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☆ Thirty-five dead, 16 hurt after roof of stepwell collapses in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Saurabh Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LUCKNOW, India, March 31 (Reuters) - At least 35 people were killed and 16 were injured after the roof of a stepwell in a temple complex collapsed in central India, a local government official said on Friday. The incident occurred in the central Indian city of Indore after a concrete slab covering the roof of a stepwell in a temple complex collapsed, crushing devotees who had gathered to celebrate the Hindu festival of Ram Navami on Thursday, officials said. Stepwells are a common feature across India, built hundreds of years ago, many of them ornately decorated, with access to a body of water through stairs and niches. "We have rescued 18 people, 35 have been found dead and 16 are injured," Ilayaraja T, a top local government official, told Reuters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences and announced compensation for the dead and injured in the incident.

Operating profit in the Swedish group's fiscal first quarter was 725 million Swedish crowns ($69.73 million) against a profit of 458 million crowns a year earlier. H&M's operating profit margin was 1.3%, up from 0.9% a year earlier. Helmersson said the company expects a gross margin recovery over the year and is making progress towards its goal of a 10% operating margin next year. Analysts at Credit Suisse said it would be "very challenging" for H&M to return to a 10% margin in 2024. H&M said net sales for March were expected to increase by 4% in local currencies compared with the corresponding period last year.

☆ New Zealand defence minister says military needs more resources amid growing challenges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WELLINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - New Zealand's military will require big investment as it faces new challenges and greater expectations from regional allies, the country’s new defence minister, Andrew Little, said Thursday. The United States is "certainly keen to have New Zealand engaged but it’s not a decision I get to take alone,” he said. Little said that whatever New Zealand decided in terms of engaging with AUKUS, it was important that the defence force was equipped to work with its Australian counterparts. New Zealand, which spends roughly 1.5% its of GDP on its military, is undertaking a defence policy review as the country grapples with regional geopolitics and climate change. The Defence Force has been struggling with record attrition in part because of low pay, which has forced the navy to idle three of its ships and to retire its P-3 Orion fleet early.

March 29 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity. "Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said. The letter detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities. Rather than pause research, she said, AI researchers should be subjected to greater transparency requirements. "If you do AI research, you should be very transparent about how you do it."

March 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity. "Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said. The letter detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities. Co-signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) DeepMind, as well as AI heavyweights Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell. Musk, whose carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) is using AI for an autopilot system, has been vocal about his concerns about AI.

March 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in training systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched model GPT-4, they said in an open letter, citing potential risks to society and humanity. "Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said. The letter also detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities. Musk, whose carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) is using AI for an autopilot system, has been vocal about his concerns about AI. Sam Altman, chief executive at OpenAI, hasn't signed the letter, a spokesperson at Future of Life told Reuters.

☆ Musk, experts urge pause on training of AI systems that can outperform GPT-4
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in training of systems more powerful than GPT-4, they said in an open letter, citing potential risks to society and humanity. "Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said. The letter also detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities. Since its release last year, Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted rivals to launch similar products, and companies to integrate it or similar technologies into their apps and products. Editing by Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A capital increase was among proposals the World Bank made in January. It would not be possible without the support of the United States, the World Bank's dominant shareholder. "We are not requesting a capital increase," Yellen said during a budget hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. "We do want to see better mobilization of private resources alongside World Bank investments as well, but we're not requesting a capital increase at this time." Yellen has previously called for the World Bank to take "bolder and more imaginative" steps to unlock more lending for climate change.

☆ SoftBank shares jump on Alibaba split-up plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - Shares in SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) soared on Wednesday after Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group (9988.HK), in which the Japanese technology investor has a 13.7 % stake, announced a major restructuring plan. SoftBank shares were up 5.6% in afternoon trade, on track to post the biggest percentage gain in five months. Alibaba shares were up 13.2%. Ichiyoshi Asset Management director Mitsushige Akino said that investors chased SoftBank higher in light of a spike in Alibaba shares, but that it is too early to tell whether the revamp will bring lasting growth to the Chinese company. "I'm not sure if a 5% rise (in SoftBank shares) can be justified.

☆ South Korea to host third 'Summit for Democracy' -joint statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, March 29 (Reuters) - South Korea will host a third "Summit for Democracy", President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a statement with U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday. "The United States and the Republic of Korea share deep bonds, rooted in our common democratic values and respect for human rights, and we are committed to further strengthening our robust political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties," the statement said. The plenary session of the second summit is to be held on Wednesday, involving 120 countries, civil society groups and technology companies in an event critics say illustrates the halting progress the Biden administration has made in advancing human rights and democracy as a focus of its foreign policy. The second summit is being co-hosted by the United States, Costa Rica, Zambia, the Netherlands and South Korea. It was not immediately clear when the next summit will be held or whether other countries will co-host the meeting.

