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☆ Cyclone Mocha Leaves Thousands Homeless in Bangladesh and Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Saif Hasnat | Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Hundreds of thousands of people began repairing or rebuilding their homes and livelihoods on Monday after a deadly cyclone hit Myanmar and Bangladesh over the weekend. The storm, named Mocha, killed several people in Myanmar, though there were conflicting accounts from leaders as to exactly how many. The Myanmar government said the number was five, but the shadow government, called the National Unity Government, which may have more sources in the country’s remote conflict zones, said it was 18. Though the damage from the powerful storm was not as dire as predicted, there were still hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees left homeless, along with reports of people stranded and having to make their way through storm debris to get home. The damage in Myanmar was mostly confined to Rakhine State, Chin State and other areas in the west, according to officials and aid workers.

☆ Indonesia president condemns attack on ASEAN officials delivering aid in Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JAKARTA, May 8 (Reuters) - Indonesia's President Joko Widodo on Monday condemned an attack in Myanmar on ASEAN officials delivering humanitarian aid, and called for an end to violence in the strife-torn country. Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, did not provide details of the incident but said it would not deter efforts by Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to push for peace in Myanmar. This condition will not make anybody win," he said, adding that Indonesia encourages all stakeholders to have a dialogue and find solutions. Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government, which is allied with the anti-junta militias, the People's Defence Forces (PDF), said it was not aware of any attack. A spokesperson for the Myanmar junta did not respond to a request for comment.

[1/4] People wait to watch Britain's King Charles' procession to his coronation ceremony from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, at The Mall in London, Britain May 6, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie LecocqLONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people of all ages, from Britain and across the globe, braved the rain for a glimpse of the newly crowned King Charles in the streets of London and on Buckingham Palace's famous balcony on Saturday. "It was amazing to see them all there in real life, just like you’d see on a postcard." Charles, 74, ascended to the throne in September after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth. But polls show the public generally approves of Charles as king and a majority still support the monarchy, even if younger people are far less interested.

☆ Big Promises From Vivek Ramaswamy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We will use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels.”While in Keene, N.H., on Wednesday, Mr. Ramaswamy mused about using a local precision-weapons plant to elaborate on his threat of military action against organized crime across the southern border in Mexico. And Mr. Ramaswamy has conceded that among some libertarian-minded voters, the promise sounds disconcertingly bellicose. It might also resonate with those who understand how lopsided the youth vote is in favor of Democrats. He would prevent American businesses from expanding into Chinese markets unless “our demands are met” by Beijing. Those include more intellectual property protections and an end to required joint ventures with state-controlled businesses.

Speaking later at a press conference, Retno said it was vital to secure the trust of all those involved. "Indonesia is using non-megaphone diplomacy, this aims to build trust with all stakeholders, so they want to talk to us," she said. "Indonesia continues trying to play a bridging role to reduce a deep and sharp gap among the stakeholders." Representatives of the Myanmar junta and two armed ethnic groups did not respond to requests for comment. An Indonesian foreign ministry official confirmed the move to engage all stakeholders had the support of ASEAN members.

☆ Trump says he's 'pleased' to see Vivek Ramaswamy was even with Pence and ahead of Haley in a recent poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The former president said he was "pleased" to see entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy doing so well. A political newcomer, Ramaswamy performed very well in a recent poll. "I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll, CBS YouGov," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. RealClearPolitics' more raw average has Ramaswamy in fifth behind DeSantis, Pence, and Haley respectively. In response to Trump's praise, Ramaswamy senior adviser Tricia McLaughlin told Insider, "We're 10 weeks in and just getting warmed up."

☆ Russia’s battered wartime economy is still chugging along as it taps its wealth fund, raises taxes, and ramps up imports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Shares of First Republic dropped more than 40% in pre-market trading today, while JPMorgan stock ticked 2.9% higher. Let's check in on Russia's wartime economy. To the surprise of many forecasters, Russia's economy has held up better than expected as it carries on into the second year of its war on Ukraine. And leaked documents, first reported by the Washington Post, suggest that Russia can fund its war for at least another year. Specifically, US intelligence says Moscow can rely on its sovereign wealth fund to help pay for its war efforts, as well as higher corporate taxes and ramped-up imports.

