Category: Foreign

Pope Francis yesterday called for a global reflection on the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI), noting the new technology’s “disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects.”

Francis, 86, said in the past he does not know how to use a computer, issued the warning in a message for the next World Day of Peace of the Catholic Church, falling on New Year’s Day.

The Vatican released the message well in advance, as it is customary.

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The pope “recalls the need to be vigilant and to work so that logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded,” it reads.

“The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law,” it adds.

Back in 2015, Francis acknowledged being “a disaster” with technology, but he has also called the internet, social networks and text messages “a gift of God”, provided that they are used wisely.

In 2020, the Vatican joined forces with tech giants Microsoft (MSFT.O) and IBM (IBM.N) to promote the ethical development of AI and call for regulation of intrusive technologies such as facial recognition.

A new accuser, Morganne Picard, has filed a lawsuit against renowned American comedian and actor, Bill Cosby alleging he drugged and assaulted her in the late eighties.

The Adult Survivors Act, which gives victims a year to file a lawsuit against suspected abusers and the organisations that shielded them, was used by her to file the paperwork, which is accessible via The Daily Beast.

According to the plaintiff, Morganne Picard, Cosby extended an invitation to The Cosby Show in 1987 and offered to assist advance her singing career.

She said Cosby would pressurise her to consume drinks he provided her between that initial meeting until 1990, which would leave her feeling “extremely intoxicated.”

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In the lawsuit, it was claimed that she once passed out and was raped.

“Ms. Picard drank a beverage provided to her by Cosby at his home, and awoke to find herself in a hotel room, naked, with soreness in her vagina,” the suit claims.

She suspected, “Cosby undressed and raped her, without her consent and when she did not have the capacity to consent,” according to the suit.

“It is disappointing to see that these alleged distractors are able to monetize false allegations against Mr. Cosby,” Andrew Wyatt, a rep for Cosby was quoted as saying.

“Even more disturbing, the Merson Law Firm (New York City) decided to incite this lynching of this American Citizen. I am reminded of a photo a man hanging from a tree burning, as the plantation owner hosted a barbecue and party for the slaves as this Black Man was being roasted alive, without the sheer facts of any evidence, proof, truth or facts.

“The Merson Law Firm along with these alleged distractors are fueling false narratives for the potential of media fame and greed,” he continued. “Mr. Cosby continues to invoke his Constitutional Rights by saying, ‘Not Guilty’ and vehemently denying all of these alleged allegations waged against him.”

Along with NBCUniversal and the TV production business, the Carsey-Werner business, the lawsuit also names Kaufman Astoria Studios and Astoria Studios LP II as defendants.

Picard is suing Cosby specifically for violence, assault, and intentional infliction of mental distress while the defendants for negligence and negligent hiring.

Over the years, numerous women have accused Cosby of drugging and raping them; in 2014, many of them came forward publicly with their allegations for the first time.

In a 2015 New York magazine piece, over thirty women’s stories were gathered.

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A court sentenced him to 10 years in jail and a fine in 2018 after a jury found him guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual assault against complainant Andrea Constand.

However, due to a flawed trial and an earlier plea bargain with the prosecutor, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed his conviction.

Following that, a jury found Cosby guilty for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the 1970s and paid the plaintiff $500,000 in damages.

Cosby was accused of sexual assault by five additional women in December last year. And ten other women also filed lawsuits against him in June.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has regained his seat as a member of parliament following a decision by the Supreme Court, the parliament announced yesterday.

Gandhi, 53, lost his mandate in March after a court sentenced him to two years in prison after allegedly making defamatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to Indian law, members of parliament lose their mandates if they are sentenced to at least two years in prison for a criminal offence.

However, the country’s Supreme Court stayed his sentence on the grounds that a lower court had not adequately explained why it had imposed the maximum sentence of two years.

The sentence itself will now be reviewed.

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Observers saw Gandhi’s trial and the harsh sentence as a sign of India’s declining freedom of expression and increasing strangulation of the opposition under Modi.

Modi has been prime minister of the world’s most populous democracy since 2014.

He is expected to seek re-election next year.

Gandhi has denied the allegations and has been fighting back since being convicted.

He is great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and the grandson of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

His family has been instrumental in shaping the country’s politics through the secular Congress Party, which has ruled the country for most of the time since India’s independence from Britain in 1947.

Ukraine has foiled an attempt to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky after arresting a woman, who acted as an informant to Russian forces, multiple media outlets reported, citing a Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) announcement made yesterday.

