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1,371,424 | Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘year of efficiency’ at Meta has spread to the company’s upper ranks and incompetent VPs are next to be culled | Nobody is safe from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s now permanent efficiency measures, not even the company’s upper echelons.
As of last year, Meta employed an army of 300 vice presidents staggered into five levels of seniority that are now the prime targets of Zuck’s efficiency cuts, Business Insider reported, citing three people with knowledge of the company. In previous years, there were half as many VPs at Meta, Business Insider noted, and Zuckerberg reportedly wants to slice the roster down to 250.
The VP massacre comes after Zuckerberg first declared 2023 the “year of efficiency” last February, which resulted in more than 20,000 layoffs that year, according to BI. Zuckerberg later made the changes permanent after witnessing employees “execute better and faster,” and promised a “leaner” operating structure that included a flatter hierarchy.
To help cull supposedly lagging VPs, Meta is leaning on midyear performance reviews and formal annual performance reviews usually conducted in the first quarter. VPs who don’t measure up to their peers through a process called “stack ranking” are likely to get the axe.
The VPs are also under the microscope of their superiors, who under company rules are required to label 10% to 12.5% of their reports as underperforming. The tactic could lead to these employees being put on a performance improvement plan and then being laid off.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment and referred Fortune to a February Facebook post by Zuckerberg where he went into detail on Meta’s earnings and added that his “year of efficiency” changes would become “a permanent part of how we operate.”
Zuckerberg’s productivity measures stand in stark contrast with Meta’s growth of between 20% and 30% every year prior. But since Meta started its layoffs last year, it hasn’t stopped, and other big companies including Google, Microsoft, and Tesla also joined in. Overall more than 250,000 tech employees were laid off last year, according to Layoffs.fyi.
Zuckerberg’s risk in making the major job cuts has been rewarded by investors over the past year. Some analysts have lauded the CEO’s efforts, including those at MoffettNathanson, who in a research note candidly wrote: “Mr Zuckerberg is a capitalist after all.” – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Social media | Nobody is safe from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s now permanent efficiency measures, not even the company’s upper echelons. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/mark-zuckerbergs-year-of-efficiency-at-meta-has-spread-to-the-companys-upper-ranks-and-incompetent-vps-are-next-to-be-culled | |
1,371,399 | ByteDance fails to block trademark application for now-defunct short video app | SINGAPORE: TikTok’s parent company ByteDance failed to block an application by a Singapore-based firm to register the trademark of its short video app Tiki, which it said was similar to the marks it registered for its popular social media platform.
In a legal decision published by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) on June 14, principal assistant registrar Mark Lim said ByteDance was unable to convince him that the marks were similar, nor did it establish the element of misrepresentation, which led to his decision.
Singapore-based Dol Technology had first applied to register the trademark for Tiki in 2021, leading ByteDance to file its notices of opposition subsequently on Dec 23, 2021, and Jan 18, 2022.
The Tiki app by Dol Technology was launched in India on Feb 22, 2021, and allowed users to “create, watch and share short videos with friends”.
It shut down on June 27, 2023, citing challenges faced by the tech industry.
Explaining his decision, Lim said the marks for Tiki and TikTok were “visually and conceptually dissimilar”, and “aurally similar only to a low extent” when their names are read aloud.
The TikTok logo for one depicts a musical note, compared to Tiki’s use of a stylised letter “T” incorporated into a play icon, he explained.
He added that if he decided otherwise, it would mean all two-syllable words that begin with “tic”, such as ticket, ticker, or Tic Tac, would be considered to be similar to TikTok’s trademark.
Because the trademarks were dissimilar, Lim said he did not believe the average consumer would be confused between the two.
However, he acknowledged that the goods and services covered by the trademarks overlapped, with Dol Technology not addressing the matter in its submissions.
He awarded Dol Technology costs amounting to US$9,000, adding that ByteDance had exceeded the page limits in its submissions, which would affect costs.
In one, its documents of evidence spanned 345 pages, exceeding the 300-page limit prescribed. Another set of documents, issued in reply to those presented by Dol Technology, came in at 103 pages – three more pages than the limit of 100. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Singapore,Social media,Courts Crime | TikTok’s parent company ByteDance failed to block an application by a Singapore-based firm to register the trademark of its short video app Tiki, which it said was similar to the marks it registered for its popular social media platform. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/bytedance-fails-to-block-trademark-application-for-now-defunct-short-video-app | |
1,371,220 | After several near-misses on airport runways, a tech company revives work on a hazard-warning system | DALLAS: As a Delta Air Lines jet began roaring down a runway, an air traffic controller at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport suddenly blurted out an expletive, then ordered the pilots to stop their takeoff roll.
The controller saw an American Airlines plane mistakenly crossing the same runway, into the path of the accelerating Delta jet. JFK is one of only 35 US airports with the equipment to track planes and vehicles on the ground. The system alerted the airport control tower to the danger, possibly saving lives last year.
The National Transportation Safety Board and many independent experts say pilots should get warnings without waiting precious seconds to get word from controllers. Just last week, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration collaborate with manufacturers to develop technology for alerting pilots directly.
Honeywell International, a conglomerate with a big aerospace business, has been working on such an early-warning system for about 15 years and thinks it is close to a finished product. The company gave a demonstration during a test flight last week. As pilot Joe Duval aimed a Boeing 757 for a runway in Tyler, Texas, a warning appeared on his display and sounded in the cockpit: "Traffic on runway!”
The system had detected a business jet that was just appearing as a speck on the runway about a mile away – ground the Boeing would cover in a matter of seconds.
Duval tilted the plane's nose up and pushed the throttle forward into a G-force-inducing climb, safely away from the Dassault Falcon 900 below.
Honeywell officials claim their technology would have alerted the Delta pilots who had the January 2023 near-miss at JFK 13 seconds before the air traffic controller screamed the expletive and told them to stop their takeoff. Merely removing the need for a controller to relay the warning from ground-based systems could be critical.
"Those are microseconds, but they are enough to make a difference,” Michael McCormick, a former FAA official who now teaches air-traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, said. "Providing alerts directly to the cockpit is the next step. This puts the tool in the hands of the pilot who actually has control of the aircraft. This technology is a game-changer."
Honeywell plans to layer the cockpit-alert system on top of technology that is already in wide use and warns pilots if they fly too low.
Incidents like the one at JFK are called runway incursions – a plane or ground vehicle is on a runway when it shouldn’t be. Some incursions are caused by pilots entering a runway without clearance from air traffic controllers. In other cases, there isn't enough spacing between planes that are landing or taking off, which can be the fault of pilots or controllers.
The number of incursions fell during the coronavirus pandemic and has not returned to the recent peaks of more than 2,000 incidents recorded in both 2016 and 2017. However, the most serious ones – where a collision was narrowly avoided or there was a "significant potential” for a crash – have been rising since 2017. There were 23 in the United States last year, up from 16 in 2022, according to FAA statistics.
Reducing incursions has always been a priority for FAA "because that’s where the greatest risk lies in the aviation system,” said McCormick, the former FAA official.
The worst accident in aviation history occurred in 1977 on the Spanish island of Tenerife, when a KLM 747 began its takeoff roll while a Pan Am 747 was still on the runway; 583 people died when the planes collided in thick fog.
Earlier this year, a Japan Airlines jet landing in Tokyo collided with a Japanese coast guard plane that was preparing to take off. Five crew members on the coast guard plane died, but all 379 people on board the airliner escaped before it was destroyed by fire.
The FAA has paid for airport improvements designed to reduce incursions, such as reconfiguring confusing taxiways. It has also paid for technology to alert people in the control tower when a plane is lined up to land on a taxiway instead of a runway.
That type of landing error nearly happened in 2017 in San Francisco, when an Air Canada jet pulled up at the last second to avoid crashing into four jets on the taxiway that were carrying about 1,000 passengers between them.
The FAA is also rolling out more simulators for controllers to practice directing traffic during times of low visibility. The NTSB last week recommended that the FAA require annual refresher training. The suggestion came after the NTSB determined that a controller who nearly caused a catastrophic crash between a FedEx plane and a Southwest Airlines jet during heavy fog in Austin, Texas, last year had not trained for low-visibility conditions in at least two years.
The NTSB's examination of the February 2023 close call in Austin also renewed attention on technology to provide cockpit warnings of possible incursions and included a brief reference to the system Honeywell is developing. The FAA has not certified the system, which Honeywell calls "Surf-A” for surface alerts, but the company thinks certification could happen in the next 18 months.
The FAA’s best technology against runway incursions is a system called ASDE-X that lets controllers track planes and vehicles on the ground. But it is expensive, so it’s only at 35 of the 520 US airports with a control tower.
"Some people thought ASDE-X was the solution,” former NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said. "The problem is, there are a lot more than 35 air-carrier airports. A product (that warns pilots in the cockpit) goes to every airport that the airplane goes to.”
Honeywell, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, began working on a cockpit warning system around 2008 and tried to convince airlines to support the idea, but it says it found no takers. The company suspended the project when the pandemic devastated aviation in 2020.
Then, as air travel recovered early last year, there were a series of high-profile close calls between planes at major US airports, including the ones at JFK and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
"Traffic was picking up. You were having more of the near-misses," said Thea Feyereisen, part of the Honeywell team working on the system. The timing was right to revive the warning system.
"Previously, when we would talk to airlines, they were not interested. Last year, we go talk to the airlines again, and now they’re interested," she said.
Still, Honeywell doesn’t have a launch customer, and company officials won’t say how much it would cost to outfit a plane.
Feyereisen was asked if the system would have prevented the close calls in New York and Austin.
"What our lawyers tell us to say (is) we reduce the risk of a runway incursion. We provide the pilot more time to make a decision” whether to, for example, call off a landing and fly around the airport instead, she said. "Still, the pilot needs to make a decision.” – AP | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology,Aviation | As a Delta Air Lines jet began roaring down a runway, an air traffic controller at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport suddenly blurted out an expletive, then ordered the pilots to stop their takeoff roll. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/after-several-near-misses-on-airport-runways-a-tech-company-revives-work-on-a-hazard-warning-system | |
1,371,287 | Fake news still has a home on Facebook | On the morning of Jan 6, 2021, Christopher Blair’s fake news empire was humming along.
Blair had been earning as much as US$15,000 (RM70,695) in some months by posting false stories to Facebook about Democrats and the election, reaching millions of people each month.
But after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol, his growing enterprise came to an abrupt halt. Facebook seemed to recognise its own role in fomenting an insurrection and tweaked its algorithm to limit the spread of political content, fake and otherwise. Blair watched his engagement flatline.
“It just kind of crashed – anything political crashed for about six months,” he said.
Today, though, Blair has fully recovered, and then some. His false posts – which he insists are satire intended to mock conservatives – are receiving more interactions on Facebook than ever, surging to 7.2 million interactions already this year compared with 1 million in all of 2021.
Blair has survived Facebook’s tweaks by pivoting away from politicians and toward culture war topics like Hollywood elites and social justice issues.
When Robert De Niro appeared outside a Manhattan courthouse last month to criticise former President Donald Trump, for example, Blair dashed off a false post claiming that a conservative actor had called him “horrible” and “ungodly”. It received nearly 20,000 shares.
Many writers like him – who publish falsehoods to fringe websites and social media accounts in a bid for clicks that can translate into profitable ad revenue – have also leaned into culture war topics. So far this year, only a quarter of the Facebook content that was rated “false” by PolitiFact, a fact-checking website, focused on politics or politicians, with nearly half focusing on issues like transgender athletes, liberal celebrities or health alternatives.
The success of those posts underscores an increasing reality on Facebook and similar platforms: Fake news is still finding an audience online.
The pivot has been so successful that Blair has seen an array of competitors spring up, many also calling their posts “satire”. They have copied his content and used artificial intelligence tools to supercharge their work.
“After what happened on Jan 6, there was some progress, and then almost immediately that progress was rolled back,” said Paul Barrett, a law professor at New York University who studies online disinformation. “I think we’re actually more vulnerable to this today than we were in spring of 2021.”
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, responded by highlighting the company’s misinformation policy and its efforts to combat falsehoods by limiting the spread of certain low-quality content.
Surviving on Facebook
Blair, 52, a former construction foreperson, is an avowed liberal.
He doesn’t see his work as fake news. He has long defended himself, including in profiles in The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, as a comedian who trolls conservative Facebook users into believing news that they should clearly question. He compares his work with that of Sacha Baron Cohen, a British comic who frequently dupes conservative Americans in an attempt to ridicule them. Blair uses a small “satire” label on each image he posts to Facebook.
But his headlines are often indistinguishable from many of the falsehoods that are posted to the social network.
Facebook allows satirical pages, whether or not they use a “satire” label. But the term has also become a popular defense for fake news operators, who typically disclose they are satire only in an obscure section of their Facebook pages, or sometimes omit it entirely.
“It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” said David Lazer, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied disinformation. “Wherever there’s a loophole in enforcement, it’s going to be a place that activity will go.”
Facebook’s attempts to limit the spread of political content left Blair and his contributors searching for a new approach.
“We used to kill Hillary Clinton every Saturday in the most ridiculous ways,” said Joe LaForm, 48, a truck driver who identifies as a liberal and has contributed to Blair’s Facebook page. “You know, she’d get run over by a monster truck at a monster truck rally.
“We stopped doing that,” he added, because of Facebook’s attempts to limit the spread of political content.
Blair now posts dozens of false stories to the social network each week on his main account, which has more than 320,000 followers and more than 225,000 likes. He populates his posts with a colourful cast of celebrities: actors like Tim Allen and Whoopi Goldberg or musicians like Jason Aldean and Kid Rock. He often stages them in dramatic but entirely fictitious feuds over culture war topics. A post from April, claiming that Beyoncé was criticised for “playing dress-up” by releasing country music, received more than 50,000 shares and 28,000 comments.
“If it’s somebody on the right, I reward them. If it’s somebody on the left, I punish them,” Blair said in a phone interview. “It’s my method.”
This was not the only pivot Blair had to make. After Facebook started down-ranking posts that linked to low-quality websites, Blair started posting only images and memes. Now, when a post seems to be a hit, he will add the link as the pinned comment.
“I know exactly what happened, in every situation, and why,” Blair said of the ups and downs of publishing on Facebook. “I’m constantly adjusting.”
Those pivots have rippled through the industry, with similar falsehoods appearing on Facebook pages with even larger audiences, like “Donald Trump Is My President,” which has more than 1.8 million followers. Some posts are shared directly to groups filled with conservatives, like fan pages for Tucker Carlson and Jesse Watters, two right-leaning anchors.
Many of the accounts have described themselves as news outlets. NewsGuard, a company that tracks online disinformation, identified 15 such accounts, with names like “Daily News” or “Breaking News USA,” that shared falsehoods about companies like Disney, Paramount, Nike and Tyson Foods.
“There are just tons and tons and tons of headlines being churned out every single day,” said Coalter Palmer, an analyst at NewsGuard who conducted the research. “It’s a lot of cultural war stuff.”
Competing against AI
Today, Blair is facing stiffer competition from pages that use AI tools to write fake stories about the celebrities and culture war issues he has highlighted. NewsGuard has identified nearly 1,000 websites that use AI tools to write unreliable news articles, up from 138 one year ago.
That competition includes SpaceXMania, a competing network of Facebook pages with at least 890,000 followers.
“My material, my cast of characters, my keywords, my hot buttons – they take everything,” Blair said of the recent plagiarism. “They put it into an AI program, and it just spits out headlines. There’s nothing original about any of it.”
When Blair wrote a false story recently about Harrison Butker, an NFL player who garnered national attention for his conservative views on women, SpaceXMania quickly followed suit with stories of its own about Butker – earning hundreds of thousands more comments than Blair.
The operator behind SpaceXMania is based in Pakistan and identifies himself by the name Shabayer, according to Facebook messages with Blair that he shared with The New York Times. He has cited Blair as a “role model” for his startup, according to the messages.
“I’m a liberal troll social justice warrior serving satirical nonsense with a mission,” Blair said. “He’s selling fake news to American conservatives from Pakistan for profit.”
A representative for SpaceXMania initially responded to an email but stopped responding after a reporter sent questions.
Many of SpaceXMania’s articles were written entirely by AI tools like ChatGPT, according to a Times analysis that used software to detect AI-written text.
“He’s probably the most effective at using my stuff,” Blair said. “He’s trying to get away from the AI, but he never will.” – The New York Times | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Social media,AI,Internet,Fake news | On the morning of Jan 6, 2021, Christopher Blair’s fake news empire was humming along. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/fake-news-still-has-a-home-on-facebook | |
1,371,347 | Explainer-What is Weverse, 'super app' joined by Ariana Grande? | SEOUL (Reuters) - Pop star Ariana Grande is joining Weverse, a superfan platform owned by HYBE, an entertainment firm that manages K-Pop phenomenon BTS.
Here is what we know about Weverse and why more pop stars around the world are joining the app.
WHAT IS THE WEVERSE APP?
Weverse is an app that specializes in interaction between artists and fans. Artists on the app write posts, livestream and sell merchandise. HYBE described Weverse as a 'super app' that also offers machine translation in 15 languages.
When Jin, the oldest member of BTS, spoke to fans on Wednesday after finishing his 18-month-long military duty, his initial livestream crashed before resuming and racking up more than 2 million views in 10 minutes.
Released in 2019, the app had more than 10 million monthly active users on average in the third quarter of 2023, according to HYBE. Nine of 10 Weverse users are international.
WHY IS ARIANA GRANDE JOINING WEVERSE?
Grande will join the app after signing a partnership with HYBE America, the entertainment firm said on Friday, without providing further details.
Her channel is yet to launch, and HYBE declined to confirm the opening date.
HYBE America, which also manages Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI, will also continue cooperation with Grande's cosmetics brand R.E.M Beauty, the company added.
The new partnership comes after Billboard reported last year that Grande was parting ways with manager Scooter Braun, who she had been with since her debut in 2013. Braun is now the CEO of HYBE America after a $1.05 billion merger deal in 2021 between HYBE and the music executive's Ithaca Holdings.
The announcement of Grande's partnership was met with amusement from K-Pop fans online.
"Ariana unnie" one fan said on X, referring to her with a Korean honorific for older sister.
Japanese pop duo Yoasobi, who attended a state dinner at the White House with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April, also opened their channel on Weverse earlier this month.
WHAT DOES HYBE SEEK TO GAIN?
In a 2022 interview, Weverse President Joon Choi told Reuters that the platform's users are "superfans characterised by passionate engagement."
"They bought merch here, watched videos there, communicated elsewhere ... We didn't have a database of our customers. So, we began developing each service in-house," he said in the interview.
The app's growth comes against the backdrop of HYBE's efforts to expand as a label including its acquisition of Exile Music, a music label of Spanish language media company Exile Content, in its first major foray into the Latin music market.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Joyce Lee; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | SEOUL (Reuters) - Pop star Ariana Grande is joining Weverse, a superfan platform owned by HYBE, an entertainment firm that manages K-Pop phenomenon BTS. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/explainer-what-is-weverse-039super-app039-joined-by-ariana-grande | |
1,371,217 | Microsoft faces heat from US Congress over cybersecurity | WASHINGTON: Members of US Congress on June 13 pressed Microsoft to explain a "cascade of avoidable errors" that allowed a Chinese hacking group to breach emails of senior US officials.
Microsoft President Brad Smith spent more than three hours answering questions from members of the House Committee on Homeland Security in Washington, assuring them cybersecurity is being woven more deeply into the technology company's culture.
"Microsoft accepts responsibility for each and every one of the issues cited" in a scathing US government report about the breach "without equivocation or hesitation," Smith told the committee.
The Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), led by the US Department of Homeland Security, conducted a seven-month investigation into the incident last year that involved the China-affiliated cyberespionage actor Storm-0558.
"Microsoft has an enormous footprint in both government and critical infrastructure networks," US congressman and committee member Bennie Thompson said to Smith as the hearing opened.
"It is our shared interest that the security issues raised by the (report) be addressed quickly."
The operation, which was first discovered by the US State Department in June 2023, included hacks on the official and personal mailboxes of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.
Microsoft's core business is to provide cloud computing services, such as Azure or Office360, that host sensitive data and power business and government operations across major sectors of the economy.
The report criticized a Microsoft corporate culture that was "at odds with... the level of trust customers place in the company."
The review identified a series of operational and strategic decisions by Microsoft that opened the door to the breach, including the failure to identify a new employee's compromised laptop following a corporate acquisition in 2021.
It also found that Microsoft fell short of safety standards seen at competing cloud companies, including Google, Amazon and Oracle.
"The Board finds that this intrusion was preventable and should never have occurred," the review said, pinpointing "the cascade of Microsoft's avoidable errors that allowed this intrusion to succeed."
‘Lasting change’
The report also recommended that Microsoft develop and publicly release a plan with timelines to enact wide-ranging security reforms across its products and practices.
"The real challenge is how you achieve effective lasting cultural change," Smith said, noting Microsoft has nearly 226,000 employees.
Smith said Microsoft has the equivalent of 34,000 engineers working full time on answering the security shortcomings in "the largest engineering project focused on cybersecurity in the history of digital technology."
Microsoft's board on Wednesday approved a change that will tie cybersecurity accomplishments with annual bonuses for senior executives and make it part of every employee's annual review, according to Smith.
Microsoft detects some 300 million cyberattacks on its customers daily, with most of those coming from China, Iran, Korea, Russia, or ransomware operations, Smith told the committee.
"We're dealing with four formidable foes in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, and they are getting better," Smith said.
"We should expect them to work together; they're waging attacks at an extraordinary rate."
While it is inevitable that adversaries will use artificial intelligence for increasingly sophisticated attacks, the technology is already being used to strengthen cyber defenses, Smith added. – AFP | Tech | Cybersecurity | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Cybersecurity | Members of US Congress on Thursday pressed Microsoft to explain a "cascade of avoidable errors" that allowed a Chinese hacking group to breach emails of senior US officials. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/microsoft-faces-heat-from-us-congress-over-cybersecurity | |
1,371,216 | Apple is sued by female employees claiming pay discrimination | Apple Inc was sued by two female employees who claim it “systemically” pays women less than their male counterparts for similar work, and who are seeking to represent thousands of other women facing the same alleged discrimination.
They claim that Apple, of Cupertino, California, determined starting salaries before 2018 by asking employees for their compensation history and that this practice “perpetuated historic pay disparities between men and women”.
Then, when California outlawed the practice, the iPhone maker started asking for salary expectations, entrenching the disparity, the women claim.
“Apple’s policy and practice of collecting such information about pay expectations and using that information to set starting salaries has had a disparate impact on women, and Apple’s failure to pay women and men equal wages for performing substantially similar work is simply not justified under the law,” Joe Sellers, a lawyer at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC representing the employees, said in a statement.
Glimpse of a W-2
The two employees, Justina Jong and Amina Salgado, also claim that in performance reviews, men at Apple routinely get higher scores on teamwork and leadership, resulting in lower bonuses and pay for the women.
Jong realised she was being paid about US$10,000 (RM47,135) less than a male colleague only after she saw his W-2 form on the office printer, according to the statement.
A representative of Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit, filed Thursday in California state court.
Lawsuits claiming pay discrimination against women in the tech industry have sometimes ended in substantial settlements that nonetheless can work out to a paycheck or two per person. The lawyers who filed Thursday’s suit include those who have brought similar claims against Oracle Corp and Google and won average per-person payouts of US$3,750 (RM17,675) and US$5,500 (RM25,924), respectively, after legal costs.
12,000 Employees
Jong and Salgado filed the suit on behalf of more than 12,000 current and former female employees in Apple’s engineering, marketing and AppleCare divisions in California. They have both worked at Apple for more than a decade, according to the complaint.
Salgado complained to Apple about the pay disparity a “number of times” but, despite conducting its own investigation, Apple didn’t raise her salary until a third-party probe concluded there was a pay gap between her and her male counterparts, according to the complaint. She didn’t receive back pay, according to her lawyers.
Jong and Salgado are seeking unspecified wages they say they are owed. – Bloomberg | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology,Courts Crime,Women | Apple Inc was sued by two female employees who claim it “systemically” pays women less than their male counterparts for similar work, and who are seeking to represent thousands of other women facing the same alleged discrimination. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/apple-is-sued-by-female-employees-claiming-pay-discrimination | |
1,371,262 | Clearview AI used Americans’ faces. Now they may get a stake in the company. | A facial recognition startup, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23% stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database.
Clearview AI, which is based in New York, scraped billions of photos from the Web and social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to build a facial recognition app used by thousands of police departments, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
After The New York Times revealed the company’s existence in 2020, lawsuits were filed across the country. They were consolidated in federal court in Chicago as a class action.
The litigation has proved costly for Clearview AI, which would most likely go bankrupt before the case made it to trial, according to court documents. The company and those who sued it were “trapped together on a sinking ship”, lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in a court filing proposing the settlement.
“These realities led the sides to seek a creative solution by obtaining for the class a percentage of the value Clearview could achieve in the future,” added the lawyers, from Loevy + Loevy in Chicago.
Anyone in the United States who has a photo of himself or herself posted publicly online – so, almost everybody – could be considered a member of the class. The settlement would collectively give the members a 23% stake in Clearview AI, which is valued at US$225mil (RM1.06bil), according to court filings. (Twenty-three percent of the company’s current value would be about US$52mil (RM245.12mil).)
If the company goes public or is acquired, those who had submitted a claim form would get a cut of the proceeds. Alternatively, the class could sell its stake. Or the class could opt, after two years, to collect 17% of Clearview’s revenue, which it would be required to set aside.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers would also be paid from the eventual sale or cash-out; they said they would ask for no more than 39% of the amount received by the class. (Thirty-nine percent of US$52mil (RM245.12mil) is about US$20mil (RM94.28mil).)
“Clearview AI is pleased to have reached an agreement in this class-action settlement,” said the company’s lawyer, Jim Thompson, a partner at Lynch Thompson in Chicago.
The settlement still needs to be approved by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Notice of the settlement would be posted in online ads and on Facebook, Instagram, X, Tumblr, Flickr and other sites from which Clearview scraped photos.
Although it seems like an unusual legal remedy, there have been comparable situations, said Samuel Issacharoff, a New York University law professor. The 1998 settlement between tobacco companies and state attorneys general required the companies to pay billions of dollars over decades into a fund for health care costs.
“That was being paid out of their future revenue streams,” Issacharoff said. “States became beneficial owners of the companies moving forward.”
Jay Edelson, a class-action lawyer, is a proponent of “future stakes settlement” in cases involving startups with limited funds. Edelson has also sued Clearview AI, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union, in a state lawsuit in Illinois that was settled in 2022, with Clearview agreeing not to sell its database of 40 billion photos to businesses or individuals.
Edelson, though, said there was an “ick factor” to this proposed settlement.
“Now you have people who are injured by Clearview trampling on their privacy rights becoming financially interested in Clearview finding new ways to trample them,” he said.
Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, a privacy advocacy organisation, was also critical.
“If mass surveillance is harmful, the remedy should be stopping them from doing that, not paying pennies to the people who are harmed,” Greer said. – The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | AI,Internet,Technology | A facial recognition startup, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23% stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/clearview-ai-used-americans-faces-now-they-may-get-a-stake-in-the-company | |
1,371,248 | Amazon often says its employees are satisfied. Workers explain why you should question the data | Thirty years after its founding, Amazon has grown into one of the largest employers in the world and the second-largest corporation in the US by staff size, trailing only Walmart. It’s also one of the most admired.
Along the way, the company has invested in programmes for its massive, 1.5-million-employee workforce – spread across warehouses and offices around the world – to provide regular feedback on their work experience, including a daily survey tool known as Connections.
While the results from Connections surveys are meant to identify problem areas (or problem managers) and seek solutions – “Our goal is to help develop leaders who earn trust, remove barriers to excellence, and make Amazon an inspiring place to work” – Amazon has also utilised Connections data when combating public reports of dissatisfied employees.
And when it does, employees have for years been known to reach out to this reporter with a suggestion: Be sceptical of the data.
Most recently, Amazon cited its employee survey results in response to a Fortune article documenting the challenges and fears facing Amazon’s customer service employees. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also cited Connections data from warehouse staff when he addressed unionisation efforts in his final annual shareholder letter as CEO.
ALSO READ: Layoffs, abusive calls, and AI fears: Inside the front lines of Amazon’s ‘customer obsession’ promise
To be clear, many Amazon employees note that Connections appears well-intentioned, and some who’ve worked on the program have lauded it as one of the first large-scale experiments involving a company creating a daily employee survey.
Still, many Amazon employees question the accuracy of the feedback – and thus the data Amazon cites – because they say many workers don’t answer Connections questions honestly.
The reasons for this are numerous, employees have said. Chief among employee concerns is that the anonymity of their responses is not as bulletproof as the company would like to suggest. On small teams for example, employees are concerned that their manager can deduce who responded in what way based on the overall manager-employee relationship.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said employee responses are confidential and that managers see aggregated results only when a team has at least four employees. For smaller teams, survey responses are not visible to managers nor other leaders. But even team sizes of four or more can leave little cover for who answered how, employees argue.
And some managers go so far as to put a thumb on the scale, employees say, by coaching their direct reports on how to answer certain questions or stressing to them that negative feedback can negatively impact the manager’s standing.
“Rather than self-reflection on why her scores are low,” one Amazon employee told Fortune of a manager, “she regularly bullies us to give better scores.”
Amazon’s Callahan said it’s against company policy for managers to attempt to influence employee responses, and that employees can always choose not to answer Connections questions if they prefer.
“We’re constantly working to improve the experience of our employees, and that’s why we collect feedback daily through Connections,” she noted in a statement to Fortune. “Employees can choose whether to answer or not, their responses are always confidential and aggregated, and the feedback that leaders receive help them build stronger organisations. We hear from the vast majority of our team that it’s a useful tool, and the anecdotes that were shared with us for this story don’t reflect most people’s experiences.”
Callahan added that the daily frequency of the surveying allows managers to filter results for various time frames and view trends for several questions that the tool asks regularly over a period of time. In its ideal implementation, the data allows managers to alleviate problems more quickly than if the company only polled workers monthly or annually.
On the other side of the equation, some employees have said they don’t give candid feedback because they fear a manager whom they like or respect will be penalised for employee concerns that are outside of the manager’s control.
Either way, the next time Amazon cites survey data to paint a picture of its work environment, it’s worth at least noting what many employees believe: that the picture is far from complete. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Internet,e-Commerce | Thirty years after its founding, Amazon has grown into one of the largest employers in the world and the second-largest corporation in the US by staff size, trailing only Walmart. It’s also one of the most admired | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/amazon-often-says-its-employees-are-satisfied-workers-explain-why-you-should-question-the-data | |
1,371,260 | Microsoft to delay release of Recall AI feature on security concerns | (Reuters) - Microsoft will not roll out "Recall", an AI-powered feature that tracks computer usage, with its new computers next week and will instead preview it with a smaller group later, the tech giant said on Thursday, amid concerns of privacy risks.
The Recall feature tracks web browsing to voice chats, creating a history stored on the computer that the user can search when they need to remember something they did, even months later.
Recall will now be available only for a preview on its Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks instead of being broadly available for Copilot+ PC users on June 18, Microsoft said in a blog post.
The decision is "rooted in our commitment to providing a trusted, secure and robust experience for all customers and to seek additional feedback prior to making the feature available to all Copilot+ PC users," the Redmond, Washington-based company said.
