International
EU negotiators reach agreement on groundbreaking AI act
By Raziye Akkoc BRUSSELS, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – EU member states and lawmakers clinched a deal on Friday on how to draft “historic” rules regulating artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT — after 36 hours of negotiations. Meeting in Brussels, negotiators nailed down curbs on how AI can be used in Europe, which they said would not hurt innovation in the sector nor the prospects for future European AI champions. “Historic! With the political […]
Sydney swelters in hottest day in three years
SYDNEY, Dec 9, 2023 (AFP) – Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned people to stay safe Saturday as a heatwave baked the eastern coast and sent temperatures in Sydney to a three-year high. Many people crowded Sydney’s beaches or sought relief in the shade as authorities warned the most vulnerable — including the elderly and very young — to shelter in cool buildings. Dozens of bush and grass fires were burning out of control across […]
US vetoes Security Council resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Washington dashed a growing clamor for an immediate ceasefire that had been led by UN chief Antonio Guterres and Arab nations. American envoy Robert Wood said the resolution was “divorced from reality” and “would have not moved […]
Putin: The autocrat eyeing a new world order
WARSAW, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced Friday he is running for a fifth term, has over the past two decades built a system of domestic repression and confrontation with the West that is almost certain to guarantee his re-election. Ever since the former little-known KGB agent first became president on New Year’s Eve 1999, he has consolidated power by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any real opposition, and turning […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will run for re-election in 2024
MOSCOW, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he would run for re-election in 2024, allowing the Kremlin leader to extend his decades-long grip on power into the 2030s. The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent. The announcement came at a set-piece Kremlin event for army personnel, […]
Chinese balloon crosses Taiwan strait median line: defense ministry
TAIPEI, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s defence ministry said Friday it had detected a Chinese balloon crossing the so-called median line which bisects the sensitive strait that separates the island from China. “1 PRC (People’s Republic of China) balloon was detected at 11:52 (0352 GMT) yesterday after crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait at the location (of) 101 nautical miles (187 kilometres) southwest of Keelung,” said the ministry, referring to a city […]
Mexico rattled by 5.8-magnitude earthquake
MEXICO CITY, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook much of central Mexico on Thursday including the capital, prompting people to run into the streets, the country’s seismological institute said. There were no initial reports of damage in Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of nine million people, Mayor Marti Batres wrote on X, formerly Twitter. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was briefed by civil protection officials and said afterward in a video posted […]
Las Vegas gunman was professor turned down for job: US media
By Robin GREMMEL LAS VEGAS, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – The gunman who killed three people and injured another at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was an academic who had applied for a professorship but was not hired, US media reported Thursday. The incident at UNLV, a short distance from the gambling hub’s tourist-packed Strip, marked the latest shooting in a country plagued by gun violence, and comes six years after Las Vegas suffered […]
Dozens injured in Seychelles blast at explosives depot
MAHE ISLAND, Seychelles, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – A huge blast at an explosives depot in Seychelles on Thursday injured 66 people and brought down buildings, prompting the country’s “shocked” president to declare a state of emergency. The archipelago — famous for its idyllic white beaches and high-end tourism — is also grappling with flooding and landslides due to heavy rainfall which have claimed two lives, President Wavel Ramkalawan said, ordering citizens to stay at […]
Magnitude 7.1 quake strikes off Vanuatu, triggering tsunami warning
Notable quake, preliminary info: M 7.1 – 123 km S of Isangel, Vanuatu https://t.co/hv5NSCBezG — USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) December 7, 2023 SYDNEY, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck south of Vanuatu on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, triggering a tsunami warning. The offshore quake hit at 1256 GMT at a depth of 48 kilometres (30 miles), about 123 kilometres south of the town of Isangel and 338 kilometres […]
Russian girl, 14, shoots and kills classmate, commits suicide
MOSCOW, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – A 14-year-old girl shot a classmate dead and injured five people before killing herself at a secondary school in the Russian city of Bryansk near the Ukraine border on Thursday. Fatal attacks at educational facilities — previously a rarity — have become more common in Russia in recent years. Moscow has taken steps to tighten already strict gun laws after a series of school attacks. After the Bryansk attack, […]
