Thailand's progressive opposition leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, has announced that eight parties have agreed to form a coalition government with him as prime minister, following Move Forward's victory in the national election last Sunday. Although the proposed coalition will have a majority in the House of Representatives, it must also obtain the support of the unelected Senate to select a new prime minister. All senators were appointed by the 2014 military junta, which constitutionally requires the Senate to vote alongside the lower house. Some senators have already stated that they will refuse to support Limjaroenrat as prime minister because of his stance on the lese-majeste law.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party, which won a surprise victory in Sunday’s elections, has called for a coalition government including pre-poll favourite Pheu Thai and six smaller pro-democracy parties with a total of 313 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament. The party wants to reform, rather than abolish, the law against insulting the monarchy and has made cutting the military’s political grip the centrepiece of its campaign. However, the country’s Senate is appointed and could block Pita as prime minister. Thailand has averaged one coup every seven years since 1932.
U.S. lawmakers haven't yet regulated Big Tech. Artificial intelligence could be more challenging
CBC
23-05-18 08:00
Computer scientists and policymakers face a regulatory puzzle in developing a legal definition for artificial intelligence (AI) and creating regulations for its use. At a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sam Altman, head of artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, advocated for a series of regulations to ensure that the negative impacts of increasingly powerful AI systems could be minimised; his firm has created ChatGPT, which enables chatbots to provide human-like responses. While some panellists and senators discussed AI as a broad concept, others addressed it more narrowly. The regulatory challenge lies in creating rules that protect against the potential harm posed by new technologies while encouraging innovation. One concern is that any federal agency or regulatory programme is likely to add constituencies who use government power to further their own interests. Others warn that too much regulation could stifle AI industry growth.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Thailand's Move Forward party is confident in being able to form a coalition government, following its victory in the election. Despite 36% of Thais voting for the party, there is a risk that the military-appointed Senate could block the administration. Nevertheless, Pita Limjaroenrat has presented the party's path to government as a democratic inevitability to counter conservative opposition from the Senate. The party has managed to form alliances with other parties to secure 313 of the 376 votes needed, and this outcome has been interpreted as Thailand's rejection of the military-backed rule.
The municipality of Fairfield, with a population of around 120,000, was declared a city. Fairfield covers the suburbs of Horsley Park, Wetherill Park, Bossley Park, Smithfield, Fairfield, Carramar, Lansvale, Canley Vale, Cabramatta, Mt Pritchard, Bonnyrigg, Edensor Park, St Johns Park, and part of Villawood. Meanwhile, two Australian-made solar barbecues were tested at a swimming pool in Blacktown, and a classified nuclear document was found on an open library shelf, triggering an investigation by US Senator John Glenn.
Regulators including Michael Barr, vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve, will testify before the US Senate on bank failures following the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank this year. Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation board of directors, will also attend the hearing. Large customer withdrawals preceded a run on SVB in March 2023, forcing regulators to take over the bank, just before Signature Bank went under. Regulators and state officials will be examined to determine who was responsible for the banks’ closures.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is poised to issue a third round of endorsements in the state’s legislative races, backing a further 19 Republican candidates. Youngkin is hoping to strengthen his grip on the General Assembly, with all 140 seats up for election this fall, in what is seen as a critical vote to determine control of the legislature for the remainder of his term. The governor’s backing of candidates including experienced legislators, business executives, small business leaders, and law enforcement officials, is a significant boost for their election prospects as they seek the GOP nomination in contested primaries.
Youngkin’s agenda, which focuses on tax cuts and greater restrictions on abortion access, has been hampered by the General Assembly’s divided political stance, though he has managed to secure bipartisan support for certain parts of it. The governor is expected to use the upcoming election as an opportunity to push through his agenda. There are concerns that his backing for candidates who espouse this agenda may further polarise the legislature, potentially making it more difficult to secure support from across the aisle. There are also lingering doubts that Youngkin intends to run for President this year, which he has vehemently denied.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which is held in giant subterranean caverns, is at its lowest level for 40 years after half was removed last year in an attempt to stabilise oil markets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The SPR can hold 714 million barrels, but currently just 357 million are held. The Biden administration has announced plans to buy an additional three million barrels for delivery in August, however, it faces criticism from Republican lawmakers, who claim the administration is driving up oil prices by holding back new drilling.
Technology companies, including email provider Proton, review site Yelp and pricing service Kelkoo, have urged US public officials to reject industry rivals’ attempts to “overrule democratically passed anti-monopoly laws” in the Indo-Pacific negotiations currently taking place. The coalition has voiced concern that big tech companies are trying to “block policies that would prohibit their anti-competitive practices”. They claim that a “lack of transparency” about the talks has led to the views of some digital firms unfairly dominating discussions, with small and medium tech firms largely excluded. Such moves have prompted the involvement of lawmakers from both sides of the US political aisle, as well as consumer advocacy groups, but business groups have said that digital trade provisions would ensure that other countries don’t block US-generated data flows. Meanwhile, the tech industry group that includes Amazon, Google, Apple and Meta, amongst others, has called on the administration to ensure its digital trade policies address potential overseas economic barriers for American tech companies.
