Privacy legislation

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): Apple has partnered with Ambank, Maybank and Standard Chartered Malaysia to offer its mobile payment services to Malaysian customers. “Customers with Visa and Mastercard cards from banks including AmBank, Maybank and Standard Chartered Bank can now use Apple Pay, with American Express cards to be available with Apple Pay later this year,” the consumer electronic company announced on its website on Tuesday (Aug 9). "Merchants such as KFC, Maxis, Machines, McDonald’s, Mydin, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, U Mobile, Uniqlo, Village Grocer and Watsons — and apps and websites including Shopee, Sephora, Atome and Adidas — now offer customers the ability to pay with Apple Pay." Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet Jennifer Bailey said the company is delighted to bring Apple Pay to Malaysia, providing an easier, safer and more secure way to pay with iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac. “Our customers in Malaysia will benefit from using … [Read more...] about Apple jumps onto Malaysia’s mobile payment bandwagon

Indonesia coal benchmark price COAL-HBA-ID has stayed above US$70 per tonne level since January 2021 but surged to a record US$321.59 per tonne this month, as the war in Ukraine exacerbated the energy supply crunch. - A + A JAKARTA (Aug 9): Indonesian legislators on Tuesday pressed the government to tighten rules on domestic coal sales, amid concern that miners will choose to pay fines instead of meeting a requirement to sell a quarter of their output to local power generators. The parliamentary energy committee met during recess on Tuesday, fearing the world's biggest thermal coal exporter was headed for a repeat of a domestic supply crisis late last year that saw exports banned for a few weeks in January, triggering panic among foreign buyers. Indonesia imposes a so-called Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) where miners must sell 25% of their output onshore, at prices capped at US$70 per tonne for power generators and US$90 per tonne for local industry. Though … [Read more...] about Indonesia lawmakers call for tougher rules to avert another coal crisis

- A + A WASHINGTON (Aug 9): President Joe Biden on Tuesday will sign a bill to provide US$52.7 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor production and research and to boost efforts to make the United States more competitive with China's science and technology efforts. The White House is touting investments that chip companies are making even though it remains unclear when the US Commerce Department will write rules for reviewing grant awards and how long it will take to underwrite projects. The chief executives of Micron, Intel, Lockheed Martin, HP and Advanced Micro Devices will attend the signing, set for 10am EDT, as will cabinet officials and auto industry and union leaders, including United Auto Workers President Ray Curry, the White House said. Also attending will be governors of Pennsylvania and Illinois, the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland and Salt Lake City, and lawmakers. The White House said the bill's passage was spurring new chip investments. It noted … [Read more...] about Biden to sign bill to boost US chips, compete with China

Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of 24 books, including, " The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment ." Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer . The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) President Joe Biden delivered a bold speech on Thursday night , calling for a ban on assault weapons and other gun policies, including strengthening background checks and enacting new "red flag" laws. "Enough, enough," he told the nation, urging Congress to take action after a slew of mass shootings rocked the country. "We can't fail the American people again." The speech comes at a difficult moment for Biden. The administration is facing multiple escalating crises, which are slowly undermining his leadership and political strength. There's the Russian war in Ukraine, inflation and stock market turbulence, mass … [Read more...] about Opinion: How Biden can avoid Carter’s one-term presidential fate

In 2020, 56% of Americans agreed that journalists were purposely trying to mislead people, illustrating an unprecedented dip in confidence in the press. With that backdrop, and in an election year with peak political polarization, rolling out a brand-new media publication was “absurd,” admits Nabiha Syed, president of The Markup , a digital outlet focused on holding tech companies accountable. “How are we going to get people to trust us when they’ve never heard of us, especially when we are interrogating tools that people are using and are sometimes beloved?” advertisement advertisement But the founders felt that the site’s mission was critical: to investigate the power and practices of Big Tech. Plus, it was going to do things differently. The Markup is nonprofit newsroom, funded by philanthropists, including more than $20 million from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. It is data-driven, and only publishes about twice a week, in order to be as … [Read more...] about This news outlet is exposing Big Tech’s practices by building its own tech tools