Copilot+ PCs are a category of personal computers with artificial intelligence (AI) features that were unveiled in May.
The WIP is a public software testing program that allows millions of "Windows biggest fans" to preview upcoming features for the operating system.
The company said it plans to make the Recall preview available for all Copilot+ PCs coming soon after feedback from the WIP community.
Privacy concerns were raised soon after the announcement of this feature, with some social media users expressing fears that it could enable spying, while billionaire technologist Elon Musk called it a "Black Mirror episode", making comparisons to the Netflix series that explores the harmful effects of advanced technology.
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | (Reuters) - Microsoft will not roll out "Recall", an AI-powered feature that tracks computer usage, with its new computers next week and will instead preview it with a smaller group later, the tech giant said on Thursday, amid concerns of privacy risks. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/microsoft-to-delay-release-of-recall-ai-feature-on-security-concerns | |
1,371,214 | Opinion: Use a roaming eSIM on your summer travels to avoid cellphone data fees | LONDON: For summer trips overseas, a smartphone is essential for most people. How else will you check Google Maps to find your Airbnb, post an Instagram video from the Eiffel Tower, or WhatsApp friends and family back home?
Of course, if you're using apps that gobble up data while travelling in a foreign country, there's always a risk of racking up hefty roaming fees from your phone carrier. The solution? An international travel eSIM for your smartphone.
How do you use this technology? Here are some tips.
What’s an eSIM?
If you've ever bought a new cellphone, you're probably familiar with the SIM card. Short for subscriber identity module, the SIM is a little chip the size of a fingernail that fits into a slot on most phones. Without it, you couldn't get cell service because it contains your account information and phone number.
But physical SIM cards are slowly being replaced by eSIMs – the ‘e’ stands for embedded – built into newer phones. These digital versions do the same thing and can make life easier, though people used to physical SIMs might find them confusing at first.
Why should I use an eSIM?
They make switching cell carriers easier. And if you've bought a new phone recently, you might not even have a choice: Apple got rid of the SIM card tray starting with the iPhone 14 released in September 2022.
They're especially beneficial for travellers. If you've got a compatible cellphone, you can add an eSIM from a virtual carrier that has better data roaming rates than your home network. Many phones will allow you to add more than one eSIM, making it easy to switch back and forth, or – for phones with the capability – use two at the same time.
Think of the convenience: Gone are the days of arriving in a strange country after a long flight, looking for a local phone company's airport kiosk, carefully popping open the SIM tray with a pin to swap in the new chip, and trying not to lose the existing one.
Where do I get a roaming eSIM and how much will I pay?
The eSIM market is booming. Kester Mann, director of consumer research at CCS Insight, says there are dozens of providers that can be found online, with names like Nomad, Holafly, Easysim, Airhub and Airalo.
“These guys have a role to play because I think they offer a very affordable and attractive opportunity for international travelers,” Mann said.
The boom means there's plenty of competition keeping rates low. Prices are typically clearly displayed online, either through a menu of packages on the provider's website or a calculator based on the amount of data needed and trip length.
Some 800 carriers support eSIMs, according to CCS, so international coverage is extensive. Many eSIM providers offer packages based on country or region, so you can check which ones have good rates for the place you'll be visiting and sign up in advance. Travelling to Europe and need data for a month covering 30 countries? Airalo offers, for example, 10 gigabytes at US$37 (RM174) while Holafly's package has unlimited data for €69 (RM353).
For an upcoming trip to Prague, I bought 5 gigabytes of data for just US$5 (RM23) from Global Yo. I was slightly put off by some negative reviews professing problems buying, installing or activating the company's eSIMs, but I didn't have any problems myself.
How do I put an eSIM on my phone?
You'll need a phone that's unlocked for use with different wireless carriers.
If you're not setting up a new phone, the typical activation method is with a QR code, or a more conventional string of numbers and letters. If you're planning a trip and buy one before you leave, it's a good idea to print out the code if you don't want to activate right away.
For iPhones, go to your Settings menu, then to either the Cellular or Mobile Service section, then tap Add eSIM. You'll be prompted to scan the code, or manually enter it. The process is similar for Android users. Samsung has a guide for Galaxy devices, and Google has a help page for Pixel users, while eSIM carriers have step-by-step instructions. Apple has a YouTube video, as well as tip sheets on using eSIMs for international travel and on using two eSIMs simultaneously.
If you've got a phone that supports dual eSIMs, you "can pick potentially the best network based on price and or coverage" while traveling, said Mann.
Some carriers have their own apps to manage eSIMs and track data usage.
How do I know if my cellphone can use an eSIM?
More than 200 devices support the technology, CCS Insight says. UK phone company Vodafone has a list of compatible devices. Or dial (asterisk)#06# – an EID code indicates it's compatible.
For iPhone users, it's any model released since the XS, XS Max or XR, as well as recent iPads. They're compatible with any Samsung Galaxy devices released since 2020, and Google Pixel 4 and newer models will work; some Pixel 3 devices also support them.
Does it always make sense to use a travel eSIM?
First check your own carrier’s roaming costs for the places you’re visiting. Sometimes it’s not worth it.
"Roaming costs these days are far lower and less prohibitive than they once were,” said Mann. They’ve even been abolished for European Union residents crossing the 27-nation bloc’s internal borders. But travellers in Britain, which has left the EU, are facing them again for travel to the continent. – AP | Tech | Smartphones | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Smartphones,Technology,Telcos | For summer trips overseas, a smartphone is essential for most people. How else will you check Google Maps to find your Airbnb, post an Instagram video from the Eiffel Tower, or WhatsApp friends and family back home? | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/opinion-use-a-roaming-esim-on-your-summer-travels-to-avoid-cellphone-data-fees | |
1,370,954 | If you know what ‘brainrot’ means, you might already have it | If you or someone you love speaks almost exclusively in Internet references – “It’s giving golden retriever boyfriend energy” or “Show it to me Rachel” – they may be suffering from a condition known as “brainrot”.
The term refers primarily to low-value Internet content and the effects caused by spending too much time consuming it. Example: “I’ve been watching so many TikToks, I have brainrot.”
Online discussion of brainrot has recently grown so widespread that some social media users have begun creating parodies of people who seem to embody the condition.
Several videos by the TikTok user Heidi Becker show her facing the camera as she strings together one Internet reference after another in rapid-fire fashion.
“Hiii, oh my god, the fit is fitting, pop off king!” she says at the start of a recent video that has over 220,000 likes.
Other lines in her soliloquy include: “It’s giving golden retriever energy,” a piece of slang describing someone who gives the impression of being friendly, goofy or harmless, and “I really like hot girl walking and I really like girl dinner,” references to daily activities that TikTok has gendered and renamed.
Accusing someone of having brainrot is not a compliment. But some people evince a hint of pride in admitting to the condition. A recent BuzzFeed quiz challenging readers on obscure Internet trivia was headlined, “If You Pass This Brain Rot Quiz, Your Brain Is 1000% Cooked.”
“One of the easiest ways to tell if someone’s brain has been destroyed by social media is to notice how often they reference Internet jargon,” influencer Joel Cave recently posted in a TikTok. “The fact that the Internet can infiltrate our brain so much that people don’t even have control over what they’re saying – they just have to spout out whatever meme they’ve been seeing a lot – is crazy to me.”
Some social media accounts are dedicated to creating “brainrot content”, which has become its own entertainment subgenre. TikTok user Fort History takes clips of movies and TV shows and dubs them with the latest Internet lingo.
“Hey, Rizzler, it’s just you and me today,” Phil from the sitcom Modern Family appears to say to his son, Luke, in one clip.
“All right I’ll edge right down,” Luke responds.
Taylor Lorenz, the author of Extremely Online: The Untold Story Of Fame, Influence, And Power On The Internet, said she saw “brainrot” as synonymous with the phrase “broken brain”. Both online terms apply to those who have become so warped by what they see on the Internet “that they have lost the ability to function in the physical world”, said Lorenz, a Washington Post columnist who was previously a reporter for The New York Times.
A badge of honour?
The term “brainrot”, which appeared online as early as 2007, is meant to be playful. But its rise in popularity relates to growing recognition of a disorder that researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have called Problematic Interactive Media Use.
Dr Michael Rich, a paediatrician who founded the Digital Wellness Lab at the hospital, said that his patients referred to brainrot as “a way of describing what happens when you spend a lot of your time online, and you have shifted your awareness over to the online space as opposed to IRL, and are filtering everything through the lens of what has been posted and what can be posted”.
Rich added that many of his patients seemed to consider having brainrot a badge of honour. Some even compete for the most screen time in the same way they do for high scores in video games. They joke about it, self-aware enough to understand that obsessive Internet usage affects them, but not enough to stop it.
“Even though they’re experiencing brainrot, they don’t use that as motivation to get away from it,” Rich said.
Joshua Rodriguez Ortiz, an 18-year-old high school senior in Billerica, Massachusetts, said that he had heard the term pop up increasingly over the past two months.
“I think people started realising that TikTok is so consuming over our lives that it just felt like brainrot, because people are scrolling on TikTok constantly, and there’s so many niche references from TikTok,” he said.
He cited a recent viral video titled “The Tik Tok Rizz Party”, which showed a group of teenagers dancing to Kanye West at a Sweet 16 party.
Rodriguez Ortiz, a student adviser in Rich’s Digital Wellness Lab, helps the adults working to treat Problematic Interactive Media Use understand how young people use digital technology. Even though he is a star student (he’ll be going to Harvard next year), he said that even he had trouble limiting his phone usage.
“I would just be scrolling on TikTok or Instagram and procrastinating on my homework, and I had no self-control,” he said. “I was staying up later than I needed to, and I was like, ‘I need to find a way to stop this’.”
He said he now set restrictions on his phone that allowed him access to his most-used apps – Instagram and TikTok – for only 15 minutes at a time.
‘Self-soothing’
While the Digital Wellness Lab seeks to understand social media usage and create healthful standards for it, other groups are taking a more punitive approach. Newport Institute, a young-adult mental health inpatient treatment center, has recently begun recruiting people suffering from “brainrot”. On its website, the institute encourages parents whose children suffer from “screen dependency” and “digital addiction” to consider treatment plans at one of its locations across the country.
For Rich and the experts at the Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab, “brainrot” isn’t as much an addiction to the Internet as it is a coping mechanism for people who may have other underlying disorders that may lead them to numb themselves with mindless scrolling or overlong gaming sessions.
“The Internet and gaming is being used by kids who have ADHD, for example, who spent their day in school, feeling like they can’t keep up, they can’t follow what’s going on, not just in the classroom, but even in the playground,” Rich said.
“They come home, and they sit down in front of World Of Warcraft or Call Of Duty or Fortnight, and they’re really good at it,” he continued. “They’re really good, because distractibility is a relative strength in that environment. And so it’s a place of self-soothing, of feeling the mastery that they don’t feel in other aspects of their lives.”
Rich’s goal is to reframe the debate about Internet and phone usage from “good vs. bad” to “healthy vs. less healthy” in an effort to help parents and children develop better online habits.
“Villainising your phone and social media just simply is not realistic in this day and age,” said Leena Mathai, a senior in high school in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, who is also a Digital Wellness Lab’s student adviser. “Telling kids, ‘Oh, you’re better off without your phone,’ or trying to make them feel bad for wanting to use their phone isn’t the best way to go about the situation, because all that does is just make people want to do it more.”
“We use our phones to numb ourselves,” she added. “I know that’s so wrong and people are always taken aback by that comment, but it’s so true.” – The New York Times | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Internet,Social media | If you or someone you love speaks almost exclusively in Internet references – “It’s giving golden retriever boyfriend energy” or “Show it to me Rachel” – they may be suffering from a condition known as “brainrot”. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/if-you-know-what-brainrot-means-you-might-already-have-it | |
1,370,947 | Glue on pizza? Google’s AI Overviews reminiscent of ‘Google bombing’ trend | If you Googled “miserable failure” in 2005, President George W. Bush’s official biography on the White House website would show up as the top result.
This was not a political act on the tech company’s part, but rather, a prank. Early jokesters of the Internet may remember the 2000s fun of “Google bombing”, of which the Bush insult is the most famous.
Google bombing occurred when trollers linked a webpage – like Bush’s biography – to specific text on their own sites – like, in Bush’s case, “miserable failure”. With enough instances, the search engine’s algorithm misinterpreted the terms as popularly linked. This created all kinds of entertaining results: Googling “liar” and “poodle” produced the webpage for UK’s prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, while “dangerous cult” returned the Church of Scientology’s website as the first result.
Google adjusted its algorithm to prevent further Google bombs in 2007. However, the ghost of Google bombs has come back to haunt the tech giant, and this time, it’s through their own technological goof.
After Google rolled out an AI-powered search overview in May, users quickly noticed the false and wacky results that these overviews sometimes provided. If you asked Google about the health benefits of running with scissors, it told you the activity was a good cardio exercise to “improve your pores and give you strength”. Another query led Google to recommend the health benefits of rocks, apparently referencing a satirical article from the Onion.
“Eating the right rocks can be good for you because they contain minerals that are important for your body’s health,” Google’s AI overview replied to a reporter’s query.
‘Glue in pizza’ remains strong
However, nothing made the Internet riot as much as a suggestion from the AI Overview to “mix about 1/8 cup of non-toxic glue into the sauce” to keep cheese from sliding off your pizza slice.
A spokesperson from Google brushed off the false results, writing at the time that “the examples we’ve seen are generally very uncommon queries, and aren’t representative of most people’s experiences”. They added that the “vast majority” of AI Overviews provide high quality information, with links to allow the inquiring person to dig deeper into a search.
However, even as Google publicly expressed confidence in its new AI tool, the company quietly began reducing its visibility. Google gradually reduced the amount that AI Overviews popped up in search results from 84% to 15%, according to research from content marketing platform BrightEdge.
A spokesperson from Google disputed the data, noting that the numbers were different than what the company had seen. They added that this was likely because BrightEdge looked at a narrowed query set that is not a representative sample of Google Search traffic, including those who had opted out of AI overviews.
One example where AI overviews sometimes still shows up is the same glue-in-pizza result that had the Internet rolling. The Verge recently reported that if you ask Google how much glue to add to your pizza, it will give the same result, only this time citing an article from Business Insider about the fiasco.
Which means that, it seems like the more journalists write about the ridiculous AI Overviews, the more it feeds the algorithm to produce the same, wrong results. It’s a kind of self-fulfilling feedback loop that recalls the absurdity of the Googlebombing days, although the only troll in play is Google itself.
When Fortune reporters attempted various searches for pizza, cheese, and glue, no AI overview would pop up, possibly meaning that Google may have caught wind of their continuous blunders and promptly adjusted their platform.
The Google spokesperson said the queries continue to show for a large number of searches, but the technology is undergoing edits.
“We’re continuing to refine when and how we show AI Overviews so they’re as useful as possible, including technical updates to improve response quality,” they told Fortune. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | AI,Internet,Technology | After Google rolled out an AI-powered search overview in May, users quickly noticed the false and wacky results that these overviews sometimes provided. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/glue-on-pizza-googles-ai-overviews-reminiscent-of-google-bombing-trend | |
1,371,193 | GameStop postpones shareholder meet to June 17 after technical difficulties | (Reuters) - Video game retailer GameStop said that its virtual annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday was postponed without any business being conducted due to technical difficulties.
The company, at the center of a meme stock frenzy, said that the meet scheduled for 10 a.m. CT (1500 GMT) was adjourned due to technical problems with the third-party hosting site and will be hosted on June 17.
Shares of the company were down 4.3% after the bell.
Up to Thursday's close, GameStop's volatile shares have jumped about 66% this year, following the re-emergence of the stock influencer Keith Gill, who uses the moniker Roaring Kitty.
Gill updated his holding of GameStop on Thursday to show he now owns 9 million shares of the company, up from 5 million at the start of the week.
(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | (Reuters) - Video game retailer GameStop said that its virtual annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday was postponed without any business being conducted due to technical difficulties. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/gamestop-postpones-shareholder-meet-to-june-17-after-technical-difficulties | |
1,371,187 | Roaring Kitty nearly doubles GameStop holdings to 9 million shares, Reddit post shows | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as Roaring Kitty, updated his holding of GameStop on Thursday to show he now owns 9 million shares of the company, up from 5 million at the start of the week.
Gill's update, posted on Reddit after the close of trading, showed the value of his position at $262.1 million. That is 2.1% of GameStop's 426 million outstanding shares, according to a recent regulatory filing.
The update also showed he no longer holds the 120,000 June 21, $20 strike call options he had disclosed in his last update.
Gill who helped launch the meme-stock phenomenon in 2021, recently disclosed a sizeable GameStop stock and options position in a screen shot posted on Reddit on June 2.
The move has spurred big swings in GameStops shares. On Thursday the stock finished up 14% at $29.12. The stock was last down to $28.66 in extended trading on Thursday.
GameStop shares are up 66% for the year.
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Daniel Wallis) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as Roaring Kitty, updated his holding of GameStop on Thursday to show he now owns 9 million shares of the company, up from 5 million at the start of the week. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/roaring-kitty-nearly-doubles-gamestop-holdings-to-9-million-shares-reddit-post-shows | |
1,371,183 | Adobe raises full-year revenue forecast on robust software demand | (Reuters) -Photoshop maker Adobe raised its revenue forecast for fiscal 2024 on Thursday as more businesses and consumers take to its artificial intelligence-powered editing tools amid signs of an easing economy.
Shares of the San Jose, California-based company jumped more than 16% in extended trading.
The company now expects revenue of between $21.40 billion and $21.50 billion, compared with its prior forecast of between $21.30 billion and $21.50 billion. Analysts on average expected $21.46 billion, according to LSEG data.
Adobe's outlook reflects that its AI efforts are paying off as clients hike spending on its software products such as Premiere Pro, Animate and After Effects, which are used by creative professionals in a variety of fields.
The company said in April it plans to incorporate an AI tool to generate images in its popular Photoshop software, amid heating competition from the likes of OpenAI, Stability AI and Midjourney.
Adobe also raised its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings per share to a range of $18 and $18.20 per share from $17.60 and $18 per share it expected earlier.
"It appears that their (Adobe's) business is thriving in spite of the crowding out by AI that is dragging down those peers. We believe that leaves Adobe as the best-positioned large-cap software company," said Gil Luria, research analyst at D.A. Davidson.
The company reported revenue of $5.31 billion in the second quarter, beating estimates of $5.29 billion.
The company reported digital media revenue of $3.91 billion, above estimates of $3.89 billion.
Adobe has developed its own AI image generation tool called Firefly which it trains on data it has the rights to, at a time of heightened concern regarding data privacy and copyright around AI-created content.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned $4.48 per share in the quarter, compared with estimates of $4.39 per share.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | (Reuters) -Photoshop maker Adobe raised its revenue forecast for fiscal 2024 on Thursday as more businesses and consumers take to its artificial intelligence-powered editing tools amid signs of an easing economy. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/adobe-beats-quarterly-revenue-estimates | |
1,371,180 | JPMorgan, Greek fintech, claim success in London court | LONDON (Reuters) - Wall Street bank JP Morgan and Greek fintech boss Haris Karonis both claimed success on Thursday in a London court battle over how to value a joint business, paving the way for its potential sale.
Karonis's WEREALIZE.COM (WRL), the majority owner of Athens-based Viva Wallet, has accused JP Morgan of trying to hamper the growth of the payments platform and both sides sued each other in London.
But a London judge dismissed suggestions that JP Morgan had any incentive to depress Viva's value and set out how the business should be valued, a judgment published on Thursday showed.
The U.S. bank bought a 48.5% stake in Viva Wallet, which is used by businesses in southern Europe, for about $800 million in 2022. WRL owns 51.49%.
Under the terms of the deal, WRL loses its right to reject any JP Morgan offer to take control of Viva if the business is valued at below 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) by July 30, 2025.
"As the founder of this business, I am thrilled that Viva will now be properly valued on the basis of its growth strategy in the U.S., reflecting its fair market value," Karonis said in a statement.
JP Morgan said it remained committed to developing and expanding Viva in partnership with WRL, adding that the judgment was a "great outcome".
"With a financial stake in the company, we have repeatedly offered ways to help the company expand and succeed. The court has now provided a critical step to move forward with fair and transparent valuations – which could allow Viva to be sold soon, before the Fintech M&A market further softens," a JP Morgan spokesperson said.
($1 = 0.9315 euros)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley. Editing by Jane Merriman) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | LONDON (Reuters) - Wall Street bank JP Morgan and Greek fintech boss Haris Karonis both claimed success on Thursday in a London court battle over how to value a joint business, paving the way for its potential sale. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/jpmorgan-greek-fintech-claim-success-in-london-court | |
1,371,176 | Apple accused in lawsuit of underpaying female workers in California | (Reuters) -Apple on Thursday was hit with a proposed class action accusing the tech giant of paying more than 12,000 female employees in California less than men with comparable jobs.
The lawsuit filed in state court in San Francisco by two women who have worked at Apple for more than a decade claims the company systematically underpays female workers in its engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions.
Apple bases workers' starting pay on their salaries at previous jobs or on their "pay expectations," which results in lower pay rates for women, according to the complaint. The lawsuit also claims that Apple's performance evaluation system, which it uses to set raises and bonuses, is biased against women.
Cupertino, California-based Apple in a statement said it is committed to inclusion and pay equity.
"Since 2017, Apple has achieved and maintained gender pay equity and every year we partner with an independent third-party expert to examine each team member’s total compensation and make adjustments, where necessary, to ensure that we maintain pay equity," the company said.
Eve Cervantez, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Apple's practices perpetuate and widen existing gender pay gaps.
“This is a no-win situation for female employees at Apple,” Cervantez said in a statement.
The plaintiffs are represented by class action law firms Outten & Golden, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Altshuler Berzon. The firms have brokered massive settlements in other sex bias cases, including a $215 million deal with Goldman Sachs last year and a $175 million settlement with Sterling Jewelers in 2022. Those companies denied wrongdoing.
California has since 2018 prohibited employers from asking job applicants about their salary history with the goal of eliminating pay gaps based on sex and race.
According to Thursday's lawsuit, Apple instead relies on applicants' pay expectations to set their salaries. But because most workers provide a figure that is slightly higher than what they earned at their last job, the practice has the same effect of perpetuating wage disparities, the lawsuit says.
Apple also rewards employees who are deemed to have "talent" by paying them more but disproportionately grants that designation to men, the plaintiffs claim.
The lawsuit accuses Apple of violating California's Equal Pay Act, which bars sex discrimination in pay, and state laws prohibiting workplace sex bias and unfair business practices.
One of the plaintiffs, Justina Jong, also claims that Apple refused to transfer her to a different team after she complained about sexual harassment by a coworker. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and penalties.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Alexia Garamfalvi and Josie Kao) | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-14 00:00:00 | Technology | (Reuters) -Apple on Thursday was hit with a proposed class action accusing the tech giant of paying more than 12,000 female employees in California less than men with comparable jobs. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/14/apple-accused-in-lawsuit-of-underpaying-female-workers-in-california | |
1,375,323 | Mexico's Sheinbaum vows responsible spending, defends judicial reform | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday her government would pursue responsible spending and reduce the fiscal deficit next year without raising taxes, while defending a judicial overhaul that has spooked markets since her party secured a landslide victory in general elections.
"We are preparing a very responsible budget," Sheinbaum told business people at an event in Mexico City. "Our objective is that the deficit in 2025 will be a maximum of 3.5% of GDP, this year it will be closing over 5%."
Sheinbaum said her administration would look to boost tax take via other avenues, such as digitalizing customs and the internal revenue service.
Mexico's budget deficit this year is the highest rate since the 1980s as outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador splurged on social spending and to complete major infrastructure works such as a new refinery and tourist train.
Sheinbaum defended again a major judicial reform, proposed earlier this year by Lopez Obrador, which would look to elect judges - including the Supreme Court - by popular vote. The president-elect said the judicial reform would not represent a concentration of power or a shift towards authoritarianism.
The increasing likelihood that a version of this reform could be passed when the newly elected legislature takes office in September has scared markets, with the peso down around 8.5% since the June 2 election.
Some investors fear the overhaul could allow the political capture of the judiciary and remove vital checks and balances over the president and ruling party.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes; Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Editing by Anthony Esposito) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-20 00:00:00 | null | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday her government would pursue responsible spending and reduce the fiscal deficit next year without raising taxes, while defending a judicial overhaul that has spooked markets since her party secured a landslide victory in general elections. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/20/mexico039s-sheinbaum-vows-responsible-spending-defends-judicial-reform | |
1,375,165 | UK PM Sunak's Conservatives set for heavy election defeat, polls forecast | LONDON (Reuters) -Three opinion polls on Wednesday predicted a record defeat for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives at a July 4 election, forecasting the Labour Party would comfortably win a large majority after 14 years in opposition.
Polling by YouGov showed Keir Starmer's Labour was on track to win 425 parliamentary seats in Britain's 650-strong House of Commons, the most in its history. Savanta predicted 516 seats for Labour and More in Common gave it 406.
YouGov had the Conservatives on 108 and the Liberal Democrats on 67, while Savanta predicted the Conservatives would take 53 parliamentary seats and the Liberal Democrats 50. More in Common forecast 155 and 49 seats respectively.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta, said its projection put Labour on course "for a historic majority".
The three polls were so-called multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) surveys, an approach that uses voters' age, gender, education and other variables to predict results in every British voting district. Pollsters used the method to successfully predict the 2017 British election result.
They are largely in line with previous surveys predicting a Labour victory, but show the scale of the Conservatives' defeat could be even worse than previously thought.
YouGov's forecast of 108 seats for the Conservatives was around 32 lower than its previous poll two weeks earlier.
Both Savanta and YouGov predicted that the party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher could be left with the lowest number of seats in its near 200-year history contesting elections.
MISSTEPS
Sunak, who in a final throw of the dice last week pledged to cut 17 billion pounds of taxes for working people if re-elected, has failed to turn the polls around so far in a campaign littered with missteps.
His task has been made harder by the surprise mid-campaign return to frontline politics by prominent Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, a right-wing populist, whose Reform UK party threatens to split the right-of-centre vote.
Britain has a first-past-the-post electoral system, meaning Reform could pick up millions of votes across the country without winning any individual seats.
YouGov predicted Reform would win five seats and Savanta none. More in Common did not give a figure for Reform.
The Savanta poll, published by the Telegraph newspaper, said Sunak could even lose his own parliamentary seat in northern England, once considered a safe Conservative constituency, with the contest currently too close to call.
Sunak has acknowledged that people are frustrated with him and his party after more than a decade in power, dominated at times by political turmoil and scandal.
All three surveys projected several senior government ministers, including finance minister Jeremy Hunt, were on course to lose their seats.
Most opinion polls currently place Keir Starmer's Labour about 20 percentage points ahead of the governing Conservatives in the national vote share.
Other polls in recent days have also presented a grim picture for Sunak, with one pollster predicting "electoral extinction" for the Conservatives.
(Editing by William James and Angus MacSwan, Kirsten Donovan) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-20 00:00:00 | null | LONDON (Reuters) -Three opinion polls on Wednesday predicted a record defeat for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives at a July 4 election, forecasting the Labour Party would comfortably win a large majority after 14 years in opposition. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/20/uk-pm-sunak-forecast-to-lose-his-parliamentary-seat-savanta-poll-shows | |
1,375,163 | Explainer-France election 2024: what happens if no one gets an absolute majority? | PARIS (Reuters) - France votes on June 30 and July 7 in a snap parliamentary election which opinion polls forecast the far-right National Rally could win without an absolute majority.
What happens then, and can political paralysis be avoided?
SHORT ANSWER: NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE
Article 8 of the constitution says the president appoints the prime minister, but does not say which criteria he should use.
In practice, President Emmanuel Macron would be expected to offer the job to the leading parliamentary group - which opinion polls suggest will be the eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN).
RN CHIEF BARDELLA TO BE PRIME MINISTER?
The RN has said party leader Jordan Bardella is its candidate for prime minister but has also said it will turn down the job if it and its allies together do not win an absolute majority of at least 289 seats.
Since the constitution does not say how he should choose his prime minister, Macron could in any case, in theory, try to pull together an anti-RN alliance and offer the job to another party, or someone who is not politically affiliated.
IF NOT BARDELLA, WHO?
The constitution does not provide any specific answer.
Options would include:
- trying to strike an alliance of mainstream parties. No such alliance exists now but Macron has urged parties to unite to keep out the far-right.
- offering the job to the left, if an alliance including the far-left, Socialist Party and Greens emerges as the second-biggest group, as opinion polls suggest. The left could then try to form a minority government.
WOULD ANY OF THOSE OPTIONS WORK?
If the RN wins a relative majority and accepts the prime minister post, a period of 'cohabitation' with Macron would begin. That has happened three times in France's modern political history, but with mainstream parties. The RN could struggle to get reforms adopted.
If the RN has a relative majority in parliament, but is not in power, it could block or modify government proposals. The constitution gives the government some tools to circumvent that, but with limits.
If the RN secures an absolute majority, it largely guarantees it getting the prime minister job as it could on its own force any government it disagrees with to resign.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE IS NO DEAL?
It's possible that none of the three groups - the far-right, centrist and left - will be big enough to govern alone, reach a coalition deal or get assurances it can run a viable minority government.
In such a case, France would risk political paralysis, with little or no legislation being adopted and a caretaker government running basic daily affairs.
COULD MACRON RESIGN?
Macron has ruled this out, but it could become an option if everything is blocked. Neither parliament nor the government could force him to do that.
WHAT WON'T HAPPEN UNDER ANY SCENARIO
The constitution says there can be no new parliamentary election for another year, so an immediate repeat vote is not an option.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU KNOW?
The outcome of French parliamentary elections is hard to predict because they involve 577 separate contests, one per seat. An unusual, short campaign could mean the result is differs from what surveys are projecting.
(Additional reporting by Johnny Cotton; Writing by Ingrid Melander, Editing by Timothy Heritage) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - France votes on June 30 and July 7 in a snap parliamentary election which opinion polls forecast the far-right National Rally could win without an absolute majority. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/explainer-france-election-2024-what-happens-if-no-one-gets-an-absolute-majority | |
1,375,158 | Russian court upholds physicist's 12-year treason sentence | (Reuters) - A Russian court has upheld a 12-year guilty verdict for treason against a physicist accused of passing secrets about hypersonic technology to the Netherlands, a Russian legal association said on Wednesday.
Valery Golubkin, a specialist in aerodynamics and the heat exchange of aircraft at a Moscow institute, was arrested in December 2020 and handed a guilty sentence in June 2023.
Russia's Supreme Court ordered a retrial in April, saying it had considered a complaint by Golubkin's defence.
The Pervy Otdel (First Department) legal group, which specialises in defending people in cases of treason and espionage, said investigators had found the scientist had passed secret information about hypersonic passenger airplanes to the Netherlands.
But it rejected such accusations.
"We know with certainty that there is no crime in Golubkin's actions, he acted strictly according to the law", said lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov of Pervy Otdel.
"His imprisonment strikes a blow not only to the judicial system but also to the scientific landscape in Russia."
Golubkin is one of several Russian scientists to be charged with treason in recent years on suspicion of passing sensitive material to foreigners.
Physicist Anatoly Maslov, an expert on hypersonic missiles, was given 14 years in prison last month.
