Facebook parent Meta Platforms has discussed integrating Meta's generative AI model into Apple Inc's recently announced AI system for iPhones, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Apart from Google and Meta, AI startups Anthropic and Perplexity have also been in discussions with Apple to bring their generative AI to Apple Intelligence, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple, Meta, Perplexity and Anthropic did not respond immediately to requests for c

World Business June 23, 2024

TOKYO -- The European Union is seeking security and defense industry partnerships with Japan and South Korea aimed at joint development of military equipment, the Nikkei reported on Sunday, citing a senior EU commission official. These would mark the EU's first such security and defense-related collaboration with Asian nations, the Japanese business newspaper said in a report from Brussels that did not identify the official. The bloc hopes to reach a ministerial-level agreement with Japan b

World News June 23, 2024

CAIRO -- Israeli tanks backed by warplanes and drones advanced deeper into the western part of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah on Wednesday, killing eight people, according to residents and Palestinian medics. Residents said the tanks moved into five neighborhoods after midnight. Heavy shelling and gunfire hit the tents of displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, further to the west of the coastal enclave, they said. Some eight months into the war, there has been no sign of let up in the fighting

World News June 20, 2024

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned visit to North Korea has been well prepared and will bring good results, foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin was quoted by state news agency TASS as saying on Monday. Putin, who has developed closer relations with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, is expected to visit the country shortly.

World News June 17, 2024

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) -- President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia needed to cut imports, significantly boost the use of non-Western currencies in trade settlement and called for a major expansion of the country's domestic financial markets. Putin, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, said trade with Asia was soaring and that nearly 40 percent of Russian external trade was now in rubles as the share conducted in US dollars, euros and other Western currencies d

World News June 7, 2024

BEIJING (Reuters) -- Tesla released a software upgrade for its in-car navigation system in China on Friday, introducing new features such as displaying lane markings on its maps that correspond to the actual lanes on the road. The company announced the update on its official WeChat account along with a series of new features added in the latest over-the-air upgrade that it claimed would reduce users' reliance on smartphone applications while driving. Tesla did not specify the provider of th

Technology June 7, 2024

SINGAPORE - Chinese defence chief Dong Jun will discuss global security in an address at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday that is often the highlight of the summit's last day, but may be overshadowed by the presence of Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskiy. Dong's speech comes a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told delegates the Indo-Pacific region remained a key focus for the United States, even as it grappled with security assistance for Ukraine and the war in Gaza. &qu

World News June 2, 2024

SINGAPORE -- China landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Sunday, a landmark mission aiming to retrieve the world's first rock and soil samples from the dark lunar hemisphere, China's space agency said. The landing elevates China's space power status in a global rush to the moon, where countries, including the United States, are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade. The Chang'e-6 c

World News June 2, 2024

Israeli air strikes killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in an area in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced, Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said. The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah and that the strike was carried out with "precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence." It took out Hamas' chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior official behind deadl

World News May 27, 2024

BEIJING (Reuters) -- The deputy chairman of the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association told a seminar on Wednesday that annual output growth would be in a range of -1 percent to 1 percent this year, having previously forecast expansion of 1 percent. China, the world's biggest coal producer, mined 4.66 billion metric tons of the fuel in 2023, up 2.9 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. CCTD deputy chairman Li Xuegang said it will be "extr

World News May 22, 2024

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whose helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain in northern Iran on Sunday, became a contender to be Iran's next supreme leader with a clampdown on morality questions and a bloody crackdown on the nationwide protests it triggered. Raisi's victory in an election in 2021, after heavyweight conservative and moderate rivals were disqualified by a hard-line oversight body, brought all branches of power under the control of hard-liners loyal to Supreme Leader

World News May 20, 2024

SINGAPORE -- Singapore was to inaugurate Lawrence Wong on Wednesday as its new prime minister and fourth leader since independence six decades ago, completing a carefully calibrated power transfer designed to guarantee continuity in the wealthy city-state. Wong, 51, comes from among a crop of so-called "4G" leaders, a new generation of politicians hand-picked by the long-ruling People's Action Party to take over the reins of the key Asian trade and financial center. Wong will retain hi

World News May 15, 2024

Flash floods caused by heavy rains have devastated villages in northern Afghanistan, killing 315 people and injuring more than 1,600, authorities said on Sunday, as villagers buried their dead and aid agencies warned of widening havoc. Thousands of homes were damaged and livestock wiped out, the Taliban-run refugee ministry said, while aid groups warned of damage to health care facilities and vital infrastructure, such as water supply, with streets left coated in mud. In the Nahrin district of B

World News May 12, 2024

South Korea's SK Hynix has agreed to sell its nearly 50% stake in its foundry unit based in China to a Chinese state-owned enterprise, according to regulatory filings and media reports. SK Hynix System IC said in a regulatory filing that it plans to sell a 21.3% stake in its foundry unit in Wuxi to China's state-owned Wuxi Industry Development Group Company for 205.4 billion won ($150.81 million). In a separate filing, SK Hynix System IC said it will also sell its intangible assets,

Technology May 8, 2024

Korean Air will sell five of its planes to US aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corporation, the airline said in an exchange filing on Wednesday. Sierra Nevada recently won a $13 billion US Air Force contract to develop a successor to the E-4B Nightwatch, known as the Doomsday plane due to its ability to survive a nuclear war and act as a command and control centre during emergencies. Sierra Nevada did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Korean Air planes being sold are four-engined

Industry May 8, 2024