Author: Starvision News Desk

Manila, July 10 (IANS) The Philippines’ Department of Finance (DOF) on Monday said it signed a $600 million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) to fund a rural development project that will modernise agriculture and improve infrastructure.The DOF said the loan agreement was signed on July 7 for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale-up, which is geared towards transforming agriculture into a modernized and industrialised sector through public infrastructure interventions and strengthening the commodity value chain, reports Xinhua news agency.PRDP Scale-Up, an initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is an expanded response to the persistent challenges confronting…

Canberra, July 10 (IANS) The Australian government on Monday announced that it will set up a voluntary betting exclusion scheme in August in a bid to stop gambling addiction.In a statement, the government said that BetStop will allow Australians to exclude themselves from all 150 licensed online gambling companies for a period from three months to permanently, reports Xinhua news agency.Those companies will not be allowed to open accounts in the name of, accept wagers from or send marketing materials to anyone who is on the register.It will be rolled out from August 21, as will new rules requiring online…

Jakarta, July 10 (IANS) The Karangetang volcano on Siau Island off the coast of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi erupted on Monday, with authorities warning locals and tourists to stay away from the area.Head of the country’s Geological Agency, Sugeng Mujiyanto said in a statement that the volcano, consisting of two active summit craters, has launched hot ash as far as 2 km to the southeast, reports Xinhua news agency.He suggested that nearby residents and visitors avoid activities within a 2.5-3.5 km radius of the craters over “potential dangers from lava flows and hot clouds”.Authorities have raised the alert to level 3…

Washington, July 10 (IANS) US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has termed her China visit as “highly constructive” with very substantive series of meetings with state officials as Washington sought to stabilise its relations with Beijing after months of escalating trade tensions even as America struggled to settle a mounting one trillion trade imbalance with the Asian giant.The timing of the Treasury Secretary’s four-day visit to Beijing came under the shadow of the high profile visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington leading to defence deals, supply of jet engines to combat aircraft by GE, drones supply, and strengthening…

Seoul, July 10 (IANS) The number of unregistered baby cases under police investigation in South Korea has increased to 939, as a nationwide campaign is under way to confirm the well-being of more than 2,000 undocumented babies born since 2015, the National Office of Investigation said on Monday.A total of 1,069 “ghost baby” cases had been reported to police as July 7, and 939 of them are currently under investigation, the Office said.The latest figure marks an increase of 159 additional cases under investigation since the tally on July 6, reports Yonhap News Agency.Of the total cases filed, 34 babies…

Beijing, July 10 (IANS) At least six people were killed and one injured in a stabbing incident at a kindergarten school in China’s Guangdong province on Monday, police said.Police told the BBC that the incident occured at about 7.40 a.m. and added that a 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection.Although the police did not reveal any details about the victims, they called the incident a case of “intentional assault”.A probe into the cause of the attack is underway.–IANSksk

San Francisco, July 10 (IANS) Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, along with authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, have sued Sam Altman-run OpenAI and Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta over dual claims of copyright infringement.The lawsuits alleged that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA (a set of large language models) were trained on illegally-acquired datasets containing their works.Their works were allegedly acquired from “shadow library” websites like Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and others, noting the books are “available in bulk via torrent systems,” reports The Verge.”When ChatGPT is prompted, ChatGPT generates summaries of plaintiffs’ copyrighted works — something only possible if ChatGPT was…

New York, July 10 (IANS) Indian-Americans Jayshree Ullal, Neerja Sethi, Neha Narkhede, and Indra Nooyi feature in the ninth Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women list of 2023.The four have been named to the list of 100 most successful entrepreneurs, executives, and entertainers in the US with a cumulative wealth of record $124 billion, up nearly 12 per cent from a year ago. Silicon Valley engineer and Cisco veteran Jayshree Ullal, 62, leads the Indian-American pack ranking at number 15 on the list with a net worth of $2.2 billion. According to Forbes, Ullal joined the computer networking company Arista Networks as…

Washington, July 10 (IANS) Ukraine is not yet ready for a NATO membership, US President Joe Biden said, adding that Russia needs to first end its ongoing invasion of Kiev, only then can the military alliance consider adding the war-torn nation to its ranks.In a CNN interview on Sunday night, the President said that although talks of granting Kiev a NATO membership was “premature”, the US and its allies in the military allinace will continue to provide Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his forces the security and weaponry they need to try to end the war with Russia.“I don’t think…

Washington, July 9 (IANS) US President Joe Biden on Sunday embarked on Europe visit which is expected to be dominated by the US approval of munitions to Ukraine and bolstering North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) alliance.During his five day trip from July 9-13, Biden will visit the UK, Lithuania and Finland to bolster NATO, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had said in a statement.In the first leg of his visit, Biden will have a stopover in London on Sunday night. The US President on Monday has scheduled engagements with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to further…