Canada MP seeks expulsion of Chinese diplomatic o icial

A CANADIAN lawmaker on Wednesday called for Ottawa to expel a Chinese diplomat accused of having sought to intimidate him and his family in Hong Kong over the MP’s criticisms of Beijing.

Conservative MP Michael Chong’s call was echoed by fellow opposition lawmakers who demanded action during a heated exchange in parliament in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government was put on the back foot.

The outcry followed a damning report this week by the Globe and Mail claiming the government turned a blind eye to Beijing’s interference in Canadian affairs.

Citing classified documents and an anonymous security source, the newspaper said China’s intelligence agency had planned to target Chong and his relatives with sanctions for having voted in February 2021 for a motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang as genocide.

This was “almost certainly meant to make an example of this MP and deter others from taking anti-PRC positions,” it cited a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) document as saying, using an acronym for the

Comer said, without providing details of any accusations against the Democrat.

The White House dismissed the probe as another example of Republicans improperly targeting the president for partisan ends.

“For going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically motivated attacks against (the president) without offering evidence for their claims. Or evidence of decisions infl uenced by anything other than US interests. They prefer trafficking in innuendo,” Biden’s spokesman Ian Sams said.

“When it comes to President Biden’s personal fi nances, anybody can take a look: he has offered an unprecedented level of transparency, releasing a total of 25 years of tax returns to the American public.” AFP official at China’s consulate in Toronto was said to be involved in the intrigue. needs to be declared persona non grata immediately,” Chong told reporters in Ottawa after being briefed on the details by CSIS. come clean about who knew what and when and what they did about it,” he said, in comments followed by a blustering question and answer session of Parliament on the issue.

People’s Republic of China.

RUSSIA fired up to 24 attack drones against Ukraine overnight, 18 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday, a day after Moscow accused Kyiv of a drone attack on the Kremlin.

“The invaders launched up to 24 Shahed-136/131 attack drones... The Air Force of Ukraine, in cooperation with other air defence units, shot down 18 attack drones,” the air force said on Telegram.

Sergiy Popko, the head of the city of Kyiv’s military administration, said that according to preliminary information “all enemy missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were destroyed over Kyiv by air defence forces.”

Popko said it was the third day of attempted strikes on Kyiv in May.

“Our city has not experienced such intensity of strikes since the beginning of this year,” Popko said.

He said that debris from the downed drones had fallen on different parts of Kyiv but there were no casualties.

Moscow on Wednesday said Ukraine had launched two drones against the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin threatened a tough response.

Ukraine has denied any involvement and the country’s Western allies have also cast doubt on the report. AFP

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STOCKS rose Thursday, shrugging off the sour mood surrounding the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it was raising interest rates yet again and likely keeping them high for the foreseeable future.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed 77 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 6,684.35, as all six subsectors advanced, led by property shares.

The broader all-share index went up 28 points, or 0.81 percent, to settle at 3,553.64 on a value turnover of P4.54 billion. Losers edged gainers, 97 to 96, while 45 issues were unchanged.

Eight of the 10 most active stocks ended in the green, led by PLDT Inc. which climbed 4.59 percent to P1,254.00 and Ayala Land Inc. which rose 4.56 percent to P28.65.

The peso was barely moved Thursday to close at 55.35 against the US dollar.

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SAN FRANCISCO, USA—Microsoft on Thursday expanded public access to its generative artificial intelligence programs, despite fears that tech firms are rushing ahead too quickly with potentially dangerous technology.

The AI-enhanced features of the company’s Bing search engine and Edge internet browser are now open for anyone to use, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, said in a blog post.

“This means that it will now be easier than ever for everyone to try the new Bing and Edge by simply signing into Bing with your Microsoft Account,” Mehdi said.

The services have been enhanced with the ability to work with images as well as text, and Microsoft intends to add video to the mix, according to the executive.

A Bing “Image Creator” was recently integrated into its AI chatbot’s repertoire, allowing it to generate visual, as well as written, content, Mehdi said.

“We are expanding Image Creator to all languages in Bing,” he added. “So now you can create images in your native language.”

Risks from AI include its potential uses for fraud, with voice clones, deepfake videos and convincing written messages.

A range of experts in March urged a pause in the development of powerful AI systems to allow time to make sure they are safe. Their open letter, signed by more than 1,000 people, including billionaire Elon Musk and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, was prompted by generative AI technology from Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI.

“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity,” the letter read.

