Semafor Flagship-Asia Morning Edition

"U.S. aids Israel's defense, SpaceX's latest achievement, China deflation fears mount."

Views expressed in this geopolitical news and analysis are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 13 October 2024, 2254 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).

 

Shanghai  Mumbai  Seoul October 14, 2024 Read on the web Flagship Asia Morning Edition Sign up for our free newsletters→   The World Today US aids Israel’s defense SpaceX’s latest achievement China deflation fears mount UK’s shifting China stance US disasters influence election Indian politician killed K-pop eyes world domination Scientists are quitting Everest mystery evolves Very large bug unmasked A Venice art installation ponders the origin of the universe, from science to creation myths. ↓ 1 US to send air defense system to Israel A US anti-missile system in Guam. Anderson Air Force Base The US is sending an advanced anti-missile system to Israel and about 100 troops. The rare deployment of boots on the ground to operate the THAAD defense system brings the US even closer to the widening conflict in the Middle East as Israel prepares to strike Iran. Already, Tehran is signaling it will respond: Iran’s foreign minister said there are “no red lines” for the country’s defense and that it is prepared for a “war situation.” Tensions in Lebanon also escalated over the weekend, with Israel expanding its operation in the southern part of the country and allegedly using tanks to burst through the gates of a UN peacekeepers’ base, while the Iran-allied militia Hezbollah launched a drone strike that injured dozens in central Israel. ↓ 2 SpaceX achieves spaceflight first Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuetrs Elon Musk’s SpaceX pushed engineering’s boundaries a little further Sunday with the fifth test flight of its megarocket, Starship. In an unprecedented maneuver, SpaceX “caught” the rocket’s falling booster midair using what are essentially giant metal chopsticks. Designed explicitly to go to Mars, the Starship itself completed its orbital test in what was a highly anticipated moment for the company: SpaceX maintains US government regulators are delaying progress unnecessarily. Musk’s conflict with federal regulators is long simmering, but has taken on new political significance with Musk’s support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. At a recent rally with Musk beside him on stage, Trump vowed SpaceX’s Starship would land on Mars by the end of his presidency should he win a second term. ↓ 3 China’s deflation risk rises China’s consumer price index barely rose in September, disappointing analysts’ expectations and further raising concerns the country is in a deflationary spiral. Economists have urged stronger government intervention, yet details on Beijing’s highly anticipated fiscal stimulus were “notably absent” from the finance minister’s remarks Saturday, an analyst said. Many financial experts anticipate more clarity when China’s top legislative committee meets later this month, with most predicting a stimulus between 1 and 3 trillion yuan, although some hope for up to 10 trillion. One China economist warned, however, that monetary adjustments alone are “never strong enough to reflate the economy.” ↓ 4 UK signals China policy shift Bryan R. Smith/Reuters UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is set to visit China this week, signaling a shift in London’s relations with Beijing. The visit may be aimed at reviving Chinese investment to bolster the UK’s struggling economy, despite long-standing concerns over Beijing’s human rights record. The UK’s posture contrasts to the European Union, which remains at odds with China over trade. Beijing has threatened tariffs on European brandy, dairy, and pork in retaliation for the EU’s new electric vehicle duties. Beijing may be limited in its response, however, as it tries to encourage increasingly thrifty Chinese shoppers to spend money — and generate tax revenue — on luxury European goods. To do otherwise may be “the opposite of what the government wants,” an analyst told Reuters. ↓ 5 Disasters become US election fodder Harris at a church service in North Carolina. Jonathan Drake/Reuters Climate disasters add a new dimension to what remains a dead-heat US presidential race with just a little more than three weeks to go before Election Day. Vice President Kamala Harris visited an area of North Carolina hit by Hurricane Helene — a trip that also included campaign events to mobilize Black voters. Republican Donald Trump, who has criticized the government’s hurricane response, faced pushback over his own record on disaster aid. At a California rally Saturday, Trump criticized the state’s water management policies, threatening to withhold “any of that fire money that we send you.” The remarks followed reports that, while president, Trump once refused to approve disaster aid for California until he learned that the affected area was home to many of his supporters. ↓ 6 Prominent Indian politician shot dead Hindustan Times/Contributor via Getty The killing of a prominent Indian politician with strong ties to Bollywood could hold ramifications for an upcoming state