The Pentagon overestimated the value of weapons it sent to Ukraine by around $3bn, according to sources. Assigned values were too high as replacement cost, rather than as the value as depreciated from purchase. It is possible the amount of overvalued weaponry could grow beyond $3bn as the Pentagon continues to examine the situation. Since August 2021, the US has sent weapons valued up to $21.1bn to Ukraine, an important and sensitive ally in its ongoing stand-off with Russia. Changing the valuation could delay the Biden administration's need to ask Congress to authorise further funds for Ukraine.
A special committee of the Vermont House of Representatives is to begin investigating the possible impeachment of Franklin County sheriff and state's attorney, John Grismore and John Lavoie, respectively. If the committee feels the House should hold an impeachment vote, Democratic Speaker Jill Krowinski said she will call the chamber back into session.
A bipartisan group of US senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is working on developing legislation to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The group has consulted almost 100 different people, including academics, scientists and technology company CEOs. Schumer expressed concerns over the accuracy of AI technologies, including ChatGPT, which have sparked broad fears among many people that such tools could upend jobs, spread misinformation, and infringe copyright. Schumer has also called for swift action due to the pace of advancements in AI.
US President Joe Biden's latest judicial nominee, former New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney, has appeared to be withdrawn after opposition from both Democratic and Republican senators. While Delaney's nomination had been on the Senate Judiciary Committee's agenda for a month, it never progressed to a vote due to a lack of support. Democratic concerns over a legal brief Delaney signed in defence of a repealed law requiring parents be notified before their minor child has an abortion have contributed to the opposition to his nomination.
OpenAI has launched an app to allow wider access to its sophisticated ChatGPT chatbot, which handles inquiries and responds with an artificial intelligence-generated answer. Available from the Apple App Store, the mobile product mirrors the website, but also incorporates voice recognition tool Whisper. The groundbreaking chatbot was used by more than 100 million people in January this year and has grown in popularity since it was first launched in November, leading to concerns from AI ethicists over the technology's potential for misuse. The app is now set for release on Android devices in the coming weeks, OpenAI said.
The proposed legislation in Illinois could see firearms businesses, including gun dealers, being sued for breaking Illinois law, which includes marketing to minors. The state’s House passed the bill, and it has recently been confirmed that Governor J.B. Pritzker will sign it into law. The bill was introduced by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a Democrat, stating that the marketing of firearms to minors encourages the unlawful use of firearms and contributes to gun violence; however, Republican lawmakers objected to it, perceiving too broad a spectrum of coverage in court.
Former Mississippi state Senator Johnny Morgan has died in a plane crash in Arkansas. Morgan, aged 76, was the only person aboard the Beech King Air E-90 when it crashed in southern Washington County. It left the University-Oxford airport before crashing on a private property near to Winslow. Morgan had previously served in the Mississippi state Senate from 1983 to 1991 and acted as a Lafayette County, Mississippi, supervisor from 2003.
The House Freedom Caucus has demanded that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suspend negotiations on raising the debt limit with the White House and focus on getting the House-passed “Limit, Save, Grow Act” through the Senate instead. The Republican group wants no discussion until the Republican-backed legislation has passed the Senate, which is currently an unlikely prospect as it would need to garner at least 60 votes in the Democratic-led Senate. McCarthy has told reporters negotiations on the budget were ongoing, as he aims to get a vote next week in the House on an agreement. The “X-date” — the day when Washington could run out of cash to pay the government’s bills on time — could arrive as early as June 1 according to the Treasury Department.
Mexico’s Supreme Court rules tourist train, other projects are not issues of national security
The Toronto Star
23-05-18 21:06
Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that the country’s government cannot use the pretext of national security to keep the public from accessing information related to tourist trains and other public work projects. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had exempted the Maya Train tourism project from public reporting and normal permitting requirements, arguing that its security importance demanded urgency. However, with legal challenges to the measures brought by environmentalists, cave divers, and archaeologists, it is unclear whether the ruling will affect rights beyond transparency, or if it will affect fast-tracking permits or rejecting project proposals on security grounds.
The US has overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $3bn as a result of assigning a higher than warranted value on weaponry that was taken from US stocks. This calculation may lead the way for further weaponry to be sent to Kyiv and could delay the Biden administration's need to seek additional funds for Ukraine, amid the country's intensifying debt ceiling fight. Since August 2021, Washington has sent about $21.1bn worth of weaponry to Ukraine across 37 Presidential Drawdown Authority packages, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers and Javelin anti-tank weapons.
The University System of Georgia may follow in the footsteps of Florida and Texas by axing diversity, equity and inclusion positions across its campuses. Georgia's public universities suffered a budget cut of $66m, and in response, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has given the chancellor, Sonny Perdue, an ultimatum to find out what spending is taking place in DEI departments across Georgia's universities. Perdue has been given until the end of June 2022 to provide information on the number of staff members, job titles, descriptions and salaries, while Jones has also requested how much funding comes from the state budget, and if state funding is being misappropriated. Heritage Foundation has conducted research on DEI positions across America, revealing that the average university has 45 DEI staff members, compared with 10 positions spent on assisting students with disabilities, as required by law, and 1.5 times the amount of history professors.
