China Overtakes US in Number of Super computers

Jakarta (JP) – Indonesia and Switzerland signed a letter of intent (LoI) for cooperation
to strengthen Indonesia’s vocational education system. The cooperation will come
under a dual education-and-training system.

Switzerland Ambassador to Indonesia Yvonne Baumann said the dual system would
help students combine learning processes at school and in the workplace.

“Switzerland has consistently ranked among the world’s most competitive economies
and has one of the lowest rates of youth unemployment in the world,” she said after the
LoI signing with the Industry Ministry in Mojokerto, East Java, on Tuesday.

In addition to signing the LoI, the two parties are also seeking to assist a certain
manufacturing sector and link it with vocational schools (SMK).

The embassy has stated that to enhance bilateral relations with Indonesia Switzerland
has allocated 75 million Swiss Franc (US$74.36 million) for various development
projects in the 2017-2020 periods. The funds will be allocated for private sector
development, infrastructure, trade, and macroeconomics assistance.

Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, the Industry Ministry launched a demand-driven

vocational program named "Link and Match" in Mojokerto to address the lack of skilled
workers which has been a big problem that hampers the development of some
industries until now
Al-Qaida-linked tribesmen ban popular drug in southern.

Tribesmen allied with al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen have imposed a ban on the leafy qat
plant, a mild narcotic widely chewed on a daily basis, in a southern port city overrun by
the militants last month.

Yemeni men traditionally chew qat for several hours starting around midday, stuffing
their cheeks with the leaves and letting its narcotic dissolve in their saliva. At daily qat-
chewing sessions Yemenis recline on floor cushions, listen to traditional music,
exchange gossip and engage in wide-ranging debates.

The widely cultivated plant consumes 30 percent of the extremely scarce water
resources in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, and cuts into the production of
other crops. The World Health Organization classifies the drug as a narcotic.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and allied tribesmen overran the city of Mukalla —
capital of the vast Hadramawt province — last month, in part because of heavy fighting
elsewhere between Shiite rebels known as Houthis and loyalists of Yemen’s
internationally recognized president, backed by Saudi-led airstrikes.

The tribesmen, who refer to themselves as “Sons of Hadramawt,” on Thursday

distributed pamphlets saying qat chewing is banned and that violators “will be held fully
responsible under Shariah law,” without elaborating.
Pictures posted on social networking sites for local reporters showed tribesmen setting
fire to piles of green leaves in the streets while others armed with assault rifles halted
trucks carrying the plants and turned them away from the city.

“Qat is a problem either way,” said Salem Dayan, a merchant in Mukalla. “If you ban it,
people will have nothing to do to kill time, and if you lift the ban, you bring back the
financial burden on your family.” A person can spend anywhere from $5 to $50 on qat
for a single session.
Retired teacher Ahmed Basalma welcomed the ban, saying qat “ruined lives and
wrecked whole families,” but that addicts would likely find a way around it.
Expensive Electricity Rates Due to High Gas Price
Thursday, January 12, 2017 1:03 pm

TRIBUNNEWS.COM, JAKARTA – The government has set a gas price cuts for three
industrial sectors named Steel, Fertilizers and Petrochemicals.
However, such rates are not given to PT PLN (Persero) for Gas Power (power plant).
Chairman of Trade Unions (SP) PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Jumadis Abda,
explained the purchase price of gas for power plants was above 9 dollars per mmBtu,
that number was above the discount gas prices for industry that was only $ 6 per
MMBtu.

“The high price of gas supply for the power plant is touted as a major contributor to the
high price of electricity for the community,” said Abda, Wednesday (11/01/2017).
According to Abda, the price of gas becomes a problem for PLN.

It is because it greatly affects the cost of production and electricity tariffs to the public.
“The average national price of gas is 9 dollars per MMBTU including the price of gas is
still 9 dollars per MMBTU. This is still relatively expensive,” said Abda.

Abda added that competitiveness of PT PLN as the state electricity provider was not
against private enterprise.

Abda also thinks that it could be detrimental for PLN and consumers.
“So no wonder that high electricity increases will always be charged to the consumer
because the components can not be controlled before,” said Abda.
1,300 people are listed as missing nearly 2 weeks after Hurricane
Dorian hit the Bahamas
The number of missing in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian has dropped
significantly, to 1,300, providing a bit of rare good news in one of the nastiest storms the
archipelago has ever faced.

The government said Wednesday the number of missing stood at about 2,500, but
"after cross-referencing databases," officials revised the tally down to 1,300, National
Emergency Management Agency spokesman Carl Smith said Thursday.
The higher number was preliminary, with some names not yet confirmed against
government records, Smith had said Wednesday.
Dorian flattened homes after it made landfall September 1, killing at least 50 people,
officials said. The death toll is expected to go up as search and rescue crews scour the
ruins in Grand Bahama and Abaco islands.
Smith has urged people to continue submitting the names of missing persons through a
hotline or visiting the social services office, which is handling the missing people
register.
"As we are able to cross-reference our data sets, we will be able to inform family
members and reunite survivors with loved ones," he said.
The hurricane tore through the islands at Category 5 strength, making it the strongest
storm ever to make landfall in the Bahamas.
The first sweep this week of hard-hit northern islands -- where some 70,000
people have lost almost everything -- has been completed, including at least a first
check for anyone in need of rescue, food or water and an assessment of damage and
sanitation needs, said Daniel Gajewski of Fairfax County, Virginia's Urban Search and
Rescue team.
"Lately it has been a lot of reconnaissance, a lot of building structures, and then from
there we're getting a pulse on the locals," said Gajewski, who was deployed through the
US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said the government is working to set up temporary
housing for those who lost their homes, adding that he visited shelters in New
Providence that are providing temporary housing to evacuees from Abaco and Grand
Bahama. He warned against recirculating "false information" that was spreading discord
in the community.
The Prime Minister announced a September 18 national prayer service to remember
those lost to the storm. Flags will be flown at half-staff.
"We are a nation in mourning," his statement said. "The grief is unbearable following the
devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian, which has left behind death, destruction and
despair on Grand Bahama and Abaco, our second and third most populous islands."
Indonesian forests are burning, and Malaysia and Singapore are
choking on the fumes
Malaysian authorities distributed half a million face masks to residents on Tuesday after
large-scale forest fires in Indonesia spread smoke and thick smog to neighboring
countries.

