ISLAMABAD – A UN expert and Amnesty International official on Wednesday slammed an apparent AI-generated video depicting battle-ravaged Gaza rebuilt into a seaside resort posted on US President Donald Trump’s official social media accounts, replete with a towering golden statue of himself. The video, which racked up more than 15 million views on Instagram and was shared thousands of times on Trump’s Truth Social network by Wednesday morning, prompted some commenters to question whether the president’s accounts had been hacked. The 33-second clip remained on Trump’s accounts without denial or retraction hours after the initial posting on Tuesday night. Social…
Author: Asia News Network
BANGKOK – The tourism tax of 300 baht a person will come into force for foreign tourists by the end of this year, Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said on Thursday. He expects the tourism tax scheme to come into effect during Thailand’s high season later in the year, provided the scheme is endorsed via publication in the Royal Gazette in March. Details of the scheme are not as yet clear, he said, adding that the ministry is working on linking data to the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) to facilitate tax collection. The TDAC will come into force…
SEOUL – South Korea’s Defense Ministry plans to conduct a test run of its newly developed generative artificial intelligence system during a joint springtime military drill with the United States, officials said Tuesday. If incorporated during the annual South Korea-US Freedom Shield exercise scheduled for next month, it will mark the first time that generative AI is used in a joint military drill between the allies, a ministry official said during a regular briefing. The test run will focus on how the allies could use the Generative Defense AI (GeDAI) the Defense Ministry has developed in actual military operations. The…
BANGKOK – The border town of Mae Sot in Tak saw its roads congested, mostly with vehicles from Myawaddy, seeking to refill their tanks after oil prices in the Myanmar border city skyrocketed to around 70 baht per litre. The local Facebook page, titled Today in Mae Sot, reported that the main road in Mae Sot was heavily congested on Tuesday morning, as vehicles from Myawaddy crossed the First Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to refill their petrol at stations on the Thai side. After Thailand cut electricity and oil supplies to five Myanmar border areas on February 5, only large petrol…
KUALA LUMPUR – Over 20,000 people, a majority of those below 18, have gone missing in Malaysia over the past decade, according to police statistics. And nearly 60% of the total missing persons are female, raising serious concerns about the safety of the nation’s youth. “A total of 21,722 individuals were reported missing nationwide from 2014 to 2024. “Of this, 13,969, or 64.3%, were under the age of 18. The majority of those who went missing were females (12,882),” Bukit Aman deputy Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Deputy Comm Datuk Fadil Marsus (pic, below) told The Star. More worryingly, among…
BEIJING – The United States government’s recent adjustment of the “de minimis” tariff exemption policy for small packages and low-value items imported from China will only prompt Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms to realign supply chains and logistics networks, accelerate the establishment of overseas warehouses and diversify layouts in emerging markets to navigate tariff challenges, experts said on Tuesday. They noted that the revocation of the small-package tax exemption will surely lead to higher prices of goods that were once affordable and widely accessible to customers in the US, increase consumption costs for shoppers and affect their shopping experiences, while ultimately…
SINGAPORE – Scam victims in Singapore lost $1.1 billion in 2024, marking a record high amount of losses suffered in a single year. Almost 25 per cent of this involved cryptocurrency, a surge from 6.8 per cent of total losses in 2023. Overall, the amount lost to scams in 2024 is around 70 per cent higher than the $651.8 million that scammers took in 2023, said police in releasing the annual scam figures on Feb 25. In total, victims in Singapore have lost more than $3.4 billion to scams since 2019. Police saw the highest number of scam reports ever…
SINGAPORE – A man coerced his 11-year-old stepdaughter into performing various sexual acts over a period of two months, and on one occasion even told her to trust him. The man also told the girl to record a video of him and her mother having sex. In sentencing the 29-year-old man on Feb 24, a High Court judge said it was “heartbreaking” that when instructed to record the act, the victim felt relieved, rather than repulsed, because it meant she was not going to be assaulted. Justice Aidan Xu sentenced the man to 15 years’ jail and 12 strokes of…
MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday expressed sadness over Pope Francis’ critical health condition, saying the country stands united with the world in praying for his recovery. In a Facebook post, Marcos said, “Nakakalungkot na marinig ang malubhang karamdaman ni Pope Francis. Sa mga sandaling ito, kaisa tayo ng buong mundo sa panalangin para sa kanyang kalakasan at paggaling.” (It is sad to hear about Pope Francis’ serious illness. In these moments, we stand united with the whole world in prayer for his strength and recovery.) Youtube: Click Here READ: What happens to Catholic Church leadership if the…
TOKYO – The transport ministry will set an entrance exam quota for women at Civil Aviation College, which trains pilots. The school will start recruiting applicants for the 2027 academic year’s admission. Female pilots account for 1.9% of all pilots at Japanese airlines, lower than the average of 4.7% at major airlines around the world. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry hopes to raise the percentage to 10% by 2035. According to the announcement made Friday, the ministry plans to review the contents of the current exam system and set up a category primarily based on a personality-centered evaluation.…