(Reporting and writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Tomasz Janowski) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - A Russian court has upheld a 12-year guilty verdict for treason against a physicist accused of passing secrets about hypersonic technology to the Netherlands, a Russian legal association said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/russian-court-upholds-physicist039s-12-year-treason-sentence | |
1,375,155 | Poland's top court backs president in row over two convicted lawmakers | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's top court backed President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday in a dispute with the government over the validity of bills passed without the presence of two convicted lawmakers.
The decision by the Constitutional Tribunal, which rules on the validity of laws but whose independence is questioned by the new government that took power in December, looked likely to deepen chaos in Poland's legal system.
The dispute over the lawmakers is also part of a political battle in which centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk is trying to reverse changes made by the previous government, including to the Constitutional Tribunal's line-up.
The Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that two minor bills adopted in parliamentary votes in which former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy, Maciej Wasik, were unable to take part were unconstitutional.
Kaminski and Wasik served in the previous government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The parliamentary speaker declared they had lost their seats after they were convicted of abuse of power in December but Duda, a PiS ally, pardoned them in January and said they should be able to sit in parliament.
Duda then sent several bills that had been adopted in votes without their participation to the Tribunal, and asked it to consider whether they were in line with the constitution without Kaminski and Wasik being able to vote.
Tusk's pro-European government questions the legality of the Tribunal in its current line-up and refuses to abide by its rulings.
Since the new government took power, Parliament has started work on reforming the court, but PiS has attempted to block the government's reforms.
Critics of PiS say three of the Tribunal's judges should not have been appointed because they replaced judges already appointed to those positions by parliament.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2022 that some judges' appointments were illegal and denied citizens the "right to a tribunal established by law". Similar reservations were expressed by the European Commission, the EU's executive body.
Since the new government took power, the Commission has unblocked billions of euros in European funds for Poland that were frozen under PiS because of concerns about the rule of law.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's top court backed President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday in a dispute with the government over the validity of bills passed without the presence of two convicted lawmakers. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/poland039s-top-court-backs-president-in-row-over-two-convicted-lawmakers | |
1,375,153 | Germany cancels arrest warrant for Lebanon's ex-central bank chief | BEIRUT (Reuters) - German authorities have cancelled their arrest warrant for Lebanon's former central bank chief Riad Salameh but are continuing their probe into him and keeping his assets frozen, the Munich prosecutor's office told Reuters on Wednesday.
Salameh, 73, was Lebanon's central bank governor for 30 years until July 2023. Last year, in his final months as governor, Germany issued an arrest warrant for him on corruption charges, two sources in Lebanon told Reuters.
Responding to questions from Reuters, a spokeswoman for the Munich prosecutor's office confirmed on Wednesday that the arrest warrant had been cancelled but said "our investigations are ongoing".
The spokeswoman said the cancellation had come after an appeal from the defendant, and because he no longer held the position of central bank chief - meaning "there is no longer any risk that he will suppress evidence in this function."
Salameh declined a Reuters request for comment on the development.
Salameh and his brother Raja are being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Lebanon's central bank and laundering the funds abroad. They deny the accusations.
Germany confirmed in February that it was conducting money laundering investigations into Salameh and his brother, and had issued an arrest warrant.
The Munich public prosecutor's office said in February it had also seized three commercial properties in Munich and Hamburg with a total value of around 28 million euros, and shares worth around seven million euros in a Duesseldorf-based property company, as part of the case.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said it had "dismissed as unfounded" an appeal against the seizure order, which it said dated back to Jan. 26, 2023.
Lebanese judge Helene Iskandar, who has charged Salameh in a separate case in Lebanon and has been following up on the foreign probes into him, confirmed on Wednesday that the warrant had been cancelled but that Germany's investigation into Salameh would remain open.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam in Beirut and Joern Poltz in Germany; editing by Christina Fincher) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | BEIRUT (Reuters) - German authorities have cancelled their arrest warrant for Lebanon's former central bank chief Riad Salameh but are continuing their probe into him and keeping his assets frozen, the Munich prosecutor's office told Reuters on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/germany-cancels-arrest-warrant-for-lebanon039s-ex-central-bank-chief | |
1,375,115 | At least one dead due to New Mexico wildfires, thousands evacuated | (Reuters) - At least one person died due to the wildfires in New Mexico which have also led to the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of structures, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's office said on Wednesday.
"We don't have any additional details," a spokesperson of the governor's office told media. "Only one fatality as a result of the fire."
As of late Tuesday, about 1,400 homes and other structures had been destroyed. The entire New Mexico village of Ruidoso, population 7,000, was evacuated, officials added.
At least two individuals were injured in the wildfires, the governor told reporters on Tuesday.
The governor also declared a state of emergency in the Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation due to the two wildfires - South Fork Fire and Salt Fire.
The South Fork fire is estimated at 15,276 acres (61.82 square kilometers) and is zero percent contained while the Salt Fire has consumed at least 5,557 acres, according to an update from the governor's office.
"It was really scary with the ashes coming down. Maybe it was like snow falling down, it was pretty bad. It was scary," said Karen Sandoval, an evacuee from Ruidoso told KOB 4 media station.
Some rain was expected going forward this week in New Mexico.
Separately, firefighters in California also battled high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds as they sought to contain a wildfire that started Saturday northwest of Los Angeles and has burned at least 12,000 acres.
U.S. cities have been breaking decades-old temperature records this week as a heatwave stretched from central to eastern portions of the country, the National Weather Service says, in what officials are warning could become a deadly weather event.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Marguerita Choy) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - At least one person died due to the wildfires in New Mexico which have also led to the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of structures, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's office said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/at-least-one-dead-due-to-new-mexico-wildfires-thousands-evacuated | |
1,375,101 | EU envoy says Georgia's bid to join 'practically frozen' over foreign agent law | TBILISI (Reuters) - The European Union's ambassador to Georgia said on Wednesday that the country's process to join the bloc had been effectively halted by legislation on "foreign agents" that was signed into law this month.
Georgia's Interpress news agency quoted EU ambassador Pawel Herczynski as saying the law had "a negative impact on the prospects of Georgia's progress" and that the process was now "practically stopped, practically frozen".
"In principle, the adoption of this law, as I see it, froze Georgia's integration in the European Union," said Herczynski, describing what he said was a difficult period in Georgia-EU relations.
The law, which requires organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as "agents of foreign influence", has been slammed by domestic critics as authoritarian. Georgia's ruling party has defended it as a necessary step to secure transparency of funding.
For two months, the bill's opponents mounted some of the largest protests in Georgia since independence from Moscow in 1991 to try to get the legislation thrown out.
The United States, the European Union and Britain repeatedly criticised the law and warned Georgia that its passage would stall its efforts to gain full EU membership.
The South Caucasus country was granted candidate status last December, but EU officials have warned that Georgia has backtracked on some key reforms it needs to enact before it can join.
Interpress quoted Herczynski as saying on Wednesday that EU foreign ministers would discuss Georgia's status at a meeting in Luxembourg next week.
He said various options regarding the next steps had been prepared, and that EU members states "will decide which option to implement from this menu".
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Alison Williams) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | TBILISI (Reuters) - The European Union's ambassador to Georgia said on Wednesday that the country's process to join the bloc had been effectively halted by legislation on "foreign agents" that was signed into law this month. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/eu-envoy-says-georgia039s-bid-to-join-039practically-frozen039-over-foreign-agent-law | |
1,375,094 | Italy pledges responsible budget policy after EU disciplinary step | ROME (Reuters) - Italy will take a "responsible" approach to its budget policy, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said, after the European Commission recommended disciplinary budget steps against Rome along with six other countries over their high fiscal gaps.
The EU announcement on Wednesday came with Italy under close market scrutiny.
The yield gap between Italian and German bonds - a gauge of the risk premium investors seek to hold Italian debt - has widened since European elections this month showed rising support for eurosceptics and nationalists.
"We are aware that, given the context we find ourselves in, it is necessary to maintain a responsible approach in planning and managing budget policy," Giorgetti said at an event in Rome.
Italy's 2023 deficit came in at 7.4% of GDP, the highest in the euro zone, pushed up by costly government incentives for energy saving building work. Rome plans to bring the fiscal gap below the EU's 3% limit only in 2026.
The infringement procedure obliges Italy to cut its structural budget deficit -- net of one-off factors and business cycle fluctuations -- by at least 0.5% of GDP per year.
However, the Treasury has previously said Italy is already on track to meet the EU requirements, as its latest multi-year budget projections factor in an average annual reduction in the structural deficit of around 0.7% of GDP through 2027.
"The deficit goals are those we have indicated in our budget path, which we intend to respect," Giorgetti said, adding Rome wants to extend to 2025 temporary tax cuts for employees with low to middle incomes currently in place until December.
Italy now needs to negotiate a fiscal adjustment with Brussels that adheres to the excess deficit procedure and complies with the latest reform of EU's two-decade-old fiscal rules.
The new rules set a slow but steady pace of deficit and debt reduction from 2025 over four to seven years, with the longer option available if a country undertakes reforms and investments in areas the EU prioritises.
Italy has repeatedly said it wants a seven-year adjustment path.
Being placed under a deficit reduction procedure carries the advantage for Italy that it temporarily shields it from an EU requirement that it reduce its debt by a minimum of 1 percentage point per year.
On the other hand, countries under such a procedure may not be automatically eligible for the European Central Bank's Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI), a scheme created to buy government bonds from countries suffering a market attack.
"In the current uncertain environment, market confidence can be challenged by exogenous factors other than the management of public budgets," Giorgetti said.
(editing by Alvise Armellini) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | ROME (Reuters) - Italy will take a "responsible" approach to its budget policy, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said, after the European Commission recommended disciplinary budget steps against Rome along with six other countries over their high fiscal gaps. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/italy-pledges-responsible-budget-policy-after-eu-disciplinary-step | |
1,375,080 | I won't take PM role without an absolute majority, says French far-right leader Bardella | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said he would turn down the chance to be prime minister if voters do not hand his party an absolute majority in a parliamentary election.
Opinion polls see Bardella's eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) winning the June 30 and July 7 ballot following President Emmanuel Macron's decision this month to dissolve parliament.
But the absolute majority that would guarantee its ability to govern and pass laws without allies could be out of reach.
"If tomorrow I'm in a position to be appointed to the Matignon (prime minister's office) and I do not have an absolute majority because the French have not given me an absolute majority, I will refuse to be appointed," Bardella told France 2 TV late on Tuesday.
The RN has said 28-year-old Bardella would be its choice for prime minister, rather than long-time leader Marine Le Pen, who would be its candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
"I tell the French people that to act, I need an absolute majority," Bardella told reporters on Wednesday. "A prime minister ... with a relative majority cannot change things, I would not be able to act in the daily lives of French people, on the country's policies."
Macron's centrist party has been running a minority government since it won most seats, but lost its absolute majority, two years ago.
But it could be more difficult to run a minority government this time, with pollsters seeing parliament divided into three groups - the far right, Macron's centrist group, and a left-wing alliance.
The French constitution says the president appoints the prime minister, but it does not say which criteria he should use. This means Macron has a range of options.
If the RN wins the election without an absolute majority but does not want to run the government, Macron could offer the prime minister's post to the second-biggest party or try to pull together a coalition of mainstream parties.
Whatever the scenario, there could be a risk of political paralysis, analysts say.
The constitution says there can be no new parliamentary election for another year, so a repeat election is not an option.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Ardee Napolitano; Editing by Janet Lawrence) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said he would turn down the chance to be prime minister if voters do not hand his party an absolute majority in a parliamentary election. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/i-won039t-take-pm-role-without-an-absolute-majority-says-french-far-right-leader-bardella | |
1,375,075 | Italy divided by plan to grant more powers to its regions | ROME (Reuters) - The Italian parliament approved a contested reform granting regions more powers after a stormy all-night sitting, an overhaul critics say will worsen the historic divide between the country's wealthy north and poorer south.
Championed by the League party in the coalition government, the lower house passed the reform early on Wednesday after a session which ended with opposition deputies singing the national anthem and waving the Italian flag.
League leader and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini hailed "a victory for all Italians," saying on X that the reform would help Italy become a more modern country with fewer wasted resources.
League deputies brandished the yellow and red flag of the historic Venetian Republic, with its winged lion, as the reform was approved with 172 votes in favour to 99 against.
With feelings running high on both sides, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi joined calls to gather the 500,000 signatures needed for a referendum on the issue.
"It's a measure that does not help the north and harms the south. It's institutional madness," Renzi, a member of the upper house (Senate), said on X.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition pushed through the reform as part of a wider shake-up of the Italian state, including plans for a directly-elected head of government.
"This is a step forward towards building a stronger and fairer Italy, to overcome the differences that there are today between the various parts of the country," Meloni said.
The new law enables regions to claim broader powers on key public services such as health and education, and to have a bigger say on how taxes are spent. The League hopes the law will revive its fortunes in its traditional northern strongholds.
Right-leaning Lombardy and Veneto, as well as left-leaning Emilia-Romagna, are among the northern regions expected to seek more autonomy. The extent of powers devolved to them will depend on negotiations with the central government.
Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party, attacked the measures as divisive and bound to increase inequality.
"This vote sanctions the existence of first and second class citizens," Schlein told parliament.
Italy's north-south divide is exemplified by the economic gap between the southern Calabria region, where gross domestic product per capita is about half of the EU average, and the northern Bolzano province, where GDP per capita stands at around 150% of the EU average.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Gavin Jones; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Christina Fincher and Crispian Balmer) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | ROME (Reuters) - The Italian parliament approved a contested reform granting regions more powers after a stormy all-night sitting, an overhaul critics say will worsen the historic divide between the country's wealthy north and poorer south. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/italy-divided-by-plan-to-grant-more-powers-to-its-regions | |
1,375,074 | Romania to purchase South Korea's K-9 howitzers worth $920 million | SEOUL (Reuters) - Romania will buy $920 million worth of South Korea's K-9 self-propelled howitzers, in its largest weapon acquisition in seven years, Seoul's defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The deal was announced in a meeting between South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik and his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar, during Shin's visit to the Eastern European country.
Shin and Tilvar agreed that military cooperation between Russia and North Korea threatens the security of Europe and Asia, and close cooperation with the international community in responding to the matter was necessary.
In April, South Korean and Romanian leaders held a summit and pledged to boost defence industry cooperation.
Romania's decision to purchase K-9 howitzers, following in the footsteps of Poland, will expand the footprint of South Korea's defence industry in Europe, Seoul's defence ministry said on Wednesday.
South Korea is working to establish itself as the world's fourth-largest arms exporter.
Shin is set to head to Poland for a three-day trip later on Wednesday, where he will meet Polish Defence Minister and deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and discuss defence and arms industry cooperation.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | SEOUL (Reuters) - Romania will buy $920 million worth of South Korea's K-9 self-propelled howitzers, in its largest weapon acquisition in seven years, Seoul's defence ministry said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/romania-to-purchase-south-korea039s-k-9-howitzers-worth-920-million | |
1,375,066 | Putin takes North Korea's Kim for a drive around Pyongyang in Russian-made limousine | (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a drive in a luxury Russian-built Aurus limousine during a pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang after presenting one of the luxury cars to Kim as a gift.
The jaunt took place after the two leaders signed an agreement deepening their military cooperation to include a mutual defence pledge to help each other if attacked, with Kim calling the new ties an "alliance".
Video released by Russian state TV showed Putin jumping behind the wheel of the black armoured limousine, which is his official presidential car back in Russia, with Kim getting in the passenger seat.
The car is then shown driving on a road which weaves its way through what looks like a park before coming to a halt. A Korean man in a suit wearing white gloves is seen opening the door for Kim before rushing round to hold Putin's door.
Putin and Kim are then shown walking side by side and chatting on a path in a wooded area with one man, presumably a bodyguard, walking behind them.
Kim is believed to be a keen automobile enthusiast and one of Putin's aides said earlier on Wednesday that the Russian leader had presented Kim with a Russian-built Aurus limousine as a gift.
Putin gave Kim a first Aurus limousine in February this year, both countries said at the time, meaning he now has at least two of the vehicles.
The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after the Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car and Putin rode in one to his most recent Kremlin inauguration ceremony in May.
When Kim visited eastern Russia in September last year, Putin showed him one of the vehicles. Kim sat beside Putin in the car and appeared to enjoy it.
Kim has a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles which have probably been smuggled in, as U.N. Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.
He has been spotted in a Maybach limousine, several Mercedes, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lexus sports utility vehicle.
A senior Russian official said last month that Russia would start making Aurus luxury cars at a former Toyota factory in St. Petersburg this year.
According to Russian analytical agency Autostat, 40 Aurus-branded cars have been sold in Russia so far this year.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrew Heavens) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a drive in a luxury Russian-built Aurus limousine during a pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang after presenting one of the luxury cars to Kim as a gift. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/putin-takes-north-korea039s-kim-for-a-drive-around-pyongyang-in-russian-made-limousine | |
1,375,057 | Russia says it has plenty of scope to retaliate over plan to seize income from its assets | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has "significant amounts" of Western assets and property on its territory that could be targets for retaliation by Moscow if the West seizes income from Russian assets, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) agreed at a summit in Italy last week to use interest from Russian assets frozen in the West to provide a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
Russia says the action is illegal and will rebound against the West by undermining confidence in the global financial system.
"Our country has significant amounts of Western funds and property that are under Russian jurisdiction; all of this may be subject to Russian retaliatory policies and retaliatory actions," Zakharova told reporters.
"Of course, no one will disclose the nature of these retaliatory actions to you. But the arsenal of political and economic countermeasures is wide."
Economists, lawyers and experts say one of Russia's most likely actions would be to confiscate foreign investors' financial assets and securities currently held in special "type-C" accounts, to which access has been blocked since the start of the war unless Moscow grants a waiver.
Some 260 billion euros ($281 billion) in Russian assets such as central bank reserves have been frozen under sanctions imposed over Moscow's war in Ukraine. Around 190 billion euros of the assets are held in Euroclear, a Belgium-based central securities depository.
European Union officials told Reuters last week that the bloc might provide about half of the $50 billion loan to Ukraine. However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the G7 summit host, later said the money would come from the United States, Canada, Britain and probably Japan and that EU states would not be directly involved for now.
Zakharova said Russia had received "direct signals" from some G7 countries that they would not take part in such action "because they understand the costs will be extremely painful". She did not name the countries or provide further detail to substantiate that assertion.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has "significant amounts" of Western assets and property on its territory that could be targets for retaliation by Moscow if the West seizes income from Russian assets, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/russia-says-it-has-plenty-of-scope-to-retaliate-over-plan-to-seize-income-from-its-assets | |
1,375,039 | Polish prosecutors target former deputy minister in misuse of funds probe | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's top prosecutor has asked parliament for permission to detain and charge a former deputy justice minister accused of involvement in the misuse of public money for purposes including political campaigning, his office said on Wednesday.
The pro-European coalition government of Donald Tusk says it has opened the way for prosecutors to investigate wrongdoing under the previous administration that would previously have been covered up. The nationalist opposition accuses it of a witch-hunt.
In recent weeks, the alleged misuse of money from the Justice Fund, set up to help victims of crime, has taken centre stage as a former official testified to a parliamentary commission that decisions on the disbursement of cash were made in a "dishonest" way.
Local media have reported that money from the fund was used to curry favour with rural voters in seats targeted by the Sovereign Poland party, a junior partner in the former government, by buying everything from fire engines to equipment for country housewives' associations.
Prosecutors have also said that 25 million zlotys ($6.19 million) from the fund was used to buy Pegasus phone-hacking software.
"Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar submitted... a request for the consent of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland to hold Marcin Romanowski, a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland, criminally liable, as well as his detention and temporary arrest," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The statement said that prosecutors had evidence that Romanowski had committed 11 crimes including exceeding his powers and causing the state treasury to suffer losses.
Romanowski denied the accusations.
"The request to withdraw my parliamentary immunity and arrest me in connection with the Justice Fund is a political plot," Romanowski said in a post on social media platform X, adding that he had "always acted in accordance with the law".
Prosecutor Bodnar also serves as justice minister. The two posts were combined under the previous government and Bodnar has vowed to separate them as part of reforms that the current administration says will restore the rule of law in Poland.
($1 = 4.0376 zlotys)
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by William Maclean) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's top prosecutor has asked parliament for permission to detain and charge a former deputy justice minister accused of involvement in the misuse of public money for purposes including political campaigning, his office said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/polish-prosecutors-target-former-deputy-minister-in-misuse-of-funds-probe | |
1,375,037 | South Africa's Ramaphosa vows to fight inequality as power-sharing begins | PRETORIA (Reuters) -A weakened South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Wednesday that his new multi-party government would work to improve basic living conditions for all citizens as he was sworn in for a second term in office.
Ramaphosa's African National Congress will be sharing power with five other parties after it was humbled in a May 29 election, losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy.
The voters "have been unequivocal in expressing their disappointment and disapproval of our performance in some of the areas in which we have failed them," Ramaphosa said at his inauguration ceremony in the capital Pretoria.
He said the voters wanted everyone to have enough food, decent homes, clean water, affordable and uninterrupted electricity supply, well-maintained roads, good care for the sick and elderly, quality schools and other basic services.
"Today, I stand before you as your humble servant to say we have heard you," he said. "In this moment we must choose to move forward, to close the distances between South Africans and to build a more equal society."
The ANC remains the largest party after the election, followed by the pro-business Democratic Alliance, a critic of the ANC's record in office which has agreed to join the new government.
IDEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS
While investors have welcomed the inclusion of the DA, which wants to boost growth through structural reforms and prudent fiscal policies, analysts say sharp ideological divisions between the parties could make the government unstable.
Just before the election, Ramaphosa signed into law a National Health Insurance bill that the DA says could collapse a creaking health system. It was unclear what would happen to that law under the new government.
The DA advocates scrapping the ANC's flagship Black economic empowerment programme, saying it hasn't worked -- a highly contentious topic in a nation grappling with huge inequalities, some inherited from apartheid.
Ramaphosa has yet to announce the make-up of his new government, to be negotiated with members of the new alliance.
A former liberation movement, the ANC came to power under Nelson Mandela's leadership in the 1994 elections that marked the end of apartheid and had long been unbeatable, but it lost its shine after presiding over years of decline.
POVERTY AND CRIME
Weary of high levels of poverty and unemployment, rampant crime, rolling power cuts and corruption in party ranks, voters punished the ANC, which lost millions of votes on May 29 compared with the previous election in 2019.
"Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarised," Ramaphosa said.
"We are divided between those who have jobs and those who do not work, between those who have the means to build and enjoy a comfortable life and those who do not."
African heads of state and dignitaries from as far afield as Cuba, a historical friend of the ANC, gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, seat of the South African government, to bear witness to Ramaphosa's inauguration.
A ceremony full of military pomp and pageantry began with inter-faith prayers by Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and traditional African religious leaders, reflecting the country's diversity.
Military helicopters flew past in blazing sunshine, trailing South African flags, to cheers from the audience.
(Additional reporting by Nellie Peyton and Sfundo Parakozov; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Bernadette Baum) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | PRETORIA (Reuters) -A weakened South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Wednesday that his new multi-party government would work to improve basic living conditions for all citizens as he was sworn in for a second term in office. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/south-african-president-ramaphosa-starts-new-term-with-multi-party-government | |
1,375,012 | Novo Nordisk says no sign of crime, links between fires at Denmark facilities | COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - There was no indication so far that three fires that broke out at Novo Nordisk's Danish facilities over the past month were connected or that they were caused by criminal activity, the company said on Wednesday.
A blaze at a building near the company's Bagsvaerd head office northwest of Copenhagen on Tuesday was the third in just over one month at different facilities occupied by the maker of the weight-loss treatment Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.
The latest fire was quickly brought under control by the fire brigade.
"There are no signs of criminal activity at any of the three fires and no signs that they are linked to each other," a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said, adding that police were still investigating all three fires.
Danish police said the same on Wednesday about the most recent blaze.
"For now, there is no indication that there is anything criminal behind the fire, but it is of course being thoroughly investigated by the police," Copenhagen police wrote on social media platform X.
A fire was reported at a building under construction in the Danish city of Kalundborg on May 16, and later on May 22, a blaze was reported in an office building in Bagsvaerd, the same suburb where the latest incident was reported.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Bernadette Baum) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - There was no indication so far that three fires that broke out at Novo Nordisk's Danish facilities over the past month were connected or that they were caused by criminal activity, the company said on Wednesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/novo-nordisk-says-no-sign-of-crime-links-between-fires-at-denmark-facilities | |
1,375,001 | French far-right leader Bardella backs Ukraine, but would not send long-range missiles | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said on Wednesday that he backed Ukraine's right to defend itself against Russia, but if elected prime minister he would not provide Kyiv with missiles that would allow it to strike Russia's territory.
He also said he would standby France's commitments to the NATO military alliance if he became prime minister.
Bardella's National Rally (RN) party leads opinion polls ahead of June 30 and July 7 snap parliamentary elections, which has led to questions over the foreign policy implications if they win enough seats to form a government.
"I wish for Ukraine to have at disposal the ammunition and equipment it needs to hold the front, but my red line will not change, which is sending equipment that could have consequences of escalation in eastern Europe," Bardella told reporters at the Eurosatory arms fair near Paris.
"And so I don't plan to send, especially, long-range missiles or other weapons that will allow Ukraine to strike the Russian territory. My position has not changed and will not change – it's about support for Ukraine and avoiding all risks of escalation in the region. And I think the risk of escalation is of course real."
Even if the RN was to run France's government, Emmanuel Macron would remain as president, and the head of France's army.
But the constitution also gives the prime minister a role in terms of defence, with the division of power not clear cut.
Macron would lose control over the domestic agenda, including economic policy, security, immigration and finances, which would in turn impact other policies, such as aid to Ukraine, as he would need parliament's backing to finance any support as part of France's annual budget.
Bardella also said he would keep France's commitments towards its partners, including on increasing defence spending.
"I don't plan to put into question the commitments made by France on the international level, because there's a stake regarding credibility towards our European partners as well as towards our NATO allies," he said.
"And so I plan to pursue the efforts of rearmament of the country, both in terms of its defence capabilities, increasing the military budget through budgetary efforts put in place in past years, which we have supported," he added.
(Reporting by Ardee Napolitanno; writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Ingrid Melander and Sharon Singleton) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said on Wednesday that he backed Ukraine's right to defend itself against Russia, but if elected prime minister he would not provide Kyiv with missiles that would allow it to strike Russia's territory. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/french-far-right-leader-bardella-backs-ukraine-but-would-not-send-long-range-missiles | |
1,374,995 | EU executive proposes disciplinary budget steps for France, others | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed disciplinary steps against France and six other EU countries over running excessive budget deficits, but will announce deadlines for their reduction only in November.
The countries singled out by the EU executive arm, which is the enforcer of EU laws, are Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. The deficits are mainly a legacy of the COVID pandemic and the energy price crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
France is in the spotlight because it is the EU's second biggest economy and faces political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron called snap national elections for June 30-July 7 in response to his party's poor results in European election.
The disciplinary steps, known as the excessive deficit procedure, will be the first such move since the European Union suspended its fiscal rules, aimed at preventing excessive borrowing, in 2020 and then reformed the framework to take into account the new economic realities of high post-pandemic debt.
France had a budget deficit of 5.5% of gross domestic product in 2023, which is expected to narrow only slightly to 5.3% this year, still well above the EU deficit limit of 3% of GDP.
French public debt was 110.6% of GDP in 2023 and the Commission expects it to increase to 112.4% this year and 113.8% in 2025. That is almost twice the EU limit of 60%.
Talks between Paris and the Commission on how quickly to reduce France's deficit and debt will take place in the coming months after the EU executive proposes to Paris a seven-year path to put debt on a downward path.
"Whatever government is formed after the election on July 7 will face the obligation to work with the Commission to define a medium term strategy," a French finance ministry official said.
"Eventually it will have to produce a strategy coherent with the new Stability and Growth Pact," the official, who asked not to be named, said.
But with the far right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen leading in polls ahead of the vote, the Commission will likely be facing a strongly euro-sceptic government in Paris that wants to loosen, rather than tighten, fiscal policy.
Le Pen's party wants to lower the retirement age and energy prices and raise public spending, and supports a protectionist "France first" economic policy, making markets already worried about the country's public finances.
"The gradual fiscal consolidation planned by the current government will be the first casualty of the political crisis," Oxford Economic economist Leo Barincou said in a note.
"A divided parliament is unlikely to be able to agree on politically difficult spending cuts, which would result in a higher deficit than our current baseline. Meanwhile, the implementation of the RN platform as it currently stands would add to the public deficit," he said.
Investors dumped French assets last week because of the political uncertainty, with French bond yields recording their biggest weekly jump since 2011 and bank stocks tumbling.
(Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas in Paris; Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Tomasz Janowski) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed disciplinary steps against France and six other EU countries over running excessive budget deficits, but will announce deadlines for their reduction only in November. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/eu-executive-proposes-disciplinary-budget-steps-for-france-others | |
1,374,990 | RFK Jr faces down midnight deadline to qualify for CNN presidential debate | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr has less than 24 hours to qualify for the first U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, and a complaint filed with the hamstrung U.S. agency that oversees election policy might be his only hope.
CNN will host the debate on June 27, after incumbent President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump agreed in late May to the face-off. The deadline for candidates to qualify for the debate is 12 a.m. ET (0400 GMT) on Thursday. Wednesday also marks the Juneteenth holiday, which will stall most federal business.
Kennedy filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in late May alleging CNN's debate amounts to a large prohibited campaign contribution to Biden and Trump because the media company "illegally" demanded that Kennedy meet "different criteria" to participate in the debate.
The campaign asked that the FEC take action by Thursday and keep CNN, Biden and Trump from holding the debate on June 27 until they have "come into compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act," according to the complaint.
The FEC declined to comment for this article. The agency, hobbled by political division, recently struggled to rule on artificial intelligence in the 2024 campaign, and has not ruled on related issues in recent elections, experts say.
This election cycle presents a nearly unprecedented situation - not since 1960 ushered in the era of televised presidential debates have news organizations - first CNN next week, and ABC, which hosts a September debate - been fully in control of the terms and parameters of two debates between the top two candidates.
Most recently, the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has sponsored them.
CNN said candidates eligible to participate must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls.
Soon after the debate was announced, Kennedy and his campaign cried foul. Kennedy claimed that Biden and Trump "are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win."
On Saturday, CNN said it is "not impossible" Kennedy could qualify, but that he has not yet met the criteria. He has received at least 15% in three qualifying polls to date and has qualified for the ballot in six states, making him eligible for 89 electoral college votes, CNN said.
The Kennedy campaign declined to comment further for this article. It is in the middle of an aggressive operation to gain ballot access across the U.S., with $15 million raised for the process.
In a news release on Tuesday, the campaign said Kennedy is on the ballot in nine states - totaling 144 electoral votes - and has collected enough signatures to be on the ballot in 14 other states - for another 166 electoral votes.
Biden and Trump, as the presumptive nominees of the Democratic and Republican political parties, respectively, qualify because most states automatically allow them ballot access without petitioning, a CNN spokesperson said.
"The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he (Kennedy) will appear on the ballot in any state," a CNN spokesperson told Reuters. "In addition, RFK, Jr. does not currently meet our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were set before issuing invitations to the debate."