The woman in question is Ukrainian and lives in Mykolaiv, a vital Ukrainian port on the Black Sea.

The suspect was reportedly arrested over a week ago, but her identity has not yet been confirmed, ABC News reported.

However, she may be facing up to 12 years in prison.

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The SBU said she had been “gathering intelligence” about Zelensky’s planned visit to Mykolaiv at the end of July, in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill the president.

However, SBU agents had obtained information about the “subversive activities of the suspect” and adopted additional security measures, foiling the plot.

The SBU said that it caught the woman “red-handed” as she “was trying to pass intelligence to the invaders.”

In monitoring the communications of the woman, the SBU established that she also had the task of identifying the location of electronic warfare systems and warehouses with ammunition of the armed forces.

She allegedly travelled around the territory of the district and filmed the locations of Ukrainian objects.

According to the investigation, the perpetrator was a resident of Ochakov in Mykolaiv region and a former saleswoman in a military store.

Zelensky has faced several known attempts on his life since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in February 2022. Russian special forces were tasked with eliminating the Ukrainian president at the start of the war.

In a profile published in April 2022, TIME magazine described how Russian troops had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture Zelensky and his family on February 24, the day after the war began.

As Ukrainian forces fought Russians on the streets of Kyiv, the presidential guard tried to seal the compound using police barricades and piles of plywood, TIME reported.

Oleksiy Arestovych, a military intelligence veteran, said rifles and bulletproof vests were handed out to Zelensky and about a dozen aides as Russian troops made two attempts to storm the presidential compound.

“It was an absolute madhouse,” Arestovych told TIME.

Zelensky ignored his bodyguards’ advice to flee the compound, and also refused the offers of British and American forces to evacuate him. He responded with the famous line: “I need ammo, not a ride.”

Later, Zelensky walked outside the compound to film a defiant video message on his phone as Ukrainian troops battled Russians in nearby streets.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in March last year that Zelensky had survived more than a dozen assassination attempts.

“Foreign sources talk of two or three attempts. I believe that there have been more than a dozen such attempts. We are constantly receiving intelligence that there are certain reconnaissance groups trying to enter government quarters and the like,” Podolyak was quoted in Ukrainska Pravda as saying.

“Western intelligence correctly states that the main target for Putin was Zelensky in terms of attacking government quarters and attempting to kill the country’s key leader,” he added.

In an interview with CNN in July, shortly before this alleged assassination attempt, Zelensky spoke about living in the knowledge that his death remains a priority for Russian forces.

“I’ll be honest with you, and tell you I’ve decided, if I will be thinking about it constantly, I will just shut myself down. Very much like Putin now, who doesn’t leave his bunker,” said Zelensky.

Zelensky also said he believes it is important that Ukrainians living under and attempting to repel the Russian invasion see that their president also faces threats.

A small group of asylum-seekers has been moved onto a barge moored in southern England as the United Kingdom government tries to cut the cost of sheltering people seeking protection in the country.

 According to the British news media yesterday, the asylum-seekers were transferred to the Bibby Stockholm, a floating hostel that will ultimately house up to 500 men, from other sites around the country. More were expected to arrive later yesterday as authorities seek to reduce the number of asylum-seekers housed in expensive hotel rooms that were requisitioned on an emergency basis as the number of arrivals has surged in recent years.

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The barge, which is owned by UK-based Bibby Marine, is normally used to provide temporary housing for workers when local accommodation isn’t available. With three stories of closely packed bedrooms, the barge resembles a college dormitory, though the rooms are utilitarian. It also includes a kitchen, dining area, common rooms and laundry facilities.

 The Bibby Stockholm is moored in Portland Port on the south coast of England, where some locals have opposed the plan because of concern about the impact on the small surrounding community, which already has a shortage of medical services and is connected to the mainland by a single road. Immigrants rights groups are also opposed, saying it is inappropriate to house asylum-seekers in such accommodation.

 The UK government wants to use barges and former military bases to accommodate some migrants after the cost of housing them in hotels soared to 1.9 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) last year.

 Home Office Minister Sarah Dines told the BBC that people arriving in the UK via unauthorised means should have “basic but proper accommodation” and that they “can’t expect to stay in a four-star hotel.”

Nigerians in diaspora have initiated discussions on how to achieve bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.

The discussions is mostly on how the diaspora can be a progressive instrument of change in achieving successful business networks and enduring trade ties between the two countries.