“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” it said.

A prominent computer scientist often dubbed “the godfather of artificial intelligence” recently quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology.

Geoffrey Hinton said at an MIT forum on Wednesday that it makes sense to halt the development of AI. But he added that the idea is naive given the intense competition between countries and companies involved in the sector.

Hinton, who created some of the technology underlying AI systems, maintained that the existential threat from AI is “serious and close.”

In the three months since AI-powered Bing and Edge were unveiled, more than a half a billion chats have taken place, according to Mehdi. Microsoft has so far seen people make more than 200 million images with Bing creator software, Mehdi said. AFP

Meanwhile, all three major US indices declined along with the dollar after the Fed’s hike, while recession worries drove US oil prices below $70 a barrel, where they remained on Thursday.

But Hong Kong bucked the slide on Wall Street to finish with solid gains of nearly 1.3 percent, even as its de facto central bank moved to boost rates in line with the Fed.

While Shanghai also rose, Chinese shares overall see-sawed throughout the day, with the CSI 300 index ultimately finishing flat amid concerns over an uneven economic recovery.

Taipei, Wellington, Mumbai, Jakarta and Singapore were all up, while Sydney was slightly down and Seoul was flat. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.

Attention now shifts to Thursday’s meeting of the European Central Bank, which is expected to deliver another rate increase of its own.

London, Paris and Frankfurt were all down in early trade.

Meanwhile, fears of widespread banking turmoil were revived on Thursday as shares of regional US lender PacWest plummeted by more than half in after-hours trading.

The selloff was apparently spurred by reports the bank was considering the possibility of a sale or other capital-raising measures in the wake of the recent collapses of other mid-size lend- ers, which had first sparked concerns for the health of the sector.

PacWest sought to reassure investors in a statement, insisting it had not “experienced out-of-the-ordinary deposit flows” since the banking fears first arose, and that its “cash and available liquidity remains solid”.

The bank said it was routine to “continuously review strategic options”, adding it had been “approached by several potential partners and investors”.

But Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, told Bloomberg that investors were unlikely to be convinced, adding that “there is nothing to suggest that the banking crisis is at an end”. Oil, meanwhile, was still down on Thursday after taking a hit over fears of weaker demand due to an economic slowdown.

US benchmark WTI was trading below $70 a barrel in the afternoon after previously hitting its lowest price since OPEC+ cut output a month ago. With AFP

SINGAPORE—Bhutan and Singapore-based Bitdeer have announced plans to raise $500 million to set up crypto mining operations that use the Himalayan kingdom’s plentiful hydropower.

Huge amounts of electricity are needed to power the vast computer farms that mine for cryptocurrency, leading to heavy criticism of their impact on the climate and a search for greener mining options.

Soaring energy costs have also squeezed crypto firms, leading to the birth of several initiatives to find cheaper and more sustainable ways to power their operations in a notoriously risky and volatile industry.

The initiative announced on Wednes- day by the Bhutan government’s investment arm Druk and Nasdaq-listed crypto-mining firm Bitdeer includes the construction of data centers and investment in renewable energy such as hydropower and hydrogen.

“The Partnership with Bitdeer to launch a carbon-free digital asset mining datacenter represents an investment in a more connected and sustainable domestic economy,” Druk CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal said in a joint statement with Bitdeer.

Bhutan, sandwiched between India and China, is carbon-negative and its constitution mandates that 60 percent of the country remains forested.

It has an abundant supply of hydropower and exports electricity to India, but has ramped up efforts in recent years to expand revenue sources and diversify its economy.

Druk and Bitdeer, which already runs data centers in Norway and the United States, said they expect to begin raising funds for the initiative by the end of May.

Bitdeer is owned by Chinese crypto billionaire Jihan Wu, and began trading on the Nasdaq in April.

Last year, dozens of companies united under the umbrella of the Crypto Climate Accord, pledging to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

Two US firms—Block and Blockstream— are preparing to launch a fully solar-powered bitcoin mine in June. AFP

5 & 6, 2023)

NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING

To All Stockholders:

Please be informed that the annual meeting of stockholders of BRIGHT KINDLE RESOURCES & INVESTMENTS, INC. (the Corporation”) for the year 2023, which is scheduled every last Thursday of May of each year, has been postponed and reset to a later date.

The purpose of the postponement is to give Management sufficient time to prepare for the meeting.

A Notice of Meeting will be issued in relation to the new meeting date.