[ad_1]
South Korea’s brutal intercourse commerce
The euphemism “consolation ladies” usually describes South Korean ladies who have been compelled into sexual slavery by the Japanese throughout World Conflict II. However lengthy after Japan’s colonial rule ended, the sexual exploitation continued with Korean and American troopers.
After South Korea’s Supreme Courtroom final 12 months ordered the federal government to compensate 100 of the consolation ladies, the victims now goal to take their case to the U.S. Their authorized technique is unclear, as is what recourse they could discover.
Park Geun-ae, who was offered to a pimp in 1975, when she was 16, mentioned she endured extreme beatings and different abuse from G.I.s. “The People must know what a few of their troopers did to us,” she mentioned.
In its ruling, South Korea’s Supreme Courtroom mentioned that the federal government was responsible of “justifying and inspiring” prostitution to assist South Korea keep its navy alliance with the U.S. and earn American {dollars}. The courtroom additionally blamed the federal government for the “systematic and violent” method it detained the ladies and compelled them to obtain remedy for sexually transmitted illnesses.
Numbers: In 1961, the native authorities of Gyeonggi Province, the populous space surrounding Seoul, estimated that the variety of consolation ladies in its jurisdiction was 10,000 and rising and that they catered to 50,000 American troops. Many of those ladies labored in gijichon, or “camp cities,” constructed round American navy bases.
Australia strikes to stamp out vapes
Australia’s authorities proposed a ban on e-cigarettes in considered one of its most sweeping tobacco regulatory strikes in years.
Nicotine vapes are speculated to be out there solely with a prescription in Australia. However they’re offered in lots of comfort shops, and the federal government mentioned it was notably involved in regards to the rising reputation of vaping amongst younger individuals.
“We have been promised this was a pathway out of smoking, not a pathway into smoking,” the well being minister mentioned yesterday. However, he continued, “that’s what it has turn out to be.”
The proposal, introduced yesterday, would ban all single-use, disposable vapes, cease the imports of nonprescription vapes and limit some flavors, colours and components. It will additionally work to restrict the nicotine within the merchandise.
A New Zealand comparability: Australia’s well being minister mentioned the nation had no plans to ban smoking or to part it out by delivery 12 months, as New Zealand did not too long ago when it positioned a lifetime prohibition on cigarette gross sales to everybody born after 2008.
A U.S. comparability: Well being regulators started a crackdown in recent times — that they had not accounted for younger individuals turning into hooked on nicotine by the fruity flavors of vapes.
China’s splurge fest
Luxurious spending in China is bouncing again even quicker than the nation’s total financial system now that pandemic lockdowns have ended. Many Western manufacturers have reaped the advantages.
Earlier than the pandemic, as a lot as two-thirds of the nation’s luxurious spending befell outdoors of mainland China: Rich Chinese language shopped overseas to keep away from their nation’s import tariffs and taxes. However touring outdoors China stays far tougher than it was earlier than the pandemic.
The numbers:
-
LVMH, the proprietor of manufacturers like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Firm and Dior, final month posted a 17 % improve in first-quarter income from a 12 months earlier, pushed largely by the rebound in China.
-
Retail gross sales of jewellery, gold and silver soared 37.4 % in March from a 12 months earlier.
-
Hermès mentioned gross sales in Asia (excluding Japan) have been up 23 %, “pushed by an excellent Chinese language New Yr.”
THE LATEST NEWS
Asia Pacific
ARTS AND IDEAS
Can A.I. learn minds?
Neuroscientists from the College of Texas, Austin, have developed A.I. fashions that may translate individuals’s non-public ideas — with out utilizing implants.
Within the scientists’ research, three individuals listened to 16 hours of narrative tales whereas hooked as much as an fMRI machine, which measures the blood flows to completely different components of the mind. The scientists then used a big language mannequin to match patterns within the mind exercise to the phrases and phrases that the individuals had heard.
The mannequin was capable of flip an individual’s imagined speech into precise speech. In a single occasion, virtually each phrase was misplaced within the decoded script, however the that means of the passage was preserved:
Unique transcript: “I acquired up from the air mattress and pressed my face towards the glass of the bed room window anticipating to see eyes staring again at me however as a substitute solely discovering darkness.”
Decoded from mind exercise: “I simply continued to stroll as much as the window and open the glass I stood on my toes and peered out I didn’t see something and seemed up once more I noticed nothing.”
Basically, the decoders have been paraphrasing and capturing the gist, if not the exact language.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to Prepare dinner
[ad_2]
Source link