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said CNN's criteria is "nonsensical" because it allows Biden and Trump to qualify for the debate as presumptive nominees versus candidates. Biden and Trump will officially be named candidates at their parties' conventions later this summer, after the debate.
Having an independent candidate like Kennedy on stage may make for a more substantive debate, he said.
"If you're saying that we're looking for those candidates that have serious support to weigh major issues, and dealing with two of the least popular major presidential candidates of all time, then the debate could definitely benefit from having a third party on the stage. It's all dependent on your point of view."
Some 41% of registered voters in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll said they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, while 39% picked Biden.
Ten percent of respondents would pick Kennedy, if he were on the ballot with Trump and Biden, the poll showed.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr has less than 24 hours to qualify for the first U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, and a complaint filed with the hamstrung U.S. agency that oversees election policy might be his only hope. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/rfk-jr-faces-down-midnight-deadline-to-qualify-for-cnn-presidential-debate | |
1,374,984 | Biden policy is welcome relief for Americans with spouses in the country illegally | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When news broke of U.S. President Joe Biden’s plan to provide a path to citizenship for certain immigrants who entered the country illegally and are married to U.S. citizens, Pennsylvania-based immigration lawyer Bridget Cambria didn’t need long to think of clients it could help.
Over the years, she had met with many such couples, explaining to them how difficult it was going to be for the immigrant spouse to get U.S. legal permanent residency. The process, in most cases, required the immigrant to leave the country, potentially enduring years of family separation before being eligible to return.
"When I called them, it was nice to tell them something happy for once,” Cambria said. "Some of them cried, most of them were just in disbelief or shock."
Biden’s move on Tuesday that would allow hundreds of thousands of spouses of U.S. citizens to legalize their immigration status without leaving the United States is a huge development for the families involved, but it is also a high-stakes political gambit in an election year.
Biden, a Democrat seeking another term in November, has struggled with high levels of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. His Republican challenger, hardliner Donald Trump, has pushed a message that immigrants are committing more violent crimes than U.S. citizens, despite statistics to the contrary, and "poisoning the blood" of the country.
Biden has walked a political tightrope in recent months - toughening his stance on border enforcement while trying not to alienate liberal voters and Latinos. The Democrat beat Trump in 2020 when Biden pledged a more humane approach to immigration, a sharp contrast to Trump's four years in office.
When it comes to immigration policy, registered voters prefer Trump over Biden by a 17 percentage point margin, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-May.
One of the couples Cambria, the Pennsylvania immigration lawyer, called was Carmen Miranda, 56, and her husband Francisco Cortez, 52, of Reading, Pennsylvania.
Miranda met Cortez, who is Mexican, through a friend when she was in her early 20s. He had entered the country illegally in 1987, and she was a single mother of two young children. They dated for several years before getting married in 2003.
Miranda, who has multiple sclerosis and dwarfism and depends on Cortez to support her, said she was excited when Cambria called her with the news.
“We waited and waited for so, so long,” Miranda said. “I apologize if I start crying.”
Miranda said she could not have managed without Cortez if he had left the country to apply for legal status and entered a years-long limbo. “I need him here,” she said.
Genaro Vicencio, 24, who crossed the border from Mexico when he was 10 years old, met his American wife Cindy Maduena when they were both teenagers. They have a 6-year-old son.
Vicencio, who lives in Temple, Pennsylvania, said he has constantly feared that he would have to leave the U.S. for a long time and his young son would grow up without a father. He is still trying to comprehend the magnitude of the announcement for his family, he said.
“It’s that I don't have to worry, 'Is my son going to have a dad? Is my family going to be stable?',” he said. “Every morning I had to wake up and think about that. This is a huge stress reliever.”
Vicencio is hoping that obtaining legal status will enable him to expand his painting and electrician businesses and access business loans, he said.
But most of all, he said, he is happy to begin to build a stable future in the United States.
“I know some people in this country might be like, ‘Oh, it's not a great country.’ This is a beautiful country. I love it.”
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When news broke of U.S. President Joe Biden’s plan to provide a path to citizenship for certain immigrants who entered the country illegally and are married to U.S. citizens, Pennsylvania-based immigration lawyer Bridget Cambria didn’t need long to think of clients it could help. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/biden-policy-is-welcome-relief-for-americans-with-spouses-in-the-country-illegally | |
1,374,979 | On US-Mexico bridge, two sides of Biden border crackdown | CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - A group of migrants walked into Mexico on Saturday against pedestrian traffic on the international bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez minutes after being deported from the United States under the Biden administration's new asylum ban.
The mainly twenty-something Venezuelan men were ejected under the June 5 proclamation fast-tracking deportations of most people crossing the border illegally.
In a scene that showed both the pitfalls and promises of President Joe Biden's new approach, the deportees who crossed the border only days earlier in deadly triple-digit heat, passed another group of migrants with wheelie suitcases standing in a line.
These migrants were awaiting interviews through CBP One, a mobile phone app promoted by the administration that provides a way to lawfully approach the port of entry.
Asked if he would try to cross again, a deportee with a silver cross necklace, who only gave his first name, Josuan, said: "Of course." Others nearby nodded.
All faced at least a five-year ban on entering the United States and would have to evade capture on any future crossing.
'ONLY OPTION'
U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has toughened his stance on border security after immigration emerged as a top issue ahead of the Nov. 5 elections where he faces his predecessor, former Republican President Donald Trump, who promises a wide-ranging immigration crackdown if reelected.
Biden on Tuesday announced a legalization program for immigrants in the country illegally who are married to U.S. citizens. The measure was meant to back a campaign message that he differs from Trump in his support for a more humane immigration system.
For now, Biden's restrictive asylum policy, combined with tougher immigration enforcement by Mexico, appears to be lowering crossings.
Apprehensions fell just below 2500 on Sunday, the lowest daily figure since February 2021, according to a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who requested anonymity in order to discuss preliminary figures.
Detentions outpaced the 1,450 CBP One appointments U.S. officials said were available daily at eight border crossings.
In past years, repeat crossings by deported migrants helped swell apprehensions to record levels.
At the Buen Samaritano migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, director Juan Fierro Garcia has seen a nearly 40% increase in people seeking a place to stay since Biden's order, which mirrors a Trump-era asylum ban.
"The border is practically closed, so the only legal way in is through CBP One," said Fierro Garcia, who does not accept deportees.
Honduran Fidelina Bardales, 46, said she and her two daughters, ages 15 and 5, had been waiting at Buen Samaritano a month and a half for a CBP One appointment. The app functions once migrants reach central Mexico.
"With Biden's rule, it's the only option I have," said Bardales, adding that she began a nine-month journey to the border to claim asylum after her son was shot dead for being gay and his killers threatened to "disappear" her and her daughter to stop them informing authorities.
DEATHS NEARLY DOUBLE
On the U.S. side of the bridge, Venezuelan Yenny Cisneros, 36, on Friday sat in the shade of a storefront on El Paso Street having made it through her CBP One interview. A manicurist, she had a notice to appear before an immigration judge and expected to get a work permit in about two weeks to allow her to find a job in Houston.
"I thank God and this country," said Cisneros, waiting nervously for her 20-year-old daughter to appear from the beige border control building.
The day before, June 13, she and her two daughters rested in an air-conditioned Juarez hotel room ahead of their interviews.
The same day, Mexican authorities recovered the body of a female migrant believed to be Adriana Castellanos, 23, of El Salvador, who died from dehydration in desert near the city of 1.6 million people.
Activist Alan Lizarraga said criminalization and detention of asylum seekers was forcing them to attempt desert crossings.
"Migrants are being killed by the policies of not only the United States but Mexico," said Lizarraga of the El Paso-based Border Network for Human Rights.
About one migrant a day has died from the heat in the last week in the El Paso sector where deaths have nearly doubled so far this fiscal year as Border Patrol rescues nearly tripled, according to a U.S. border officials.
Speaking in a mountainous area west of El Paso where most migrants cross, U.S. Border Patrol agent Orlando Marrero Rubio said the rise in deaths was due to an earlier than usual start to hot weather and inhumane treatment of migrants by criminal groups that control human trafficking.
NO FEAR?
To the northeast of the city, intakes were significantly down at a sprawling migrant processing center where nearly all people apprehended were facing an "expedited removal" process.
Prior to Biden's new restrictions on asylum, most migrants who crossed the border were allowed into the United States after interviews in which an official would ask if they feared returning to their country or being deported.
"They're not manifesting fear," said a border official, who requested anonymity to be able to discuss changes in processing operations, while commenting on whether migrants were requesting interviews to be considered for asylum.
Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, told reporters many migrants were traveling for economic or other reasons rather than fear of persecution.
He expected the new rules to have increasing impact.
Back at the Buen Samaritano shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Venezuelan Alejandro Wilchez, 24, said his plans had changed after Texas National Guard soldiers fired pepper balls at his family last week as they tried to reach the border fence just east of downtown El Paso.
Like Republican leaders elsewhere, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has used troops to prevent migrants from crossing the border.
Wilchez's one-and-a-half month old daughter bled from the nose and mouth after inhaling pepper gas and his wife was badly cut on razor wire as they tried to make it onto U.S. soil and claim asylum. Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Now the family is awaiting a CBP One appointment.
"I don't want my daughter to die crossing," said Wilchez, as he and his family rested inside during the afternoon heat, and his baby still suffering from a fever she developed after being hospitalized for inhaling pepper gas. | News | World | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - A group of migrants walked into Mexico on Saturday against pedestrian traffic on the international bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez minutes after being deported from the United States under the Biden administration's new asylum ban. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/on-us-mexico-bridge-two-sides-of-biden-border-crackdown | |
1,374,890 | Man hacks law enforcement database to extort victim and threaten family, US feds say | Two men hacked into a federal law enforcement database with a police officer’s stolen password, and one accessed the portal’s sensitive data to extort a victim and threaten their parents, prosecutors said.
Sagar Steven Singh, 20, of Rhode Island, and Nicholas Ceraolo, 26, of New York, now face certain prison time, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Attorneys separately representing both men didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from McClatchy News on June 18.
Singh and Ceraolo are accused cybercriminals and members of “ViLe”, a group known for obtaining victims’ personal information to “harass, threaten or extort” them – otherwise known as “doxxing”, court documents say.
The group – which uses an illustration of a hanging girl’s body as its logo – tries to collect victims’ Social Security numbers and other data to post, or threaten to post publicly online, according to prosecutors, who said victims “could pay” to prevent this from happening.
‘You’re gonna comply’
On May 7, 2022, Singh used a police officer’s login information to access a nonpublic federal law enforcement agency’s website, according to prosecutors.
The portal has “detailed, nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures, as well as law enforcement intelligence reports” and shares intelligence with local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors said.
It belongs to the Drug Enforcement Administration, VICE reported in March 2023
The day Singh accessed the portal, Singh messaged Ceraolo about breaching it, and Ceraolo wrote back saying “were all gonna get raided one of these days i swear,” court documents say.
Ceraolo’s statement would prove true for Singh a few months later in September 2022, when Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant of his Rhode Island home, according to a federal complaint.
On May 8, 2022 Singh told Ceraolo: “Im going to jail...that (expletive) portal I accessed I shouldn’t have been there...Im no gov official,” according to court documents.
That day, Ceraolo shared the police officer’s stolen login information with others before Singh went on to extort a victim in an effort to access their Instagram credentials, prosecutors said.
Singh messaged the victim, saying he’d hurt their family unless they handed over the login information to their Instagram accounts, according to prosecutors. He showed them he had their Social Security number, driver’s license number, address and other private information, prosecutors said.
“You’re gonna comply to me if you don’t want anything negative to happen to your parents...I have every detail involving your parents...allowing me to do whatever I desire to them in malicious ways,” Singh warned, as detailed in the complaint.
Singh also said “he had ‘access to...databases, which are federal, through (the) portal, i can request information on anyone in the US doesn’t matter who, nobody is safe’,” the complaint says.
He instructed the victim to sell access to the Instagram accounts and give him the money, according to prosecutors.
Both Singh and Ceraolo knew accessing the portal was illegal, with Singh telling one person the database had “potent tools,” prosecutors said.
Guilty pleas
In March 2023, Singh and Ceraolo were charged with conspiring to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said.
Singh pleaded guilty on June 17 to both charges, and Ceraolo did so on May 30, the US Attorney’s office announced in a news release.
“The defendants called themselves ‘ViLe’, and their actions were exactly that,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in the release.
The men “along with their co-conspirators, exploited vulnerabilities within government databases for their own personal gain”, said HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo.
Ceraolo also once impersonated a Bangladeshi police officer to gain information of people subscribed to online service providers by hacking into the officer’s account between February 2022 and May 2022, prosecutors said a March 2023 release.
He caused one social media platform to give him information about a subscriber by claiming the person was involved in “child extortion”, blackmail and “threatened officials of the Bangladeshi government”, prosecutors said.
Around the same time, Ceraolo also targeted an online gaming platform in an attempt to gain information about one of the company’s users, according to prosecutors.
His efforts, which involved using the Bangladeshi police officer’s account, were unsuccessful, prosecutors said.
Singh and Ceraolo face a minimum of two years in federal prison and up to seven years in prison, according to the US Attorney’s office. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service gggg
Man taunted college students with stolen nude photos from their Snapchats, feds say
Ex-FBI agent told woman she was on ‘secret probation’ to scam her out of $700K, feds say
Inmate extorts health care workers into paying him $15K in phone fraud scheme, feds say
©2024 The Charlotte Observer | Tech | Cybersecurity | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Cybersecurity,Internet,Courts Crime | Two men hacked into a federal law enforcement database with a police officer’s stolen password, and one accessed the portal’s sensitive data to extort a victim and threaten their parents, prosecutors said. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/man-hacks-law-enforcement-database-to-extort-victim-and-threaten-family-us-feds-say | |
1,374,961 | Russia's drone attack damages Ukraine's energy infrastructure, injures two | KYIV (Reuters) -Russian drone attacks on Wednesday damaged energy infrastructure in central Ukraine and injured at least two people in the western region of Lviv, Ukrainian authorities said.
The energy ministry said via the Telegram messaging app that emergency services have been deployed to the sites of the attacks and that repairs to damaged electrical equipment in the western region of Lviv were underway.
Russian forces launched five drones to attack the Lviv region that borders NATO member Poland, injuring two men, according to Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi.
Kozytskyi said on Telegram that all five drones were destroyed by Ukraine's air defence systems. The damage and injury were caused by falling debris.
The drone attack in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district damaged a multi-storey residential building, in addition to scores of windows in other residential buildings, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Telegram.
The attack also damaged a veterinary drugs research institute in Lviv, Sadovyi said.
Ukraine's air force said it destroyed 19 out of 21 drones launched by Russia over six Ukrainian regions.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Lviv city is the administrative centre of the Lviv region.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | KYIV (Reuters) -Russian drone attacks on Wednesday damaged energy infrastructure in central Ukraine and injured at least two people in the western region of Lviv, Ukrainian authorities said. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/russia039s-drone-attack-damages-ukraine039s-energy-infrastructure-injures-two | |
1,374,769 | Major study from Stanford workplace guru reveals that hybrid work has no negative impact on getting promoted | Bosses have doubled down on their return-to-office demands of late, with many increasing their spending on office space and threatening to link pay and progression with showing face – but new research shows that such businesses may be left with fewer workers to summon to their vertical towers.
At least, that’s what Nick Bloom, Stanford economist and the brains behind remote work research group WFH Research, has documented in his latest co-authored paper on hybrid working.
The study, published in Nature, found that two days of working from home improved job satisfaction and reduced turnover when compared to those working in offices five days a week.
The study randomly divided more than 1,600 workers at Trip.com, one of the world's largest online travel agencies, into two groups and tracked them for two years: One group worked from the office full-time, while the other enjoyed a hybrid schedule with just three enforced office days.
In just six months, the rate of people quitting went down by 33% for those who were afforded more flexibility.
Why? According to the research, the hybrid workers reported that working from home saved on commuting time and costs – after all, folks don’t live near the office anymore.
What’s more, hybrid working helped retain diverse staff members, non-managers, female employees and those with long commutes (who often can’t afford to live where they work), who were most likely to quit when asked to go in 5 days a week.
As well as helping the business be more inclusive, lowering attrition helped it claw back millions of dollars.
“Once the experiment ended, the Trip.com executive committee examined the data and voted to extend the hybrid WFH policy to all employees in all divisions of the company with immediate effect,” the researchers concluded.
“Their logic was that each quit cost the company approximately US$20,000 (RM94,170) in recruitment and training, so a one-third reduction in attrition for the firm would generate millions of dollars in savings.”
What about productivity?
Leaders hell-bent on getting workers back to the office often cite eroding workplace culture or productivity – likewise, managers in the study predicted that hybrid work would reduce productivity by 2.6%.
But this did not happen: The study found that working from home (for two days a week, at least) had no measurable impact on performance, productivity or innovation.
Managers saw this and as a result, changed their minds on hybrid working after participating in the study: By its close, they believed flexible arrangements could actually improve productivity by 1%.
It perhaps explains why, even after two years, the hybrid group still saw no changes in performance reviews or promotion rates.
But are RTO mandates actually about performance?
So if performance and productivity aren’t impacted by hybrid working, what’s with all the recent rigid RTO mandates?
Separate research from Mark (Shuai) Ma, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Yuye Ding, a PhD student at its Katz Graduate School of Business, echoed that office returns aren’t actually boosting a business's bottom line.
It’s why, they suggest that mandates are about asserting control – not performance – and using "employees as a scapegoat."
Another report added that by the end of this year, “executives will be forced to admit their RTO mandates did not improve productivity” – or risk looking like they care more about where the work happens, than whether it happens.
One CEO has already reversed his RTO mandate after high-performing staff made it clear how much they preferred working remotely. After further thinking, Jeff Jones, CEO of tax services giant H&R Block, told Fortune that he couldn’t find a good reason to push the mandate. So he dropped it.
“I know that there are CEOs whose orientation is, ‘I want people in’ and they chose to make mandates. If that works for them, fantastic,” Jones said.
“I want to hire great people, empower them as best as I can, and hold them accountable to outcomes. I don’t want to micromanage how many hours a day they’re on Teams, or how many days a week they’re in the office, as long as we’re delivering on our commitments.” – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Internet | Bosses have doubled down on their return-to-office demands of late, with many increasing their spending on office space and threatening to link pay and progression with showing face – but new research shows that such businesses may be left with fewer workers to summon to their vertical towers. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/major-study-from-stanford-workplace-guru-reveals-that-hybrid-work-has-no-negative-impact-on-getting-promoted | |
1,374,716 | Woman sees group break into home on security video while overseas, US cops say | A group was arrested after being accused of breaking into a woman’s house while she was overseas, California officials said.
Just before 9.30pm on June 15, Palo Alto officers got a call from a woman in her 60s who said that she saw “multiple strangers breaking into her house” on her home security system, according to a June 17 news release by police.
After investigating, officials learned the group entered the home by breaking a glass door on the home’s second floor, officers said.
Once they got inside, “they ransacked two upstairs bedrooms” and put belongings into bags before they were interrupted by police, officials said.
When police arrived at the home, they saw three people run from the home and jump over fences to escape, officials said.
One suspect later told police he was having pain after jumping off the second-floor balcony, officials said.
While searching the area for the suspects, ages 23, 18 and 17, officers found a Chevrolet Tahoe parked near the home and found a fourth suspect, a 17-year-old, “hiding on the backseat floorboard and took him into custody without incident,” officials said.
The 23-year-old and 18-year-old were arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on charges of residential burglary, conspiracy and resisting arrest, officials said.
The two 17-year-olds were arrested on charges of residential burglary, conspiracy, resisting arrest and possession of burglary tools, officials said.
Palo Alto is about a 30-mile drive southeast of San Francisco. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service | Tech | Camera | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Camera,Technology,Courts Crime | A group was arrested after being accused of breaking into a woman’s house while she was overseas, California officials said. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/woman-sees-group-break-into-home-on-security-video-while-overseas-us-cops-say | |
1,374,862 | Philippine VP resigns as education minister as Marcos alliance crumbles | MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte resigned on Wednesday from her posts as education minister and vice-chair of an anti-insurgency task force, in the latest sign that her alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has crumbled.
Marcos had accepted Duterte's resignation and thanked her for her service, Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a statement, adding that the vice president did not provide a reason.
In a separate press conference, Duterte said her "resignation is not because of weakness but because of true concern for teachers and the youth."
The Marcos and Duterte families joined forces in 2022 with Sara Duterte standing as Marcos' vice-presidential running mate, allowing Marcos to tap the Duterte family's huge support base and seal a comeback for the disgraced Marcos dynasty.
In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected separately.
That alliance was always expected to collapse, but analystswere surprised by how soon the gloves have come off after Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, accused the president in January of using drugs. Duterte's son, who is currently the mayor of Davao city, had also called for the resignation of Marcos at the time.
"It is the break we have all been waiting for," Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said of the vice president's decision to step down from her cabinet post.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Mikhail Flores; Editing by Ed Davies) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte resigned on Wednesday from her posts as education minister and vice-chair of an anti-insurgency task force, in the latest sign that her alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has crumbled. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/philippine-vp-resigns-as-education-minister-as-marcos-alliance-crumbles | |
1,374,833 | Police arrest New Caledonia pro-independence protest leader | (Reuters) - Police in New Caledonia arrested protest leader Christian Tein on Wednesday at the headquarters of the biggest pro-independence political party, the Caledonian Union, as he prepared to hold a press conference, the party said in a statement.
Local media reported the arrest of eight people including Tein in a police operation on Wednesday morning which caused many businesses, shops and the Noumea town hall to close, out of concern of further unrest.
Nine people died, including two police, in violent protests that swept New Caledonia last month after France voted to approve reforms to allow thousands more French residents who have lived in the French Pacific territory for 10 years to vote.
Indigenous Kanaks fear it will dilute their vote and make it harder for any future referendum on independence to pass, while Paris says the measure is needed to improve democracy.
Tein leads a branch of Caledonian Union called the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), which organised protest barricades across the capital Noumea that have disrupted traffic, movement and food supplies.
He was among the pro-independence political figures that met with French President Emmanuel Macron during his lightning visit to New Caledonia last month.
In a statement, Caledonian Union president Daniel Goa urged calm among CCAT protesters and told youth not to respond to what he said was a "provocation".
The French High Commission said in a statement that the city centre was "free and secure", as media reported many cars leaving.
The New Caledonia prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Macron said last week he had suspended the voting reform, however pro-independence groups want it completely withdrawn before dialogue over the political future of the island can restart, saying they cannot otherwise persuade young protesters to leave the barricades.
New Caledonia's international airport re-opened this week, although a curfew is still in place and several thousand French police reinforcements remain.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Michael Perry) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - Police in New Caledonia arrested protest leader Christian Tein on Wednesday at the headquarters of the biggest pro-independence political party, the Caledonian Union, as he prepared to hold a press conference, the party said in a statement. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/police-arrest-new-caledonia-pro-independence-protest-leader | |
1,374,734 | Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is the leader Fortune 500 CEOs admire most. This management philosophy helps explain why | Since joining Microsoft in 1992, Satya Nadella has not only impressed those he’s worked for, landing him promotion after promotion until he took the helm 10 years ago – he’s also attracted the admiration of his peers while doing it.
Now, his fellow CEOs look up to him more than any other Fortune 500 boss, including Doug McMillon of Walmart, which topped the 70th edition of the recently released Fortune 500 list.
It’s not hard to see why.
Nadella has made Microsoft 10 times more valuable in his decade as CEO
Microsoft has featured every year on the Fortune 500 since the list was broadened in 1995 – and that’s no easy feat.
Many other legacy businesses on the list have dwindled in relevance and watched their position slowly slide down the rankings.
Microsft has experienced the opposite, however: The tech giant has steadily climbed the rankings, from 34th place to 13th, since Nadella started steering its ship.
Despite continuous disruption in the tech industry, Microsoft’s market cap has ballooned from well under US$400bil (RM1.88 trillion) when Steve Ballmer stepped down, to over US$3.16 trillion (RM14.87 trillion) today. Meanwhile, the company’s revenue has nearly tripled in the past 10 years.
Why? Because Nadella knows that businesses that don’t adapt die.
Instead of resting on its laurels, Nadella has pushed Microsoft to innovate: Bold acquisitions, including LinkedIn and GitHub, paid off, as did its shift into the cloud. Now, Microsoft is futureproofing by investing big in AI.
As the CEO told Fortune: “When the paradigm shifts, do you have something to contribute? Because there is no God-given right to exist if you don’t have anything relevant.”
It’s all down to his growth mindset
When Nadella took Microsoft’s reigns, his first order of business was changing (or rather, calming) the company culture.
It’s a far cry from Silicon Valley’s unofficial motto of “move fast and break things”, but encouraging employees to take a breather (even if just mentally) has clearly had a positive impact on Microsoft.
The exec was born in India to a Sanskrit scholar mother, who taught him how to be mindful. Every morning, he reminds himself what he’s thankful for and credits that with helping him stay at his A-game.
Following this mindset, the cool, calm, and collected CEO got his senior leadership team on the zen bandwagon by asking them to read Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, a book about leading using compassion and understanding rather than competition and judgment.
According to an account from the book From Incremental To Exponential, Nadella made it clear that outdated and aggressive top-down behaviours were no longer welcome.
Instead, he strove to create a comfortable environment where even the lowest-ranked employee felt safe to share their concerns or ideas. At the same time, employees who previously operated with a “know-it-all” worldview, were told to become “learn it-alls”.
“If you take two kids at school, one of them has more innate capability but is a know-it-all. The other person has less innate capability but is a learn-it-all. The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all,” Nadella said back in 2019 on the podcast Hello Monday as he explained his “growth mindset” philosophy. “It’s about each of us confronting our fixed mindset.”
Because of that culture switch, change can be seen in the products themselves.
Now that developers are asked for feedback on what they’d like to see from the company, Microsoft’s cloud is growing at significant pace. Analysts estimate Azure, which was about half as big as Amazon Web Services five years ago, is now three-quarters its size.
“Azure is beholden to (developers); they are the customer, and they will keep using it if they find it helpful and delightful,” Nadella said. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | AI,Technology | Since joining Microsoft in 1992, Satya Nadella has not only impressed those he’s worked for, landing him promotion after promotion until he took the helm 10 years ago – he’s also attracted the admiration of his peers while doing it. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/microsofts-satya-nadella-is-the-leader-fortune-500-ceos-admire-most-this-management-philosophy-helps-explain-why | |
1,374,577 | AI goes mainstream as ‘AI PCs’ hit the market | TORONTO, Canada: A new line of PCs specially made to run artificial intelligence programs hit stores on June 18 as tech companies push toward wider adoption of ChatGPT-style AI.
Microsoft in May announced the new AI-powered personal computers, or “AI PCs”, which will use the company’s software under the Copilot Plus brand.
The idea is to allow users to access AI capabilities on their devices without relying on the cloud, which requires more energy, takes more time, and makes the AI experience clunkier.
The PCs feature a neural processing unit (NPU) chip that helps deliver crisper photo editing, live transcription, translation, and “Recall” – a capability for the computer to keep track of everything being done on the device.
However, Microsoft removed Recall last minute over privacy concerns and said it would only make it available as a test feature.
For now, the devices built by hardware makers like HP and ASUS run exclusively on a new line of processors called Snapdragon X Elite and Plus, built by the California-based chip giant Qualcomm.
"We are redefining what a laptop actually does for the end user," Qualcomm's senior vice president Durga Malladi told AFP at the Collision tech conference in Toronto.
"We believe this is the rebirth of the PC."
At the May launch, Microsoft predicted over 50 million AI PCs would be sold in 12 months, given the appetite for ChatGPT's powers.
Such a result would give a much needed boost to PC sales, which declined for two years from the halcyon days of the coronavirus pandemic before returning to growth in the first quarter of 2024.
Best Buy, the US retail giant, said it had trained tens of thousands of staff to sell and maintain the new line of AI PCs.
Some industry experts are more hesitant about their promise, predicting the actual benefit of upgrading to an AI laptop isn't compelling enough yet and will need more time.
"AI's evolutionary features aren't revolutionary enough to disrupt traditional buying patterns," said analysts from Forrester.
"For most information workers, there aren't enough game-changing applications for day-to-day work to drive rapid AI PC adoption."
Microsoft has aggressively pushed out generative AI products since ChatGPT's release in late 2022, with new AI features available across products including Teams, Outlook and Windows.
Feeling the pressure, Google quickly followed suit while Apple entered the game earlier this month, announcing its own on-device AI capabilities rolling out to premium iPhones in the coming months and year.
The latest MacBooks and iPads already have the capability to run high-performing AI features, but Apple has been slower to highlight those powers.
"I guess we missed the boat to name it an AI PC," Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, joked recently about the latest generation of MacBook. – AFP | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | AI,Technology | A new line of PCs specially made to run artificial intelligence programs hit stores on June 18 as tech companies push toward wider adoption of ChatGPT-style AI. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/ai-goes-mainstream-as-ai-pcs-hit-the-market | |
1,374,642 | Companies crave fresh data to train AI models. This startup’s recipe? Data made from scratch – by AI | Ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked the generative AI boom in 2022, it’s been clear that having the right data, and enough of it, is essential to creating an AI model that is accurate, reliable, and efficient.
The problem? The best data, particularly specialised “expert” data in specific domains like health and finance, is in short supply.
AI companies have strip-mined the Internet for fresh information, but AI models are constantly hungry – and must be fed.
San Francisco-based startup Gretel AI has long believed that the most satisfying solution is to create fake food that is just as tasty as the real thing. It helps clients such as EY, Google, and the US Department of Justice generate synthetic data – that is, artificially generated data that mimics the characteristics of real-world data.
And it’s getting easier to make it: Today, for example, Gretel announced the wide availability of a generative-AI-powered system that lets users create synthetic datasets for tabular data – think of text and number data that goes in columns and rows, like Excel spreadsheets – with just a natural language prompt like those used for ChatGPT.
Let’s say a bank wants to create a synthetic dataset that is similar to its own customer data but does not include actual individual names or information. Using Gretel’s Navigator product, the bank can prompt the system to create millions of fictional names, IDs, dates, dollar amounts, and account balances, for example, based off of Gretel’s own datasets, or off of the bank’s own proprietary data.
The resulting computer-generated data doesn’t infringe on customer privacy, since it does not include any real-world customer information, and can generate enough data to train a powerful, accurate model, claims Gretel.
As data scarcity forces companies to seek other sources to build general models or fine-tune ones for specific tasks, synthetic data is having a moment in 2024, Gretel cofounder and CEO Ali Golshan told Fortune.
Golshan, who had previously cofounded two security-focused startups, pointed out that the company got its start in 2020 as a way to generate privacy-minded data (the name Gretel came from the classic story of Hansel And Gretel, who left a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home). The company “wanted to make sure people don’t leave digital breadcrumbs behind” while offering developers a way to access useful data, particularly in highly regulated industries.
“We never really thought about the context of running out of data – that was a ChatGPT moment,” he said. But now data scarcity – as well as data privacy and security – is why companies are turning to synthetic data as an option to train AI models.
Golshan emphasises that generating synthetic data is not about spewing out high volumes of low-quality, useless data (think Reddit posts). “People think synthetic data is sort of interchangeable with fake data or junk data, that they just need more of it,” he said. “That is where you end up with these sorts of toxic dovetails and spirals of hallucinations – the quality part has to be there.”