☆ Myanmar's neighbours, some ASEAN members hold secretive talks on crisis - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Devjyot Ghoshal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BANGKOK, April 26 (Reuters) - Government and think-tank representatives from Myanmar and its neighbours, including India and China, held talks in New Delhi on Tuesday as part of a secretive effort to de-escalate a bloody crisis in the army-run Southeast Asian nation, two sources said. One of the sources said participants were interested in bringing into the process Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government (NUG), an organisation affiliated with the resistance and declared "terrorists" by the junta. "The neighbouring countries' perspective needs to be taken into account," said the source, "For them, the foremost priority is the de-escalation of the violence." ASEAN has barred the junta from attending until they implement the plan, which has infuriated the generals. "This effort will not supplant ASEAN," the second source said of the ongoing talks, "This will only complement."

☆ China Says Chatbots Must Toe the Party Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Chang Che | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Five months after ChatGPT set off an investment frenzy over artificial intelligence, Beijing is moving to rein in China’s chatbots, a show of the government’s resolve to keep tight regulatory control over technology that could define an era. The Cyberspace Administration of China unveiled draft rules this month for so-called generative artificial intelligence — the software systems, like the one behind ChatGPT, that can formulate text and pictures in response to a user’s questions and prompts. According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules, just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China’s leaders or rehashes forbidden history. systems will need to reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information that undermines “state power” or national unity. Companies will also have to make sure their chatbots create words and pictures that are truthful and respect intellectual property, and will be required to register their algorithms, the software brains behind chatbots, with regulators.

☆ China wants its AI to only say nice things about the communist party. Good luck with that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AI systems must reflect China's "socialist core values," according to new rules reported by The New York Times. Proposed regulations could make it harder for Alibaba, Baidu and other Chinese tech companies to chase OpenAI. Bytedance and Tencent are also competing in the new AI race against Google and Facebook. A new wave of AI models is already beginning to disrupt Western business and society by automating some tasks and convincingly lying about important topics. Tencent, Bytedance, Baidu, Alibaba, Sensetime, and other big Chinese tech companies have the technical prowess to develop their own generative AI models.

☆ Myanmar airstrike survivors ask what will it take for the world to act: 'How many more children have to die?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helen Regan Sandi Sidhu Anna Coren Salai Tz Su Chay | Helen Regan | Sandi Sidhu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The aftermath of an airstrike in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region's Kanbalu Township, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 11, 2023. The three-year-old girl (left) was among the 186 people who were killed in the military attack in Sagaing, Myanmar. There were 56 air attacks by the military junta between January and March this year, according to Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Min Tun, who represents the NUG. The one-year-old girl (left) was another victim of the military airtsike in Sagaing, Myanmar. The survivors who lost families in last Tuesday’s attack ask how many more people have to die before such action is taken.

☆ Opinion | This Is Too Important to Leave to Microsoft, Google and Facebook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Ezra Klein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The White House’s Blueprint for an A.I. But where the European Commission’s approach is much too tailored, the White House blueprint may well be too broad. system today comes close to adhering to the framework, and it’s not clear that any of them could. so it can concentrate on systems that will more reliably serve state interests. China insists, for example, that “content generated through the use of generative A.I.

☆ ASEAN "strongly condemns" deadly air strike in Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JAKARTA, April 13 (Reuters) - The chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Thursday the bloc "strongly condemns" a military air strike this week on a village in Myanmar, which is reported to have killed up to 100 people including civilians. Tuesday's attack in the Sagaing area was the deadliest in a recent string of military air attacks, with children reported to be among the dead, and has drawn global condemnation. "All forms of violence must end immediately, particularly the use of force against civilians," chair Indonesia said in a statement. "This would be the only way to create a conducive environment for an inclusive national dialogue to find a sustainable peaceful solution in Myanmar," it said. A junta spokesperson said Tuesday's attack targeted a ceremony held by the NUG for their armed People's Defence Force, adding the attack aimed to restore peace and stability in the region.

