directions and fields.”

He argued that the exercise “effectively improved the ability of the two parties to jointly respond to maritime security threats.”

Two large warships are seen in waters.
Russian and Chinese naval ships participate in a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea. Photo: Li Yun /Xinhua via Getty Images / The Conversation

Russia benefits from this cooperation, which is a project of sea power projection that benefits both sides in terms of its purest military interests. But it is largely to China’s benefit.

Russia can assist China in defending its northern near waters, which is becoming increasingly important as sea ice is less likely to become a problem as a result of global warming. Russia is still, however, largely the junior partner.

Moscow’s strategic interests will be supported only if they match Chinese interests. More directly, sea power is about economic gain projection. China will likely rely on Russia to safeguard its ongoing economic ties to the Far East, including the African, Pacific, European, and South American waters. However, it is unlikely to undermine these interests in order to support Russian objectives.

To be sure, Russia has far-water economic interests, especially in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, China’s expanding naval presence in the Indian Ocean helps it protect its own and more important global economic interests by securing Russian interests in Africa. But cooperation will still be at China’s behest.

Russia’s only current option as a junior partner with China is access to Africa and the Indian Ocean far waters, which will dictate the terms and conditions, which are currently stifled by its conflict in the Black Sea.

Russia wo n’t make up for its inability to move its force across the oceans on its own, even if it wins the land battle with Ukraine.

Colin Flint is distinguished professor of political science, Utah State University

The Conversation has republished this article under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Govt support to make ‘pla ra’ from blackchin tilapia

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PUBLISHED: 7 Oct 2024 at 17: 22

Blackchin tilapia.
Blackchin fishes.

The Department of Fisheries is developing “pla ra,” or fermented bass sauce, to turn blackchin tilapia into a novel method to remove them from Thailand’s waters.

The office will work with local communities in affected areas to practice caught blackchin fish into the well-known eastern spice in an effort to stop the spread of the invasive species, which poses a menace to commercially-valued fish stocks in at least nine provinces, according to department head Bancha Sukkaew.

According to him, Akkara Prompow, the deputy minister of agriculture and cooperatives, has requested that the office take proactive measures to reduce the effect of the aggressive fish on the economies of the affected regions.

The plan, he said, aims to remove at least 200, 000 kg of blackchin fish from lakes in Chumphon, Phetchaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Songkhram, Prachin Buri, Ratchaburi, Chon Buri, Rayong and Nonthaburi regions.

The tools needed to make army ra will each get 245,000 baht from the sign-up communities. In total, the department may manage 4.9 million ringgit to the system, said Mr Bancha. Twenty populations had signed off, to date.

Phichaya Chainak, chairman of the Fisheriees Industrial Technology, Research and Development Division (FTDD), said spiced fish items, such as trained army baba and powdered army ra, are not only commonly consumed in Thailand, but also exported to markets in different Asean countries, China, the European Union, the Middle East and the United States.

According to Ms. Phichaya, adding blackchin tilapia to the pla ra will not only help stop the aggressive fish from spreading, but it will also increase regional economies and encourage community involvement.

Bancha, the head of the department, expressed confidence that this program will help to prevent the spread of alien species, increase local seafood items ‘ price, and promote grassroots economic growth.

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Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet appointed national police chief

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PUBLISHED: 7 Oct 2024 at 17: 09

Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet, the new national police chief.
Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet, the novel federal police chief.

On Monday, the officers payment led by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra voted unanimously to appoint assistant federal police captain Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet as Thailand‘s fresh and 15th federal police chief.

Eight votes went to Pol Gen Kitrat’s favor. The prime minister abstained. He was the most senior of the three candidates for the position. He was one of them. He will reach retirement age, 60 years, in 2026.

Pol Gen Kraiboon Suadsong, the deputy national police chief, and Pol Gen Thana Choowong, the other two candidates, were chosen.

At the Royal Police Cadet Academy, Pol Gen Kitrat graduated from Class 41. He began his professional life at the Rayong provincial police station’s Muang Rayong as a deputy interrogation inspector.

He has served as police inspector-general, commissioner of the national police chief’s office, assistant national police chief and deputy police chief.