What will drive business over the next two decades, he added, is taking large AI investments built on the back of “messy, public, privacy-riddled data” and “plugging them into our sensitive, owned, domain-specific data – that is unique and can drive models forward.”
He also pushed back on the idea of synthetic data being not “as good” as real data, as well as the potential dangers of AI training itself on its own hallucinations or misinformation. Since the company mostly services businesses, organisations, and governments, Gretel’s work typically starts with a seed of data a company already has – whether it is patient data, fraud data, or transaction data. “That acts as the boundaries and the gates for how we build the rest of the data,” he said.
Gretel’s latest product lets companies generate data even on topics about which they lack information. Its technology focuses on highly specific data meant to improve individual tasks within a client’s internal systems – and not produce data based on millions of pages scraped from the internet that could prove problematic.
Gretel is not alone in attempting to corner the market on generating synthetic data to train AI models. Startups like SynthLabs, Synthetaic, and Clearbox AI are all racing to provide companies with all the data they need – computer-generated, that is.
That has led Golshan and his cofounders to consider the future. He says companies will soon be able to make money by allowing others to buy synthetic data trained on that organisation’s unique datasets. Organisations that have lots of data but aren’t building AI models, for instance, could sell others access to their data to help training for their synthetic data.
To that end, Golshan said, Gretel’s next big move is to build a synthetic data and model exchange. “We are going to enable companies and customers to train models on their data, get mathematical guarantees that data is safe, and somebody can come and ‘subscribe’ to that model, generate data, and pay as you go,” he explained.
This, he added, will take Gretel to the next level to “become the safe interface for private data, where you remove this exploitative approach to mining and harvesting data.” It would also mean companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, which have built huge AI models built on massive amounts of data, would not have to strike licenses with every individual company they want to get data from, he said.
As for funding, Gretel has raised a total of US$68mil (RM320.28mil) with its Series B back in 2021. Golshan said the startup has a lot of money left, with “about two years of runway ahead of us”. But in this “moment” for synthetic data, he says he sees an opportunity to build the next Databricks or Snowflake – two of the biggest data cloud platforms – or even OpenAI.
“We are leaning into it pretty aggressively because we’re having a ton of pull,” he said. “We envision building the next safe, high-quality data business, which, if you think about the needs, is a pretty significant opportunity.” – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | AI,Startups,Technology | Ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked the generative AI boom in 2022, it’s been clear that having the right data, and enough of it, is essential to creating an AI model that is accurate, reliable, and efficient. The problem? The best data, particularly specialized “expert” data in specific domains like health and finance, is in short supply. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/companies-crave-fresh-data-to-train-ai-models-this-startups-recipe-data-made-from-scratch---by-ai | |
1,374,620 | The AI influencer ads are coming | If you are scrolling through TikTok and see an ad, it is likely that the person trying to sell you something in that ad is a real human. In the near future, that might not be the case.
On June 17, TikTok announced a new set of tools that will allow brands to create ads using avatars generated by artificial intelligence that look like real people. There will be two types of avatars, TikTok said in a release.
Brands can choose from an array of stock avatars “created from video footage of real paid actors that are licensed for commercial use”, or they can opt for a customisable avatar that could be designed to look like a specific creator. (TikTok is currently testing these new features.)
Brands will be able to modify the avatars to meet their specifications, placing them in different settings – like a bathroom, kitchen or garden – and telling them what to say or do. A new dubbing tool will allow the avatars to speak in multiple languages.
Ads made with these new features will be labelled accordingly, TikTok said, noting the new tools are “designed to enhance and amplify human imagination, not replace it”.
Jessy Grossman, founder of the networking group Women in Influencer Marketing, said she thought AI would allow creators on the platform to work faster and at a greater volume, without sacrificing creativity.
“I feel like people who don’t really have much experience with AI tools assume that it will take in information and spit out a final product,” Grossman said. “That couldn’t be farther from the truth. It just helps put you on the right track and then you put your spin on it.”
“For everybody who claims to be wanting to do influencer marketing at scale, I don’t see any other way to achieve that,” she said.
Over the years, TikTok has made itself into an advertising juggernaut, drawing major brands to the platform and generating billions of dollars in ad revenue. The company remains bullish on advertising, even as it faces an uncertain outlook in the United States. (Other tech platforms have also made forays into AI features: As of April, Instagram’s influencer chatbots were in early stages of testing.)
TikTok has also previously come under scrutiny for blurring the lines between what is organic content and what’s actually an ad. Some worry the introduction of AI could make advertising on the platform bring about more confusion.
Mara Einstein, a marketing professor at Queens College and the author of the book Black Ops Advertising, said the avatars TikTok unveiled Monday were a far cry from being easy to confuse for real humans, describing their speech and behavior as “stilted”. (Einstein is also a TikTok creator herself, with just over 18,000 followers.)
“I think that people who spend any time on TikTok at all are going to be smart enough to realise that they’re looking at an avatar,” she said.
If the ads lack that human element, they could fall short of reaching consumers, she added.
“The biggest problem with AI is AI builds on what already exists – so, you know, it’s searching around and finding information, but it’s that you’re only going to find what’s in the database,” Einstein said. “You’re not going to find what’s creative and new. People don’t want things they’ve already seen.”
Still, she noted, the technology will probably only improve, potentially making the AI-generated avatars more convincing.
Arielle Fodor, 32, a kindergarten teacher turned content creator, said while she was excited by the accessibility potential of the new technology, she also was wary – particularly given last summer’s actors strike, when the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union members raised concerns about how AI would affect their jobs and the wider entertainment industry.
Fodor, who has 1.3 million TikTok followers, said it was “a little freaky” to imagine an AI version of herself appearing in videos on the platform.
“The humanity that you can bring to an ad or any video, that’s what people bring to the table that AI just doesn’t do,” she said. – The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | AI,Social media,Influencer | If you are scrolling through TikTok and see an ad, it is likely that the person trying to sell you something in that ad is a real human. In the near future, that might not be the case. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/the-ai-influencer-ads-are-coming | |
1,374,638 | US government assails Adobe for putting up ‘wholly unnecessary’ roadblocks when subscribers try to cancel | It’s now a dozen years since Adobe became the poster child for what marketing folks and techies used to call the “software as a service” model.
This subscription-based approach has its advantages – you, the user, always get the latest features delivered to you – but it also means you’re constantly paying Adobe for as long as you want to use its products.
Now, it used to be the case that Adobe was an inescapable software provider for many if not most creative professionals, but some viable rivals have come up in recent years, such as Affinity (now owned by Canva) for photo editing and publishing layouts, and Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve for video.
Not only are these options hugely cheaper than Adobe’s Photoshop and InDesign and Premiere Pro respectively – DaVinci even has a free version that’s more than enough for most users – but they only require one-off payments.
However, Adobe has been making life very difficult for users who decide to cancel their subscriptions, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission – naming as defendants not only Adobe, but also senior executives David Wadhwani and Maninder Sawhney.
The complaint alleges that Adobe broke consumer protection law in two big ways: first, by pushing customers toward an “annual, paid monthly” plan while not clearly telling them that they’ll have to pay a “hefty” early termination fee (sometimes amounting to hundreds of dollars) if they cancel within the first year; and secondly, by prominently highlighting that fee when someone does try to cancel early, making the fee “a powerful retention tool”.
There are loads of redactions in this filing – the allegations specifically about Sawhney remain a complete mystery – but what’s on public display paints a pretty grim picture of Adobe’s cancellation process. Cancelling online means having to “navigate numerous pages with multiple options, much of which is wholly unnecessary to honor consumers’ cancellations requests,” and those trying their luck over the phone regularly find their calls dropped or disconnected.
The FTC also filed a complaint against Amazon a year ago, alleging that the ecommerce giant “knowingly duped” many users into signing up for its Prime subscription – and, again, making it difficult to cancel those subscriptions. Amazon has unsuccessfully tried to have that lawsuit dismissed, but it should go to trial early next year.
“Americans are tired of companies hiding the ball during subscription sign-up and then putting up roadblocks when they try to cancel,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.
And here’s Adobe general counsel Dana Rao: “We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process. We will refute the FTC’s claims in court.”
Either way, Adobe’s shareholders don’t seem to care much – the share price dipped a little yesterday before bouncing right back this morning. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Internet | It’s now a dozen years since Adobe became the poster child for what marketing folks and techies used to call the “software as a service” model. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/us-government-assails-adobe-for-putting-up-wholly-unnecessary-roadblocks-when-subscribers-try-to-cancel | |
1,374,629 | Linda Yaccarino shares her biggest moment of imposter syndrome from her last year running Elon Musk’s X | It was before the US Senate that X CEO Linda Yaccarino joined bosses from the likes of Meta and TikTok to answer for how they would better protect children from sexual exploitation on their platforms.
Had Yaccarino, who had been in the top job at the Elon Musk-owned platform for half a year, known those few hours would be such a pivotal moment in her career, she might have volunteered to appear from the outset like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew – rather than be compelled through a subpoena.
“That was one of the most profound experiences of my life that taught me a lot of things,” Yaccarino said on Monday, nearly six months after ultimately agreeing to testify as a witness.
Speaking in Cannes, where the advertising world's version of the Oscars are being held this week, Yaccarino revealed the experience on Capitol Hill helped her shed any nagging feeling she hadn’t earned the job as head of X and did not belong there, a feeling commonly known as imposter syndrome.
Going into the hearings, Yaccarino said, she had only been at the company six months and therefore lacked what she called the "depth of knowledge" and tenure enjoyed by her four male counterparts sitting beside her on the panel.
“I’m not an engineer, I’m not a founder, and my natural kind of career-long upbringing was not in tech and social media,” she said in a conversation with Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of the Female Quotient. “And by the way, (I was) the only woman.”
Yaccarino said she had been keen to share the work undertaken by X on her watch to better protect children on the platform, but wanted to do so with confidence. What helped was the feeling of encouragement and support she received along with trusting the process when it came to preparing, along with believing in her ability to communicate and articulate what X had been doing – with the all important help of data.
“That fuelled me and fuelled my confidence to be successful that day,” said Yaccarino, who has faced criticism she’s a puppet CEO, or has been set up by Musk to take the fall should the company fail.
When asked by Zalis to highlight an example or two of the relationship she enjoys with Musk, Yaccarino cited the day the entrepreneur announced in May that he had hired a female CEO to run Twitter.
“I think that was the best message I ever got of all time,” she added.
The everything app that champions free speech
At the time, Yaccarino and Musk had been discussing his vision of moving away from Twitter as a 140-character messaging service. Instead, it would pivot toward a video-first platform offering audio calls and – soon – online payments, all under the banner of championing free speech.
“The scope of our ambition and the pace of the innovation at the company is like nothing I can describe to any of you. It’s exhilarating, slightly exhausting, but it is an opportunity of a lifetime to watch it happening,” said Yaccarino.
Counter to what many critics expected and indeed Musk’s own worst fears, X has not gone bankrupt since Musk was forced under penalty of court to honour in full his contract to buy Twitter for US$44bil.
It’s survived a period when it reportedly refused to pay countless bills, witnessed the proliferation of imposter accounts, and eliminated the majority of its headcount (including even the most dedicated).
Yaccarino even managed to steer the company ahead after Musk told former advertisers like Disney to “go (expletive) yourself,” adding on Monday that in retrospect she’d have taken the job again in a heartbeat.
But the transition into a more lucrative video-first platform has been slow despite every attempt by Musk to stream his Diablo IV video gaming live to followers.
‘She smoked ’em’
When Musk urged popular Twitch streamers to switch to X by attacking his Amazon-owned rival for its failure to police its content, he was promptly ridiculed over his own platform’s infestation of bots.
Days later, X announced its own change of course and reworded its terms of service to specifically permit sharing content not safe for work. It subsequently eliminated any ability to see what posts users like.
In other words, Yaccarino and her team still have a lot of work to do if X is indeed to become the everything app. Right now users only spend some 35 minutes a day on the platform, according to Yaccarino.
While she believes that will “only go up” going forward once payments are rolled out starting in the US market, that number is still far from the declared goal of users spending, in her words, “most of their lives” on the platform.
But her experience testifying alongside four peers on the issue of policing child grooming and sexual exploitation on social media helped boost her confidence to succeed in this task as well. Interviewer Zalis of the Female Quotient was quick to agree: “If you actually watch the hearing, it was Linda and five [sic] dudes – and she smoked ’em.” –Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Social media | It was before the US Senate that X CEO Linda Yaccarino joined bosses from the likes of Meta and TikTok to answer for how they would better protect children from sexual exploitation on their platforms. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/linda-yaccarino-shares-her-biggest-moment-of-imposter-syndrome-from-her-last-year-running-elon-musks-x | |
1,374,630 | Unrelenting heatwave kills five in Indian capital | (Reuters) - A severe heatwave sweeping India has killed at least five people this week in the capital, New Delhi, the Times of India newspaper said on Wednesday, following the hottest night in six years.
Billions across Asia are grappling with extreme heat this summer in a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.
The deaths were reported from Monday in hospitals across the Indian city of 20 million, where water shortages have intensified, the paper added.
Its power consumption touched an all-time high on Tuesday, when the minimum nighttime temperature reached 33.8 degrees Celsius (93 F), it said.
Since March, temperatures have soared to 50 degrees C (122 F) in Delhi and the nearby desert state of Rajasthan, while more than twice the usual number of heatwave days were recorded this season in northwest and eastern India.
The conditions were the result of fewer thundershowers and warm winds blowing from neighbouring arid regions into India.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - A severe heatwave sweeping India has killed at least five people this week in the capital, New Delhi, the Times of India newspaper said on Wednesday, following the hottest night in six years. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/unrelenting-heatwave-kills-five-in-indian-capital | |
1,374,628 | Europe needs greater political stability, EY says | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe must foster greater political stability, cut red tape and reduce energy price volatility to reverse a declining trend in foreign investment, consulting firm EY said on Wednesday based on a survey of business leaders.
Europe has struggled economically for years on surging prices and the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine, fuelling populist sentiment that has lifted the far right in European Parliamentary elections and prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election.
Stagnant growth, big swings in energy costs and political uncertainty have all damaged the bloc's competitiveness, particularly when compared to a booming U.S., leaving the world's two biggest economic blocs on a diverging course.
The more than 500 executives surveyed rank political instability, including upcoming elections, populism and polarisation as the second-biggest risk, trumped only by an increased regulatory burden.
French opinion polls project that Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally could for the first time top the June 30 and July 7 vote, even if it was unlikely to win enough seats to govern on its own.
This has rattled financial markets in recent days pushing up French borrowing costs on fears that a populist government would strain France's already limited financial resources.
"As geopolitical and global trade tensions intensify, European policymakers need to be equipped to respond rapidly and decisively," EY said. "Individual Member States must be aligned on key areas, including which industries need to be protected and where the threats lie."
Energy price volatility could be reduced by investing in better connected infrastructure and fostering a green transition given that Europe was overly reliant on Russia for decades.
But bureaucracy is the overall biggest threat, the executives said.
"European policymakers can alleviate these concerns by harmonizing regulation, reconsidering the pace of introducing new regulation and repealing outdated laws whenever possible," EY said.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Sharon Singleton) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe must foster greater political stability, cut red tape and reduce energy price volatility to reverse a declining trend in foreign investment, consulting firm EY said on Wednesday based on a survey of business leaders. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/europe-needs-greater-political-stability-ey-says | |
1,374,601 | Mouse shakers, power naps: Corporate America fights ‘keyboard fraud’ | WASHINGTON: A US banking giant fired more than a dozen employees for “simulating keyboard activity”, highlighting a battle within productivity-obsessed corporate America to tame a culture of faking work with gizmos such as mouse jigglers.
The sackings by Wells Fargo come as employers use sophisticated tools – popularly called “tattleware” or “bossware” – on company-issued devices to monitor productivity in the age of hybrid work that took off after the Covid-19 pandemic.
ALSO READ: US bank fires a bunch of employees after finding out they were pretending to work
Some workers seek to outsmart them with tools such as mouse movers – which simulate cursor movement, preventing their devices from going into sleep mode and making them appear active when they may actually be getting a power nap or doing laundry.
The cat-and-mouse game – no pun intended – has spurred a wider debate in corporate America about whether screentime and the click-clacking of keyboards are effective yardsticks to measure productivity amid a boom in remote work.
The Well Fargo workers were dismissed last month following a probe of allegations involving “simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work”, Bloomberg reported, citing the company’s disclosures to financial regulators.
Wells Fargo “holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behaviour”, the company said in a statement, without elaborating.
‘Productivity theatre’
Multiple US surveys show that demand for employee monitoring software – systems that track activity via desktop monitoring, keystroke tracking and even GPS location – has shot up since the pandemic.
One Florida-based social media marketing company, according to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), installed software on employees’ devices that took screenshots of their desktop every 10 minutes.
Such surveillance has given rise to what human resource professionals call “productivity theatre” – in which some employees seek to project that they are busy while doing nothing constructive.
A series of “tutorials” on platforms including TikTok and YouTube even teach how to appear busy on computer screens, which generally go black after a few minutes of inactivity.
Those include fake PowerPoint techniques for “when you need to take your afternoon nap”.
“Just hit ‘slideshow’ and you’re good,” Sho Dewan, an influencer who identifies himself as an “ex-recruiter sharing HR secrets”, said in a TikTok video that garnered millions of views.
The device will stay “active” while the presentation is on, he said flashing a thumbs up before a slide that read: “Really important work meeting.”
Among the hundreds of comments under the video, one viewer quipped: “At one point I taped a mouse to an oscillating fan – why couldn’t I have found (this) sooner?”
‘Seriously backfire’
Another trick noted in the tutorials involves opening a notes application and placing a lock on any keyboard letter. The worker thereby appears active to tracking devices while the page fills up with row after row of the same letter.
But the most popular trick appears to be the deployment of mouse jigglers, widely available on Amazon for as little as US$11 (RM52).
“Push the button when you’re getting up from your desk and the cursor travels randomly around the screen – for hours, if needed!” reads one product review on Amazon.
But there remains a serious risk of getting caught.
In one viral Reddit post titled “My manager caught me with a mouse jiggler”, an employee noted that the transgression was the “last straw” after he excused himself from several meetings citing “power outages” and “thunderstorms”.
He noted that he had installed a software-based jiggler, prompting some readers to suggest using “non-detectable” physical ones.
HR professionals warn of the dangers of surveilling employees and confusing keyboard activity with productivity.
One survey cited by HBR suggested that secretly monitoring employees can “seriously backfire”.
“We found that monitored employees were substantially more likely to take unapproved breaks, disregard instructions, damage workplace property, steal office equipment, and purposefully work at a slow pace,” the HBR report said.
A.J. Mizes, chief executive of the consulting firm Human Reach, said the use of mouse jigglers demonstrated a “work culture driven by metrics rather than meaningful productivity and human connection”.
“There has been a growing troubling trend of excessive surveillance in corporate America,” Mizes told AFP.
“Rather than stirring up innovation and trust, this surveillance approach will only push employees to find additional ways to appear busy.” – AFP | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Internet,Technology | A US banking giant fired more than a dozen employees for “simulating keyboard activity”, highlighting a battle within productivity-obsessed corporate America to tame a culture of faking work with gizmos such as mouse jigglers. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/mouse-shakers-power-naps-corporate-america-fights-keyboard-fraud | |
1,374,590 | Scams keep haunting crypto market, aided by AI and social media | When Jakob-Moritz Eberl clicked on a link to the website of a crypto company, he was stunned at what he saw: his own face looking back at him.
Eberl’s headshot was displayed under the name “Mason Jones” and the title “Senior Blockchain Engineer” as one of six men the site claimed were on the team behind InfinityStakeChain. A near-duplicate website for a platform called FlexyStakes used the same photos above different names, identifying Eberl as “Noel Brennan”. Eberl, a social scientist at the University of Vienna who doesn’t even own any crypto, had no idea why his picture was on the sites.
“I’m not associated with crypto,” he said in an interview. “I’m not following crypto. I have to honestly say I still don't understand crypto fully.”
When former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried went to prison following his conviction on fraud charges earlier this year, many in the crypto industry breathed a sigh of relief that the industry could turn the page following years of scandal. Yet scams continue to haunt the asset class, and there are signs they have picked up again amid this year’s rebound in the market.
It’s not just fake headshots and misleading websites: Apparent fraudsters have attempted to feign legitimacy with false press releases about venture-capital fundraises and bogus claims about partnerships with industry giants. In some cases, the false information has leaked into trusted industry data sources.
Both InfinityStakeChain and FlexyStakes issued press releases that were published on wire services, local news sites and Yahoo! Finance claiming that they had raised US$12mil (RM56.49mil) from investors led by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. On their websites, they also claim partnerships with other big names in the industry, including Polygon, Avalanche, dydx and Fantom.
Binance and the others each confirmed to Bloomberg that they had never worked with either of these startups.
In a sector where VC activity is closely watched by traders hunting for signals about which tokens to buy, an investment from big names like Andreessen Horowitz or Dragonfly could inspire traders to snap up a new project’s token and boost its price. With Bitcoin and other tokens surging upward this year and VC funding rebounding, the risk is high for both retail and institutional investors looking to take advantage of the market’s resurgence.
“It’s fraud, especially if you’re putting up these websites,” said PitchBook crypto analyst Robert Le, who identified InfinityStakeChain and FlexyStakes among a group of crypto startups peddling false information about fundraising. Inquiries to the two projects from Bloomberg went unanswered.
InfinityStakeChain and FlexyStakes both used the same promotional language and listed the same partners on their websites, though InfinityStakeChain’s site became inactive in the past month. They even claimed the same office address at a quiet commercial property in Melbourne, Australia.
The six-level office building is home to an empty first floor full of abandoned desks, some shipping companies, a medical centre and a construction office, but there’s no sign of FlexyStakes or InfinityStakeChain.
A receptionist for one of the building’s tenants said that, to her knowledge, no company with either of those names had rented space there in the past two years.
The building’s manager, Colliers International Group, did not reply to an email seeking further confirmation.
It’s unknown what the motives are for FlexyStakes and InfinityStakeChain. Le said PitchBook, which tracks venture-capital data, has seen an increase in fraudulent activity in the digital-asset space recently and some projects are simply blatant scams whose fake fundraising announcements could lure unsuspecting victims to a malicious site.
‘Almost on a daily basis’
“All they want to do is get you to come to the website, connect your wallet to use the thing, and they steal all your funds,” he said. “We see so many fake projects that fundraise and they’ll put out fake press releases. I see it almost on a daily basis.”
Scams can appear alarmingly fast. Just a few hours after Tether Holdings Ltd announced a new synthetic dollar token on Monday, the company’s CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on X that it “seems there are already multiple websites trying to impersonate our new product Alloy by Tether. Don’t fall for it.”
When it comes to InfinityStakeChain and FlexyStakes, Eberl wasn’t the only one whose headshot was misappropriated. He also recognised two other faces, including the purported founder of both companies.
Eberl studies communication and misinformation around politics and health, and lately he’s focused on public reactions to Covid-19 policies in Austria. He recognised the pair from the X social-media platform since they had both posted about Covid policies in Austria.
Both individuals confirmed to Bloomberg that they also were not involved with the crypto startups. The other three individuals whose photos were featured on the websites also confirmed to Bloomberg that they were in no way connected to either project.
For Eberl, the incident was disturbing, even though he’s used to fielding hateful comments and online harassment over his research. His wife recently watched the Netflix documentary Bitconned and he was concerned about being targeted by a crypto scam.
He was even fearful that an inquiry from Bloomberg, which included a Zoom link for a videoconference interview, was part of some ploy. So he asked if he could send the meeting invitation from his own account in order to make sure he didn’t click on a malicious link.
Most of all, he was also worried about being connected to something potentially fraudulent that could harm his reputation and hurt unsuspecting victims.
“I have no idea how I deserved this,” Eberl said.
Another case of crypto-VC misinformation was on display recently with a company called Candle Labs. Multiple data and news platforms including Crunchbase, PitchBook and Silicon Valley Journals incorrectly reported that the company had raised US$48mil (RM225.98mil) in a Series B, or later-stage, venture funding round.
Sam Safahi, 21, founded the crypto startup in 2022 alongside some friends and his father, Alan Safahi. The elder Safahi, who had previously served on the board of Ripple Labs, is now serving a 40-month sentence in federal prison for fraud and money-laundering convictions related to a US$2.7mil (RM12.71mil) prepaid debit card scam.
The younger Safahi said in an interview that the company did not raise US$48mil (RM225.98mil) and he was unsure how that information circulated. “We raised US$1.2mil (RM5.64mil), mostly from family or friends,” he said.
Whether the incorrect data about Candle Labs’ US$48mil (RM225.98mil) was purposefully or mistakenly provided to these data platforms doesn’t change the fact that the misinformation has lingered. The company eventually shut down last year after it received a letter from the US Securities and Exchange Commission implying that its CNDL token was an unregistered security, according to Safahi.
Mysterious fundraising news
“When my father gets out of prison, we were planning on eventually working with the SEC to restart it, to make it work,” he said.
Silicon Valley Journals said in an email to Bloomberg that it had gotten the information from Crunchbase and subsequently updated the article on Candle Labs’ fundraise to include an attribution to Crunchbase. Crunchbase has an article referencing a US$48mil (RM225.98mil) fundraise, as well as a US$1,000 (RM4,708) fundraise listed on the company’s data page.
The Candle Labs data page also had a line that read: “This is a fraudulent startup – if you receive a recruitment offer from these guys ignore it.” Representatives of Crunchbase declined to be interviewed for this story.
Following Bloomberg’s inquiry, it removed the sentence alleging fraud at Candle Labs from the company’s data page.
A PitchBook spokesperson said that the information had come from “published sources”. After a review, the data tracker chose to take the entry off its website.
With so much misinformation afoot, PitchBook has had to change how it tracks the crypto industry, Le said. When a funding round is announced, Le often will speak directly to the listed investors, the firms’ limited partners and the founders themselves to confirm that they’re all involved.
He also often corroborates the raise using government filings, if they’re available. “We take more of a grain of salt in the crypto space for a fundraise announcement than in the traditional VC space,” he said.
Another new wrinkle in his efforts to combat misinformation: Artificial intelligence is making it more difficult to detect what’s real and what’s not. More fraudsters are likely using chatbots like ChatGPT to write their website language and the white papers that explain their project, Le said, and the result is that scam projects come off as more polished than they did in the past.
“They used to have all these grammar mistakes, and you can just tell that it’s fake,” he said.
Bots and humans
Social media is another complicating factor when it comes to the spread of misinformation online, Le noted. He said that there are bots that execute crypto trades based on news and social media posts, which means that false information can artificially boost token prices.
And it’s not just bots who fall for it. Actual humans are particularly vulnerable when it comes to financial information and there are few safeguards on social media sites to prevent falsehoods from spreading, said Svitlana Volkova, chief AI scientist at engineering services firm Aptima Inc, whose research has focused on crypto misinformation.
“People share information without prior verification and it’s being reshared and it gets viral,” she said. The misinformation poses a risk not just to crypto traders, but to venture capitalists themselves.
VC firms in the crypto space have been criticised for not conducting enough due diligence and ultimately backing fraudulent startups like FTX. It’s common for crypto founders to stretch the truth, said Roger Royse, partner at law firm Haynes Boone.
‘Suspension of reality’
“Here in Silicon Valley, where I practice, it's kind of the nature of being a startup founder, that people have a lot of hubris that borders on a suspension of reality,” Royse said.
The question of how far founders can go when it comes to self-aggrandisement has been brought up in cases such as the one against Elizabeth Holmes and her blood-testing startup Theranos.
While founders may believe they have the potential to succeed on a high level, Royse said that doesn’t mean they can claim to have accomplished things they haven’t. And publicly lying about a funding round, including the amount raised, and getting other VCs to invest based on that information could pose a legal problem.
“If there's a misrepresentation of a material fact, and that induces the investor to invest, that is the basis of a fraud claim,” he said.
As for Eberl, the social scientist in Vienna, it’s unclear whether he can get his image removed from the FlexyStakes website.
“On some level, I guess I feel violated by the crypto scam,” he said, while adding that his academic curiosity has also been piqued: “On the other, I just find it extremely weird and I find this connection extremely intriguing.” – Bloomberg
#JanganKenaScam | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Cryptocurrency,Fintech,Internet,Investment,Scam | When Jakob-Moritz Eberl clicked on a link to the website of a crypto company, he was stunned at what he saw: his own face looking back at him. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/scams-keep-haunting-crypto-market-aided-by-ai-and-social-media | |
1,374,585 | Thai PM proposes $102 billion budget to parliament to revive economy | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday proposed a 3.753 trillion baht ($102 billion) budget for the 2025 fiscal year to jump-start the country's sluggish economy as lawmakers began a three-day debate.
The budget is aimed at helping the economy grow at its full potential, Srettha told the House of Representatives.
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy is expected to grow 2.5% to 3.5% in 2025, with inflation projected at 0.7% to 1.7%, he said.
The government is targeting growth of at least 3% this year, after last year's 1.9% expansion lagged regional peers.
"Deficit budgeting is important and necessary to stimulate a slow economy to grow significantly," Srettha said.
The 2025 budget papers project a 7.8% rise in spending and an increase of 24.9% in the budget deficit to 865.7 billion baht from the 2024 fiscal year.
The government earlier said some 152.7 billion baht of the 2025 budget would be used to help finance a signature 500 billion baht "digital wallet" handout scheme.
The scheme, which involves a giveaway of 10,000 baht per person to 50 million Thais to be spent in their communities, has been delayed to the fourth quarter this year due to funding issues.
The budget debate comes as Srettha faces a Constitutional Court case that could potentially lead to his dismissal.
The case over a cabinet appointment made by Srettha was brought on by a group of 40 conservative military-appointed senators. The prime minister denies any wrong doing.
($1 = 36.78 baht)
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Thanadech Staporncharnchai and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by John Mair) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday proposed a 3.753 trillion baht ($102 billion) budget for the 2025 fiscal year to jump-start the country's sluggish economy as lawmakers began a three-day debate. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/thai-pm-proposes-to-parliament-102-billion-budget-to-revive-economy | |
1,374,576 | McDonald’s is ending its test run of AI-powered drive-thrus with IBM | NEW YORK: Ever get your McDonald’s order mixed up at an AI-powered drive-thru? The experiment behind the fast food giant's current automated order taker will soon be coming to a close.
McDonald's confirmed June 17 that it decided to end a global partnership with IBM, which has been testing this artificial intelligence technology at select McDonald's drive–thrus since 2021.
That doesn't mean you'll never encounter some sort of chatbot while picking up fries on your car ride home again. While the IBM partnership for McDonald's current automated order taker test is winding down, the Chicago-based company suggested that it wasn't ruling out other potential AI drive-thru plans down the road – pointing to "an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”
"Our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants’ future,” McDonald's said in a prepared statement this week, adding that it would continue evaluations to "make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”
Numerous fast food chains have begun exploring the implementation of AI across operations over recent years, with many pointing to possibilities of maximising speed and cutting costs.
In the US, Wendy’s partnered with Google Cloud to develop "Wendy’s FreshAI" chatbot. White Castle teamed up with SoundHound AI with a goal of bringing voice-powered AI technology to more than 100 restaurants by the end of 2024. And a handful of Panera, Arby's and Popeyes locations have brought OpenCity's "Tori” voice assistant to their order lanes.
