China’s Xi visits Kazakhstan ahead of summit with Putin

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev awards China's President Xi Jinping with Kazakhstan’s highest honour, the "Golden Eagle Medal", during a meeting in Nur-Sultan on September 14, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 15 September 2022
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China’s Xi visits Kazakhstan ahead of summit with Putin

  • Beijing and Moscow see the SCO as a counterweight to US alliances in East Asia
  • Other SCO governments include India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday started his first foreign trip since the outbreak of the pandemic with a stop in Kazakhstan ahead of a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and other leaders of a Central Asian security group.

Wearing a blue suit and a face mask, Xi was met on the airport tarmac by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and an honor guard, all of whom wore masks.

Xi’s trip underlines the importance Beijing places on asserting its role as a regional leader amid tension with Washington, Japan and India.

Tokayev’s government said the two leaders would discuss energy and trade. Kazakhstan, a sparsely populated country of 19.4 million people and sprawling grasslands, is a major oil and gas producer. China is a leading customer.

Tokayev thanked Xi for his visit, which he said was of “historic significance” and came at a time of “unprecedented, after the end of the Cold War, escalation of international tensions.” He also hailed China’s support of “the economic development of Kazakhstan and our international initiatives.”

The Chinese leader promised to resolutely support Kazakhstan “in protecting its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, firmly support your ongoing reforms to ensure stability and development, and categorically oppose the interference of any forces in the internal affairs” of the country “no matter how the international situation changes.”

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that after his visit to Kazakhstan, Xi flew to Samarkand in neighboring Uzbekistan for a summit of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, led by China and Russia.

Beijing and Moscow see the SCO as a counterweight to US alliances in East Asia.

Other SCO governments include India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Observers include Iran and Afghanistan.

The Chinese leader is promoting a “Global Security Initiative” announced in April following the formation of the Quad by Washington, Japan, Australia and India in response to Beijing’s more assertive foreign policy. Xi has given few details, but US officials complain it echoes Russian arguments in support of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.

Xi and Putin plan to hold a one-on-one meeting and discuss Ukraine, according to the Russian president’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov.

Kazakhstan is part of China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to expand trade by building ports, railways and other infrastructure across an arc of dozens of countries from the South Pacific through Asia to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

The initiative and China’s economic inroads into Central Asia have fueled unease in Russia, which sees the region as its sphere of influence. Kazakhstan and its neighbors are trying to attract Chinese investment without upsetting Moscow.

“This visit is extremely important,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko this week ahead of Xi’s arrival. “We certainly hope that it will advance political and economic and commercial relations with China.”

Pope Francis was in Kazakhstan at the same time as Xi, but there was no indication they might meet. Aboard his flight, the pope was asked about a possible meeting and replied, “I don’t have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.”

Xi’s trip — at a time when his government is urging the Chinese public to avoid foreign travel under its “zero-COVID” strategy — underlines the importance to the ruling Communist Party of asserting China’s strategic ambitions.

Relations with Washington, Europe, Japan and India are strained by disputes over technology, security, human rights and territory.

The summit takes Xi abroad while the party prepares for an October congress at which he is expected to break with political tradition and try to award himself a third five-year term as leader.

That suggests Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, is confident his third term is secure and he doesn’t need to stay home to make last-minute political deals. His trip also might help to promote his standing with nationalists in the ruling party.


OpenAI abandons plan to become for-profit company

Updated 11 sec ago
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OpenAI abandons plan to become for-profit company

SAN FRANCISCO: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Monday that the company behind ChatGPT will continue to be run as a nonprofit, abandoning a contested plan to convert into a for-profit organization.
The structural issue had become a significant point of contention for the artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer, with major investors pushing for the change to better secure their returns.
AI safety advocates had expressed concerns about pursuing substantial profits from such powerful technology without the oversight of a nonprofit board of directors acting in society’s interest rather than for shareholder profits.
“OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,” Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company’s website.
“We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware,” he added.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and later created a “capped” for-profit entity allowing limited profit-making to attract investors, with cloud computing giant Microsoft becoming the largest early backer.
This arrangement nearly collapsed in 2023 when the board unexpectedly fired Altman. Staff revolted, leading to Altman’s reinstatement while those responsible for his dismissal departed.
Alarmed by the instability, investors demanded OpenAI transition to a more traditional for-profit structure within two years.
Under its initial reform plan revealed last year, OpenAI would have become an outright for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC), reassuring investors considering the tens of billions of dollars necessary to fulfill the company’s ambitions.
Any status change, however, requires approval from state governments in California and Delaware, where the company is headquartered and registered, respectively.
The plan faced strong criticism from AI safety activists and co-founder Elon Musk, who sued the company he left in 2018, claiming the proposal violated its founding philosophy.
In the revised plan, OpenAI’s money-making arm will now be fully open to generate profits but, crucially, will remain under the nonprofit board’s supervision.
“We believe this sets us up to continue to make rapid, safe progress and to put great AI in the hands of everyone,” Altman said.
OpenAI’s major investors will likely have a say in this proposal, with Japanese investment giant SoftBank having made the change to being a for-profit a condition for their massive $30 billion investment announced on March 31.
In an official document, SoftBank stated its total investment could be reduced to $20 billion if OpenAI does not restructure into a for-profit entity by year-end.
The substantial cash injections are needed to cover OpenAI’s colossal computing requirements to build increasingly energy-intensive and complex AI models.
The company’s original vision did not contemplate “the needs for hundreds of billions of dollars of compute to train models and serve users,” Altman said.
SoftBank’s contribution in March represented the majority of the $40 billion raised in a funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, marking the largest capital-raising event ever for a startup.
The company, led by Altman, has become one of Silicon Valley’s most successful startups, propelled to prominence in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT, its generative AI chatbot.