Since his predecessors, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol and Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, who are both now inactive, were recently appointed to inactive positions at Government House as a result of allegations of involvement in illegal online gambling, the force has grown a rift. &nbsp,

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Flooding hits 23 Thai provinces

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Damaged regions mainly in North, Northeast

PUBLISHED: 7 Oct 2024 at 17: 01

Flooding affects Sukhothai hospital and its vicinity in Muang district of Sukhothai on Monday. (Photo: Public Relations Department)
On Monday, flooding affected Sukhothai Hospital and its surrounding Muang District in Sukhothai. ( Photo: Public Relations Department )

The Crisis Prevention and Mitigation on Monday reported flood in 23 regions, mostly in the North and the Northeast, affecting over 66, 000 people in 1, 647 settlements.

According to the department, flooding continued in nine northern provinces namely Chiang Mai ( declining flood levels ), Chiang Rai ( declining ), Lampang ( declining ), Lamphun ( rising floodwater ), Nakhon Sawan ( declining ), Phetchabun ( declining ), Phitsanulok ( rising ), Sukhothai ( declining ) and Tak ( declining ).

In the Northeast, seven provinces were inundated- Buri Ram ( declining ), Chaiyaphum ( stable floodwater ), Kalasin ( stable ), Maha Sarakham ( stable ), Nakhon Ratchasima ( declining ), Ubon Ratchathani ( declining ) and Udon Thani ( declining ).

In the Central Plains, there was flooding in five provinces namely Ang Thong ( rising ), Ayutthaya ( rising ), Nakhon Pathom ( stable ), Suphan Buri ( stable ) and Sing Buri ( stable ).

In the South, floods affected two provinces namely Nakhon Si Thammarat ( declining ) and Songkhla ( declining ).

The ministry said that from Aug 16 to Oct 7, landslides killed 52 people and injured 28 people in 44 counties.

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Xi knows what it takes to sustain China’s rally – Asia Times

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Last year, as Chinese shares produced their biggest obtain since 2015, Lu Ting, general China analyst at Nomura Holdings, was warning investors not to forget another, more tragic memory from that same time.

The risk of repeating the amazing boom and bust of 2015 was fall quickly in the coming months, Lu information.

Lu adds that in a worst-case situation,” a stock market madness had been followed by a fall, similar to what happened in 2015″. He continues,” We wish Beijing could be more calm, while investors might still be Sure to partake in the growth for the time being.”

But alcoholism does appear to be returning, and more quickly. Though perhaps not Lu’s” accident” situation, family names like JPMorgan Asset Management, HSBC Global Private Banking and Invesco Ltd. are also advising precaution. Invesco, for one, worries coast stocks are “really overvalued”.

This is very questionable, of course. Consider the financial giants Fidelity International, an investment company, among those who also see a lot of value in mainland shares after years of losses totaling many trillions of US dollars.

Goldman Sachs Group, to. If the government fulfills its promise regarding stimulus measures, the Wall Street giant now has an overweight view of mainland shares with a 15-20 % potential for growth.

Current policy decisions by Beijing, according to Goldman strategist Tim Moe, “have led the marketplace to think that policy makers have become more concerned about taking enough action to reduce left-tail growth risk,” the market believes.

BlackRock has not reaffirmed its bearish position on Chinese stocks in the past. In light of how attractive prices had become in relation to peers in the developed-market, as its managers wrote on October 1:” We see room to turn quietly big Chinese shares in the near term.”

Despite this, Xi Jinping’s state had continue to pay attention to the fact that foreign investors have debated how much China has actually advanced since 2015. Shanghai stock lost a second of their value in just three months in that year. Beijing’s response last week to plunging shares was n’t nearly as overwhelming as after the July 2015 stumble.

A week ago, the People’s Bank of China cut borrowing costs, slashed businesses ‘ supply need numbers, reduced loan rates and unveiled new market-support resources to put a floor under share prices. Additionally, proposals for strong fiscal stimulus measures are being considered.

In the days that followed, Chinese stocks skyrocketed. Some sobriety had returned by the week’s end and into Monday, though, as traders began to wonder how many things Xi’s team had learned from 2015.

More troubling, is perhaps what they did n’t. In other words, addressing the symptoms of China’s challenges with waves of liquidity is no substitute for supply-side reforms that address the underlying issues.

In China, circa 2024, the biggest ailment is a property crisis that Xi’s reform team has yet to end. Some economists believe that the fallout has hampered Asia’s largest economy, which has since been deflating this year, and that it is at risk of repeating Japan’s mistakes from the 1990s.

