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Tourism-Reliant Thailand Bows to Pressure from Beijing

Tourism-Reliant Thailand Bows to Pressure from Beijing

Thailand joined the majority of Southeast Asia’s tourism-dependent economies on Thursday in keeping entry restrictions lax for Chinese tourists returning to foreign travel next week, despite WHO warnings that Beijing is exaggerating the severity of its COVID-19 outbreak.

Thailand, like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, announced that inbound travelers from China would not require pre-departure COVID-19 tests, despite a significant increase in infections in their country. These Southeast Asian countries, long popular with Chinese tourists, are attempting to resurrect their pandemic-ravaged economies.

Thai Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told Benar News after a meeting of health, tourism, and other officials that everyone in crowded places must wear face masks.

“No COVID test results will be required from tourists from any country.”

“This is a chance to rebuild our economy and recover from the losses we’ve suffered for nearly three years,” he said.

“There will not be any discrimination against a particular country because COVID-19 is spreading in all countries and the strains are similar. As a result, there should be no discrimination against any country.”

Thailand, on the other hand, will reinstate the requirement that travelers have at least two COVID-19 vaccination jabs and health insurance to cover treatment costs if infected.

On December 27, China announced that most of its stringent travel restrictions would be lifted beginning January 8. Following the discovery of the pandemic in China in late 2019, Beijing severely restricted international travel, allowing it only when absolutely necessary.

Thailand Prepares for 20 Million Foreign Visitors in 2023

Tourism is Thailand’s “Lifeblood.”

Trip.com, a travel service provider, saw a 254% increase in outbound flight bookings from mainland China the day after the announcement. Southeast Asian countries and the United States were among the top ten.

That comes as no surprise. According to Rane Worldview, a geopolitical risk research firm, 32 million Chinese citizens traveled to Southeast Asia in 2019 before the pandemic broke out in the world’s most populous nation. A year later, the figure had fallen to 4 million.

“Chinese visitors are the lifeblood of Southeast Asia’s tourism sector, and their continued absence will impede the region’s economic recovery,” the bank said in a note last September.

“The COVID-19 pandemic’s fallout… has hit Southeast Asian countries hard, particularly Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, where tourism previously generated a significant amount of revenue and jobs.”

Rane Worldview stated at the time that a prolonged absence of Chinese visitors would “continue to stymie the post-pandemic recoveries” of these countries’ vital tourism sectors.

Tour operators, hoteliers, and other tourism businesses in Southeast Asian countries are no doubt salivating at the prospect of Chinese tourists returning.

Nonetheless, after witnessing the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on their countries, with knock-on effects hammering local economies, some are tempering their enthusiasm with caution.

Zack, a boat operator in Pulau Kapas, Terengganu, a Malaysian island destination, is terrified of another COVID-19 lockdown.

“The government should temporarily close its doors to Chinese tourists until things return to normal,” Zack, who preferred only to use his first name because he did not want to be associated with the incident, told BenarNews.

“I am afraid of being locked down again,” he said, adding that if there was a lockdown due to an increase in infections, no tourists would come.

Boeing 737 Of China Eastern Airline Crashes In Guangxi With 132 Aboard

Testing waist water on flights arriving from China

Malaysia announced last week that it would screen all incoming travelers for fever and test the wastewater on flights arriving from China. Those with high fevers, respiratory illnesses, or COVID-19 symptoms will be sent to quarantine centers or health officials for further testing.

Sabah, which has more autonomy than other Malaysian states, however defied the federal government’s COVID-19 traveler policy.

Sabah, located on the island of Borneo and a popular destination for Chinese tourists, has decided that beginning January 8, all Chinese visitors must be fully vaccinated. They would also need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of their departure.

Pornpimol Rungrasmisup, the owner of the Thierry Resort in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said that she was conflicted about her country’s policy toward Chinese tourists.

“Chinese going outbound is a huge deal for us, it means a good sale,” she explained, referring to the fact that more than a quarter of the nearly 40 million foreign tourists who visited Thailand in 2019 were Chinese.

“But when I learned there would be no COVID test, I felt uncomfortable. We would like to welcome Chinese tourists. Chiang Mai is ready for them, but I wish all visitors were tested for COVID,” Po says. One doctor advocated strict restrictions for Chinese travelers in the Philippines, which recently ruled out travel restrictions for foreign tourists despite the spike in cases in China.

“We need to ask the Chinese tourists to submit an RT-PCR test 48 hours before the flight and, of course, test them upon arrival,” Dr. Tony Leachon, a former member of the government’s COVID-19 advisory team, told BenarNews.

According to him, a new sub-variant could reverse the gains made by the Philippines in controlling the virus’s spread.

“We can’t stop COVID-19 from spreading, but pre-departure testing and the requirement to show a negative test result when flying from China to the Philippines can help slow the spread while we work to identify and understand any potential new variants.”

Thailand

Indonesia follows Thailand

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government stated that it has no plans to impose special entry restrictions on Chinese visitors because its population is immune. Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, on the other hand, believes that constant vigilance is required.

“Indonesia must keep tightening restrictions on foreign tourists to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19. “There must be a mechanism or procedure in place to ensure that anyone entering Indonesia does not bring any harmful pathogens,” he said.

“If visitors do not have booster vaccinations, they must undergo a PCR test to confirm they are negative for COVID-19.”

People in Southeast Asia mostly hope that the Chinese tourists have been adequately vaccinated.

Marionito Marcos, 58, a taxi driver from the country’s main airport in Metro Manila, likened the situation to a game of Russian roulette.

“You never know whether or not your passenger has it. “We don’t know if they’re carriers,” he said.

“However, people must work in order to survive. And I believe you’ll be fine as long as you’ve had your vaccines. “This is our new normal,” said President Marcos.

Thailand’s tourism officials anticipate 18 to 25 million tourist arrivals this year, with the Thai Chamber of Commerce predicting 5 million of them will be Chinese nationals.

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

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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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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

Supreme Court

(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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Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

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