Xi-Obama summit aims to boost ties, aspirations between China and USA

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front) shakes hands with US President Barack Obama at the Annenberg Retreat, California, the United States, June 7, 2013. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, met Friday to exchange views on major issues of common concern. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping (1st R) meets with U.S. President Barack Obama (1st L) at the Annenberg Retreat, California, the United States, June 7, 2013. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, met Friday to exchange views on major issues of common concern. Photo: Xinhua

Southern California residents are preparing a warm welcome for presidents of the world's two largest economies ahead of their two-day summit at Sunnylands. Anticipation is high for closer Sino-US ties that will help people from both countries pursue their own dreams.

"I'm glad that both presidents will come. I'm sure once they see Sunnylands, they'll want to see it again," John Benoit, chair of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, said of the exclusive Rancho Mirage estate.

Benoit, a local highway patrol commander during the late 1980s when then-President Ronald Reagan regularly visited Sunnylands for New Year's Eve, told the Global Times he was eager to see the winter retreat formerly owned by late philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg become the "Camp Davis of the West Coast" ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit.

"People in the world all dream about having a better life for themselves and their children," said Benoit, whose father's cousin was a priest in China during the 1940s. Benoit said that both the American and Chinese dreams have their own obstacles and opportunities, adding American people "have more challenges today than in the past."

John Harley, who works at a Riverside County-based company that grows and sells grapes, noted people from China and the US share common aspirations. "We're all people, and we all desire the same things: happiness, love and family," he said.

Harley told the Global Times that his company, which exports grapes to Shanghai and Hong Kong, posts an annual revenue of $15 million. "I see this business growing over the next decade. The better the relationship between the two governments, the better it is for our businesses."

Edward Chenghua Cai, president of the Southern California Chinese-American Federation, noted some Chinese-Americans had flocked to Rancho Mirage two days ahead of the private summit, which begins Friday, to express their hopes for deeper ties.

Wai-Jen Jeffries, president of the US National Organization of Chinese Women, told the Global Times she has personally known Xi for over two decades, having met the president during his visit to the US as  Party chief of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, in the 1990s.

"He's very easygoing and not interested in formalities at all. He calls me 'elder sister' every time I see him," she said of Xi. "I'm sure the two presidents' pragmatism will strike up the two countries' ties and bring people on both sides more benefits."

By Xu Yan and Sun Weichi in Rancho Mirage Global Times

Malaysia needs re-engineering sports, not computer games, junk foods....

Re-engineering sports in schools

KHAIRY Jamaluddin, our Youth and Sports Minister, wants to transform our country into a sporting nation – he has a daunting task to achieve with many challenges along the path of success.

First and foremost, how much time is allocated to physical education in schools? With more children reportedly facing obesity, we wouldn’t even get to the starting block.

Also, our children are too engrossed with computer games and our fields are being hijacked for commercial development, making our children lazier. Let’s not forget too the unhealthy fast food eating culture.

Physical education classes are irregular in schools and disorganised. PE teachers lack the knowledge in sports science or health science.

Most teachers lack the capability to assess a potential athlete as they cannot even explain the percentage of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres and other aspects related to athletic performance such as physiology, physical ability, technical proficiency and psychological predisposition to performance.

Based on feedback, students are just given a ball to kick around without being given much guidance on ball skills. In many cases, students just laze around the field without proper attire.

The main focus of schools, teachers and parents seems to be for students to score the maximum number of “A’s” in the exams, with sports ranking low in priority among the stakeholders.

The million-dollar question now is how are we going to create a sports culture in schools and sell the idea to parents that sports offers great career progression?

Parents have seen that sports does not pay in the long run, except in a few cases like Datuk Nicol David (squash), Datuk Lee Chong Wei (badminton) and Pandelela Rinong (diving) who are positive role models.

There must be a firm commitment from the Government to prioritise school sports, facilities and space for competitive sports and play.

Khairy, our No.1 sports fan must work closely with the relevant stakeholders to promote a strong sports culture among our youths.

C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU Seremban

Related posts:

Exercise for the brain 

Rightways for Heart Health

Telcos and Maxis need to reinvent

Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead.

IT has been an interesting week for the telecommunications sector locally.

Axiata Group Bhd got pre-qualified to bid for a mobile licence in Myanmar, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd head honcho Michael Lai quit the company and Maxis Bhd saw some staff departures.

Why Lai left is a mystery. Hopefully, he will show up at another telco because he knows the marketing game well.

At Maxis, several personnel have left, with more expected to head for the exit door. Most senior, and some middle-level executives, may also bid their adieus. Those whose contracts are up for renewal may leave because Maxis is on a massive clean-up mode.

