Latest news

The conflict in the South China Sea 

 

Chinese aircraft circled Philippine patrol  

 

Chinese aircraft circled a Philippine plane participating in a patrol with Australia in the South China Sea on Sunday, Reuters writes.  

 

"It has been confirmed that two Chinese jets circled the Philippines' A-29B Super Tucano in the vicinity of Hubo Reef in the West Philippine Sea," said Xerxes Trinidad, a military spokesman.  

 

The Philippine Sea is Manila's name for the part of the South China Sea that constitutes the country's exclusive economic zone.  

 

China has previously accused the Philippines of using "foreign forces" to "cause trouble" in the area.  

 

The Philippines, in turn, believes that China is behaving more and more aggressively. 

 

**************************************

 

Political situation in Sierra Leone  

 

National curfew is introduced in Sierra Leone  

 

Sierra Leone has issued a nationwide curfew after an attack on a weapons arsenal in the capital Freetown earlier on Sunday, writes AFP. 

 

- A national curfew has been declared with immediate effect across the country. We advise all citizens to stay indoors, says Sierra Leone's Information Minister Chernor Bah, according to Reuters.  

 

According to the government, a military facility was attacked early on Sunday by "unidentified perpetrators". However, the attack was repelled by the military.  

 

***********************************

 

The political situation in Congo-Kinshasa 

  

The Nobel laureate launches a presidential election campaign  

 

Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege has launched an election campaign to become the next president of Congo-Kinshasa. This is reported by TT.  

 

- During my five-year mandate, I want to give the Congolese people back their dignity and their rights, says Mukwege, who announced that he planned to stand in the elections in October this year.  

 

Denis Mukwege is a gynecologist and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against sexual violence in conflicts in 2018. In recent years, he has also made himself known as a sharp critic of the current government in Congo-Kinshasa, according to TT.

 

The development of AI 

FT: Employees move forward with sales in Open AI 

 

Despite the turmoil of the past week, several of Open AI's major investors believe that the imminent sale of employee shares will give the Chat GPT developer a high valuation, writes the Financial Times.  

 

The sale, which was planned before CEO Sam Altman was unexpectedly fired and then resumed his post, was expected to value the company at $86 billion. Now Open AI employees are said to want to go ahead with the plans – and still at a similar valuation.  

 

At the same time, it will be the first test of how investors' interest in the AI company may have been affected by the carousel. 

 

- This was close to destroying the company's value and it is difficult to say what will happen next, Vinod Khosla, who was an early investor in Open AI, told the FT.  

 

However, experts assess that the company's value has taken a serious hit from the circus of the past week.  

 

*********************************

Mysterious contagion in China  

China: Released restrictions behind lung diseases  

 

The severe local outbreaks of pneumonia in China, which have caused the World Health Organization to worry and request more information, are due to common influenza and other "known pathogens". China's Ministry of Health says so, according to AP. 

 

On Thursday, China handed over data to the WHO that allegedly shows the same conclusion.  

 

New influenza types or other viruses that can develop into pandemics are often first noticed as large local clusters of outbreaks, AP writes.  

 

China has previously said that the strong spread of lung diseases is due to the dismantling of the restrictions that prevailed during covid-19.  

 

***********************************

 

The tunnel collapse in India 

The chance: Drills from above despite the risk of race 

 

Rescue workers have begun drilling down towards the 41 people trapped in a tunnel in India from above. This is stated by several media.  

 

According to the Indian Express, it is 86 meters to the victims from above - almost twice as far as from the side.  

 

Drilling vertically also carries far higher risks of triggering new landslides.  

 

The horizontal rescue corridor that reached almost all the way to the victims was blocked when a drilling machine got stuck and broke on Saturday.