Ukraine's Zelenskyy says China's Xi told him he will not sell any weapons to Russia - CNA

KYIV: Chinese President Xi Jinping told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that China would not sell weapons to Russia during a phone conversation between the two men, Zelenskyy said on Thursday (Jun 13).

Zelenskyy was speaking at a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Italy. He did not specify when the conversation with Xi took place.

"I had a firm conversation with (the) leader of China. He said that he will not sell any weapon to Russia. We’ll see if he’s (a) respectable person he will not, because he gave me (his) word," Zelenskyy said in English.

Biden chimed in as Zelenskyy finished speaking, saying: "By the way, China is not supplying weapons but the ability to produce those weapons and the technology available to do it, so it is in fact helping Russia."

Zelenskyy said that if Kyiv and China had the same views on peace there could be dialogue between them, and that if Beijing had an alternative view, it could prepare an alternative "peace formula".

The Ukrainian leader has promoted his vision for peace in Ukraine, which he calls his "peace formula".

Switzerland is scheduled to host international delegations from dozens of countries and organisation this weekend at a summit to try to bring peace in Ukraine closer.

The last publicly known phone call between Zelenskyy and Xi was in April 2023, the only such call since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

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2024-06-13 22:50:00Z
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Handcuffed and burnt to death: Indonesian cop's alleged killing of punter-husband sparks online gambling concerns - CNA

He noted that while Kominfo itself has prevented and taken down many online gambling apps, other parties must also take action since it involves financial institutions and cross-border online transactions.

"The internet is borderless, cross-country, the server is in another country's security apparatus … therefore, the eradication of online gambling is not the task of one ministry such as Kominfo," Mr Budi said.

The minister shared that more than 2 million online gambling sites have already been blocked, but new ones keep popping up.

About 3.2 million Indonesians are involved in online gambling, according to data from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) that was released in April by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto.

“80 per cent of them play under the value of 100,000 rupiah," Mr Hadi said.

At the same time, data points to a significant increase in transactions related to online gambling. Online gambling transactions of Indonesian citizens have skyrocketed more than 8,000 per cent in value over the last five years.

It was 3.97 trillion rupiah in 2018. More recently, the figure hit 104.41 trillion rupiah in 2022, while last year’s tally was 327 trillion rupiah, according to PPATK data released in May.

For the first quarter of 2024 alone, transactions amounting to 100 trillion rupiah were recorded, said Mr Hadi as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Government officials have suggested there are also links between online gambling and money laundering. 

"It is not just online gambling, because there are several cases (of money laundering) where they got the (illicit) money from winning in gambling," said communications minister Budi.

TRAPPED IN HIGH-INTEREST LOANS

Many people in Indonesia have resorted to taking out loans online as they get sucked into online gambling, according to PPATK head Ivan Yustiavandana. He said there is an increased flow of funds related to online loans which were used for online gambling.

While not specifying the amount of money involved, Mr Ivan said the value was not small, as reported by local news outlet Tirto on Wednesday.

Online loans usually come with high interest rates, particularly those offered by illegal lending platforms. Many who take out such loans to bankroll their punting habit have found themselves mired in debt and distress, especially when compounded with the losses from gambling.

There have been 14 suicides and attempted suicides as a result of online gambling since 2023 in Indonesia, with the victims’ ages ranging between 19 and 30, according to the Center for Financial and Digital Literacy as reported by Media Indonesia.

In April, a member of the Indonesian Navy took his own life by shooting himself in the head at his duty station in Yahukimo, Papua. The Indonesian National Army said in an official statement that the officer was in depression due to debts of up to 819 million rupiah incurred from online gambling.

Earlier this month, another member of the military in Bogor, West Java killed himself, also allegedly due to online gambling.

One online gambler who did not want to be named told CNA how he became depressed and had to sell his only motorcycle to satisfy his gambling habit.

The 40-year-old office worker became hooked in 2022 and ended up borrowing up to 50 million rupiah to feed his addiction.

He told CNA that while he has not been able to cut out online gambling entirely, he has been trying to curb the habit.

"Gamblers are addicted if they win and eager to win if they lose, so they keep playing." 