Some call it a clean-up, while others say it is a reorganisation. Essentially, it is re-shaping itself to respond better to market demands in view of the challenging times ahead. The consumer is discerning and its competitors have cleaned up their acts.

It might be the biggest company by revenue and subscriber base, but it has competitors who are nimble and agile.

Surprisingly, Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead. Indeed, Celcom Axiata is looking attractive, and DiGi.Com Bhd, savvy.

What Maxis is facing is a battle both within and without the company.

It has no chief executive officer (CEO), a bloated workforce of 3,500, 24 units/divisions, a seemingly lack of young talent at the top, operational and cost inefficiencies, and it could do better in some market segments by lowering prices and bringing to market more innovation.

“It is hard to find a unit with large numbers of people below 30,” said a person familiar with the company.
The clean-up is the first step in addressing the problem, but is it skin-deep or merely surface-scratching?

Still, all is not lost.It has a great brand, brand loyalty, a wide network - although some hard decisions could have been made - a huge subscriber base, much to the envy of its rivals, and a multitude of products and services.

It also enjoys pole position in the market place.

The key now is to sharpen its focus, reinvent itself, harness its local talent and move forward fully energised. This may take anything from six to nine months, but worth every second in its bid to transform itself.

Next week, the new organisation structure will be out, although the search for a CEO is still on. Succession planning should be considered because at some point of time, the CEO will have to be homegrown. That gives hope to the team.

The future is about a real convergence of mobile and fixed networks, resulting in greater convenience for customers, with portals that can be accessed with all devices, independent of the technology used, says a report.

Making that right call on technology is, therefore, critical, as networks of the future will need a high degree of reliability whilst cleaning up, and at the same time, keeping costs under control, which is vital.

Friday Reflections by B.K. Sidhu

*Business editor (news) B K Sidhu says improve the call quality and there will be happier and loyal customers.

2nd Penang Bridge ramp collapses, four in car feared dead!

A picture of rescue personnel at the scene of the collapse. Photo by Sim Tze Tzin.

 

GEORGE TOWN: An uncompleted flyover connecting to the still-under-construction second Penang bridge at Batu Maung collapsed at around 7pm Thursday, burying at least one car and a motorcycle under the debris.

Police fear that four people are dead after one car, a white-coloured Perodua Kelisa was found buried under the rubble.

State Fire and Rescue Department confirmed that one motorcyclist, who was earlier trapped under the debris, has been pulled out. He suffered injuries to his head.

Hundreds of firemen, volunteers and medical personnel from throughout the state have been mobilised to the scene.

Firemen are removing debris to reach the cars and motorcycles under the rubble, comprising mostly metal scaffolding and steel beams.

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, who was on the scene, said about a 30m-long span of the ramp was believed to have collapsed around 7pm, as work to install concrete boulders to strengthen the structure was ongoing.
He said he was informed a few people may be trapped under the rubble.

State executive councillor Lim Hock Seng said the cause of the collapse had yet to be determined.

"We cannot confirm the cause of the accident," he said, adding that a full investigation would be carried out.

Police have began deploying traffic policemen as the incident has caused a severe jam to ensue near the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.

Many motorists have also stopped to look at the debris.

As of 9:30pm Thusrday night, fire department authorities have briefed Sim and Lim.

R. Thilasheni, 24, whose car windscreen was shattered by a falling beam during the incident, was still in a state of shock.

"We were lucky to come out alive. We were only about three seconds away from when the ramp collapsed," she said.

She was travelling with her friend G. Gajashaantini, also 24.

She believed a motorcyclist was trapped under the rubble and said a beam fell onto a car in the incident.
The 24km-long bridge was set for completion next month.

The longest bridge in South-East Asia and 20th in the world was supposed to go through road commissioning and testing in August before being officially opened in September.

By CAVINA LIM, IAN MCINTYRE, ANTHONY TAN, ALEX TENG, JOSEPHINE JALLEH, OH CHIN ENG and TASHNY SUKUMARAN, The Star

Related Stories:
Three injuries reported so far in Second Penang Bridge ramp collapse
Second Penang bridge not affected by ramp collapse, says JKSB spokeman

Bank losses worrisome !

It is imperative for banks to have a better prediction of their losses so that their capital position will be better reflected

IT may seem strange to analyse bank losses at a time when major banks, even the taxpayer-owned ones, are profitable.

Moreover, major economies are also said to be turning around. So why would we be so worried about bank losses?

According the analysts at Barclays, this is related to the bank's risk-weighted assets.

With so much focus on capital and the need to boost capital for the taxpayer-owned banks, it is inevitable that the question on losses would pop up.

That's when the banks accurately forecast the capital required.