The target discussions would be in the areas of Aviation, Education, Technology, Agriculture and Resilient Infrastructure during a three days gathering in Dublin.

The gathering, from 27th to 29th October, would focus on bringing together entrepreneurs, captains of industries, and government agencies to initiate conversations on short, medium and long term trade investment opportunities for Nigeria and the Republic of Ireland.

Convener of the conference and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mansions Foods Ireland, Mrs, Edizemi Onilenla, said one of the objectives of the conference is to identify barriers and challenges such as the operation of direct flights between Nigeria and Ireland.

She said this yesterday in Abuja during a news conference on the Irish-Nigerian Partnership Investment Conference to Promote Economic Growth and Collaboration.

Her words: “It aims to target areas such as Aviation, Education, Technology, Agriculture and Resilient Infrastructure. This conference will awaken the age long historical ties between Ireland and Nigeria and aim to improve the quality of this relationships through business discussions, collaborations, networking and partnerships. It is worthy of note that Ireland is currently the only English speaking country in the European Union, which makes it the amazon of the EU and a potential African trade hub that could foster strong ties in connecting Nigeria to other parts of Europe and the UK.

“One of the objectives of the conference is to identify barriers and challenges such as the operation of direct flights between Nigeria and Ireland despite inherent numerous advantages.

Thus, it is to initiate discussions on how to achieve bilateral trade agreement between the two countries and most especially to discuss how the diaspora can be a progressive instrument of change in achieving successful business networks and enduring trade ties between the two countries.

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“Nigeria, as the population and economic powerhouse of Africa, is an attraction for many Irish investors who are looking for new grounds to break. The conference will, therefore, showcase the good qualities of both countries, the power of collaboration, partnership and networking for old and emerging CEOs. Over the years, Nigerian people have looked towards the UK, France, Asia, the U.S. and Canada.”

Irish Charges d’Affaires at the Irish embassy, Shane De Ris said the embassy is working to enhance, deepen and widen the relation between Ireland and Nigeria.

He said Nigerians in Ireland are doing well as students,  healthcare workers or as entrepreneurs. He added that his country is working on deepening its relations with Nigeria and looking for partnerships to enhance each other’s communities, cultures, and people because when one partner prospers, all partners prosper.

Following reports of widespread war crimes in Sudan, the United States, Britain, and Norway have called on the parties in the conflict to put an immediate end to the crisis.

In a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department in Washington, the three condemned, in strong terms, the ongoing violence in the Darfur region, especially the targeting of certain ethnic groups and the widespread use of sexual violence.

The three countries called on the parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law to protect civilians.

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“Full access to conflict-affected areas must be granted so that abuses can be properly investigated and so that life-saving humanitarian aid can reach survivors who urgently need it,” the statement said.

“Those responsible for any atrocities against civilians, especially those including Conflict Related Sexual Violence and the targeting of humanitarian relief actors, medical personnel, and other service providers, must be held to account,” the Troika demanded in the statement.

A report published on Thursday by the human rights organisation Amnesty International shows that there have been indiscriminate attacks and mass civilian casualties in the conflict, which has been going on for more than three months.

Some of the documented human rights violations should be considered war crimes. Already in July, the International Criminal Court announced its intention to investigate possible war crimes in Darfur. Previously, the United Nations had reported mass graves in the west of the region.

Pope Francis celebrated an open-air Mass before a huge crowd yesterday at a waterside park near Lisbon to wrap up an international jamboree of Catholic youth.

Around 1.5 million people attended the service at the Parque Tejo park on the eastern outskirts of the Portuguese capital, the Vatican said.

The crowd waved national flags and cheered as the 86-year-old pope arrived at the park, which was built for the occasion on a former landfill site.

Many had camped out overnight in sleeping bags or floor mats after attending a vigil in the park held by the pope.

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In his homily, Francis thanked the youth for taking part in the festival, calling them “the hope of a different world”.

He also urged the crowd to extend their “affection and prayers” to those who could not come “because of armed conflicts and wars”.

“There are many of them in our world. In thinking of this continent, I feel great sorrow for beloved Ukraine, which continued to suffer greatly,” he added to applause.

With little shade in the park, pilgrims protected themselves from the blazing sun with umbrellas or makeshift tents made from sheets.

Portugal’s state weather agency has issued a “red” alert — its highest level — for Lisbon yesterday due to the heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit).