Beyond America, Popeyes UK also launched its first AI-powered drive-thru (dubbed "Al”) last month, after the company said a pilot program reported 97% accuracy.
Success for AI-powered drive-thrus has been mixed. McDonald's automated order taker with IBM received scores of complaints in recent years, for example – with many taking to social media to document the chatbot misunderstanding their orders.
One 2023 TikTok, appears to show the drive-thru assistant place order after order of McDonald’s chicken nuggets on one car’s tab, despite the customers asking it to stop while laughing. Additional posts show an array of other mishaps – such as it adding strange extras, like ice cream with ketchup and butter, or picking up orders from other nearby cars.
Unnamed sources familiar with the technology told CNBC that the technology has had difficulty interpreting different accents and dialects, among other challenges affecting order accuracy.
McDonald's declined to comment about the automated order taker's accuracy. In an initial statement, IBM said that "this technology is proven to have some of the most comprehensive capabilities in the industry, fast and accurate in some of the most demanding conditions," but did not immediately respond to a request for further comment about specifics of potential challenges.
The Armonk, New York-based tech company also said that it is currently "in discussions and pilots” with several other quick-serve restaurant clients interested in the automated order taker.
According to trade publication Restaurant Business and CNBC, which obtained a memo sent to franchisees last week, the automated order technology will be shut off in McDonald's locations testing it "no later than July 26, 2024.”
Both IBM and McDonald’s maintained that, while their AI drive-thru partnership was ending, the two would continue their relationship on other projects. McDonald's said that it still plans to use many of IBM’s products across its global system.
In December, McDonald's launched a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud. In addition to moving restaurant computations from servers into the cloud, the partnership is also set to apply generative AI "across a number of key business priorities” in restaurants around the world. – AP | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | AI,Technology,Food News | Ever get your McDonald’s order mixed up at an AI-powered drive-thru? The experiment behind the fast food giant's current automated order taker will soon be coming to a close. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/mcdonalds-is-ending-its-test-run-of-ai-powered-drive-thrus-with-ibm | |
1,374,478 | Why you should never connect to public WiFi networks | While Microsoft has announced the existence of a major WiFi security flaw in Windows, it's important to note that it's always best to avoid connecting to public WiFi networks, where it's easy to have your personal data stolen.
Microsoft has revealed that a security flaw in Windows allows hackers to take control of a PC remotely, simply by being connected to the same WiFi network. They could then execute code remotely and take control of the device.
While it's highly recommended to update your operating system to protect yourself from this type of attack, it's worth remembering that it's always risky to connect to a public WiFi network over which you have no control.
Many public WiFi networks are not protected by adequate encryption, starting with WPA2. This means that your data travels unencrypted across the network, where it can be easily intercepted by hackers. The same people can also create fake WiFi hotspots with misleading names resembling legitimate networks. If you connect to such a network, you run the risk of having your data stolen.
In any case, the biggest risk of connecting to an unsecured WiFi network is that of having your personal data stolen, starting with passwords, bank details and so on. Beware too of malware, which can easily be spread over public WiFi networks.
Finally, those operating a malicious network can monitor your online activity at any time. For all these reasons, it is strongly advised not to connect to public WiFi, especially for sensitive activities.
However, if you really must connect to a public WiFi network, in a train station, café or hotel, for example, don't forget to take certain precautions, starting with activating your device's firewall.
When on public WiFi, don't carry out any online banking transactions or purchases, don't log in to your personal accounts, and avoid downloading files or clicking on suspicious links. Remember to disable file sharing on your device and, if you can, to use a VPN. – AFP Relaxnews | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Internet,Cybersecurity | While Microsoft has announced the existence of a major WiFi security flaw in Windows, it's important to note that it's always best to avoid connecting to public WiFi networks, where it's easy to have your personal data stolen. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/why-you-should-never-connect-to-public-wifi-networks | |
1,373,734 | ‘3D spatial sound’ should make voice and video calls more immersive | Nokia recently made the first voice and video call in “3D spatial sound”, a technology that will be offered with the future 5G Advanced standard. This premiere promises three-dimensional sound, as if the person you’re talking to is right there with you.
This very first cellular call made in "3D spatial sound" is a feat achieved thanks to the new IVAS codec (for Immersive Voice and Audio Services). Incidentally, it was made by Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark to Stefan Lindström, the Finnish Ambassador of Digitalization and New Technologies.
This is a spectacular leap forward, given that today almost all voice calls offer a monophonic experience, using only one audio channel to transmit the voice. The codec developed by Nokia gives the impression of being in the same room as the caller, even if they are actually on the other side of the world.
This codec enables spatial sound on all connected devices: smartphones, tablets and computers. In the future, this will also apply to virtual reality and metaverse access tools. It will be an integral part of 5G Advanced (or 5.5G), the future standard for 5G networks, which could start rolling out in 2025 or 2026.
The idea is to make spatial audio communication accessible to all, thanks to the interaction of the progress made by chip and smartphone manufacturers, as well as telephone operators.
The notion of spatial audio was introduced by Apple in 2021, as three-dimensional immersive sound, meant to immerse the listener right into the heart of the action, be it a concert, a movie, a game and so on. Today, many people can already enjoy it, provided they have compatible hardware, via streaming platforms such as Apple Music or Netflix. – AFP Relaxnews | Tech | Smartphones | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Smartphones | The very first cellular call made in "3D spatial sound" is a feat achieved thanks to the new IVAS codec (for Immersive Voice and Audio Services). | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/19/3d-spatial-sound-should-make-voice-and-video-calls-more-immersive | |
1,374,506 | 2024 haj season health plans a success, free of outbreaks, says Saudi Health Minister | MINA: The health plans for this year's haj season have been successfully carried out, with no outbreaks of disease or other threats to public health, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel as saying.
The minister expressed his satisfaction with the outcome, noting that despite the significant number of pilgrims and the challenges posed by high temperatures, there were no public health threats.
"Thanks to Allah, and with the unwavering support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the close follow-up of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, I am pleased to announce the success of the health plans for this year's haj season," Al-Jalajel said in a statement to SPA.
He highlighted the extensive resources allocated, including 189 hospitals, health centres and mobile clinics with over 6,500 beds.
More than 40,000 staff and volunteers, 370 ambulances, seven air ambulances, and a logistics network of 12 laboratories, 60 supply trucks, and three mobile medical warehouses were positioned across the holy sites to ensure the well-being of pilgrims.
Al-Jalajel reported that the ministry served over 390,000 pilgrims during this year’s haj season, performing 28 open-heart surgeries, 720 cardiac catheterisations and 1,169 dialysis sessions.
The Seha Virtual Hospital provided over 5,800 virtual consultations, mainly for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention.
The minister commended the collaborative efforts of healthcare entities, including the Makkah Health Cluster, Red Crescent Authority, Public Health Authority (Weqaya) and Saudi Food and Drug Authority.
He also recognised the support from the National Unified Procurement Company (NUPCO), the Health Volunteer Centre, and other stakeholders in the Kingdom's health sector.
The report highlighted the Health Ministry’s appreciation for the Supreme Haj Committee, led by Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif, for measures protecting pilgrims from high temperatures and addressing health challenges.
Al-Jalajel thanked the Ministry of Interior for its effective health plans and expressed gratitude to Makkah Governor Prince Khalid bin Faisal, Deputy Governor Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz, and the Municipality of Makkah for their pivotal roles in this success.
The health minister emphasised that the accomplishment reflects seamless collaboration between all government agencies and early preparations under the Pilgrim Experience Programme.
Al-Jalajel acknowledged the Central Haj Committee's recommendation for pilgrims to avoid rituals during peak temperatures, which significantly safeguarded pilgrims' health and minimised heat stress injuries.
He expressed sincere gratitude to all participating government agencies for their collaborative approach, emphasising that this teamwork was crucial to the success of the Haj season and the prevention of epidemics.
The health minister further praised the spirit of cooperation among all personnel involved in serving pilgrims and thanked healthcare workers, security personnel, and other workers for their dedication and tireless efforts, which contributed to a successful Haj season. - Bernama | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | Health Minister,Saudi Arabia,Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel,Success,Haj Season,Appreciate,Desease,Health Plans,Pilgrimage,Well-being | MINA: The health plans for this year's haj season have been successfully carried out, with no outbreaks of disease or other threats to public health, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel as saying. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/2024-haj-season-health-plans-a-success-free-of-outbreaks-says-saudi-health-minister | |
1,374,498 | Putin gets lavish welcome in North Korea with vows of support | SEOUL (Reuters) -Cheering crowds and lavish ceremonies greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed "full support" for Russia's war in Ukraine and pledged stronger strategic ties with Moscow.
An honour guard including mounted soldiers, and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the Kim Il Sung square by the Taedong River running through the capital, video broadcast by Russian media showed. The scene included children holding balloons, and giant portraits of the two leaders with national flags adorning the square's main building.
Kim and Putin then rode to the Kumsusan Palace for summit talks.
"We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction," Russian state news agency RIA quoted Putin as saying at the start of the talks.
Putin said Moscow is fighting the hegemonic, imperialist policy of the United States and its allies, Russian media reported.
Kim said North Korea-Russia relations are entering a period of "new high prosperity".
"Now the situation in the world is becoming more complicated and changing rapidly. In such a situation, we intend to further strengthen strategic communication with Russia, with the Russian leadership," Kim said.
North Korea "expresses full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out a special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests, as well as territorial integrity," he said.
Putin arrived at Pyongyang's airport earlier in the day. After Kim welcomed him with an embrace, the two shared "pent-up inmost thoughts" on the ride to the state guest house, North Korean state media said.
Putin is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.
The countries' partnership is an "engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world" and Putin's visit demonstrates the invincibility and durability of their friendship and unity, North Korea's state news agency KCNA said.
Russia has used its warming ties with North Korea to needle Washington, while heavily sanctioned North Korea has won political backing and promises of economic support and trade from Moscow.
The United States and its allies say they fear Russia could provide aid for North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, and have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.
Kim greeted Putin, shaking hands, embracing and talking beside the Russian leader's plane. The pair then rode in Putin's Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.
Likely given the hour, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.
State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message "Welcome Putin."
'ALTERNATE TRADE MECHANISM'
Wednesday's agenda includes a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying.
In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, is reassessing its approach to North Korea, Putin praised Pyongyang ahead of his arrival for resisting what he said was U.S. economic pressure, blackmail and threats.
In an article on North Korea's official ruling party newspaper, he promised to "develop alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West" and "build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia."
Putin's article implies that there is an opportunity for North Korea’s economic growth within an anti-West economic bloc led by Russia, which is a message that is likely appealing to Kim Jong Un, wrote Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the 38 North programme in Washington.
"If Pyongyang views Russia as a viable longer-term partner for improving its economy - as irrational as this may seem to some - there is even less of an incentive for it to try to improve relations with the United States," she said in a report.
Putin also issued a presidential order on the eve of the visit saying Moscow was looking to sign a "comprehensive strategic partnership treaty" with North Korea. Ushakov said it would include security issues.
Ushakov said the deal would not be directed against any other country, but would "outline prospects for further cooperation".
(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Josh Smith, Jack Kim in Seoul, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Gerry Doyle) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | SEOUL (Reuters) -Cheering crowds and lavish ceremonies greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed "full support" for Russia's war in Ukraine and pledged stronger strategic ties with Moscow. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/putin-and-kim-embrace-in-north-korea-vow-new-multi-polar-world | |
1,374,468 | UN Haiti chief warns of 'catastrophic' impact of gang war displacements | (Reuters) - A top executive at the United Nations' migration agency on Tuesday warned of catastrophic humanitarian consequences for the spiraling numbers of Haitians forced to flee their homes due to violence fueled by a conflict with armed gangs.
"The figures we see today are a direct consequence of years of spiraling violence," said Philippe Branchat, who heads the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Haiti arm, "and its catastrophic humanitarian impact."
Almost 580,000 people in Haiti are internally displaced - around 5% of Caribbean country's entire population - according to the IOM's latest country-wide assessment, a 60% increase on 360,000 just three months earlier.
This has contributed to close to 5 million - nearly half the population - facing acute hunger.
Gang violence in Haiti surged in late February as former Prime Minister Ariel Henry left the country to seek to speed up a promised Kenyan-led deployment of security forces to help national police fight gangs.
As armed men attacked the national palace and broke thousands from prison, Henry was unable to return and pressured to resign. Three months later, a new government has just been installed but the Kenyan-led deployment has yet to land.
Henry first requested the deployment in 2022.
Meanwhile, the violence has cut off supply routes in a country highly dependent on imports of both food and fuel, pushing up prices for basic staples and medical supplies, while businesses have shuttered and alliances of armed gangs have attacked neighborhoods, bringing indiscriminate killings, sexual violence, ransom kidnappings, lootings and arson.
Those displaced often flee with little more than the clothes on their back and often lose their jobs along with their homes. They have largely been traveling south and staying with host families, an additional burden for areas economically weakened by the devastating 2021 earthquake.
Many are also staying in makeshift camps set up in schools and sport centers around the capital, where basic services are limited and the changing gang battle-lines can prevent aid workers from delivering food or force the displaced to flee yet again.
Neighboring countries last year deported hundreds of thousands back to Haiti.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Sandra Maler) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - A top executive at the United Nations' migration agency on Tuesday warned of catastrophic humanitarian consequences for the spiraling numbers of Haitians forced to flee their homes due to violence fueled by a conflict with armed gangs. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/un-haiti-chief-warns-of-039catastrophic039-impact-of-gang-war-displacements | |
1,374,458 | Sudan and UAE clash at UN Security Council over Sudan civil war | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudan and the United Arab Emirates clashed at the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday over accusations by the army-aligned Sudanese government that the UAE is providing weapons and support to a rival warring party in the country's 14-month long conflict.
Sitting next to each other at the Security Council table, UAE U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab said Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed had made "ludicrous" and false allegations designed to distract from "grave violations that are happening on the ground."
War erupted in April last year between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a transition to free elections. The U.N. says nearly 25 million people - half Sudan's population - need aid, famine is looming and some eight million people have fled their homes.
"The military aggression launched by the Rapid Support militia, supported with weapons by the Emirates, is deliberately and systematically targeting the villages and cities," Mohamed told the Security Council.
U.N. sanctions monitors have described as "credible" accusations that the UAE had provided military support to the RSF. The UAE has denied involvement in military support to any of Sudan's warring parties.
Without naming any countries, the Security Council adopted a resolution last week that urged countries "to refrain from external interference which seeks to foment conflict and instability" and reminded "member states who facilitate the transfers of arms and military material to Darfur of their obligations to comply with the arms embargo measures."
The United States says the warring parties have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied militias have also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Abushahab turned to his Sudanese counterpart at the Security Council table and said: "If they seek an end to the conflict and civilian suffering, then why won't they come to the Jeddah talks? Why are they blocking aid? What are you waiting for?"
"You should stop grandstanding in international fora such as this and instead, take responsibility for ending the conflict you started," Abushahab added.
Late last month Sudan's army rejected a call to return to peace talks with the RSF in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed responded angrily to Abushahab: "Whoever wants to create peace in Sudan must first come with pure intentions and the United Arab Emirates is the state that is sponsoring terrorism."
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mark Potter) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudan and the United Arab Emirates clashed at the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday over accusations by the army-aligned Sudanese government that the UAE is providing weapons and support to a rival warring party in the country's 14-month long conflict. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/sudan-and-uae-clash-at-un-security-council-over-sudan-civil-war | |
1,374,451 | Dutchman Mark Rutte, longtime Putin critic, set to lead NATO alliance | AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Mark Rutte, who looks set to be NATO's next secretary-general, is a staunch ally of Ukraine and a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who honed his skills as a political dealmaker during nearly 14 years as Dutch prime minister.
Rutte, 57, has been one of the driving forces behind Europe's military support for Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion, and says defeat on the battlefield for Moscow is vital to secure peace in Europe.
His view is heavily influenced by the downing of an airliner over Ukraine in 2014, which the Netherlands blames on Russia, and in which 196 of the 298 victims were Dutch. NATO must be powerful to counter Moscow, and other European Union leaders must not be naive about Putin's Russia, he says.
"He won’t stop at Ukraine, if we don’t stop him now. This war is bigger than Ukraine itself. It’s about upholding the international rule of law," Rutte told the United Nations in September 2022, seven months after Russia's full-scale invasion.
Rutte first took office in 2010 and went on to become the longest-serving Dutch prime minister before announcing last year that he planned to leave national politics.
After the downing of flight MH17, he went from being primarily domestically focused to one of the EU's main dealmakers, playing an important role in European debates on immigration, debt and the response to COVID-19.
Under his leadership, the Netherlands has increased defence spending to more than the 2% threshold of GDP required of NATO members, providing F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition to Kyiv and investing heavily in its own military.
His path to replace Jens Stoltenberg, who steps down as NATO chief in October after nearly a decade at the helm, became all but certain after Hungary and Slovakia indicated on June 18 that they would back his nomination to lead the 32-state alliance.
That left only Romania, whose President Klaus Iohannis was also vying for the job, opposed to Rutte's candidacy.
Stoltenberg said on Tuesday Rutte was a "very strong" candidate to replace him and a decision was near.
Under Stoltenberg, who joined a few months after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the alliance has added Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland and Sweden as new members.
Some members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had hoped Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas would become the first woman to lead NATO but others saw her as too hawkish towards Russia.
TRANSATLANTIC BOND
Rutte will step aside formally as prime minister when the recently forged right-wing Dutch government replaces his centre-right coalition.
Rutte, who is unmarried, has lived all his life in The Hague and had hinted he might enjoy teaching after politics, but he cited the war in Ukraine as the reason for seeking an international post as he set his sights on the NATO leadership.
He is a strong backer of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whom he recalled meeting in Kyiv five years ago.
"It was clear even then: this is a man with a mission... I am convinced that Ukraine's success largely depends on the mentality he conveyed from the very beginning," Rutte told Reuters in April.
By contrast, even while warning of the threat posed by Putin, he has suggested the Russian leader is not as strong as he seems.
"Don't mentally overestimate Putin. I've talked to the man a lot. He's not a strong man, he's not a strong guy," Rutte said in a debate with parliament in April.
Rutte cemented his bid to become NATO's new chief last year while co-leading an international coalition that will deliver F-16 fighters to Ukraine and train Ukrainian pilots.
In his last months in office, he also signed a 10-year security pact with Ukraine, guaranteeing support from the Netherlands despite criticism by far-right leader and election-winner Geert Wilders.
Rutte has forged good relationships with various British and U.S. leaders and is widely seen as having been one of the most successful in the EU at dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is standing for re-election.
This could prove valuable experience, as Trump's possible return has unnerved NATO leaders since the former president called into question U.S. willingness to support other members of the defence alliance if they were attacked.
At the annual Munich Security Conference last year, Rutte said leaders should stop "moaning and whining about Trump", and spend more on defence and ammunitions production, regardless of who wins the U.S. election.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Anthony Deutsch and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Sharon Singleton) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Mark Rutte, who looks set to be NATO's next secretary-general, is a staunch ally of Ukraine and a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who honed his skills as a political dealmaker during nearly 14 years as Dutch prime minister. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/dutchman-mark-rutte-longtime-putin-critic-set-to-lead-nato-alliance | |
1,374,336 | US imposes sanctions targeting Bosnian Serb leader Dodik's network of firms | SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two individuals and a network of companies generating wealth for Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and his family, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
Dodik, the pro-Russian president of the autonomous Serb Republic who has long advocated the region's secession from Bosnia, is already under U.S. and UK sanctions.
Last October, Washington imposed sanctions against his two adult children - son Igor Dodik and daughter Gorica Dodik - and their companies, saying they facilitated the Bosnian Serb leader's ongoing corruption.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Dodik has used his official position to accumulate personal wealth through seven companies linked to himself and to Igor Dodik, who controls the firms officially run by individuals loyal to him.
The office imposed sanctions on Djordje Djuric, owner of Infinity and its subsidiaries, and Milenko Cicic, the general director of Kaldera.
OFAC gave an example of Dodik using state government officials from his party to manipulate the 2024 draft state budget and award a state-level contract to Prointer ITSS d.o.o. Banja Luka Clan Infinity International Group - an entity in the network of his companies - outside of the competitive process.
“The United States condemns Dodik’s continued efforts to erode the institutions that have ensured peace and stability for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region,” said Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“We will continue to expose the fraudulent schemes that enable Dodik and his family to exploit their own people for their personal benefit,” he added.
The United States says Dodik has undermined the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. The accords ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian war in which 100,000 were killed, dividing the country into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, linked via a weak central government.
Over the past several years, Dodik has intensified his secessionist rhetoric, hoping that Russia, Serbia and Hungary would back him up.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Rod Nickel) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two individuals and a network of companies generating wealth for Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and his family, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/us-imposes-sanctions-targeting-bosnian-serb-leader-dodik039s-network-of-firms | |
1,374,291 | Dutchman Rutte to be NATO's new secretary-general, Dutch news outlet NOS reports citing sources | Disclaimer: by clicking the Submit button, it is deemed that you consent to the rules and terms set forth in the Privacy Policy as well as Terms and Conditions set forth by this site. | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be NATO's new secretary-general, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg, Dutch news outlet NOS reported on Tuesday citing sources close to the matter. Reuters could not immediately obtain a comment from NATO. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/dutchman-rutte-to-be-nato039s-new-secretary-general-dutch-news-outlet-nos-reports-citing-sources | |
1,374,292 | Hungarian opposition party to join European Parliament's centre-right bloc | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian opposition party Tisza will join the centre-right European People's Party bloc in the European Parliament, the party's leader Peter Magyar said on Tuesday.
The political newcomer has emerged as a new threat to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's iron grip on power with his promises to tackle state corruption and restore democratic checks and balances he says have been eroded during Orban's 14-year rule.
"We are happy that the EPP group just voted by 97% of the votes for our admission," Magyar told a news conference in Brussels.
His centre-right party won seven of Hungary's 21 seats in the European Parliament in Sunday's pan-EU election, more than the rest of Orban's other challengers combined. Orban's Fidesz and its small Christian Democrat allies won 11 seats, down from 13 before the election.
The EPP remains the European Parliament's largest grouping. Fidesz had also been in the EPP but they parted ways in 2021 over Orban's democratic track record and it has since remained outside of any other larger groupings.
Magyar will announce later on Tuesday whether he will take up his seat as an European MP, though he had indicated he would rather stay in Hungary and focus on laying the groundwork to defeat Orban in the next national election due in 2026.
(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Tomasz Janowski) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian opposition party Tisza will join the centre-right European People's Party bloc in the European Parliament, the party's leader Peter Magyar said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/hungarian-opposition-party-to-join-european-parliament039s-centre-right-bloc | |
1,374,288 | EU will help finance Poland's border security, says Tusk | WARSAW (Reuters) - The leaders of European Union countries agree that the bloc should help finance security measures on Poland's border with Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
The border has been a flashpoint since migrants started flocking there in 2021. The EU accuses Belarus, a close Russian ally, of flying in migrants from the Middle East and sending them across the border illegally in an attempt to engineer a crisis, which Minsk denies.
Tusk said that European leaders he had spoken to at an informal summit in Brussels had agreed that protecting the EU's eastern border was a common task and that this also applied to financing.
"Today I can assure you - Europe is going to pay for our security, because our security on the border is Europe's security," he said.
Poland has said it plans to spend 10 billion zlotys ($2.5 billion) on strengthening its border with Belarus and has reintroduced a no-go zone along part of the frontier.
($1 = 4.0423 zlotys)
(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Peter Graff) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-19 00:00:00 | null | WARSAW (Reuters) - The leaders of European Union countries agree that the bloc should help finance security measures on Poland's border with Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/19/eu-will-help-finance-poland039s-border-security-says-tusk | |
1,374,285 | Greece to set up its first sovereign wealth fund, reform posting, bus services | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will set up its first sovereign wealth fund to sell state assets such as estate property, ports and public utilities that were not sold during its debt crisis, its finance minister said on Tuesday.
The fund, with initial capital of 300 million euros, will invest proceeds from thousands of state asset sales into green projects, infrastructure and new technology, Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said in a news conference, unveiling the plan.
"We hired BlackRock to propose the best corporate structure for the fund," he added.
Greece's privatisation agency HRADF and its bank bailout fund HFSF will be absorbed by the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP), which manages a portfolio of state utilities and participations.
The funds jointly raised more than 10 billion euros from the sale of state assets and bank stakes to help Greece cut its debt during its 2010-2018 crisis, Hatzidakis said.
HFSF, which recently fully privatised three Greek lenders, plans to sell its remaining 18% stake in National Bank and a 72.5% in Attica Bank by the end of the year, Hatzidakis said.
Greece will also look to modernise its bus and postal services by allowing their state operators hire workers from the private sector and offer them pay flexibility.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by David Gregorio) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will set up its first sovereign wealth fund to sell state assets such as estate property, ports and public utilities that were not sold during its debt crisis, its finance minister said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/greece-to-set-up-its-first-sovereign-wealth-fund-reform-posting-bus-services | |
1,374,276 | Austrian pro-tax heiress gives wealth to social, climate, left-wing groups | VIENNA (Reuters) - An heiress who has denounced the absence of taxes on wealth and inheritance in Austria has given the bulk of her money, 25 million euros ($27 million), to 77 organisations, including social and climate groups, as well as prominent left-wing ones.
Marlene Engelhorn, 32, has spent years criticising the birth lottery by which she inherited tens of millions and does not have to give any of it to the state, and calling for change.
In January, she said that a panel picked by a pollster asrepresentative of the Austrian public would decide how to distribute the sum, without any intervention on her part. The list of 77 recipients was announced on Tuesday.
"A large part of my inherited wealth, which elevated me to a position of power simply by virtue of my birth, contradicting every democratic principle, has now been redistributed in accordance with democratic values," Engelhorn said in a statement.
A spokesman said the 25 million euros was "the overwhelming bulk" of her wealth, though she retains an undisclosed sum.
The panel had examined "above all the question of the effects of our uneven distribution of wealth" and debates on "democracy and participation in it, tax justice and social inequality," she said.
Engelhorn is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded German chemicals giant BASF in 1865. Her grandmother Gertraud Engelhorn-Vechiatto married his great-grandson. When Engelhorn-Vechiatto died in 2022, Marlene inherited a large sum.
One of the objectives the 50-person panel, aged between 16 and 85, aimed to support was "a fairer distribution of wealth, more transparency and reporting on that issue and better data on very large accumulations of wealth", one member of the panel, retail employee Elisabeth Klein, said in a statement.
In support of that aim, two of the four donations of more than a million euros went to the Momentum Institute, a left-wing think-tank, and Attac Austria, which opposes neoliberal economic policy and "deregulated financial markets".
The donations ranged from 40,000 euros - for an initiative to support data-based reporting on climate change - to 1.6 million euros for the Austrian Nature Conservation Federation.
Other issues covered included housing, integration, women's rights and fighting poverty.
"Now, it is up to the political actors to do justice to what this group representative of the Austrian population has embodied," Engelhorn said, calling for more debate on these issues.
($1 = 0.9327 euros)
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Bernadette Baum) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | VIENNA (Reuters) - An heiress who has denounced the absence of taxes on wealth and inheritance in Austria has given the bulk of her money, 25 million euros ($27 million), to 77 organisations, including social and climate groups, as well as prominent left-wing ones. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/austrian-pro-tax-heiress-gives-wealth-to-social-climate-left-wing-groups | |
1,374,248 | French far-right leader Bardella slams Mbappe on election comments | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella criticised star footballer Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday for his call on the youth to vote against the "extremes" in parliamentary elections this month.
"I have a lot of respect for our footballers, whether Marcus Thuram or Kylian Mbappe, who are icons of football and icons for youth ... But we must respect the French, we must respect everyone's vote," Bardella told CNews TV.
"When you're lucky enough to have a very, very big salary, when you are a multi-millionaire ... then I'm a little embarrassed to see these athletes ... give lessons to people who can no longer make ends meet, who no longer feel safe, who do not have the chance to live in neighborhoods overprotected by security agents," he said.
France captain Mbappe, who is hugely popular, said on Sunday, during a press conference on the eve of France's opening match at Euro 2024 that "the extremes are knocking at the doors of power."
Forward Marcus Thuram had earlier urged people to "fight daily" to prevent Bardella's National Rally (RN) from gaining power.
Mbappe did not name the RN but said he supported the same values and position as Thuram.
"Kylian Mbappe is against extreme views and against ideas that divide people. I want to be proud to represent France, I don't want to represent a country that doesn't correspond to my values, or our values," Mbappe said.
That call resonated with some youths in Mbappe's old neighbourhood, an underprivileged Paris suburb, but was immediately criticised by the RN.
Bardella was speaking a day after France won its Euro 2024 opening match in which Mbappe suffered a broken nose.
Bardella's eurosceptic, anti-immigration party has its first real chance of winning national power in the June 30 and July 7 ballot. Opinion polls have consistently placed the RN first since President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision this month to dissolve parliament.
Meanwhile, French Football Federation President Philippe Diallo told a press conference at the team's camp in Germany that players were free to express their opinion. He urged political parties not to use these comments to their benefit.
(Writing by Ingrid Melander; additional reporting by Martin Petty in Duesseldorf; Editing by Toby Chopra) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella criticised star footballer Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday for his call on the youth to vote against the "extremes" in parliamentary elections this month. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/french-far-right-leader-bardella-slams-mbappe-on-election-comments | |
1,374,207 | UN rights chief: Rohingya have 'nowhere to flee' in western Myanmar fighting | GENEVA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim-minority Rohingya, who were feared to be trapped amid fighting in western Myanmar, had nowhere to flee, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday.
The Arakan Army, which is fighting for autonomy for Myanmar's Rakhine region, said late on Sunday that residents of the town of Maungdaw, inhabited primarily by the Rohingya, should leave by 9 p.m. (1430 GMT) ahead of a planned offensive.
"I am very concerned about the situation in Maungdaw. The Arakan Army this weekend gave all remaining residents – including a large Rohingya population – a warning to evacuate," Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"But Rohingya have no options. There is nowhere to flee."
The Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. Nearly a million of them live in refugee camps in Bangladesh's border district of Cox's Bazar after fleeing a military-led crackdown in Rakhine state on the western coast in 2017.
The Arakan Army's attack on Maungdaw is the latest in a months-long rebel onslaught against the Myanmar junta, which took power in a February 2021 coup and is finding its position increasingly weakened across large parts of the country.
Around 70,000 Rohingya in Maungdaw are trapped as the fighting draws closer, Aung Kyaw Moe, deputy human rights minister in the shadow National Unity Government, told Reuters on Monday.
A resident of Maungdaw who declined to be named for safety reasons said: "We have nowhere to go, no safe zone, not enough food and basic necessities."
"If they force us to leave, we will have no place to migrate."
An Arakan Army spokesman did not immediately respond to calls and a message seeking comment.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Bernadette Baum) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | GENEVA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim-minority Rohingya, who were feared to be trapped amid fighting in western Myanmar, had nowhere to flee, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/un-rights-chief-rohingya-have-039nowhere-to-flee039-in-western-myanmar-fighting | |
1,374,202 | Soaring temperatures scorch pilgrims on Haj in Saudi Arabia | RIYADH/MINA (Reuters) - Throngs of tightly packed pilgrims struggled through searing heat which has claimed lives during the annual Haj pilgrimage as temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 Fahrenheit) in the shade of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi state TV said on Tuesday.