☆ US expects Biden's nominee, Ajay Banga, to be elected as World Bank chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said she expected the U.S. nominee to head the World Bank, former Mastercard (MA.N) CEO Ajay Banga, to be elected as president of the multilateral development bank. "This evolution will help the Bank deliver on its vital poverty alleviation and development goals," Yellen will tell lawmakers who control the Treasury Department's purse strings. He has won the support of enough other governments to virtually assure his confirmation as World Bank president, including India, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The World Bank will accept nominations from other countries until March 29, but no competitors have been announced. The World Bank has been led by an American since its founding at the end of World War Two, while the International Monetary Fund has been led by a European.

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) asked a U.S. federal judge on Monday to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit alleging that the search giant illegally abused its dominance of online advertising. The government, which filed the ad tech lawsuit in January along with eight states, had argued that Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. It also said that the government's estimate of Google's ad exchange as having "more than 50%" of the market fell short of the 70% needed to allege market power. The company also said the government was wrong to assert that Google's acquisitions of DoubleClick and AdMeld, both more than 10 years ago, harmed competition. The Justice Department's ad tech lawsuit follows a separate lawsuit filed in 2020, at the end of the Trump administration, that accused Google of violating antitrust law to maintain its dominance in search.

The conservative-leaning court will issue rulings this spring in cases questioning the legality of race-conscious admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. To increase enrollment of all underrepresented groups on campus without race-conscious admissions, the study said, schools would need to overhaul the entire process. The study's authors said it was unlikely that schools would universally adopt class-conscious admissions. Those that do try class-conscious admissions might still face discrimination lawsuits if they start giving explicit preference to low-income students, Carnevale added. Schools would have to invest heavily in expanding their recruitment of high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds for a class-based alternative to produce anywhere near the level of racial diversity accomplished through race-conscious admissions, the study found.

☆ 'We are all Chinese', former Taiwan president says while visiting China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Nicoco Chan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou gestures as he arrives at an airport in Shanghai, China March 27, 2023. Ma, in office from 2008-2016, is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists. He is visiting amid heightened tension as Beijing uses political and military means to try and pressure democratically governed Taiwan into accepting Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly offered talks with China, but has been rejected as China considers her a separatist. He and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Singapore in 2015.

☆ Dollar steady as banking crisis fears keep investors jittery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

On Friday, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council said the U.S. banking system was "sound and resilient" despite stress on some institutions. Risk-wary investors sent the yen to a seven-week high of 129.65 per dollar on Friday. "What's unclear for us is how much of these banking stresses are leading to a widespread credit crunch. That credit crunch ... would then slow down the economy," Kashkari said in comments to CCBS show Face the Nation. The Australian dollar rose 0.03% versus the greenback at $0.665.

☆ Vietnam sends ship to track Chinese vessel patrolling Russian gas field in EEZ -data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Francesco Guarascio | Thomson Reuters | Francesco Leads A Team Of Reporters In Vietnam That Covers Top Financial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

HANOI, March 27 (Reuters) - A Vietnamese ship monitored a Chinese Coast Guard vessel on Saturday in a Russian-operated gas field in Vietnam's South China Sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ), data show - the latest Chinese patrol in a pattern stretching more than a year. The patrols mirror Chinese Coast Guard activity elsewhere in the South China Sea, where such vessels have been used to assert territorial claims. A spokeswoman for Vietnam's foreign ministry said on Friday that Vietnam acts in the South China Sea “to protect its legal rights”. Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei are among other countries that have competing claims in the South China Sea. Chinese Coast Guard vessels have also patrolled the Tuna block; in January, Indonesia deployed a warship to monitor a Chinese ship there.

☆ North Korea's Kim orders more production of weapons-grade nuclear materials
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, March 28 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for scaling up the production of weapons-grade nuclear material to grow the country's arsenal, saying it should be ready to use the weapons at any time, state media KCNA said on Tuesday. Kim made the remarks as he inspected the country's nuclear weapons programme, including new tactical nuclear weapons and technology for mounting warheads on ballistic missiles, and examined nuclear counterattack operation plans, KCNA said. He was also briefed on an IT-based integrated nuclear weapon management system called Haekbangashoe, which means "nuclear trigger," whose accuracy, reliability and security were verified during recent drills simulating a nuclear counterattack, it added. Kim ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a "far-sighted way" to boost its nuclear arsenal "exponentially" and produce powerful weapons, KCNA said. North Korea's military simulated a nuclear airburst with two tactical ballistic missiles during Monday's training, KCNA said in a separate dispatch.

☆ Alibaba founder Jack Ma returns to China, ending year-long sojourn abroad -SCMP
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, March 27 (Reuters) - Alibaba (9988.HK) founder Jack Ma has returned to China, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Monday, ending a more than year-long sojourn overseas that was viewed by industry as reflecting the sober mood of China's private businesses. Ma, one of China's best known entrepreneurs, left mainland China in late 2021 and has been seen in photographs in Japan, Australia and Thailand in the months since. Once one of the country's most outspoken businessmen, he retreated from the public limelight in late 2020 after criticising China's regulatory system that was later blamed for triggering a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown by Beijing. Alibaba shares in Hong Kong rose more than 4% after the SCMP report was published. It added that he returned to China after a brief stop in Hong Kong.