GAS LINES IN AMERICA… Four Governors Declare States Of Emergency Due To Gasoline Shortage Four governors declared states of emergency in response to gas shortages brought on by the Colonial Pipeline hack. Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency on Monday due to his state’s gas shortage. Republicans Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared states of emergency on Tuesday. Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced that he would not declare a new state of emergency because the state was already in one due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kemp suspended Georgia’s gas taxes, while Cooper eliminated transportation regulations. McMaster instituted anti-price gouging laws. Virginia Republicans called on Northam to suspend the state’s gas tax. CBS NEWS… The South was being hit hardest. Late Monday, almost 6.5% of gas stations in Virginia were out of fuel, … [Read more...] about Editor Daily Rundown: Governors Declare States Of Emergency In Response To Gas Shortages

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin I have always viewed politicians that promise to ban hydraulic fracturing — commonly known as “fracking” — with some level of suspicion. In fact, a year ago as candidates were making these promises I explained Why A Ban On Fracking Will Never Happen . Those promises have always signaled one of three things to me. The Significance of Fracking First, the candidate may not understand the significance of fracking to U.S. oil and gas production. So let’s review that significance. Fracking has actually been around since the late 1940s and has been used extensively to promote higher production rates from oil and gas wells. Fracking involves pumping water, chemicals and typically sand down an oil or gas well under high pressure to break open channels (fractures) in the reservoir rock trapping the deposit. Oil and gas do not travel easily through these shale formations, which is why they need to be fractured. The … [Read more...] about Joe Biden Shifts To A Realistic Fracking Stance

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As this energy transition continues to move forward in a somewhat halting fashion, prodded along by energy and climate policy decisions, it is becoming increasingly apparent that displacing a substantial percentage of current fossil fuel usage on a global scale will require a far more diverse set of solutions than just more subsidies for wind and solar. Not that such subsidies are being abandoned, of course: Quite the opposite, in fact. Robert Bryce reported Sunday at Forbes that the Manchin/Schumer cornucopia of climate spending (cynically titled the “Inflation Reduction Act”) passed on a strictly partisan vote by the Senate would direct another $113 billion to just those two rent-seeking industries over the coming decade. Fortunately, the bill also recognizes that subsidies for those two industries alone won’t do the trick. Manchin’s own statement on the huge tax and spending package recognizes that reality, stating … [Read more...] about Hydrogen A Winner As Manchin Forces A Diverse Energy Transition Policy Approach

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin In 2020, the Canadian government made a landmark judgement that permitted four terminally ill Canadians the legal right to use magic mushrooms for end-of-life distress . The compassionate decree was the first of its kind in Canada since 1974 when magic mushrooms (containing the psychoactive substance psilocybin and known to ease end-of-life fears) were made illegal through the Canadian Drugs and Substances Act. One of those initial four people allowed to experiment with the newly legal mental health treatment using psilocybin was Laurie Brooks, who is also the central character of the documentary DOSED 2: The Trip of a Lifetime . The film follows Brooks, who in 2018 was diagnosed with late-stage terminal cancer and given 6 to 12 months to live, as she makes her way through a journey of acceptance of her own mortality, aided considerably by her psilocybin experiences. Growing up in a devoutly religious family — and … [Read more...] about Film ‘DOSED 2’ Explores Legal Psychedelic Therapy, Highlights The Changing Landscape Of Mental Health Care

Overhauling Denver’s campaign finance rules was popular with voters in 2018. More than 70% of Denverites who cast ballots that year voted for Referred Measure 2E. The sweeping change to the city’s campaign rules ratcheted down contribution limits for candidates seeking every seat from mayor to the city auditor, banned direct corporate and union campaign contributions and established a fair elections fund to provide public financing for candidates who agreed to abide by even lower contribution limits and other rules. Participate in the fair elections fund and receive a 9-to-1 public funding match on contributions from Denver residents between $5 and $50. In other words, a $50 donation becomes $500 with taxpayer money so long as the donor hails from the city and county. A lot has happened since then. First, the measure’s backers struck a deal with the City Council to delay the law’s effective date until after the 2019 municipal election instead of trying to enact the changes … [Read more...] about In crowded city races, Denver’s new fair election fund will face first test