“It’s extraordinary to be able to be here to see our Pope Francis who has managed to gather people from the whole world,” Pimentel Gomes, a 52-year-old priest from Brazil, told AFP as he sat for breakfast before the Mass.

The pope, who now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to get around, will meet with the thousands of event volunteers yesterday afternoon to thank them before flying back to Rome.

This was his first foreign trip since he spent nine nights in hospital after undergoing hernia surgery in June.

Charlotte Bordas, a 26-year-old who came from Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France, said she was moved to see the pope had made the trip despite his health problems.

“We see he’s really tired, weakened, but he still took the time to come to see us, talk to us, and it is particularly touching for me to see him,” she told AFP.

Francis arrived in Portugal on Wednesday for World Youth Day, a six-day international Catholic jamboree featuring festive, cultural and religious events.

It comes as Francis attempts to galvanise young Catholics at a time when secularism and priest paedophilia scandals cause some to abandon pews in Europe.

The pope met 13 victims of clerical abuse at the Holy See’s diplomatic mission in Lisbon during his first day in Portugal.

“The meeting was held in an atmosphere of intense listening and lasted more than an hour,” the Vatican said.

He also met 15 youths from war-torn Ukraine’s delegation, visited a community centre in Lisbon’s impoverished Serafina neighbourhood and prayed at the shrine of Fatima north of the Portuguese capital.

“It has been an extraordinary moment of joy, of energy, with remarkable speeches by the Holy Father, with very important messages,” Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa told public television RTP before Yesterday’s Mass.

Francis has received an enthusiastic welcome throughout his visit to the Catholic-majority country, with well-wishers lining the streets to see him go by.

World Youth Day, created in 1986 by John Paul II, is the largest Catholic gathering in the world and features a wide range of events, including concerts and prayer sessions.

This edition, initially scheduled for August 2022 but postponed because of the pandemic, is the fourth for Francis after Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Krakow in 2016 and Panama in 2019.

At the end of yesterday’s Mass, the pope announced that Seoul in South Korea would host the next edition in 2027.

Italy’s Coast Guard rescued 57 migrants from two boats that capsized during the night in rough seas south of a tiny Italian island and recovered two bodies, authorities said.

In a statement, the coast guard says it recovered the body of a boy and a woman from one of the capsized vessels and quotes survivors as saying some 30 migrants were missing.

Some 20 others were stranded on rocks after a third shipwreck yesterday.

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According to those who were rescued, 28 people were missing from one vessel and three from the other.

The rescued migrants were found 23 nautical miles (42.5 kilometres) south-west of Lampedusa.

 Meanwhile, several migrants were clinging desperately to jagged rocks of a tall reef off Lampedusa since early Saturday after a third boat crashed into the craggy outcropping west of the island’s lighthouse.

Strong winds and powerful waves made any Coast Guard rescue too dangerous.

The coast guard office in Palermo requested the help of a Sicily-based Alpine and Cave Rescue group, which flew two experts aboard an Italian air force helicopter.

The experts were planning to rescue the stranded migrants using the helicopter, the mountaineering group said.

In all, 34 migrants had been stranded for two nights on the reef, including a woman who is eight months pregnant, said newspaper Giornale di Sicilia. She was taken to a hospital, it said.

Earlier, helicopters dropped food and water down to the migrants, Italian state TV reported.

Ignazio Schintu, an official of the Italian Red Cross says so many migrants have made the crossing in smugglers’ unseaworthy boats launched from Libya and Tunisia in recent days that 2,450 migrants were currently housed at Lampedusa’s temporary residence, which has a capacity of about 400.

Once the winds slacken and the seas turn calm, Italy will resume ferrying hundreds of migrants to Sicily to ease the overcrowding, Mr Schintu told state TV.

The two boats that capsized in open seas were believed to have set out from Sfax — a Tunisian port — on Thursday, when sea conditions were good, according to authorities.

But since conditions were forecast to turn bad on Saturday, “it’s even more criminal for smugglers to let them leave,” said Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson from the UN migration agency IOM.

Before Saturday, a total of 1,814 migrants were known to have perished while attempting the Mediterranean crossing to Italy in boats launched from Tunisia or Libya, he said.

Libyan departures used to be riskier, he said, but because Tunisia-based smugglers have been using particularly flimsy vessels lately, that route is becoming increasingly deadlier.

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are setting out from Tunisia in “fragile iron vessels that after 24 hours, often break in two, and the migrants fall into the sea,” Di Giacomo said.