Ukraine’s attack damages power substation in Russia’s Kursk region, regional governor says

Updated 15 min 31 sec ago
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Ukraine’s attack damages power substation in Russia’s Kursk region, regional governor says

  • Two teenagers were injured in the attack

Ukraine’s attack late on Monday damaged a power substation in Russia’s Kursk region and injured two teenagers, the governor of the Russian region on the border with Ukraine said.
The attack on the power substation in the town of Rylsk damaged two transformers and cut off power, Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of the Kursk region, said on the Telegram messaging app. 


Trump’s Alcatraz prison restoration plan gets cold reception from tourists

Updated 19 min 36 sec ago
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Trump’s Alcatraz prison restoration plan gets cold reception from tourists

  • Site known as ‘The Rock’ draws 1.2 million tourists a year
  • US closed prison in 1963 due costs of operating on an island

SAN FRANCISCO: US President Donald Trump’s plan to turn Alcatraz back into a federal prison was summarily rejected on Monday by some visitors to the tourist site in San Francisco Bay.
Trump revealed a plan over the weekend to rebuild and expand the notorious island prison, a historic landmark known as “The Rock” and operated by the US government’s National Park Service. It’s “just an idea I’ve had,” he said.
“We need law and order in this country. So we’re going to look at it,” he added on Monday.
Once nearly impossible to leave, the island can be difficult to get to because of competition for tickets. Alcatraz prison held fewer than 300 inmates at a time before it was closed in 1963 and draws roughly 1.2 million tourists a year.
US Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall said on Monday he would vigorously pursue the president’s agenda and was looking at next steps.
“It’s a waste of money,” said visitor Ben Stripe from Santa Ana, California. “After walking around and seeing this place and the condition it’s in, it is just way too expensive to refurbish.” he said.
“It’s not feasible to have somebody still live here,” agreed Cindy Lacomb from Phoenix, Arizona, who imagined replacing all the metal in the cells and rebuilding the crumbling concrete.
The sprawling site is in disrepair, with peeling paint and rusting locks and cell bars. Signs reading “Area closed for your safety” block off access to many parts of the grounds. Chemical toilets sit next to permanent restrooms closed off for repair.
The former home of Al Capone and other notable inmates was known for tough treatment, including pitch-black isolation cells. It was billed as America’s most secure prison given the island location, frigid waters and strong currents.
It was closed because of high operating costs. The island also was claimed by Native American activists in 1969, an act of civil disobedience acknowledged by the National Park Service.
Mike Forbes, visiting from Pittsburgh, said it should remain a part of history. “I’m a former prison guard and rehabilitation is real. Punishment is best left in the past,” Forbes said.
No successful escapes were ever officially recorded from Alcatraz, though five prisoners were listed as “missing and presumed drowned.”
Today a “Supermax” facility located in Florence, Colorado, about 115 miles (185 km) south of Denver, is nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” No one has ever escaped from that 375-inmate facility since it opened in 1994.
Congress in fiscal year 2024 cut the Bureau of Prisons infrastructure budget by 38 percent and prison officials have previously reported a $3 billion maintenance backlog. The Bureau of Prisons last year said it would close aging prisons, as it struggled with funding cuts. 


18 British student groups support legal action to remove Hamas from UK terror list

Updated 25 min 4 sec ago
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18 British student groups support legal action to remove Hamas from UK terror list

  • The groups, some of which are affiliated with student unions at leading universities, say the ban ‘creates an atmosphere where advocacy for Palestine becomes a legal risk’
  • The prohibition of Hamas means it is a criminal offense for anyone in the UK to have links with the organization or show support for it

LONDON: Eighteen student groups at British universities have supported legal moves to remove Hamas from the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

Some of the groups are affiliated with student unions at leading UK academic institutions, including the London School of Economics, the University of Edinburgh, and University College London.

The groups said the legal petition “defends the right of students, academics and communities to think freely, speak openly and organize without fear of being criminalized,” The Times newspaper reported on Monday.

In April, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk instructed British firm Riverway Law to take legal action with the aim of removing his organization from a Home Office list of terrorist groups. The military wing of Hamas was banned by UK authorities in 2001. The ban was extended in 2021 to include its political bureau.

Lawyers from the firm said in April that by banning Hamas, “Britain is effectively denying the Palestinians the right to defend themselves.” The organization “does not pose any threat” to Britain’s national security, they added, and the ban was therefore “disproportionate.”

The prohibition of Hamas means it is a criminal offense for anyone in the UK to have any links with the organization or show support for it.

The student groups said the ban on Hamas “creates an atmosphere where advocacy for Palestine becomes a legal risk,” and students who participated in pro-Palestinian activism faced intimidation and threats.

“We therefore stand in support of Riverway Law’s application to deproscribe Hamas, not as an endorsement of any group, but to protect the civic space essential for academic freedom and open inquiry,” they said.

The student organizations backing the legal challenge include Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society, LSE Divest Encampment for Liberation, University of Birmingham Friends of Palestine, Newcastle Apartheid Off Campus, and the Students Against Apartheid Coalition at the University of Leeds.


Hegseth directs 20 percent cut to top military leadership positions

Updated 56 min 1 sec ago
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Hegseth directs 20 percent cut to top military leadership positions

  • In a memo dated Monday, Hegseth said the cuts will remove “redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership”

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday directed the active duty military to shed 20 percent of its four-star general officers as the Trump administration keep pushing the services to streamline their top leadership positions.
Hegseth also told the National Guard to shed 20 percent of its top positions.
In a memo dated Monday, Hegseth said the cuts will remove “redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.”
On top of the cuts to the top-tier four-star generals, Hegseth has also directed the military to shed an additional 10 percent of its general and flag officers across the force, which could include any one-star or above or equivalent Navy rank.