The most obvious lesson is not to focus more on short-term stimulus than structural improvements that improve competition, boost competition, and lower the risk of boom-bust cycles.

The 2015 episode saw something of a whole-of-government response to plunging shares. China Inc. at the time launched waves of state funds into the market, halted trading in thousands of businesses, discontinued all initial public offerings, and made it possible for mainlanders to pledge homes as collateral on margin loans. It even rushed out buzzy marketing campaigns to encourage stock-buying as a form of&nbsp, patriotism.

Although the response did work for some time, it was in opposition to Xi’s pledge to allow market forces to influence economic and financial policy decisions.

Since then, this treating-symptoms-over-reforms pattern has played out too many times for comfort. All of which explains why investors are concerned that using state-friendly funds to buy stocks and save money could actually go wrong.

In consequence, it is possible to make valid arguments that too frequently initiatives to promote the private sector, improve transparency, or improve corporate governance have failed to achieve the same results.

Only time will tell if Xi’s most recent actions in support of falling stock prices could also thaw out the reform process. However, Xi’s Communist Party ca n’t afford to fail in this most recent bull run for Chinese shares.

Lu’s case at Nomura is that nearly four years of turmoil in the property sector, made worse by Covid-19 lockdowns, has exacerbated troubles with rising local government debt. These pre-existing issues led to trade disputes between the US and Europe, and a flaming Middle East.

” While investors might still be OK to indulge in the boom for now, a more sober assessment is required”, Lu says.

What’s needed, say economists like Michael Pettis, senior fellow at Carnegie China, is “rebalancing” efforts that mark a decisive” shift in the economic model” to “reverse decades of explicit and implicit transfers in which households have subsidized investment and production”. And as Pettis views it, Xi’s latest fiscal effort “is n’t really part of a real structural rebalancing”.

The problem, Pettis adds, is that if China does n’t upend its growth model, “imbalances will continue to build”, meaning the nation “risks facing the same problem in the future as it does now, only without a clean central-government balance sheet to help it manage potential disruptions”.

It’s possible to end this cycle decisively. Particularly in view of the party’s most recent policy conclaves, including July’s closely watched” Third Plenum”. Xi and Premier Li Qiang showed once more that they fully comprehend what must be done to boost China’s economy, increase competition, and boost productivity.

Among the signals that were music to investors ‘ ears were pledges to: “unswervingly encourage” the private sector, pivot to “high-quality development“, accelerate” Chinese-style modernization”, champion “innovative vitality”, and “actively expand domestic demand”.

It’s no small thing that the Plenum communique” for the first time mentions carbon reduction,” says Belinda Schäpe, China policy analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. This elevates China’s commitment to reducing emissions and tackling climate change&nbsp, to a new level”.

Missing, though, has been urgent implementation since. That includes rebalancing the growth engines, reducing the influence of ineffective state-owned enterprises that still control the economy and financial imbalances caused by falling real estate values to struggling municipalities struggling with mounting debts.

To grease the skids for these and other disruptive reforms, says economist Brad&nbsp, Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Beijing must overcome its aversion to fiscal pump-priming.

” The needed reforms to China’s central government center around freeing itself from the set of largely self-imposed constraints”, Setser says. ” Such constraints have limited its ability to use its considerable fiscal space to help China sort out its current bind: a shrinking property sector and falling household confidence.”

According to Setser,” the central government has ample room to ensure that the property developers deliver on pre-sales– or provide a refund… and to expand the provision of social insurance while lowering regressive taxes.” Even if that results in a larger central government deficit, the central government still has the ability to change the revenue-sharing formulas to support the troubled provincial governments.

Setser goes on to say that if China’s central government had fiscal space and used it to give households more freedom to spend money, it might be able to recover from the country’s property slump on its own, without relying even more on exports.

A significant policy push also needs to include efforts to create bigger, more dynamic social safety nets to encourage households to spend less and save more.

