By Renju Jose and Kanishka Singh SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allow him to return to Australia. The “Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group” said it had informed…
By Humeyra Pamuk, Gloria Dickie and Gwladys Fouche WASHINGTON/LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – For nearly three decades, the Arctic Council has been a successful example of post-Cold War cooperation. Its eight members, including Russia and the United States, have cooperated on climate-change research and social development across the ecologically sensitive region. Now, a year after council members…
By Andrew Mills DOHA (Reuters) – International occupational health experts will urge Qatar on Tuesday to establish a heat stress “center of excellence” to influence other Gulf countries to strengthen protections for workers against extreme heat and humidity, two of the experts said. The experts, in Doha for a conference the International Labour Organisation is…
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia and Singapore condemned an attack on a convoy of their diplomats and an ASEAN humanitarian aid body in military-ruled Myanmar, and called for an end to violence and a commitment to dialogue between warring groups. Myanmar state media on Tuesday said “terrorists” with small arms attacked a convoy that was delivering…
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Russia “will prevail” in its fight against what he described as “imperialists,” state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday, in remarks seen to be aimed at Ukraine and its Western supporters, such as the United States. North Korea has forged closer ties with the Kremlin…
By Panu Wongcha-um BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday he would return home in July after 17 years in self-imposed exile, just days ahead of an election his party is expected to win. Although Thaksin, arguably Thailand’s most influential and divisive former leader, has failed to make good on…
By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI”, recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he…
By Rachael Levy and Marisa Taylor (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s brain-implant venture has filled an animal-research oversight board with company insiders who may stand to benefit financially as the firm reaches development goals, according to company documents and interviews with six current and former employees. Such oversight boards are required by federal law for organizations…
By Nandita Bose and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden met with CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google on Thursday and made clear they must ensure their products are safe before they are deployed. Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, with apps such as ChatGPT capturing…
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam is preparing to make it mandatory for social media users of both local and foreign platforms to verify their identity in a bid to rein in online scams, state media reported on Monday. The measure, part of the Telecommunications Law Amendment to be issued by the end of this year, will…