☆ North Korea unveils new nuclear warheads as Kim orders more weapons-grade materials
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SEOUL, March 28 (Reuters) - North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads as leader Kim Jong Un called for scaling up the production of weapons-grade nuclear material to expand the country's arsenal, state media KCNA said on Tuesday. KCNA released photos of the warheads, dubbed Hwasan-31, during Kim's visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute, where he inspected new tactical nuclear weapons and technology for mounting warheads on ballistic missiles, as well as nuclear counterattack operation plans. Kim ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a "far-sighted way" to boost its nuclear arsenal "exponentially" and produce powerful weapons, KCNA said. "The frantic war drills in the puppet region are not just military drills but nuclear war drills for a preemptive strike ... pursuant to the U.S. political and military option to escalate confrontation with the DPRK and finally lead to a war," it said. DPRK is an abbreviation for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pakistan is no stranger to economic crises - this is its fifth IMF bailout since 1997 - but economists say the latest measures, which include higher taxes and fuel costs, are hurting educated professionals. "Unfortunately the poor in Pakistan are left with nothing to lose," said Abid Suleri, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute of Pakistan, an economic think tank. "Educated professionals... find their purchasing power and savings eroded, and daily consumption either unaffordable or out of reach." "It will be more difficult to buy sweets and gifts for Eid, which is a break from our family tradition." The economic turmoil is driving some professionals out of the country.

☆ UBS offers retention packages to Credit Suisse Asia wealth bankers -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

In a town hall address in Hong Kong on Friday, Iqbal Khan, UBS's president for global wealth management, also focussed on stabilising the Credit Suisse Asia team and boosting confidence, one of the two sources said. In his address, Khan said the top performers at the Credit Suisse wealth business will get retention packages, the second source said. Spokespeople for Credit Suisse and UBS declined to comment. UBS told Credit Suisse wealth bankers in Zurich this week that it is weighing financial sweeteners for them to stay as it seeks to reassure key staff following the takeover, Reuters reported on Monday. Reporting by Xie Yu in Hong Kong and Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Christian Schmollinger and Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris starts a weeklong trip to Africa this weekend as the United States seeks to pitch itself as a better partner than China, which has invested heavily in the continent over several decades. Harris will discuss China's engagement in technology and economic issues in Africa that concern the United States, as well as China's involvement in debt restructuring, senior U.S. officials said. The White House hosted an Africa Leaders Summit in December, and President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Africa this year. "The Vice President is very much looking forward to returning to Lusaka, which is a part of her family's story and a source of pride," one of the officials said. Harris will also meet with young leaders and business representatives and discuss topics such as climate change and food insecurity.

☆ US amphibious assault ship joins drills in South Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Soo-Hyang Choi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUSAN, South Korea, March 23 (Reuters) - South Korean and U.S. troops launched their largest amphibious landing drills in years involving a U.S. amphibious assault ship, officials said on Thursday, a day after North Korea tested four long-range cruise missiles. About 12,000 sailors and marines from the two countries will take part, as will 30 warships, 70 aircraft and 50 amphibious assault vehicles, the South Korean military said. Hours before the ship docked, North Korea fired four cruise missiles off its east coast, South Korea said, in apparent protest of ongoing drills by the U.S. and South Korea. The ship's welldeck, which can be flooded to provide direct access to the sea, allows it to launch and recover landing craft and other amphibious vehicles, the U.S. military said. South Korea and the U.S. say the exercises are purely defensive.

In recent years the 15-member body has been split on how to deal with North Korea. Although both Russia and China backed toughened sanctions after North Korea's last nuclear test, in May 2022 they vetoed a U.S.-led push to impose more U.N. sanctions over North Korea's renewed ballistic missile launches. North Korea fired several cruise missiles off its east coast on Wednesday, three days after firing a short-range ballistic missile into the sea. North Korea's last known firing of strategic cruise missiles was on March 12, when it said it fired two from a submarine. "But I think it is a much more dangerous North Korea than it has been in the past," Berrier said.

REUTERS/Edgar SuSINGAPORE, March 23 (Reuters) - The United States does not see an imminent threat of China invading Taiwan but is ready to defend the self-ruled island, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday in Singapore. "Anyone who contemplates an act of aggression that would involve the United States is making a very serious mistake," he said. Kendall said China has done "a number of things that are fairly aggressive", including "militarising" the South China Sea, the strategic trade corridor in which several countries have overlapping claims. China claims most of the waterway as its territory and has said the United States is the biggest driver of militarisation in the region. The Chinese military said on Thursday it monitored and drove away a U.S. destroyer that had illegally entered waters around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

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