Six Jordanian citizens died of heat stroke during Haj, the Jordanian foreign ministry said. It later said the death toll had risen to 14 but it gave no reason for the subsequent deaths.
Eleven Iranians have died and 24 have been hospitalized during the pilgrimage, Iranian state news outlet IRINN said on Tuesday without giving the cause of death.
Three Senegalese citizens also died during Haj, Agence de Presse Sénégalaise, said on Monday.
One hundred and thirty six Indonesian citizens died during Haj, three of heat stroke, according to an Indonesion health official, Le Monde reported on Monday.
Stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have caused hundreds of deaths during Haj in the past 30 years, forcing the Saudi government to build new infrastructure. The authorities now face new challenges protecting pilgrims from extreme heat.
A 2024 study by the Journal of Travel and Medicine found amid rising global temperatures worsening heat may outpace mitigating strategies, while a 2019 study by the Geophysical Research Letters said that as temperatures rise in already arid Saudi Arabia due to climate change, pilgrims performing Haj will face "extreme danger".
The Haj is an annual pilgrimage that millions of Muslims make to Mecca with the intention of performing religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago.
A Saudi health official told Reuters that the authorities did not notice any unusual deaths among Muslim pilgrims performing Haj during extremely high temperatures.
"We haven't noticed, thank God, any abnormal or deviation from the normal numbers of morbidities and mortalities," said Jameel Abualenain, head of the Health Ministry's emergencies directorate, said.
The ministry had so far treated more than 2,700 pilgrims who suffered from heat related illness, he added.
"Haj is a difficult task, so you have to exert efforts and perform the rituals even in the conditions of heat and crowding," an Egyptian pilgrim told Reuters on Sunday.
Pilgrims used umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, while Saudi authorities have issued warning pilgrims to stay hydrated and avoid being outdoors during the hottest hours of the day between 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) and 3 p.m.
Haj, one of the largest mass gatherings in the world, is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. It will end on Wednesday.
More than 1.8 million pilgrims were expected to take part this year, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics.
(Editing by Michael Georgy) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | RIYADH/MINA (Reuters) - Throngs of tightly packed pilgrims struggled through searing heat which has claimed lives during the annual Haj pilgrimage as temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 Fahrenheit) in the shade of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi state TV said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/soaring-temperatures-scorch-pilgrims-on-haj-in-saudi-arabia | |
1,374,182 | Finnish law to halt migrants at Russia border makes progress in parliament | HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish government proposal to temporarily reject asylum seekers arriving across the country's border with Russia can be accepted by parliament if some amendments are made, an influential committee of legislators said on Tuesday.
The announcement by the chair of the Finnish parliament's constitutional committee paves the way for the controversial proposal to be approved in a plenary vote at a later time.
The government in May presented legislation allowing border guards to prevent migrants arriving across the long, forested border with Russia from seeking asylum, despite admitting the law would be in conflict with human rights commitments.
Finland believes Moscow is promoting the crossings in retaliation for Helsinki joining NATO, which backs Ukraine against Russia's invasion. The Kremlin denies the allegation, and very few migrants have arrived in recent months.
While the law clearly contradicts principles included in international human rights agreements, it was still justified as a temporary emergency law under the circumstances, committee Chair Heikki Vestman told a press conference.
For the legislation to pass it must be accompanied by a procedure giving those who are rejected a possibility to appeal the decision, Vestman, who belongs to the ruling National Coalition Party, added.
(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Louise Rasmussen) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish government proposal to temporarily reject asylum seekers arriving across the country's border with Russia can be accepted by parliament if some amendments are made, an influential committee of legislators said on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/finnish-law-to-halt-migrants-at-russia-border-makes-progress-in-parliament | |
1,374,167 | France says it will sell CAESAR howitzers to Armenia | (Reuters) - France has signed a contract to sell CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Armenia, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday, as Yerevan deepens military ties with the West and moves away from its traditional ally Russia.
Lecornu posted on X that the contract was signed during a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan. He did not say how many systems Armenia would acquire.
France has a large Armenian diaspora, and is traditionally one of Yerevan's strongest European backers.
Armenia is formally allied to Russia, but has in recent years pivoted diplomatically and militarily towards Western countries, accusing Moscow of failing to protect it from long-time rival Azerbaijan. Russia has rejected the criticism, and warned Armenia against flirting with the West.
Azerbaijan in September 2023 retook its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, securing a decisive victory in a conflict that had lasted more than three decades, and prompting a mass exodus of the province's ethnic Armenian population.
(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - France has signed a contract to sell CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Armenia, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday, as Yerevan deepens military ties with the West and moves away from its traditional ally Russia. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/france-says-it-will-sell-caesar-howitzers-to-armenia | |
1,374,157 | Edward Snowden eviscerates OpenAI’s decision to put a former NSA director on its board: ‘This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on earth’ | OpenAI just appointed a former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) to its board of directors, and Edward Snowden is not happy.
“Do not ever trust OpenAI or its products,” the NSA employee turned whistleblower wrote on X Friday morning, after the company announced retired US Army Gen. Paul Nakasone’s appointment to the board’s new safety and security committee. “There’s only one reason for appointing (an NSA director) to your board. This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on earth.”
Snowden finished off his tweet ominously: “You have been warned.”
This is not the first time Snowden has criticised OpenAI. Last April, during the annual crypto conference Consensus, he called out the ChatGPT maker for not being transparent about the data on which it trains its models.
“It’s a poor joke, right? They refused to provide public access to their training data, their models, the weights and so on – but they’re a leader in the space. They’re being rewarded. They’re being rewarded for antisocial behaviour,” Snowden said, speaking virtually from Moscow.
Snowden also expressed the hope that OpenAI and other tech companies would start spying “for the public” rather than on the public. However, the blistering tweet appears to be a sign that faith has departed.
Nakasone will work to strengthen OpenAI’s capability to respond to “increasingly sophisticated” cybersecurity threats, the company said in its announcement. OpenAI’s new safety group replaces an earlier safety team that was disbanded after several of its leaders quit.
Following last year’s period of upheaval at the San Francisco-based AI firm – during which its CEO, Sam Altman, was fired then reappointed days later – Nakasone is one of several new members who have joined the board of directors as part of the leadership reset. He retired from the NSA in February, after serving as the agency’s director and as head of US Cyber Command. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | AI,Courts Crime | OpenAI just appointed a former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) to its board of directors, and Edward Snowden is not happy. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/edward-snowden-eviscerates-openais-decision-to-put-a-former-nsa-director-on-its-board-this-is-a-willful-calculated-betrayal-of-the-rights-of-every-person-on-earth | |
1,374,140 | ‘Godfather of AI’ emerges out of stealth to back carbon capture startup | Since dramatically quitting Google last year, Geoffrey Hinton, known better as the “Godfather of AI”, has been a harbinger of doom for how the emerging tech could affect humanity.
But more than a year later, the former Googler and AI naysayer is back to betting on the technology’s ability to transform the world for the better.
Cambridge-founded CuspAI has emerged from stealth with a US$30mil (RM141.39mil) seed funding round.
The company will help users design next-gen building materials through deep learning and molecular simulation, streamlining design. In a major coup, it has won the approval of Hinton, a prominent AI sceptic.
Hinton has agreed to serve as an advisor on CuspAI’s board. His statement accompanying the announcement was appropriately conflicted, thanks to the group’s use of a technology that defined Hinton’s life and career.
“Humanity will face many challenges in the coming decade. Some will be caused by AI while others can be solved by AI,” Hinton said.
“I’ve been very impressed by CuspAI and its mission to accelerate the design process of new materials using AI to curb one of humanity’s most urgent challenges–climate change.”
CuspAI emerges from stealth
CuspAI plans to use search engine-style functionalities to identify the properties needed for new building materials on demand, aiding their discovery.
“Imagine a search engine not just for existing materials, but for all potential molecules and materials that could be created,” said Professor Max Welling, co-founder and chief AI officer at CuspAI.
The co-founders hope that in the process, CuspAI can help to offset an emerging ill from the rapid uptake of AI – its prohibitive levels of carbon emissions.
As fellow co-founder and CEO Dr Chad Edwards outlines, CuspAI wants its technology to contribute to the world’s growing carbon capture and storage capabilities.
“The AI revolution is itself creating new challenges, including rapidly increasing energy consumption and carbon emissions from data centers,” Edwards said.
“Our technology can help mitigate this impact by designing materials that efficiently capture carbon dioxide.”
Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann Le Cun, said the tech giant was planning to partner with CuspAI to accelerate its discovery of new materials for carbon capture.
CuspAI’s US$30mil (RM141.39mil) round was led by Hoxton Ventures and had “significant participation” from Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
In 2022, Hoxton raised a US$215mil (RM1.01 trillion) fund to back European startups. It has form for backing successful European growth companies like Deliveroo and Darktrace.
CuspAI’s capital raise is the latest significant investment in AI from a venture capital group in the last 18 months as investors scramble to catch the wave of tomorrow’s growth leaders.
The Godfather returns
Hinton, 76, left his role at Google in May last year with an exclusive interview for the New York Times, in which he appeared to lament his life’s work while warning of AI’s future dangers to humanity.
Since then, Hinton’s press appearances have only seen him double down on this stance.
In an interview with 60 Minutes last October, he suggested rogue AI would learn to manipulate its users by learning the works of Machiavelli and other “political connivances”.
He also worries about AI’s impact on the labor market, telling BBC Newsnight in May that he thought a universal basic income would be required to address the replacement of many “mundane jobs.”
Now, though, it appears Hinton sees promise in CuspAI’s use of the technology to at least combat climate change, even as he meditates on the technology’s other existential threats. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | AI,Startups | Since dramatically quitting Google last year, Geoffrey Hinton, known better as the “Godfather of AI”, has been a harbinger of doom for how the emerging tech could affect humanity. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/godfather-of-ai-emerges-out-of-stealth-to-back-carbon-capture-startup | |
1,374,130 | Explainer-France's snap election: how does it work and what's next? | PARIS (Reuters) - France holds a parliamentary election on June 30 and July 7. Opinion polls show the far right could win.
Here are some key facts about the election and what comes next.
HOW DOES THE VOTE WORK?
France has 49 million registered voters. There are 577 constituency contests, one for each seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
Candidates with an absolute majority of votes in their constituency are elected in the first round. In most cases no candidate meets this criteria and a second round is held.
To qualify for the run-off, candidates need first-round votes amounting to at least 12.5 percent of registered voters.
The top scorer wins the second round.
WHEN WILL THE RESULTS BE ANNOUNCED?
Voting ends at 8 p.m.(1800 GMT), when pollsters publish nationwide projections based on a partial vote count. These are usually reliable. Official results start trickling in from 8 p.m. Vote counting is usually fast and efficient, and the winners of all, or nearly all, seats will be known by the end of the evening.
WHO WILL RUN THE GOVERNMENT?
The president names the prime minister, usually from the party with most seats.
For the first time in France's post-war history, the far right could win, opinion polls show, with a left-wing union seen winning the second-biggest group and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance coming third.
But this is an election like no other in France, campaign time is short, the electoral landscape is shaken, and other scenarios cannot be excluded.
These include a paralysed assembly divided into three groups with no one dominating it or an alliance of mainstream parties to keep the far right out of power.
An absolute majority requires at least 289 seats.
Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) could run a minority government if it wins the most seats without reaching that threshold, but 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella said it wanted an absolute majority or would not be able to carry out reforms.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
France has had three periods of "cohabitation," where the government is of a different political stripe from the president, in its post-war history.
The government has most of the power on the domestic front, but the president is the head of the military and wields influence abroad. However, the division of power on foreign policy is not clear cut and that could be an issue for France's stance on the war in Ukraine or European Union policy.
Macron will have to deal with the new parliament for at least a year, after which he can call another snap election.
Macron won a second mandate in April 2022 and is president for three more years. Neither parliament nor the government can force him out before that.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - France holds a parliamentary election on June 30 and July 7. Opinion polls show the far right could win. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/explainer-france039s-snap-election-how-does-it-work-and-what039s-next | |
1,374,052 | Replika CEO: AI chatbots aren’t just for lonely men | A few weeks ago, a clip of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd speaking at Bloomberg’s Technology Summit went slightly viral. In the clip, Wolfe Herd envisioned the future of dating – one in which two users’ AI avatars talk to each other first, figuring out whether the human users should meet in person.
The video stirred up people’s complex feelings about the future of AI in dating. But that future isn’t so far off – in fact, in some ways, it’s already here.
ALSO READ: My perfect girlfriend: Are AI partners warping men’s attitudes towards real-world relationships?
Eugenia Kuyda is the founder and CEO of Replika, an eight-year-old startup that offers an AI companion. Its two million users and 500,000 paying subscribers talk to Replika’s chatbot to lift their moods, work through life’s hardest challenges, and stave off loneliness. Replika was used by some as a romantic AI companion; the company spun off that functionality into a separate platform called Blush.
Kuyda spends much of her time trying to destigmatise the role of AI in dating. People’s dismissal of these kinds of chatbots is often a “knee-jerk reaction”, she says. Instead of judging people who seek out companionship or, yes, romantic and sexual connection from AI, she says, we should dig deeper.
ALSO READ: What happens when your AI chatbot stops loving you back?
“Why are people having these relationships? What are they doing for them? Are they making them feel better over time? Are they more ready to interact and connect with people in real life?” she asks. “Can these relationships become stepping stones? I think they can.”
The stereotype is that users of AI chatbots are lonely men seeking out female companionship, like in the movie Her (speaking of another recent AI controversy). Kuyda says that Replika has “a lot” of female users, including one who left an abusive relationship after experiencing a “healthy” one via a chatbot and another who relied on a Replika chatbot for support amid postpartum depression.
ALSO READ: Scarlett Johansson says OpenAI chatbot voice ‘eerily similar’ to hers
More interestingly, much of the Replika team is female – Kuyda herself, along with chief product officer for Replika and Blush Rita Popova and head of product Daria Tatarkova, who leads the new therapy and meditation-focused platform Tomo. “These products are built by women,” Kuyda says.
Kuyda has predicted (including at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference) that these kinds of relationships will become less stigmatised over time. Users’ experiences vary; in addition to long-term relationships, others have reported “creepy interactions”, from unprompted flirtation by the chatbot to the bot mimicking its user.
“Our project is really much more about human vulnerabilities than tech capabilities,” Kuyda says. “This is a human-centric project.” – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | AI | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | AI,Relationships,Technology,Chatbots | A few weeks ago, a clip of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd speaking at Bloomberg’s Technology Summit went slightly viral. In the clip, Wolfe Herd envisioned the future of dating – one in which two users’ AI avatars talk to each other first, figuring out whether the human users should meet in person. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/replika-ceo-ai-chatbots-arent-just-for-lonely-men | |
1,374,079 | Far-right leader Bardella says he needs absolute majority to govern France effectively | PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, appealed to voters on Tuesday to hand his party an absolute majority in upcoming parliamentary elections so that it is able to govern effectively.
Bardella's eurosceptic, anti-immigration party has its first real chance of winning national power in the June 30 and July 7 ballot. Opinion polls have consistently placed the RN first since President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision this month to dissolve parliament.
But pollsters who have attempted the tricky exercise of making a second-round forecast for France's 577 constituencies see the RN failing to secure the absolute majority that would guarantee its ability to pass laws without allies.
"I'm not going to sell to the French reforms that I cannot carry out. I'm telling them that in order to act, I need an absolute majority," Bardella told CNews TV.
He had the same message for Le Parisien newspaper, urging voters to rally behind him and Marine Le Pen, the RN's former leader and its candidate in France's next presidential election due in 2027.
"To govern, I need an absolute majority," he said, hinting that the RN might turn down any offer to form a government if it does not reach the 289 seat threshold along with close allies.
"Who can believe that we would be able to change the daily lives of the French by cohabitation with a relative majority? No one. I say to the French: to try us, we need an absolute majority."
Bardella, 28, has watered down some of his party's pledges amid investors' concerns about their impact on the public finances, saying an RN government would not immediately cut VAT on a list of 100 essential goods.
COSTLY PLANS
But in his comments to Le Parisien he also confirmed costly plans to quickly slash VAT on petrol, heating fuel, electricity and gas to 5.5% from 20%, saying he wanted that to be his first move as prime minister.
"If I run the country without an absolute majority, I won't be able to cut VAT on fuel and on gas ... I won't be able to drastically cut immigration," he told Le Parisien.
The RN is yet to detail its economic policies, but Bardella said some of its plans would be financed by scrapping tax breaks.
"There is a tax break for shipping firms that costs the state 5 billion euros and I want to end this tax break," he said.
French shipping giant CMA CGM became France's most profitable company in 2022, overtaking the likes of TotalEnergies and luxury giant LVMH, as a post-COVID boom in shipping boosted its annual net profit to nearly $25 billion.
CMA CGM, headed by Rodolphe Saade and owned by his family, used its earnings for a flurry of acquisitions in logistics, port terminals and French media, including a deal to acquire news channel BFM TV.
CMA CGM declined to comment when asked about Bardella's comments.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Ingrid Melander, Gus Trompiz, writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Gareth Jones) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, appealed to voters on Tuesday to hand his party an absolute majority in upcoming parliamentary elections so that it is able to govern effectively. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/far-right-leader-bardella-says-he-needs-absolute-majority-to-govern-france-effectively | |
1,374,035 | US bank fires a bunch of employees after finding out they were pretending to work | A handful of bankers have been let go by Wells Fargo after the financial giant discovered the staff were “simulating keyboard activity” instead of actually working.
The more than dozen employees were all in the firm’s wealth- and investment-management team, and were “discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work”.
The issue was raised in a filing to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which was seen by Bloomberg.
“Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behaviour,” a company spokeswoman told Fortune.
What the filing doesn’t make clear is quite how the employees managed to fake their working day, and for how long they got away with it. Whether or not the employees were in the office or working from home is not stated, though the wider policy for Wells Fargo staffers is to be in-person at least three days a week.
“A hybrid schedule is available with many of our corporate positions, giving you the flexibility to work from home on some days and at the office on others,” the company’s website adds – a public position at odds with the widespread push on Wall Street to return to the office.
'Mouse jiggler'?
While Wells Fargo – which is the third biggest bank in America – did not expand on what its staffers used to “simulate” the work, there are many techniques and technologies available.
During the coronavirus pandemic when staff were sent to their home offices, social media was alight with tips and tricks on how to get away with looking busy while doing the bare minimum.
One of the tools some people reportedly used was a ‘mouse mover’ or ‘mouse jiggler’ so that activity on the device was recorded. As a result, the individual would always show as ‘online’ with their screen active.
Likewise keyboard ‘clickers’ simulate an individual typing, when actually a machine is pressing random buttons on a device’s keyboard. Such tools are still readily available to purchase online – with some claiming to be “undetectable”.
Wall Street mandates
The Wells Fargo incident may have proved a small victory for the Wall Street majority who have been pushing to get staff back to their desks more often – where their bosses can see them.
Despite the upsides experts have flagged with hybrid work – from it being a better solution for women through to ensuring the retention of highly talented individuals – many finance titans have pushed hard to get their staff back.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, for example, has pushed employees at America’s biggest bank to return to the office. Last year he said that companies should “modify” their models to help women who needed an additional layer of flexibility, but more widely believes remote work “doesn’t work for young kids or spontaneity or management”.
As a result senior leaders at the company are required to be at their desks five days a week, with other employees expected in at least three times.
The line is the same at Morgan Stanley, with former CEO – now chairman – James Gorman giving staffers a no-nonsense reality check back in January last year. In an interview with Bloomberg he said: “(Staff) don’t get to choose their compensation, they don’t get to choose their promotion, they don’t get to choose to stay home five days a week. I want them with other employees at least three or four days.”
Goldman Sachs is in the same boat – and has repeatedly reminded employees that they need to be in the office five days a week. Last summer human resources chief Jacqueline Arthur said: “While there is flexibility when needed, we are simply reminding our employees of our existing policy. We have continued to encourage employees to work in the office five days a week.” – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Internet | A handful of bankers have been let go by Wells Fargo after the financial giant discovered the staff were “simulating keyboard activity” instead of actually working. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/us-bank-fires-a-bunch-of-employees-after-finding-out-they-were-pretending-to-work | |
1,374,042 | Thailand to be first Southeast Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex couples.
The bill, the culmination of more than two decades of effort by activists, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the upper house.
The law, which needs royal approval, will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette, meaning the first same sex weddings could take place later this year.
"Today we celebrate another significant milestone in the journey of our Equal Marriage Bill," Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a post on X.
"We will continue our fight for social rights for all people regardless of their status."
LGBT advocates called the move a "monumental step forward," as Thailand would be the first nation in Southeast Asia to enact marriage equality legislation and the third in Asia, after Nepal and Taiwan.
"We are very proud to make history," said Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, member of a parliamentary committee on same-sex marriage.
"Today love triumphed prejudice ... after fighting for more than 20 years, today we can say that this country has marriage equality."
Lawmakers and activists were seen celebrating in Thailand's parliament, waving rainbow flags and smiling, with some raising their fists in solidarity with the LGBT community.
In Thailand's northern Chiang Mai province, human rights activist Matcha Phornin, her wife Veerawan Wanna and their adopted daughter were glued to their television screen as they watched the senate proceedings.
"We have support from the parliament, from the senators who passed this law. That means we are protected by law," said Matcha, after they cheered and hugged each other when the bill passed.
"And she will be legally adopted after this," Matcha said, referring to their daughter.
Thailand, one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations, is already known for its vibrant LGBT culture and tolerance.
At the start of June, thousands of revellers and activists paraded through the streets of Bangkok and were joined by Prime Minister Srettha, who wore a rainbow shirt to celebrate Pride Month.
"This would underscore Thailand's leadership in the region in promoting human rights and gender equality," the Civil Society Commission of marriage equality, activists and LGBTQI couples said in a statement.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chalinee Thirasupa, Artorn Pooksasook, Thomas Suen and Zaw Naing Oo; Editing by John Mair, Bernadette Baum and Christina Fincher) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex couples. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/thailand-passes-landmark-bill-recognising-marriage-equality | |
1,374,000 | Ikea will pay humans RM78 an hour to work virtual jobs in its video game store | As more and more Americans flock to the virtual world of Roblox, brands are trying all kinds of tricks to bring real-world retail experiences to the gaming platform.
In 2022, Chipotle released the Chipotle Burrito Builder, a simulation in which players roll virtual burritos for a chance to win credits at Chipotle stores. Kellogg and Forever 21 have tried their hand at similar stunts on the platform to help promote their products, and the platform even rolled out virtual video ads earlier this year.
Now, Ikea is trying its hand in the Roblox metaverse as well – with a twist. The furniture chain is hiring human workers to do everything from helping customers pick out furniture to serving meatballs at the Ikea bistro – all online.
Earlier this week, the Swedish company beloved for its affordable home furnishings announced that it was accepting applications for 10 paid positions at the Coworker Game, a new virtual universe the brand is launching on Roblox at the end of the month. While virtual visitors will be able to browse, Ikea told Fortune that the gameplay itself focuses specifically on work: Ikea fans and Roblox users will have the opportunity to experience the brand’s workplace environment alongside a few paid employees.
“We’re excited to be the first brand to launch paid work on Roblox to showcase how we do careers differently,” Darren Taylor, country, people, and culture manager at Ikea UK and Ireland, said in a press release.
The announcement comes as part of Ikea’s effort to attract a new generation of workers, according to the press release. The company told Fortune that the brand is actively trying to promote greater work flexibility and give employees increased autonomy in determining their work patterns. For the 10 paid positions, pay will start at £13.15 – just a little over RM78 an hour – and new virtual coworkers will have the opportunity to “flex their skills, help customers, and get promoted to move departments, just like in the real world”.
“At Ikea, there is no set route to career progression,” Taylor said in the statement.
The paid opportunities are available only to Roblox users in the UK and Ireland, and working in the Roblox universe will not give users any advantage in applying for roles at Ikea in the material world, the company told Fortune.
Launched in 2006, Roblox has evolved into one of the most popular virtual experience platforms in the world, with more than 75 million daily users, a figure that’s tripled since 2020. The platform functions as a virtual playground, enabling users to participate in a variety of user-generated games.
The platform’s emphasis on buying and selling virtual items has also lent itself to partnerships with major brands looking to experiment in the metaverse’s retail market. In 2021, Nike partnered with Roblox to release Nikeland, a virtual world allowing users to buy virtual products and dress their avatars in Nike apparel.
Recently, however, the company has struggled as costs have continued to outpace revenues and its stock has fallen well below its 2021 high. In its most recent quarter, revenues fell almost US$130mil (RM610.63mil) short of expectations, as the video game industry at large continues to struggle post-pandemic, with the cost of game development going up and the return to work and school pulling users away from their consoles. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Video games | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Video games,VR,Retail | As more and more Americans flock to the virtual world of Roblox, brands are trying all kinds of tricks to bring real-world retail experiences to the gaming platform. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/ikea-will-pay-humans-rm78-an-hour-to-work-virtual-jobs-in-its-video-game-store | |
1,373,989 | Dutch PM Rutte to succeed Stoltenberg as NATO chief, media reports | WASHINGTON/AMSTERDAM/BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a staunch ally of Kyiv and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO chief, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday, after Hungary and Slovakia backed him.
Speaking at a news conference alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, Stoltenberg neither confirmed nor denied the media report.
"With the announcement of (Hungarian) Prime Minister (Viktor) Orban, I think it's obvious that we are very close to a conclusion ... to select the next secretary-general, and I think that's good news," he told reporters, while praising Rutte.
"I think Mark is a very strong candidate. He has a lot of experience as prime minister. He's a close friend and colleague, and I therefore strongly believe that very soon, the alliance will have decided on my successor," he said. "And that will be good for all of us, for NATO and also for me."
NATO's next secretary-general will face the challenge of sustaining allies' support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion, while guarding against any escalation that could draw the military alliance directly into a war with Moscow.
In the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Rutte has been one of the driving forces behind Europe's military support to Ukraine, stressing time and again what he said was the absolute need for a Russian battlefield defeat to secure peace in Europe.
Under his recent leadership, the Netherlands has ramped up defence spending above the 2% threshold of GDP required of NATO members, providing F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition to Kyiv as well as investing heavily in its own military.
Rutte's support for Ukraine is underscored by his criticism of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, as the Netherlands holds Russia accountable for the downing of passenger flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 - which killed all 298 passengers and crew, 196 of them from the Netherlands.
Hours before the NOS report, Hungary and Slovakia had given their support to the candidacy of Rutte, clearing a crucial hurdle on his way to NATO's top job.
NATO takes decisions by consensus, so any candidate needs the support of all 32 allies. Only Romania, whose President Klaus Iohannis is also vying for the job, is still officially opposed to Rutte's candidacy.
Hungary's backing followed a meeting Orban had with Stoltenberg last week, where the two sides agreed that Hungary would not block NATO decisions on providing support for Ukraine but has agreed that it would not be involved.
ORBAN DROPS OPPOSITION
"PM Mark Rutte confirmed that he fully supports this deal and will continue to do so, should he become the next Secretary General of NATO," Orban wrote on the X social media platform.
"In light of his pledge, Hungary is ready to support PM Rutte’s bid for NATO Secretary-General."
Orban had earlier opposed Rutte's candidacy because he had expressed "problematic" opinions that included the idea that Hungary should leave the European Union.
Hungary has been at odds with other NATO countries over Orban's continued cultivation of close ties with Russia and refusal to send arms to Ukraine, with Budapest's foreign minister last month labelling plans to help the war-torn nation a "crazy mission."
Turkey and Slovakia have also changed course on Rutte's bid, with Turkey saying it would support him in late April and Slovakia announcing its support earlier on Tuesday.
Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, had stressed the need for the next NATO chief to help deal with the protection of Slovak airspace, its President Peter Pellegrini said, after the previous Slovak government donated an S-300 system to Ukraine, and allies pulled out Patriot batteries that had been temporarily placed there.
Stoltenberg's term will end on October 1, 10 years after taking office in 2014, just a few months after Russia annexed Crimea.
During his tenure, Stoltenberg oversaw NATO's shift from an alliance mainly engaged in crisis management missions in far-off places such as Afghanistan back to its roots of defence against Russia.
Four countries have joined NATO since Stoltenberg took office - Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland and Sweden.
By giving the top job to Rutte, the alliance will pass the opportunity to see a woman, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, take the helm of NATO for the first time - something several members had lobbied for.
Kallas, a candidate mainly touted by eastern European countries, was seen as too hawkish towards Russia by some western member states.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Charlotte Van Campenhout Humeyra Pamuk, Anthony Deutsch, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Boldizsar Gyori, Anita Komuves, Alan Charlish, Jan Lopatka, Jason Hovet; Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Jon Boyle and Sharon Singleton) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | WASHINGTON/AMSTERDAM/BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a staunch ally of Kyiv and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO chief, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday, after Hungary and Slovakia backed him. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/hungary-not-opposed-to-rutte039s-candidacy-for-nato-top-job-anymore-dutch-media-reports | |
1,373,953 | India to probe railway collision that killed nine, injured dozens | KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - India will launch an investigation on Tuesday into a train collision that killed nine people in the state of West Bengal and injured more than 50, a day after a top railway official blamed the incident on driver error.
The death toll was revised down to nine from 15 after Monday's accident, in which a freight train rammed into a passenger train heading for the state capital of Kolkata from the northeastern state of Tripura.
The investigation by India's top railway safety official will start on Tuesday, Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, general manager of the Northeast Frontier railway, where the accident happened, told Reuters.
"The inquiry will involve eye-witness accounts, scrutiny of official documents and statements from railway officials, regarding signalling and other mandatory safety issues," he added.
On Monday, India's top railway official said the driver of the freight train, who was among the dead, disregarded a signal, leading to the crash with the Kanchanjunga Express, which had halted near a railway station in the district of Darjeeling.
There were 1,400 people aboard, a railway spokesperson said.
But media said an automatic signalling system had not been working from Monday morning, prompting authorities to advise train drivers to proceed slower than usual, in a process known as "paper signals".
India's opposition leaders criticised the railway safety record of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, attributing it to negligence.
The incident came a little over a year after about 288 people were killed in one of India's worst rail crashes in the neighbouring state of Odisha, caused by a signalling error.
State-run Indian Railways, notorious for overcrowding, is the world's fourth largest train network, carrying 13 million people a day, along with nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of freight in 2022.
In remarks to media on Monday, top railway official Jaya Varma Sinha, who chairs India's railway board, called for human error to be redued, adding that an anti-collision system was being set up nationwide.
Partial services resumed on the affected tracks on Tuesday, with some trains diverted and others running slower than usual, railway officials said.
(Reporting by Subrata Nag Choudhary in Kolkata; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - India will launch an investigation on Tuesday into a train collision that killed nine people in the state of West Bengal and injured more than 50, a day after a top railway official blamed the incident on driver error. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/india-to-probe-railway-collision-that-killed-nine-injured-dozens | |
1,373,916 | 'Normal' Nigel Farage resonates with UK seaside voters | CLACTON-ON-SEA, England (Reuters) - Nigel Farage's brand of politics has found a home in the English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, where voters described the right-wing party leader as a straight talker who, unlike other candidates, understands their problems and wants to solve them.