At least 133 people, including women and children, were killed after Myanmar’s military junta bombed Kanbalu township in the central Sagaing region on Tuesday, the human rights minister of the ousted shadow National Unity Government Aung Myo Min told CNN. Like much of Sagaing, the area is not under the control of the military junta. I saw flesh on the road.”The eyewitness said he saw dozens of bodies after the attack, including children as young as five. The attacks have killed civilians, including children, and targeted schools, clinics, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. And a military airstrike on a school in Sagaing in September killed at least 13 people, including seven children.

☆ Myanmar junta says military carried out deadly attack on rebel ceremony
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At least 50 people, including children, were killed in Tuesday's air strike in the Sagaing area in northwest Myanmar, according to media reports. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told military broadcast channel Myawaddy the attack on the ceremony held by the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration, for their armed People's Defence Force was aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region. They are the ones opposing the government of the country, the people of the country," said Zaw Min Tun. Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the NUG, said it believed nearly 100 people were killed in the Tuesday attack when air force jets dropped bombs on villagers and military attack helicopters then followed up, calling it "another senseless, barbaric, brutal attack by the military". The military has ruled Myanmar for most of the past 60 years saying it is the only institution capable of holding the diverse country together.

☆ Aid group says two employees killed in Ethiopia's Amhara region
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, April 10 (Reuters) - Two Catholic Relief Services (CRS) workers were shot and killed on Sunday in Ethiopia's Amhara region, the charity said, amid violent anti-government protests triggered by a federal government decision to disband regional special forces units. Spokespeople for Ethiopia's federal government and for the Amhara regional government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Residents in the town of Dessie reported large protests there on Monday, with young people blocking the roads and burning tyres. Amhara forces fought alongside the federal army in that conflict. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says the integration of the regional special forces is needed to ensure national unity in a country with a long history of inter-ethnic conflict.

☆ Gunfire, protests in Ethiopia's Amhara over plan to disband regional force
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ADDIS ABABA, April 9 (Reuters) - Gunfire was heard in at least two towns in Ethiopia's Amhara region on Sunday as thousands protested against a federal government order to integrate regional special forces into the police or national army, residents said. Spokespersons for Ethiopia's federal government and army and for the Amhara regional government could not be immediately reached for comment. In fact it was simply organising regional forces under federal security institutions, it quoted him as saying. Special forces and militias from Amhara fought in support of the federal army during its two-year war in the neighbouring Tigray region. They say the dissolution of their region's special forces would leave them vulnerable to attacks from Tigray and Oromiya.

☆ China warns US House Speaker not to meet Taiwan president
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Leah Millis/File PhotoBEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) - China warned U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday not to "repeat disastrous past mistakes" and meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, saying it would not help regional peace and stability, but only unite the Chinese people behind a common enemy. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, staged war games around the island last August after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, visited the capital, Taipei. The U.S. says such stopovers are common practice and there is no need for China to overreact. In a statement on Tuesday, Taiwan's foreign ministry said China had no right to complain, as the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island. "Even if the authoritarian government continues with its expansion and intensifies coercion, Taiwan will not back down."

☆ Myanmar junta dissolves Suu Kyi's party as election deadline passes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the opening session of the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, November 13, 2017. "It doesn't matter whether they say our party is dissolved or not. The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which the junta has declared "terrorists", said the military had no authority to hold what would be a sham election. The election would return Myanmar to the quasi-civilian democratic system that experts say the military can control with the NLD out of the picture. Richard Horsey, senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, said the election was dangerous for the country.

