CHINA – NORTH KOREA
OpenAI, which produced ChatGPT, has removed the accounts of Chinese and North Korean users who were using its technology for malicious purposes, such as surveillance and public opinion influence operations. The artificial intelligence company did not provide information on the number of suspended accounts, but explained that in one case, newspaper articles were generated in Spanish and published in Latin American media outlets, denigrating the United States, while in another case, fake resumes were generated to obtain jobs in Western companies.
THAILAND
Measures adopted by the Thai government to support rice farmers have not met expectations, and have led to protests among farmers. According to the Ministry of Commerce, in February rice prices fell by 30% on an annual basis. “We are not happy with the measures. I think the government is not sincere with the farmers at all,” said Thitiwat Kleepmalai, a farmer leader in Ayutthaya province who has presented the government with a series of demands to address high production costs.
VIETNAM
A South Korean travel agency specializing in Southeast Asia has tried to discourage tourists from wearing “Vietnam War veteran hats” when traveling in the country, citing cases where they have been refused entry after arriving at the airport. A group of tourists was fined 3 thousand dollars for the same reasons, the agency explained. The hat, with the words “Vietnam war Hero Korea”, is usually worn by elderly South Koreans to commemorate their fellow citizens who took part in the conflict.
INDIA – PAKISTAN
Tomorrow the most eagerly awaited cricket match of the Champions Trophy will be played: India vs. Pakistan in a neutral stadium in the United Arab Emirates because the Indian team did not want to travel to Pakistan, which is hosting the event. According to the organizing committee, the tickets sold out in a few minutes. The Emirates are home to more than 3.7 million Indians and about 1.7 million Pakistanis.
GAZA - ISRAEL
Hamas is preparing to free six more Israeli hostages today, but the dispute over the identification of the body of Shirin Bibas, delivered in recent days, has once again cast doubt on the strength of the ceasefire. The family has confirmed the woman's identity. “For 16 months we have been searching for certainty, and now that it has arrived, it brings us no comfort, even if we hope it marks the beginning of an end”, the family declared.
RUSSIA
The city authorities of St. Petersburg have decided to install surveillance cameras in the streets to recognize people's ethnicity, in order to better control the behavior of migrants, as explained by the head of the local committee for relations between nationalities, Oleg Kapitanov, and to avoid “the formation of ethnic enclaves”.
KAZAKHSTAN
According to a survey by the Demoscope public opinion monitoring agency, 27.8% of the inhabitants of Kazakhstan support the Russian war in Ukraine and are strongly influenced by Moscow's propaganda, especially citizens over 60 years of age, while 25% condemn the Russian occupation, and half of those interviewed are unsure of their answer. Almost 30% of Kazakhs fear that Russia may invade their country.