However, if they do not have a fairly accurate idea of the losses they may be incurring, they may not be allocating enough capital buffer for it.

Therefore, the analysis on bank losses should be seen in a positive light as it helps to shed information early on the capital position of the bank.

The startling fact is that the banks themselves may not be able to predict their losses with a fair degree of accuracy, said the Telegraph.

UK, European and Asian banks, on average, forecast losses of nearly 30% higher than those they actually faced, the survey by analysts at Barclays found.

According to the report, Lloyds and HSBC predicted a default rate on their lending portfolios more than 50% above what they actually experienced.

Barclays was found to have been too pessimistic, particularly with assets in its investment bank where it forecast a default rate 78% higher than in reality.

“Most of the time banks' PDs (predicted defaults) are lower than forecast, suggesting a degree of conservatism,” the analysts said, as quoted by the Telegraph.

“The forecasting errors' can be massive, which raises questions over both their predictability and hence meaningfulness of the resulting risk weighted assets,'' they said.

It is therefore imperative for banks to have a better prediction of their losses so that their capital position will be better reflected.

Banks' boards of directors are fortifying themselves with new knowledge.

HSBC, the largest British bank, has appointed former director-general of British Security Service, Sir Jonathan Evans, onto its board, with expertise in counter terrorism and cyber threats.

With the accusations of money laundering, these major banks are coughing up a lot of money to engage top guns that can deal with the intricacies of it all.

Before terrorim, it was risk posed by over dabbling in derivatives. Banks engaged armies of risk and compliance oficers

Whether these counterrorism and cyber threat themes really emerge into trends remains to be seen.

A survey by pension fund The Scottish Widow indicated that in 10 years' time, Britons will have to work till 70.

They do not have enough savings to last through, as they are currently caught up in daily living expenses, it was reported in The Guardian.

That sounds chilling but fast becomig a reality soon in many other countries.

Many will start rushing for health and pharmaceutical products to strengthen themselves while others will just struggle on.

Plain Speaking by YAP LENG KUEN

>Columnist Yap Leng Kuen reckons it's easier to think positive.

Related:

UK taxpayer-owned banks take harder hit

Samsung S4 new heir to Galaxy smartphone throne

 The S4 lives up to all the buzz to take over the torch for Samsung's outstanding range
 
WITH over 10 million units sold worldwide since its launch last month, an introduction to the Samsung Galaxy S4 seems somewhat redundant.

So we are going to head straight into discussing whether the latest addition to Samsung’s arsenal of Galaxy devices lives up to all the buzz.

There are two variants of Samsung Galaxy S4, one powered by the 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, and the other by Samsung’s Exynos 5 1.6 GHz Octa-core processor (which we find on our shelves here).

Octa-core, on paper, sounds astounding but, in reality, it is somewhat disappointing.

Make no mistake, it is fast: Multi Window and multi-tasking run much better here. But for that much processing power, it is fair to expect the device to run as smooth as butter all the time.

When you fire up the five-inch full HD display, the awe factor goes up.

The Super AMOLED display is stunning and you will soon forget about the cheap-looking and prone-to-grime polycarbonate back plate that covers the removable 2,600mAh battery, microSD slot and micro SIM slot.

We found the new features the Galaxy S4 came with to be rather useful, especially Air Gesture which lets you scroll up and down a web page, change music track, or even answer a call by waving your hand.

You can even wake the device up enough to show you the time and notifications that way.

With Samsung Smart Scroll, we can easily scroll up and down web pages by tilting the device. The only catch is that you can only use both Air Gesture and Samsung Smart Scroll on web pages opened with Internet Browser.

Other features include the S Translator which provides instant translation and Optical Reader which automatically recognises text, a business card or QR code information.

There is also the WatchON which transforms the device into an infra-red remote control for your home entertainment system including your television, set-top box, DVD player and air-conditioner.

Dubbed as the Life Companion, the Galaxy S4 also has an excellent snapper.

One of the best things about the Galaxy S4’s camera is its user-friendliness.

Owing to the camera software borrowed from the Galaxy Camera, swapping in-between the 12 modes onboard is a breeze.

The camera does extraordinarily well in an environment with good lighting, producing pictures with vibrant colours and details.

Otherwise, you’ll get some noisy pictures. However, the HDR mode manages to work very well in managing the tricky lighting scenarios.

Other Ingenious modes like Animated Photo which lets you create animated GIFs without leaving the camera app, and the Dual Camera function which allows simultaneous use of both front and rear cameras, also help make immortalising memories more delightful.

The battery in the Galaxy S4 holds up pretty well especially with the brightness turned down.

A full charge lasts a full day of heavy text messaging, web-browsing, taking pictures and multi-tasking between apps. It can easily last longer with Power Saving Mode turned on.