Nowadays, he only gambles whenever he has money and has stopped borrowing from online lenders. He hopes to be able to quit gambling completely one day.

"A gambler’s true victory is when he can stop gambling entirely," he added.

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2024-06-13 08:34:00Z
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Stormy Daniels Adds A Few Adjectives To Describe Donald Trump's Penis - Yahoo Singapore News

Stormy Daniels said she revealed intimate details about Donald Trump for a critical purpose.

“Describing his unique and horrifying penis was the only way to really prove that I had seen it,” she said in a trailer for The Daily Mail’s “Everything I Know About Me” podcast that launched Tuesday.

Daniels’ testimony about her 2006 hookup with Trump may have helped convict the former president in his hush-money trial last month. A jury found that Trump masked payments to silence Daniels about their Lake Tahoe tryst before the 2016 election.

But long before that, Daniels had described Trump’s penis in more lurid terms than “unique” and “horrifying.”

“It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool,” she wrote in her memoir “Full Disclosure.”

“I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart,” she wrote, referring to “Toad” in the video game.

“It may have been the least impressive sex I’d ever had, but clearly,” she added, “he didn’t share that opinion.”

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2024-06-12 20:25:23Z
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Gaza ceasefire plan hangs in balance as Hamas seeks changes - CNA

DOHA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday (Jun 12) that Hamas had proposed numerous changes, some unworkable, to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, but that mediators were determined to close the gaps.

The proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden envisages a truce and a phased release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war.

At a press conference with Qatar's prime minister in Doha, Blinken said some of the counter-proposals from the militant group administering Gaza had sought to amend terms that it had accepted in previous talks.

Negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have tried for months to mediate a ceasefire in the conflict - which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated the enclave - and free the hostages, more than 100 of whom are believed to remain captive in Gaza.

"Hamas could have answered with a single word: Yes," Blinken said.

"Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that it had previously taken and accepted."

The US has said Israel has accepted its proposal, but Israel has not publicly stated this.

Izzat al-Rishq from Hamas' political bureau said its formal response to the US proposal was "responsible, serious and positive" and "opens up a wide pathway" for an accord.

Hamas also wants written guarantees from the US on the ceasefire plan, two Egyptian security sources said.

Blinken said Washington would in coming weeks put forward proposals for the post-war administration and rebuilding of Gaza: "We have to have plans for the day after the conflict ends in Gaza, and we need to have them as soon as possible."

Major powers are intensifying efforts to halt the conflict in part to prevent it spiralling into a regional war, with a dangerous flashpoint being the escalating hostilities on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, backed by Iran, fired barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hezbollah field commander. Israel said it had in turn attacked the launch sites from the air.

Taleb Abdallah, or Abu Taleb, was the most senior Hezbollah commander killed in the conflict, a security source said, and Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine vowed that the group would expand its operations against Israel.

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2024-06-12 11:07:00Z
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Chinese universities clamp down on AI-generated content, as record graduation season starts - CNA

Polls suggest the use of AI tools is common among Chinese university students. A November 2023 survey by state youth newspaper China Youth Daily showed that nearly 85 per cent of the 7,000-plus respondents have used AI tools. 

Mr Zhang Hang, a student from Jinan University told the newspaper that he had used an AI tool to summarise an English text to Chinese. 

He said he had used translation software to “speed up” his readings in English, but found that the translations provided did not “flow smoothly”, China Youth Daily reported. 

As more universities take steps to weed out AI-generated content, some students are even resorting to AI tools to ensure their writing clears the checks, according to a report by Sixth Tone.

The online news site also reported that on lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, there were more than 10,000 posts sharing tips on reducing “AI detection rates”.

There were also services to lower AI detection rates on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao. 

In August last year, state broadcaster CCTV reported that a draft law on academic degrees submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress included a ban on using AI to write dissertations. 

The law, which was adopted on Apr 26, did not include mention of a ban on using AI to write dissertations.

Under it, an academic degree will be withheld or revoked if the recipient’s dissertation involves academic misconduct such as ghostwriting, plagiarism or falsification. 

The law will take effect from Jan 1, 2025, according to state news agency Xinhua.