Intense forest fires have raged across the Indonesian regions of Sumatra and
Kalimantan in recent weeks. More than 930,000 hectares (about 2.3 million acres) of
land have been burned, hundreds of residents evacuated, and more than 9,000
personnel have been deployed to battle the flames, according to CNN Indonesia.

Nearby, Singapore and Malaysia have both choked in a dense haze all week, with air
quality reaching unhealthy levels.

The fires were allegedly caused by farmers using slash and burn techniques to clear the
ecologically rich land -- the same practice that led to uncontrollable fires in the Brazilian
Amazon this summer.

On Tuesday Malaysia's National Disaster Management Agency distributed half a million

face masks to Sarawak state, which saw a spike in the air pollution index (API),
according to state media agency Bernama. 409 schools in the state closed Tuesday
before reopening today, Bernama reported.

API measures a variety of pollutants to gauge air quality, which is typically defined by
the concentration of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, per cubic meter. The
microscopic particles are considered particularly harmful because they are small
enough to lodge deep into the lungs and can pass into other organs or the bloodstream.

In the last 24 hours, 11 of Malaysia's 16 states and territories have recorded API levels
in the "unhealthy" range of 101-200. Rompin district in Pahang recorded the highest
level, tipping into "very unhealthy" at a peak of 232.
Hong Kong's leader warns US and other countries not to interfere in
protests
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has warned the United States and other countries
against interfering in the city's domestic affairs, two days after thousands of protesters
gathered outside the US consulate to ask President Donald Trump to "liberate" the city.

Lam said Tuesday it would be "totally unacceptable" for Washington or any other
country to intervene in the semi-autonomous Chinese region.

"The Hong Kong government completely disagrees and expresses deep regret that
foreign parliaments are interfering in our internal affairs through legislation," she said
during her weekly news conference.

"We will never allow them to be stakeholders in Hong Kong's internal affairs."

The Hong Kong protests entered their 14th consecutive week on Sunday. Tens of
thousands marched through the city's financial district and submitted a letter to officials
of the US consulate, urging for greater action to help the protesters.

The protests largely started off peacefully but violence has escalated as the summer
has dragged on.

On Sunday, many of the protesters expressed support for the Hong Kong Human
Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, which calls upon the US government to take a host
of steps if Hong Kong does not "remain sufficiently autonomous from the People's
Republic of China."

Lam was asked Tuesday about the possibility that the US Congress might pass the bill,
which could affect trade relations between the city and the US.

She said some 1,400 US companies in Hong Kong currently benefit from Washington's
relationship with the city and that "any particular provisions applied to Hong Kong by the
Americans are not exclusively for the benefit of Hong Kong."
Skydivers narrowly avoided a collision with US fighter jets
A pair of skydivers narrowly avoided colliding with two US fighter planes traveling at
almost 350 mph over the UK, a report has revealed.

The parachutists, who have not been identified, were in free fall at around 120 mph
when the two F-15 jets passed beneath them on April 17.
The near miss -- or "airprox" as it is officially referred to -- was captured on a GoPro
camera attached to the helmet of one of the skydivers, according to a report by the UK
Airprox Board, which monitors such incidents. The parachutist assessed the risk of
collision as "medium," the report's authors said.
The skydivers had taken off from Chatteris airfield in Cambridgeshire, while the jets set
out from the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Lakenheath, Suffolk, home to the US Air
Force's 48th Fighter Wing. Weather conditions were good and the report stated that the
skydivers had 10 kilometers visibility, while the pilots had a clear view for 50 kilometers.
Designated parachute drop zones must be marked on aviation charts, which means it is
incumbent on aircraft operators in the area to know that skydivers could be in flight.
According to the report, the RAF base received a call from Chatteris each morning to
inform them of any activity.
One of the pilots told investigators that he was not aware that Chatteris was open to
skydivers at that time and nothing had been mentioned by air traffic control (ATC). This
should not have been the case, according to the report, and steps have since been
taken to prevent further incidents.
The report, which was published in recent weeks, states: "When asked whether the
pilots should be aware of Chatteris, the Board were told that it was included in their
arrival training at Lakenheath, and that, as a result of this incident, the unit was re-
briefing all of its crews to ensure they were all aware of its status."
There were several contributing factors, according to the report, which suggested that
the breakdown in communication may have partly come about due to the heavy
workload of Lakenheath air traffic control.
It stated: "The Lakenheath controller was aware of the position of Chatteris, and the
Board were told that each morning Chatteris called ATC to advise when they are active;
the paradropping aircraft also calls on the frequency when they are airborne with
parachutists.
"The controller believed he would have plenty of time to change the heading of the F-
15s when they came on frequency. However, the frequency became busy just as they
transferred and so, by the time the F-15 pilots checked in with the controller, they were
already about to fly over Chatteris."