All in, the Galaxy S4 is an outstanding device despite its shortcomings and occasional stutters. It is undeniably deserving of taking over the S III in carrying the torch for the Galaxy line-up.

By Yeevon Ong lifestyle@thesundaily.com

Related posts:
Enter Android in the smartphone operating system titans 
Chinese smartphone innovators shrug off Android dominance
Smartphone users exposed to threats from cyber hackers 
Smartphone Ascend P1 unveiled by Huawei Technologies

Solar wars threaten climate fight

Amidst gloomy news in the deteriorating climate change situation is this bright spark – the cost of solar energy has been going down dramatically.

 THE source of clean and renewable energy is seen as one of the major saviours that could help power the world without emitting greenhouse gases.

The drawback is that solar energy has traditionally been more expensive to use than carbon-intensive coal or oil.

But in recent years solar power has become much cheaper. Energy experts predict that its cost could match that of conventional fuels in the next few years in some areas.

Solar cell prices have been falling, from US$76 (RM235.52) per watt in 1977 to about US$10 (RM30.99) in 1987 and only 74 cents (RM2.29) in 2013. Between 2006 and 2011, Chinese cell prices dropped 80% from US$4.50 (RM13.95) per watt to 90 cents (RM2.79) per watt.

Factors for this include a drop in price of the main raw material polysilicon (due to oversupply), increasing efficiency of solar cells, manufacturing technology improvements, economies of scale and intense competition.

The use of solar energy has shot up as the cost goes down. Global installed capacity jumped by 28.4 gigawatts (one gigawatt is 100,000 megawatts) in 2012 to reach 89.5GW. The 100GW milestone will be crossed some time this year.

All this is good news for the fight against climate change. Now comes the bad news.

The growing global demand has prompted the rise of solar panel manufacturers, and the competition is fierce, with a number of companies facing closure. China’s biggest solar energy company Suntech is in serious trouble.

But China has even bigger problems. The United States government, receiving complaints from US solar panel manufacturers, has slapped high anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese imports.

Now the European Commission also plans tariffs averaging 47% on Chinese solar products which it claims are selling below cost.

China is taking these threats seriously. Premier Li Keqiang in a visit to Europe last week took up the issue with European leaders.

Senior trade officials say China will retaliate. A full-scale trade war is thus imminent.

In a surprise turn of events, Germany and 16 other European countries have told the European Commission they are against its move.

But EC Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will apparently still slap on the tariffs provisionally, which is within his power to do.

So the solar wars between China with Europe and the US will likely proceed. This is a real pity, as the commercial interests of the countries are coming in the way of rapid progress in solar energy and the fight against climate change.

The expansion of the solar panel industry in China has played a crucial role in getting prices down, making solar energy more and more competitive, and driving its explosive growth.

Yes, China subsidises and promotes its solar industry. But the US and Europe also provide massive subsidies and supports.

The US has provided its solar companies with loan guarantees, research grants and tax deductions including investment tax credits and accelerated value depreciation.

European countries have given subsidies to consumers using solar energy, and incentives to producers including through the feed-in tariff scheme, in which solar energy providers are paid prices higher than what is charged to electricity users with the price difference being met by governments.

Without the subsidies, the solar industry would not have grown. Trade protectionist measures taken by one against the other, or by all against others, would be a recipe for disaster – for trade, the solar industry and the environment.

Well known solar energy advocate and chairman of Solarcentury Jeremy Leggett uses the following analogy to illustrate the trade war: “A planet faces an asteroid strike. Its inhabitants manufacture rockets with which to head off the threat. But, as the rock nears, they descend into international bickering over who pockets what from rocket-making.”

No one wins in this trade war, because of global solar supply chain, explains Leggett. Solar ingots, the upstream feedstock, are mostly made in Europe and America. The midstream products, cells and modules, are mostly made in China.

If China is hit on the mid-stream products it exports, it could retaliate with tariffs on the upstream products it imports.

For example, in Europe, the tariffs against China would wipe out thousands of jobs because most are not in manufacturing but in the companies that install the modules, regardless of where they are made.

The solution, he adds, is for the leaders of the few countries where most solar panels are manufactured to make a deal that coordinates the subsidies required in the various parts of the solar chain, and which is required for the few years that some countries need to bring the price of solar energy to parity with that of conventional energy.

An apt conclusion is made by Leggett: “The world will have to embrace common security on a bigger scale. Engaging in international competition while clinging to the illusion that markets always work will never solve our common problems of energy insecurity, poor air quality and resource depletion, never mind development. We will keep on maiming industries that can save us.”

Global Trends
By MARTIN KHOR