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US Boosts Troops and Ships for Exercise in Asia Pacific

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force destroyer JS Yudachi sails in formation with the USS George Washington, foreground, during exercises in the East China Sea last year. Japan says a Chinese warship locked targeting radar onto the Yudachi in the same region

TOKYO – If Chinese warships escalate from locking-on radars to actually pulling the trigger in the East China Sea, they’ll have lots to shoot at – and it won’t be just the Japanese.

With little fanfare, U.S. commanders have been pouring in thousands of new troops, deploying powerful new war machines and ramping up training with allies from across the region.

Most of this is due to the “rebalancing” of U.S. forces announced more than a year ago. But the buildup seems to be hitting full-stride just as the standoff between Japan and China reaches a dangerous new low.

Japanese authorities bitterly protested this week after they said a Chinese warship locked its weapons-guidance radar on a Japanese destroyer in late January. The incident occurred in international waters near a group of disputed islands. That followed the targeting of a Japanese naval helicopter in the same region two weeks earlier.

No shots were fired in either incident, but Japan accused China’s leaders of intentionally escalating the crisis. China’s Defense Ministry said late Friday that Japan’s version of events “does not match the facts.”

Some officers with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) say privately that Chinese ship commanders may have simply over-reacted under close Japanese surveillance. Turning on a weapons-guidance radar is tantamount to aiming a gun or missile at an adversary.

“If this is directed from Beijing, then it does signal a deliberate escalation, which is worrisome,” says Jeffrey Hornung, associate professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, in Honolulu. “But if this is some Chinese seaman acting alone, that is worrisome, too, because it signals a serious breakdown in command. It leaves us wondering, ‘What will that person do next?’”

In truth, it would be hard to blame the Chinese if they were getting nervous.

The U.S. Marines have sent two additional infantry battalions – nearly 2,000 troops – to Okinawa in just the last six weeks. Another battalion is tentatively scheduled to arrive this summer. Altogether, more than 17,000 Marines are now based on Okinawa, the most in more than a decade.

A small squadron of EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare planes arrived at the Marine base in Iwakuni, Japan, on February 1, as well, reinforcing F/A-18 fighters there. Prowlers are designed to attack radar and surveillance installations and jam enemy transmissions, a useful capability when push comes to shove.

The Navy is joining the party, too, sending a newly upgraded guided-missile cruiser to replace a less-capable ship with the U.S. 7^th Fleet, based near Tokyo. The USS Antietam formally took over from the USS Cowpens this week in what is called a “hull swap.” The Antietam gives the Navy, which operates hand-in-glove with the JMSDF, a more sophisticated air defense capability, particularly against ballistic missiles.

“The Cowpens and Antietam hull swap is part of the Navy’s long-range plan to upgrade the guided-missile cruiser class of ships and to put the most capable U.S. forces in this region,” Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, commander of Battle Force 7^th Fleet, said at a ceremony this week.

Meanwhile, at least three major joint exercises are underway in the neighborhood. Aircraft from the United States, Japan and Australia are training to operate together in wartime missions and humanitarian or disaster relief operations in the “Cope North” drills in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The exercise includes fighter planes, bombers, aerial tankers, transports and cargo planes. Aussies are taking part for the first time, and an observer team from South Korea – a U.S. ally that is embroiled in a unrelated islands dispute with Japan – agreed to send an observer team, also for the first time.

On Monday, several hundred Okinawa-based Marines based will start training on Guam for rapid-response missions throughout the region.

And farther west, more than 13,000 troops from the United States, Japan and five other countries will take part in the annual “Cobra Gold” exercises in Thailand, which also start Monday. It will include command post exercises, amphibious assault and jungle warfare training, small boat and helicopter raids, and non-combatant evacuation drills. South Korea will be a full participant for the first time.

Though long-planned, all three exercises are taking on added significance because of China’s growing military power and assertive territorial demands.

The confrontation over the Senkaku Islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyu, initially was limited to Japan Coast Guard vessels and China’s quasi-government maritime surveillance craft. Japan began scrambling F-15 fighters in mid-December in response to incursions from Chinese maritime surveillance planes, but warships from both the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and JMSDF so far have steered clear of the islands.

In the January 30 incident, according to the Japanese, a PLAN frigate turned its targeting radar on the JS Yudachi, a multi-purpose destroyer armed with missiles, torpedoes and rapid-firing guns. Though Japan’s Constitution nominally renounces war, Japan has one of the world’s most capable navies — built largely around destroyers like the Yudachi.

The two ships were about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Senkakus and were separated by less than two miles when the Chinese ship reportedly turned on its targeting radar. That generally sets off alarm signals on a targeted ship or aircraft, and can be used as an intimidation tactic. No shots were fired and the two ships separated with no further harm.

By treaty, the U.S. is obligated to defend Japan if it comes under attack.

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

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’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.

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.

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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.

(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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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.

Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.

Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.

Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.

shkreli

He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.

“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.

Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.

SOURCE | AP