UN

China’s Ant, Baidu, Tencent collaborate with US firms OpenAI, Nvidia on publishing first global generative AI standards

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China’s Ant Group, Baidu and Tencent Holdings have joined forces with leading global tech companies including OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia to publish two international standards on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs). The companies on Tuesday released the “Generative AI Application Security Testing and Validation Standard” and the “Large Language Model Security … Read more

Saudi Arabia, Where Women Are Stoned To Death, To Lead UN Women’s Rights Group

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Saudi Arabia has been chosen to lead a top United Nations (UN) women’s rights group. Campaigners have since lashed out at the unopposed bid, pointing the finger at the UN for ignoring the nation’s “abysmal” treatment of women. Abdulaziz Alwasil, Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the UN, was named the chair of the Commission on the … Read more

Restoring Ukraine science infrastructure will cost $1.3 billion: UN

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PARIS: More than 1,400 buildings belonging to scientific institutions in Ukraine have been damaged in Russia’s invasion and restoring public science infrastructure will cost $1.26 billion, a UN agency said on Monday.The UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organisation UNESCO and the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine released the findings as Russia’s invasion of the … Read more

$360b Investment Needed Yearly To Achieve Gender Equality, UN Report

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This week, UN Women, the arm of the United Nations that focuses on women’s rights and gender equality, warned that more than one in five women and girls are at risk of living in extreme poverty by 2030. If current trends continue, the UN Women report estimated that more than 340 million females, around 8 … Read more

UNRWA Says There Is ‘No Evidence’ That Pairs Gaza Aid Workers With Hamas

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Last month, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) revealed that it was investigating allegations against employees being involved in Hamas’ on-the-ground massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7. The allegations were spelt out in an Israeli intelligence document and also accused more than 180 of the UNRWA’s 13,000 employees were … Read more

UNICEF Estimate That More Than 17,000 Children Have Lost Their Parents In Gaza

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More than 17,000 Palestinian children have been left unaccompanied or separated from their parents in the Gaza Strip, the children’s arm of the United Nations has estimated. UNICEF (the Convention on the Rights of the Child) also reported that almost all of the children in the besieged enclave are in need of urgent mental health … Read more

Force of nature: China’s top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua steps down after more than 15 years in environment diplomacy

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A Tianjin native, Xie was trained as an engineering physicist at Tsinghua University in the 1970s and started his career in various government agencies responsible for environmental affairs. While he rose through the ranks, he earned a master’s degree in environmental law from Wuhan University in 1993. Xie was made the head of the State … Read more

Mixed feelings greet outcomes of UN anti-corruption conference in U.S.

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Over 100 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from across the world have expressed mixed feelings over the outcomes of the just-concluded 10th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC CoSP10) in Atlanta, the United States of America. They said the outcomes fell short of what they and some State Parties had set … Read more

Why we’ll not participate in advocacy, enlightenment campaigns

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The Minister of Women and Social Development, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, says her ministry will not spend a kobo on advocacy and enlightenment campaigns, describing them as “frivolous meetings.” She also said millions of dollars are spent on “speaking English and travelling” with nothing to gain from such activities. Mrs Kennedy-Ohaneye stated this on Wednesday while speaking … Read more