☆ Myanmar junta leader urges foreign powers to back its return to democracy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The junta will hold an election in August that has already been widely dismissed as a sham. It is likely to be dominated by a proxy party of the military that was trounced in the past two elections. "The military and government need to take action against the terrorist groups that are trying to devastate the country and are killing people," Min Aung Hlaing said. His coup abruptly ended a decade of tentative democracy and unprecedented economic development in Myanmar, which has been under military rule for five of the past six decades. Human rights groups accuse the military of committing atrocities in operations against the resistance fighters, including attacks on the civilian population.

☆ Netanyahu softens pace, focus of Israel's judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Wielding a parliamentary majority, Netanyahu had looked set to ratify the package of reforms by the Knesset's April 2 recess. Previously, the bill envisaged the panel including three cabinet ministers, two coalition lawmakers and two public figures chosen by the government - spelling a maximum 7-4 vote majority. It is amended form, the bill envisages the panel being made up of three cabinet ministers, three coalition lawmakers, three judges and two opposition lawmakers. Any appointments beyond that would have to be approved by a majority vote including at least one judge and one opposition lawmaker among selection panel members. "We are extending a hand to anyone who genuinely cares about national unity and the desire to reach an agreed accord," the coalition statement said.

☆ At least 22 people killed in suspected massacre at Myanmar monastery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Soldiers stand next to military vehicles as people gather to protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, February 15, 2021. A spokesman for the KNDF said its soldiers entered Nan Neint on Sunday and found dead bodies scattered at a Buddhist monastery. Video and photographs provided by the KNDF and another group, the Karenni Revolution Union (KRU), showed bullet wounds to the torso and heads of the dead bodies and bullet holes in the walls of the monastery. "Since all the dead bodies were found within the compound of Nan Nein monastery, it is evident that this was a massacre." At least 3,137 people have been killed in the military crackdown since the coup, according to the non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

☆ Israeli reservist colonel dismissed over judicial reform protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, March 9 (Reuters) - The Israeli air force said on Thursday that it had dismissed a reservist officer in the military for trying to orchestrate group walkouts from training flights as part of a spreading protest at judicial reforms planned by the government. Separately, air force chief Major-General Tomer Bar said the colonel "took upon himself inappropriate authority in his contact with the IAF pilots. Netanyahu says this will restore balance between branches of government but critics see it as an effort to hollow out judicial independence. The protest in the ranks jarred Israelis, who see their conscript-based military as a melting-pot that should be kept free of politics. Air force crews in the reserves take part in training as volunteers, without a legal obligation to attend.

☆ Dozens of Israeli reserve pilots ditch drill to protest judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) - Dozens of Israeli air force reservists said on Sunday they would not turn up for a training day in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms, a jolt for a country whose melting-pot military is meant to be apolitical. As Israel's strategic arm, the air force has traditionally relied on reservists in wartime and requires crews who have been discharged to train regularly in order to maintain readiness. The 37 air force reservists said they would suspend their one-day protest if required to carry out actual operations. Israel does not publish military personnel figures, making it hard to judge to impact of the air force reservists' protest, or of similar pledges by some reservists from other branches. "These irresponsible Israeli media are playing up any reservist who makes some kind of statement," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Channel 12 TV.

☆ Barclays posts 19% slide in annual net profit after costly U.S. trading blunder
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the other financial highlights:Common equity tier one capital (CET1) ratio was 13.9%, compared to 13.8% in the previous quarter and 15.1% for the final quarter of 2021. Return on tangible equity (ROTE) was 8.9% for the fourth quarter, compared to 12.5% in the third quarter and 13.4% for the fourth quarter of 2021. Net interest margin (NIM) was 2.86% for the full year, compared to 2.52% at the end of 2021. The bank booked £1.2 billion in credit impairment provisions, versus a £700 million charge in 2021. Barclays declared a total dividend for 2022 of 7.25 pence per share, up from 6 pence in 2021, including a 5 pence per share full-year dividend.

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