election. Baba Siddique was known for throwing lavish parties featuring the “who’s who of Bollywood, industry, and politics,” an Indian Express columnist wrote; he was also instrumental in ending an infamous feud between Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. Siddique’s killing in Mumbai on Saturday hurts the public safety bonafides of the state’s ruling coalition — of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is a member — weeks before an election, analysts said. The murder “sent shockwaves” through India’s financial capital, The Economic Times wrote, prompting fears over crime “in a city long considered one of the safest in India.” ↓ 7 K-pop’s ambitions grow even bigger The global reach of K-pop is expanding — and so are the ambitions of industry executives. A New Yorker profile of Bang Si-hyuk, the billionaire chairman of entertainment giant Hybe Corporation, projected how the multibillion-dollar industry’s future might play out: Hybe, which created boy band BTS, wants “simply to get bigger — embracing whatever medium, language, or technology maximizes its reach.” The company just debuted a multiracial girl group, Katseye, which sings in English but has a K-pop aesthetic. It also acquired an AI startup: “The expandability of nonhuman artists is unlimited,” Bang said. Hybe is even experimenting with animated pop stars. “We’re expanding like a US business… I don’t know if we can even call this K-pop anymore, what this will become.” ↓ 8 Many scientists quit after first paper A third of scientists quit within five years of publishing their first research paper, a new study suggested. Two researchers in Poland looked at scientists whose first research paper came out in 2000 or in 2010, and noted how long they continued to publish. It found that fewer than half were still active 15 years later, with women somewhat more likely to quit than men, although the problem was less pronounced in the 2010 cohort. One reason may be that there are too many qualified graduates vying for too few academic jobs. The number of people with doctorates in OECD countries has doubled since 2000, while the number of open positions has not. ↓ 9 Remains of Everest climber discovered Wikimedia Commons Partial remains of Sandy Irvine, perhaps one of the first men to climb Mount Everest, have been discovered, National Geographic reported. The find comes 25 years after his climbing partner George Mallory’s body was discovered. Mallory and Irvine’s 1924 attempt remains “the greatest climbing mystery of all time,” the outlet wrote: A century on, it remains unclear whether they died on their way up or down. If the latter, then they would have beaten Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who made the first confirmed ascent, by 29 years. The new discovery was of a boot, containing a foot and a sock labeled with Irvine’s name — the foot will be DNA-tested, but its discoverer was confident. “I mean, dude,” he said. “There’s a label on it.” ↓ 10 Largest bug ever gets a face A bronze statue of an Arthropleura at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Wikimedia Commons Scientists put a face to what may have been the largest bug ever to have lived. Arthropleura was a centipede-like creature that grew to 2.6 meters — about nine feet — when it walked the Earth on its many legs 300 million years ago. But for years, the only fossils were of its exoskeleton, which it molted as it grew. Recently, two complete juvenile fossils have been discovered, allowing researchers to describe its head — millipede-like, as it turns out. Arthropleura could be the largest arthropod known to science (although an extinct giant sea scorpion may be bigger); the discovery both helps to fill out the arthropod evolutionary tree, and confirms recent findings suggesting centipedes and millipedes are more closely related than previously thought. ↓ Flagging Oct. 14: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announces the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economic sciences. Canada celebrates Thanksgiving. The 2024 Paris Motor show begins, with Tesla expected to return after an eight-year hiatus. ↓ Curio Josèfa Ntjam, swell of spæc(i)es, 2024. LAS Art Foundation An immersive video installation by Josèfa Ntjam evokes an otherworldly ocean to explore the idea of universes existing within other universes. Swell of spæc(i)es at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice sees Ntjam use artificial intelligence and other digital tools to weave together different visions of the origins of the universe, spanning scientific theory to creation myths. Visitors are invited to enter giant glowing eggs and jellyfish-shaped “sound showers,” while a cyclical film “flashes chimerically across different scales, from the microscopic to the cosmic,” art blog Hyperallergic wrote, taking viewers from “the darkest trenches of the oceans to the furthest reaches of space to the origins of time itself.” ↓ Hot on Semafor Hurricanes’ multibillion-dollar insurance bill presents a ‘reckoning’ for US lawmakers, businesses. Why Kamala Harris’ Pennsylvania chances are tied to a statewide dynasty. Telegraph bidder scrambles for investors. 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