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Man charged with paying children to drink at ordination - Bangkok Post

PUBLISHED : 12 Jun 2024 at 13:11

Jetsada Phongphatthanaporn, 26, behind the partition wall, surrenders to police at Nong Bunmak police station in Nakhon Ratchasima on Tuesday. He was charged over paying two 13-year-olds to drink alcohol at an ordination ceremony on Sunday. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A man who admitted paying a 13-year-old girl to guzzle alcohol at an ordination ceremony, leading to her collapsing into a coma, has surrendered to police to face charges.

Pol Col Thanaphat Phet-arun, chief of Nong Bunmak police station, said on Wednesday that Jetsada Phongphatthanaporn, 26, of Pak Thongchai district of Nakhon Ratchasima, turned himself in on Tuesday afternoon.

He admitted being the person seen in a video paying money to two 13-year-olds, a boy and a girl, at the ordination ceremony on Sunday.

Jetsada claimed that the girl and the boy had first offered to drink liquor in exchange for money. He said he had no intention of asking them to drink an entire bottle.

Police have charged him under child protection legislation provisions outlawing forcing, persuading or enticing children into behaving inappropriately, hiring children to work or act in a way that may be harmful to the body and selling or giving alcohol or cigarettes to children.

The offences carry a jail term of up to 3 months and/or fine up to 30,000 baht under the Child Protection Act. He was released after reporting to police.

Pol Col Thanaphat said more witnesses would be questioned. As most were children, child protection officials would also be present. 

On Sunday, the girl collapsed unconscious after downing the half-bottle of liquor. She was rushed to Nong Bunmak Hospital then transferred to Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital where she was admitted to the intensive care unit.

A video taken by a local resident showed men forming a circle and cheering on the girl and the boy as they raised their bottles and gulped down the liquor.

The girl’s grandmother Oui Krapheenok, 72, said on Wednesday that her granddaughter was now out of danger and had regained consciousness. She could sit up in a wheelchair and interact with people, but her voice was still hoarse.

Picharn Trapakwaen, chief of Nong Bunmak district, on Wednesday held a meeting to discuss measures to help the girl’s family, after he visited the family at Mitsamphan village on Tuesday. The family is poor with 13 members, six aged between one year and 16. Two adults had underlying illnesses and were unable to help themselves, he said.

The family relied on money sent by the parents of those children each month, and state allowances for the elderly.

Aside from assistance for the girl's family, local authorities would launch a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking alcohol. Sales of cigarettes to children and alcohol consumption at schools and temples, particularly during ordination or funeral ceremonies, were illegal and the ban must be enforced, the district chief said.

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2024-06-12 06:11:00Z
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World Bank cuts Myanmar's growth forecast to 1% as conflict worsens - CNA

Economic growth in conflict-torn Myanmar will be around 1 per cent for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the World Bank said on Wednesday (Jun 12), as escalating violence, labour shortages and a depreciating currency make it harder to do business.

In December, the World Bank had projected Myanmar's economy would grow by around 2 per cent during the period, after estimated GDP growth of 1 per cent in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024.

"The downward revision in projected growth for FY2024/25 is largely due to the persistence of high inflation and constraints on access to labour, foreign exchange, and electricity, all of which are likely to have larger impacts on activity than was previously expected," the World Bank said in a report.

The Southeast Asian country of about 55 million people has been in political and economic turmoil since a 2021 coup when the military ousted an elected civilian government, ending a decade of tentative democratic and economic reform.

Faced with a widening armed resistance against its rule, Myanmar's junta earlier this year announced a conscription plan to replenish its depleted military manpower.

"The announcement of mandated conscription in February 2024 has intensified migration to rural areas and abroad, leading to increased reports of labour shortages in some industries," the World Bank said.

The junta has also lost access to some key land borders with China and Thailand, leading to a sharp drop in overland trade.

"Excluding natural gas, exports through land borders declined by 44 per cent," the World Bank said. "Imports via land borders declined by half, accounting for 71 per cent of the decline in overall imports."

Overall, merchandise exports fell by 13 per cent and imports dropped by 20 per cent in the six months to March 2024, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the World Bank.

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2024-06-12 03:16:40Z
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