Britain's July 4 election will be Farage's eighth attempt to win a seat in parliament after the anti-EU, anti-immigration campaigner entered the race proclaiming his aim to supplant the ruling Conservatives as the main party of the right.
Farage is an expensively educated former financial trader. But decades of railing against the establishment have earned him the trust of supporters who say they feel other politicians talk down to them.
"I feel like he's more normal. He understands us," Venetia Maynard, 29, a cleaner, said while out shopping on Monday.
Clacton has all the hallmarks of a British seaside resort: fish and chips, ice creams, and pockets of deprivation left by a shrunken tourism industry and decades of underinvestment.
Interviewed on the day Farage launched his Reform UK's plan for government, Maynard said she was going to vote for him although she didn't know that much about his policies.
Under Britain's electoral system, Reform can't win this election, Farage himself said on Monday. But he says Reform can emerge as the main opposition to a centre-left government of the Labour Party, which is forecast by polls to win a thumping majority.
First, Farage himself must win a seat in Clacton. Polls show the seat is likely to be a close three horse race between Labour, the Conservatives and Reform.
Although he has been heckled on the campaign trail elsewhere, pelted with a milkshake and chunks of debris, no one in Clacton seemed to have a harsh word for him.
"I think he represents the working class a lot more than general politicians do. I mean, they’re so out of touch with the working class. How can they represent a labourer or a cleaner or a bus driver?" said Michael Chaplin, 32, a roofer, as he strolled along the seafront. Clacton is a place where many people feel left behind, he said.
Kevin Ives, 63, a carer, said Farage was “brilliant” and he would vote for him. "Because he says what’s totally obvious. If we keep bringing people into this country at the rate we are: eventually disaster."
ALL ABOUT NIGEL
Cultivating an image of a pub-loving British patriot, Farage spent over 20 years as an elected member of the European Parliament while arguing for its abolition. But although his party was able to win spots in European elections held under proportional representation, he never managed to win a seat of his own in parliament in the UK, under a first-past-the-post system that requires winning the most votes in a constituency.
In recent years he has worked the U.S. television circuit as a pro-Trump pundit.
Giles Watling, the Conservative candidate who has represented the area since 2017, said Farage had a "great personality" but voters should pick a candidate who cares more about the local area.
"What Nigel is doing is all about Nigel, and he doesn't really give two hoots for Clacton," Watling said.
Farage's previous political party, the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party, tasted its first success in Clacton when in 2014 a Conservative lawmaker defected to them and successfully defended the seat until 2017.
With Britain now outside the European Union, Farage's new mantra is that "Britain is Broken" - a message that resonates with voters who blame the ruling party for a turbulent and economically painful few years.
"I just think he’s a breath of fresh air," said Phil Tyler, 78, who works for the supermarket chain Tesco. "He gives me the sense that he’s really going to try and do something for this country."
(Editing by William James) | News | World | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | CLACTON-ON-SEA, England (Reuters) - Nigel Farage's brand of politics has found a home in the English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, where voters described the right-wing party leader as a straight talker who, unlike other candidates, understands their problems and wants to solve them. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/039normal039-nigel-farage-resonates-with-uk-seaside-voters | |
1,373,790 | Intoxicated teen vanished in ‘pitch-black’ field, US cops say. Drone saved his life | An unresponsive teen was rescued from a “pitch-black” field with the help of a drone, Colorado officials said.
On May 10, a group of intoxicated teens told police their friend, who was “very intoxicated,” walked away and had gone missing, according to a June 14 Facebook post by Lakewood police.
The teens pointed in the general direction of an “open space,” officers said.
One of the agents requested a drone to help with the search, police said.
While using the infrared camera, the drone operator found a “small person laying down in the brush,” officials said.
The field agents were given the teen’s exact location and eventually found him not breathing, police said.
The agents successfully performed CPR, officials said.
Lakewood is about a 10-mile drive southwest of Denver. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service | Tech | Drones | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Drones,Technology | An unresponsive teen was rescued from a “pitch-black” field with the help of a drone, Colorado officials said. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/intoxicated-teen-vanished-in-pitch-black-field-us-cops-say-drone-saved-his-life | |
1,373,812 | Two 12-year-olds steal teacher’s car, get caught when parents track iPad, US cops say | Two middle school students stole a teacher’s SUV and managed to get 70 miles before one of their parents tracked them via iPad software, according to police in Middle Tennessee.
It happened around 3pm on Wednesday, June 12, and involved two 12-year-old boys, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
“The two seventh graders saw that the teacher had left the key to her 2024 Honda CRV on her desk and took it,” police said in a news release.
“They were seen driving out of the parking lot (of Two Rivers Middle School) at 2.50pm.”
Investigators say the vehicle was located with the help of “parents of one of the young men”, who tracked their son’s iPad to the Bucksnort community.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper located the boys along westbound Interstate 40, at Exit 152. The exit is about a 70-mile drive southwest from Nashville.
The boys had pulled over “just off the exit” when a state trooper took them into custody, officials said.
Details of where the boys were headed or why they got off at the exit were not revealed.
They are being charged as juveniles and the case will be handled in Davidson County Juvenile Court, police said. The charges were not released.
Two Rivers Middle School is in northeast Nashville and has an enrollment of just under 400 students in grades 5 through 8, according to usnews.com. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service | Tech | Tablets | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Tablets,Courts Crime | Two middle school students stole a teacher’s SUV and managed to get 70 miles before one of their parents tracked them via iPad software, according to police in Middle Tennessee. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/two-12-year-olds-steal-teachers-car-get-caught-when-parents-track-ipad-us-cops-say | |
1,373,808 | Navy captain shared ‘erotic’ photos of his ex while impersonating her online, US feds say | When a woman learned a fake Facebook account with more than 1,000 friends was impersonating her and shared private photos of her online, she “was devastated and confounded by who could hate her so much,” according to court documents.
Then her mother found a LinkedIn account, which wrongly listed the woman as a pole dancer. The account was also impersonating her, court documents say.
The person behind the accounts was US Navy Capt. Theodore E. Essenfeld, the woman’s ex-boyfriend, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
Essenfeld, 52, spent more than a year impersonating his ex-girlfriend online while using her name, information and photographs of her to harass her, federal prosecutors said.
He did so while they were dating and after their break-up, according to court documents.
Under the fake Facebook account, Essenfield joined dating groups, liked multiple users’ posts, sent users “kissy-face emojis” and messages – and posted “erotic and sexually explicit” content of his ex, prosecutors said.
On June 14, a federal jury convicted Essenfeld, of Chula Vista, California, of cyberstalking and identity theft, the US Attorney’s office said in a news release.
Criminal defense lawyer Kerry Lee Armstrong, who represents Essenfeld, told McClatchy News on June 17 that he and his client are “dejected about the verdict”, but they “respect” the jury’s decision.
“While Mr. Essenfeld’s actions in this case were immature and juvenile, I do not believe they rose to the level of a crime,” Armstrong said.
Fake accounts are created
Essenfield and his ex-girlfriend, who was previously in the Navy, met on Match.com and began dating in the Spring of 2018 when they both lived in San Diego, according to court documents.
After the Navy transferred Essenfeld to Colorado in January 2020, he and his ex-girlfriend were in a long distance relationship, according to the trial brief.
By the Fall of 2020, they both “went on Match.com without the other’s knowledge”, the trial brief says.
Essenfeld eventually discovered his then-girlfriend on the site and created two fake Match.com profiles under the names “Ed” and “Jerry” to message her, according to the filing.
With the fake accounts, he ultimately told her that the Ed and Jerry personas knew about Essenfeld and that they would confront him if “she did not tell (Essenfeld) about what she had done,” the trial brief says.
The woman then told “everything” to Essenfeld, who never told her “that he was ‘Ed’ and ‘Jerry,’ or that he was also contacting people on Match.com,” according to the trial brief.
Essenfeld and his ex-girlfriend stayed together and she moved in with him in Colorado in May 2021 – before they broke up in August 2021, the trial brief says.
More imposter accounts
In November 2020, Essenfeld created a fake Yahoo email account and Facebook account pretending to be her, the trial brief says.
On the fake Facebook account, he blocked his ex-girlfriend, her family and his family, according to prosecutors.
Using the account, he engaged with the woman’s prospective employer’s social media accounts, former co-workers, the university she attended, the Navy and gyms she used to visit, prosecutors said.
The month of their breakup, Essenfeld created the imposter LinkedIn account, according to the trial brief.
A few months later, in December 2021, a relative of the woman was using an alternative Facebook account and came across the fake account Essenfeld created, according to the trial brief.
The woman’s family alerted her to the account before she soon learned of the LinkedIn account, the trial brief says.
Though she reported the Facebook account more than 400 times, Facebook didn’t take it down because it “appeared more authentic than the victim’s actual account”, prosecutors said.
In February 2022, Essenfeld posted a new Facebook photo album under the Facebook account for his ex-girlfriend called “Bedroom Fun”, according to prosecutors.
Sixteen “sexually explicit” photos shared in the album showed the woman and a man believed to be Essenfeld, whose face wasn’t shown, the trial brief says.
After she suspected Essenfeld was running the fake accounts, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service started investigating, the trial brief says.
Possible prison time
For one count of cyberstalking, Essenfeld is facing up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of US$250,000, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum 15 years in prison and up to a US$250,000 fine for one count of identity theft, according to prosecutors.
Armstrong told McClatchy News that “the crime of cyberstalking really came down to the definition of what ‘harassment’ was, and the court rejected my proposal of how to define that word for the jurors”.
He said Essenfeld is appealing the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and has hope that the Ninth Circuit “will overturn his conviction”, he said.
Essenfeld is set to be sentenced on Sept 6, according to prosecutors.
“Mr Essenfeld deserves to be held to account for his cruel campaign to stalk, harass, and intimidate his victim,” Nicholas Carter, the special agent in charge of the NCIS Southwest field office, said in a statement. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Social media,Internet,Courts Crime | When a woman learned a fake Facebook account with more than 1,000 friends was impersonating her and shared private photos of her online, she “was devastated and confounded by who could hate her so much,” according to court documents. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/navy-captain-shared-erotic-photos-of-his-ex-while-impersonating-her-online-us-feds-say | |
1,373,799 | Self-driving Tesla crashes into police car as driver uses phone, California cops say | A Tesla in self-drive mode crashed into a cop car as its driver used their cellphone, California police say.
Fullerton police said one of its officers was directing traffic shortly after midnight on June 13 at an intersection following a fatal traffic accident, according to a news release from the department.
As the officer worked, their car sat blocking traffic with its emergency lights on and flares around when a blue Tesla slammed into the car, police said.
Body camera footage shared by police on Instagram shows headlights approaching as an officer sprints to the side of the road.
Moments later, the approaching car comes to a halt after slamming into the police car, surveillance video shared by the department shows.
“A potential disaster was averted,” police said.
After the crash, the driver admitted to using the Tesla’s self-drive mode as they used their cellphone, “a clear violation of responsible driving practices and California law,” according to police.
Tesla did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on June 14.
Police urged that while “self-driving mode can be convenient,” drivers should be alert and “ready to take over at any moment.”
Though there are currently no laws governing self-drive mode, police said “all rules and laws of the road still apply to the driver while controlling the vehicle.”
The driver, who stayed on scene, is cooperating with police during the ongoing investigation.
Fullerton is about a 30-mile drive southeast from Los Angeles. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service | Tech | Driverless vehicle | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Driverless vehicle,Technology,Courts Crime | A Tesla in self-drive mode crashed into a cop car as its driver used their cellphone, California police say. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/self-driving-tesla-crashes-into-police-car-as-driver-uses-phone-california-cops-say | |
1,373,803 | Ukrainian drone attack causes fire at Russian oil terminal | (Reuters) -A Ukrainian drone strike caused a large fire in a fuel tank at an oil terminal in Russia's southern port of Azov on Tuesday, according to Russian officials and a Ukrainian intelligence source.
Russia's ministry of emergency situations said a large fire-fighting team was tackling the blaze. Regional channels of the Telegram messaging app said a tank with methanol was on fire.
The Ukrainian source told Reuters the attack had been carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
"Powerful fires broke out at the facilities after the successful deployment of SBU drones," the source said, adding that the SBU agency would keep attacking Russia's oil refining complex in order to hinder its war effort.
The port of Azov has two oil product terminals, DonTerminal and Azovproduct, which handled a total of about 220,000 tons of fuel for export during the period from January to May 2024.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Gareth Jones) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) -A Ukrainian drone strike caused a large fire in a fuel tank at an oil terminal in Russia's southern port of Azov on Tuesday, according to Russian officials and a Ukrainian intelligence source. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/oil-depots-on-fire-in-russia039s-rostov-region-after-drone-attack | |
1,373,754 | Brides and grooms are cracking down on wedding guests and publicly shaming those who don’t comply with their gift registries and dress codes | Thanks to social media, the bar for big life events – like getting married or welcoming a baby – is higher than ever.
Desires for picture-perfect weddings, bachelor and bachelorette parties, or baby showers have led to skyrocketing costs and increased stress around planning for new parents or engaged couples. But now, guests are feeling the pressure as well.
Recently, brides, grooms, and expectant parents have gotten more particular about what they’d like for their guests to wear and the gifts they’d be happy to receive, and they’re becoming increasingly more demanding of their expectations on their special day.
Taking things a step further, some are also publicly shaming their guests on forums like TikTok and Reddit.
Sending back ‘disrespectful’ US$100 Venmo
One bride berated a guest for sending her US$100 (RM471) on Venmo a few days after the wedding, saying it felt a “bit disrespectful”, according to a Reddit thread, which also said the guest had been late to the wedding.
Out of disappointment, the bride sent back the money, saying she had expected more. In a similar fashion, another bride took to Reddit after sending an email to eight of her wedding guests, who had given the couple just one combined US$50 (RM235) gift.
Guests are pushing back on the higher expectations too, leading to tensions. One bride asked her guests to dress in fantasy- and renaissance-themed clothing for her wedding and took to Reddit to ask users if she was in the wrong for doing so.
She and her partner had met at a renaissance fair and wanted that to be part of their wedding, so they included an addendum to their invitation detailing the types of clothing they wanted people to wear. This included “photos, descriptions, (and) budget categories”, which upset many of her guests.
“I reached out to them after their names were mentioned and they said I am ruining what is supposed to be (a) happy day by demanding people dress up like idiots,” the bride wrote in the post. “They said everyone should be allowed to dress in what makes them feel comfortable and I am being very controlling.”
Another couple got backlash for including a QR code to the groom’s Venmo account in their wedding invitations, while another bride and groom got roasted on social media for including a 14-point list of rules for their wedding day with their invites. Plus, mothers-to-be have also started publicly shaming their friends and family for not buying gifts from their baby shower registries.
“When people don’t buy from your registry, you can’t return them for credit for other things that you need on your registry,” one TikTok user complained. “If you are attending a baby shower in the future, just buy from a registry.” Several recently wedded couples have also taken to social media with similar complaints about guests buying gifts that weren’t on their registry.
All of these occurrences – and many more – have sparked debate about proper etiquette for events. Fortune spoke to wedding planners and etiquette experts to find out whether their requests are warranted and the proper way for guests to react to seemingly controlling requests.
The rules of the registry
Wedding registries have evolved, particularly in the past 10 years, Bryce Carson, events director with Roberts & Co. Events, tells Fortune. Gone are the days of the traditional gift registry where couples request fine china and random kitchen utensils; in are cash-focused gifts such as honeymoon funds and first-home funds. Indeed, cash is the most popular gift that to-be-weds register for, with 74% of registry creators including cash on their wish list, according to The Knot’s 2023 Registry Study.
“This is definitely because couples are getting married a little bit older in life. They’re already combining their homes,” Carson says. “They do not need two sets of everything, so we see it less as a cash grab and more as an opportunity for couples to make their transition into married life as easy as possible.”
Now that wedding registries are largely online, it’s also made it easier to split large-ticket items among several guests instead of relying on a rich aunt or uncle to buy the high-end cookware or outdoor grill the couple has been wanting. And while wedding registries have changed, it’s no excuse to buy rogue gifts that aren’t on the requested list, Carson says.
“The etiquette has been and always will be that you need to purchase off the registry as a guest,” he says. “You do not know what they have in their home or combined homes. The registry is there to help guide you and prevent any duplicates or prevent them from getting something that they do not need.”
If the registry has few options left by the time a guest gets around to purchasing a gift, one thing that guests can do to stay within their budget is to include a nice card and gift card to the store where the couple is registered, Lisa Lafferty, a luxury wedding planner, tells Fortune.
“This way, the couple can choose something they genuinely need or want,” Lafferty says.
At the end of the day, experts agree that the bride and groom should be grateful and express gratitude for any gifts they receive – even if they weren’t on their registry.
“A gift is a present given without payment,” Lisa Mirza Grotts, a certified etiquette expert with 25 years of experience, tells Fortune. “If brides and grooms are taking this inconsiderate approach to friends and family, the shift is in sharp contrast to the reason for a wedding celebration: love, community, (and) commitment.”
Wedding guests also sometimes struggle to know the proper etiquette for gift-giving if they’re invited to multiple events such as a bridal shower or bachelor/bachelorette party. This may hurt your wallet, but those in the wedding party or people invited to multiple pre-wedding events are expected to purchase gifts for each one.
“While some couples may take into account the expenses that wedding party members incur for dresses, grooming, and other preparations, it can still be seen as thoughtful and courteous to give a small gift for both occasions,” Lafferty says. “This gesture acknowledges the couple’s generosity and contributes to the spirit of the events.”
In terms of the average cost incurred by guests to attend a wedding, including travel expenses, attire, gifts, and other expenses such as childcare, Carson says to expect to spend at least four figures – and to spend at least the value of the wedding meal on a gift. Today, most wedding meals cost three figures per guest, Carson says.
What not to wear
While it’s long been customary for brides and grooms to request either cocktail or formal wear at a wedding, more couples have started asking guests to dress to a theme or colour scheme. This trend has led to backlash from both wedding-goers who think the requests are unreasonable – and from couples who aren’t happy with guests who don’t adhere to their rules.
“This is definitely a trend that the Internet is pushing more and more towards as couples are trying to look at their an event as a fashion event and as something that they want photographed” for social media, Carson says.
However, brides and grooms need to recognise that guests will “go rogue” and wear things outside of the guidelines “because it’s already a hefty cost to attend a wedding in this day and age”, he adds. “Asking for an extra outfit is definitely a big ask,” Carson says.
On the other hand, some couples argue that a dress code can actually be helpful for wedding guests.
“By creating guidelines for registries and dress codes, the couple is attempting to alleviate this burden, allowing guests to focus more on having fun and less on pre-wedding stress,” Hannah Nowack, senior editor at The Knot, a wedding vendor marketplace, tells Fortune.
She’s seen everything from asking attendees to dress in cool tones like blue and green to a “kitschy, glitzy, Vegas, ‘camp’ clothes” wardrobe request “where flowy sundresses and linen suits were encouraged”.
“These kinds of shifts let the couple showcase their personalities and priorities while guests get to have some fun while breaking from the traditional wedding mould,” Nowack says. – Fortune.com/The New York Times | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Long | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Social media,Internet | Desires for picture-perfect weddings, bachelor and bachelorette parties, or baby showers have led to skyrocketing costs and increased stress around planning for new parents or engaged couples. But now, guests are feeling the pressure as well. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/brides-and-grooms-are-cracking-down-on-wedding-guests-and-publicly-shaming-those-who-dont-comply-with-their-gift-registries-and-dress-codes | |
1,373,736 | Banning social networks may not be the answer to improving young people’s mental health, researchers say | Social networks are often accused of all manner of evils. But social media bans may not be the answer to improving young people's online safety and preserving their mental health, researchers say.
While social networking sites, and screens more generally, are often singled out as being harmful to young people's mental health, research by Professor Eiko Fried of Leiden University (Netherlands) and Margarita Panayiotou of Manchester University (UK) suggests that there is no concrete evidence to support such claims.
According to their research, there is no clear and direct link between the use of social media and the deterioration of young people's mental health. The researchers examined numerous studies on the subject and found that the results were often contradictory and unreliable. Indeed, many factors can influence young people's mental health, such as family relationships, schooling and social environment. It is therefore difficult to determine with any certainty the real impact of social networks on their mental well-being.
"There is no concrete evidence that social media has negative effects on the mental health of many or most young people, and contrasts with some popular science accounts that are not grounded in facts," the researchers explain in an article posted online.
However, it's important to recognise that the use of social networks can lead to problems such as cyberstalking, misinformation, overconsumption, loss of self-confidence due to the use of filters, and body dysmorphia. Despite this, it should be noted that these problems are not new, and that similar accusations already existed in the days when media like television and radio, were viewed as propagators of negative influence.
"The key difference between experiences on social media and traditional media or school is that young people have not been banned from the latter. Instead, we have focused on implementing and evaluating initiatives that equip young people with important skills to help them manage their world," the researchers explain.
Considering other levers of action
As a result, the authors of this research propose solutions to help young people use social networks in a healthier, more responsible way. Firstly, they recommend that parents and educators talk to young people about the potential risks of using social media, and encourage them to think about their use. The introduction of social media education programs in schools, to help young people develop digital skills and an understanding of social networks, is recommended. Finally, they encourage social media platforms to take steps to combat cyberbullying and misinformation.
Moreover, a ban on social networks could have unintended negative consequences, says Professor Eiko Fried. When researchers actually talk to young people about their experiences, they find that, "while social media can be challenging for them, they also serve as important systems for peer support, resource exchange, and destigmatization," according to studies. Body positivity and mental health awareness are just two of the many topics evoked.
The researchers also highlight young LGBTQ+ people as "a vulnerable group in terms of poor mental health and suicide risk," and who stress the importance of certain aspects of social media for finding comfort and connecting with others. – AFP Relaxnews | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Social media | Social networks are often accused of all manner of evils. But social media bans may not be the answer to improving young people's online safety and preserving their mental health, researchers say. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/banning-social-networks-may-not-be-the-answer-to-improving-young-peoples-mental-health-researchers-say | |
1,373,709 | US health official: Put tobacco-style warnings on social media | WASHINGTON: Social media platforms should feature tobacco-style health warnings for adolescents, a top US government health official said on June 17.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in an essay published by The New York Times, called social media "an important contributor" to a sweeping mental health crisis among young people.
"It is time to require a surgeon general's warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents," he wrote.
Murthy said spending more than three hours a day on social media doubles the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms for adolescents – and that the daily average use in the summer of 2023 was nearly five hours.
"A surgeon general's warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe," he wrote.
"Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior."
Murthy pointed to previous actions by lawmakers to address high vehicle-related deaths, including mandates requiring seatbelts, airbags and crash testing to make cars safer.
Labels warning of the health impact from tobacco first appeared on US cigarettes after a federal government mandate in 1965.
In 2023, Murthy issued a health advisory warning that social media presents a "profound risk" to children and advising that 13 is too young to join apps.
The surgeon general on Monday also called on schools nationwide to “ensure that classroom learning and social time are phone-free experiences”.
He also said parents should wait until after middle school before giving their children access to social media, and to create “phone-free zones around bedtime, meals and social gatherings”. – AFP | Tech | Social media | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Social media | Social media platforms should feature tobacco-style health warnings for adolescents, a top US government health official said on June 17. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/us-health-official-put-tobacco-style-warnings-on-social-media | |
1,373,714 | Hybrid working has many advantages and few drawbacks, researchers say | As one of the most visible effects of the pandemic, hybrid working – combining remote and in-person working – has now become the norm in many companies around the world. But it remains the subject of much criticism, given the extent to which it disrupts traditional managerial habits.
A Chinese-American study, published in the journal Nature, was conducted by a trio of researchers comprising Nicholas Bloom from Stanford University, Ruobing Han from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and James Liang from Peking University. They studied the effects of hybrid working on 1,612 employees of Trip.com, an online travel agency based in China, between 2021 and 2022.
This company began implementing hybrid working from 2021, through a six-month trial. It involved 395 managers and 1,217 non-managerial staff. Employees whose birthday fell on an even-numbered day were required to come into the office five days a week, while the others worked from home for two days.
Most of the study participants were men in their 30s. Half had dependent children. Few women volunteered to test hybrid working, certainly for fear of being frowned upon by their management. Indeed, at the time, managers were unconvinced by this type of organization. In particular, they feared that it would be detrimental to their teams' productivity.
A real plus for retaining talent
But these fears appear to have been unfounded. In fact, Bloom and colleagues found that employees who worked from home two days a week had the same level of productivity as their colleagues who went into the office every day. Contrary to the findings of other studies, occasional remote working did not hinder their career development. Hybrid workers were just as likely as others to be promoted.
But the positive effects of the in-office and remote working mix were felt most strongly in terms of annual turnover. Trip.com employees who occasionally worked from home were less likely to resign, especially women, non-managers and those with long commutes to the office. Overall, resignations fell by 33% over the course of the experiment, saving the Chinese company millions of dollars.
However, it would be an exaggeration to say that hybrid working is the ultimate solution for retaining employees. This type of organisation was not enough to retain managers who wanted to move on to new professional horizons. This may be explained by the fact that, since the Covid pandemic, this function has become increasingly difficult to perform.
Be that as it may, the authors of the study are convinced of the multiple benefits of hybrid working for organisations. "The results are clear: Hybrid work is a win-win-win for employee productivity, performance, and retention," says Bloom in a news release. And that's just as well, considering that some 100 million workers worldwide now alternate between in-office and remote working. – AFP Relaxnews | Tech | Internet | Complimentary | Medium | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Internet,Technology | As one of the most visible effects of the pandemic, hybrid working – combining remote and in-person working – has now become the norm in many companies around the world. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/hybrid-working-has-many-advantages-and-few-drawbacks-researchers-say | |
1,371,219 | This imager chip is inspired by Superman’s powers | Researchers in the US and South Korea have developed a chip with technology directly inspired by Superman's X-ray vision. Integrated into a mobile device, this chip could allow users to see behind walls or even inside a parcel.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas in the US and Seoul National University in Korea have developed an imager chip capable of "scanning" the inside of a bag or parcel, or detecting solid objects on the other side of a wall. They are now concentrating on miniaturising the technology so that it can one day be integrated into a smartphone.
Of course, there's no question of using X-rays, like the American superhero, since exposure to them could be particularly harmful to health. In fact, this chip emits 300 GHz signals, enabling it to locate any solid object at short range, from distances of around 2 to 3cm, using the signals reflected back by the object.
The idea is to respect privacy, not to allow people to spy on neighbours through walls. A future version should be capable of rendering images at up to 12.5cm away, making it easier to detect small objects. This technology is, in fact, similar to the microwave technology used in airport passenger screening gantries.
The challenge now is to make the technology small enough for mobile devices, while improving image quality. In any case, this chip has no lenses or optics, and the reflected signals are used to "draw" an image of the objects identified in this way. In the future, this technology could potentially have medical applications. – AFP Relaxnews | Tech | Technology | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | Technology | Researchers in the US and South Korea have developed a chip with technology directly inspired by Superman's X-ray vision. Integrated into a mobile device, this chip could allow users to see behind walls or even inside a parcel. | https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/06/18/this-imager-chip-is-inspired-by-supermans-powers | |
1,373,676 | Thai court grants Thaksin bail, other politically charged cases to be heard in July | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a powerful backer of the largest party in the governing coalition, avoided pre-trial detention for allegedly insulting the monarchy after a criminal court granted him bail on Tuesday.
Separately, the Constitutional Court set July 3 and July 10, respectively, as the next hearing dates for two cases involving the opposition Move Forward party and the incumbent prime minister Srettha Thavisin.
Srettha, a political novice who took office last year, faces potential dismissal over a cabinet appointment.
The Move Forward party, which won last year's closely fought election but was unable to form a government, could be dissolved for its campaign to amend the royal insult law.
Thaksin, Srettha and Move Forward deny any wrongdoing.
The Constitutional Court also ruled that an ongoing selection process for a new upper house, which started earlier this month, is lawful, clearing the deck for 200 new lawmakers to take over from a military appointed senate later this year.
The court cases, which risk deepening a decades-old rift between the conservative-royalist establishment and its opponents, such as the populist ruling Pheu Thai party and the Move Forward party, have raised the spectre of political instability and rattled markets.
Thailand's main stock index, which dropped to its lowest level since November 2020 on Monday, gained more than 1% on Tuesday morning before trimming gains.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng and Orathai Sriring; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by John Mair and Ed Davies) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a powerful backer of the largest party in the governing coalition, avoided pre-trial detention for allegedly insulting the monarchy after a criminal court granted him bail on Tuesday. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/thailand-braces-for-court-cases-amid-risk-of-political-crisis | |
1,373,669 | Putin congratulates South Africa's Ramaphosa on re-election, an indication of warm ties | (Reuters) - Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin congratulated South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa on his re-election as president on Monday, reflecting continued good relations with Pretoria despite uncertainty over Moscow's more than two-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
"Hope was expressed for continued joint work on further strengthening of the partnership between Russia and South Africa in all its aspects," a statement said on the Kremlin website, referring to Putin's telephone call to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa was re-elected by parliament on Friday. But the failure of his African National Congress party to win a majority in last month's election, for the first time in 30 years, prompted the formation of a government made up - so far - of five parties.
Russia and Ukraine have jostled for support from African nations since the 2022 invasion, with each country's foreign minister embarking on several of regional tours.
South Africa's longstanding links with Moscow - as with a number of African states - date back to Soviet times, when Moscow was a prominent backer of liberation movements and the fight to end apartheid, spearheaded by the ANC.
South Africa initially denounced Russia's February 2022 invasion, but has since adopted a more nuanced position, including abstaining in several votes in the U.N. General Assembly condemning Russian actions.
South Africa attended the Swiss-hosted "peace summit" on Ukraine over the weekend. But it declined to sign the final communique, along with India, Indonesia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, even though some contentious issues were omitted in the hope of drawing wider support.
South Africa found itself in a dilemma as host of a 2023 meeting of the BRICS grouping of countries and it considered inviting Putin to attend despite a warrant from the International Criminal Court of Justice to arrest the Russian leader on allegations of deportation of Ukrainian children.
In the end, Putin chose not to attend.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski in Winnipeg; Editing by Matthew Lewis) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | (Reuters) - Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin congratulated South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa on his re-election as president on Monday, reflecting continued good relations with Pretoria despite uncertainty over Moscow's more than two-year-old invasion of Ukraine. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/putin-congratulates-south-africa039s-ramaphosa-on-re-election-an-indication-of-warm-ties | |
1,373,656 | Putin vows to take North Korea ties to higher level | SEOUL (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he plans to lift relations with North Korea to a higher level and pledged his unwavering support, Pyongyang's state media KCNA reported on Tuesday ahead of his planned visit to the country.
In a letter published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, a ruling Workers' Party mouthpiece, Putin said the two countries have developed good relations and partnerships over the past 70 years based on equality, mutual respect and trust.
Putin thanked North Korea for supporting what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, and vowed support for Pyongyang's efforts to defend its interests despite what he called "U.S. pressure, blackmail and military threats."
The article was published a day after the two countries announced that Putin will visit North Korea for the first time in 24 years for two days starting on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) | News | World | Complimentary | Short | null | 2024-06-18 00:00:00 | null | SEOUL (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he plans to lift relations with North Korea to a higher level and pledged his unwavering support, Pyongyang's state media KCNA reported on Tuesday ahead of his planned visit to the country. | https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/06/18/putin-vows-to-take-north-korea-ties-to-higher-level |