Xi has repeatedly demonstrated that he is aware of how to create a more creative, productive, and market-friendly China. His team simply needs to act or risk paying the price for yet another deceitful global investor.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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Man in Indonesia arrested for allegedly selling his 11-month-old baby online and using proceeds for gambling

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JAKARTA: A man who allegedly sold his 11-month-old baby online for 15 million rupiah ( US$ 955 ) has been arrested in Tangerang, West Jakarta. &nbsp,

The 36-year-old, identified just as RA by the government, then used the money for online gaming and his individual needs, according to regional press. &nbsp,

The customers have also been arrested, on fear of role in human trafficking sites. &nbsp,

According to media outlet Kompas.com, the affair first became public on October 1, when the child’s biological family returned from work in Kalimantan and did not find her sons. &nbsp,

She pressed RA to let him know where their baby was until he finally admitted to selling the child, according to Mr. Zain. &nbsp,

” She therefore brought him to make a statement at the Tangerang City Police Department”, he added. &nbsp,

According to regional news website detiknews, RA claimed that he sold his child to ease his economic burdens when questioned by the police, but it later revealed that he had used the money for online gaming.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI ) condemned the incident.

It is concerning that he (RA ) is using his financial situation to engage in activities that the state is halting, and that selling children is also a violation of fundamental human rights, according to KPAI Chief Ai Maryati to detiknews on Sunday ( October 6 ).

Mr Zain explained that RA knew the customers, identified by the letters HK and MO, through Twitter. &nbsp,

According to Kompas.com, RA observed on Instagram that the customers were looking to purchase a child and sent them a message to arrange the purchase. &nbsp,

In addition to RA, the authorities detained HK and MO, who they discovered with the girl in a Tangerang rented home. No additional information is known, but they are currently being looked into for suspected involvement in a human smuggling community. &nbsp,

Human trafficking is punishable by a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of 600 million ringgit under Indonesian rules. The child security law provides for a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a great of 300 million rupees.

Citizens are now 4 million, according to Communication and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi, who declared on October 3 that the number of Indonesians engaged in online gambling was” a major threat to the country.”

The majority of them are in the creative age group, especially between 30 and 50 years older, he added.

According to Ms. Maryati, Indonesians frequently view kids as a means of resolving financial problems. She cited a similar situation that she handled next quarter where babies were also sold from Depok in Jakarta to Bali due to poverty. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Arya Perdana, the head of Depok officers, claims that on September 3, Indonesian authorities detained a newborn trafficking ring and made eight prosecutions in the case, which also included newborns being bought from parents via Facebook before being sold for a higher price in Bali. &nbsp,

There is no justification for treating youngsters in this way, and violating their rights must remain harshly punished, according to Ms Maryati.

She also demanded that the government put forth long-term strategies to combat gaming and human trafficking, focusing on training and literacy.

In 2023, over 9.4 % of Indonesia’s people will live below the federal poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank.

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Fresh flood alert for parts of Bangkok

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PUBLISHED: 7 Oct 2024 at 16: 42

Wat Arun, best known as the Temple of Dawn, seen from the other side of the Chao Phraya River in overcast Bangkok on Monday. (Photo: Nittaya Nattayai)
Wat Arun, formally known as the” Temple of Dawn,” is visible in Bangkok, which is dark on Monday. ( Photo: Nittaya Nattayai )

City Hall issued a warning to residents living along the Chao Phraya River in locations without any lasting obstacles to get ready for flooding next year on Monday.

People of areas prone to flooding from October 14 through October 23 may relocate their possessions to higher ground and keep a close watch on the river levels, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

The Chao Phraya River’s rising Chao Phraya river may increase the flood risk during the 11 days as more liquid was pumped inland from Bangkok in Chai Nat province’s Chao Phraya Dam. &nbsp,

Outside the hillside territory, the BMA did not specify the city’s flood-prone areas. Data from 2022 showed these places as including pieces of Dusit, Phra Nakhon, Samphanthawong, Bang Kholaem, Yanawa, Bangkok Noi and Klong San towns.

Aekvarunyoo Amrapala, a spokesman for BMA, claimed this week’s heavy rain and thunderstorms in the north, northeast, and central regions would all contribute to the volume of water that is pouring down the Chao Phraya River.

The rain-swollen Ping River, which is only currently draining out of Chiang Mai, has caused significant flood in the region’s even northeast. In Nakhon Sawan, the Chao Phraya forms when the Ping and three various rivers confluence.

On Monday, the Chao Phraya Dam was releasing waters at a rate of 2, 199 cubic meters per second. &nbsp, &nbsp,

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