Australia debates Indigenous referendum as pamphlets launched

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Parties on both sides of a debate on whether to constitutionally recognise Australia’s Indigenous people released their official pamphlets on Tuesday, which will start being delivered to letterboxes across the country. Australians will be asked to vote in a referendum later this year on whether they support altering the constitution to include…

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Japan and UAE agree innovation, climate change cooperation

By Rachna Uppal ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Japan and the United Arab Emirates agreed to cooperate on technology and climate change during Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit, his second stop in the region focused on securing energy supplies and promoting green technology. Kishida met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu…

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US, China aim to revive climate talks as planet reels under extreme weather

By Valerie Volcovici BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said it was “imperative that China and the United States make real progress” in the four months before U.N.-sponsored climate talks begin in Dubai, as waves of extreme heat and rainfall hit large parts of the globe. While Kerry met his counterpart Xie Zhenhua…

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Analysis-Will China ever get rich? A new era of much slower growth dawns

By Liangping Gao, Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) – China is entering an era of much slower economic growth, raising a daunting prospect: it may never get rich. Whether the world’s second-largest economy chugs ahead at 3-4% annually or flirts, as some economists expect, with Japan-like “lost decades” of stagnation, it looks set…

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Russia halts grain deal in what UN calls blow to needy people everywhere

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia halted participation on Monday in the year-old U.N.-brokered deal that lets Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, causing concern in poorer countries that price rises will put food out of reach. Hours earlier, a blast knocked out Russia’s bridge to Crimea in what Moscow called a strike by Ukrainian sea drones,…

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Race towards ‘autonomous’ AI agents grips Silicon Valley

By Anna Tong and Jeffrey Dastin Around a decade after virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa burst onto the scene, a new wave of AI helpers with greater autonomy is raising the stakes, powered by the latest version of the technology behind ChatGPT and its rivals. Experimental systems that run on GPT-4 or similar models…

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Trump’s bid to block Georgia election probe rejected by state’s top court

By Joseph Ax (Reuters) – Georgia’s top court on Monday rejected former President Donald Trump’s latest effort to block an investigation into whether he and his allies illegally sought to interfere with the state’s 2020 election, weeks before prosecutors are expected to seek formal charges. Court records showed the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the…

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Microsoft in talks to extend deal contract with Activision -source

By Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) -Microsoft Corp is in talks about an extension of its acquisition contract with video game maker Activision Blizzard, which is set to expire on Tuesday, so the parties can overcome the remaining regulatory hurdles to their $69 billion deal, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. The…

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