YANGON — People in Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, banged pots and pans on Wednesday in a show of defiance against the ruling junta during a visit to Yangon by a news crew from CNN traveling in a heavily armed convoy.
Opponents of the army’s February 1 coup voiced concern that the journalists would not be shown a full picture of the situation in Myanmar, where security forces have killed more than 500 civilians in attempts to suppress anti-junta protests.
“The phone doesn’t pick the sound well but people were banging pots and pans as our heavily armed convoy drove past,” CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward said in a social media post.
A junta spokesman did not answer a call to request comment.
Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe, who has been hired by the junta, told Reuters he had arranged the CNN visit and that the team would be free to report what they want.
CNN did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether he had arranged the visit and whether the reporters would be able to present a full picture.
Ben-Menashe said the security convoys were only escorting the CNN crew to interviews with officials and to factories destroyed this month.
“We feel that people should go in and report what they report, whether it’s good or bad. What was being reported until now is really nonsense,” he said.
Myanmar journalists have complained of restrictions under the military authorities.
At least 48 journalists have been detained by the junta since it overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group. Some 25 of them are still in detention.
The licenses of several independent news outlets have been canceled. Most newspapers have ceased operations. Media have been instructed not to describe the authorities as a junta or the army takeover as a coup.
Opponents of the junta voiced fears the CNN team would be shown false evidence and given the impression life in Myanmar was back to normal.
“We are banging pots and pans simultaneously at 1PM to show her peacefully that we all are against military coup and we are actually not OK!” wrote one Twitter user who identified as San San.
Myanmar pots ring out for CNN crew escorted by army
https://arab.news/6h4tj
Myanmar pots ring out for CNN crew escorted by army
- Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe, hired by the junta, told Reuters he arranged visit of CNN that would be free to report what they want
- 48 journalists have been detained by junta since overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according Assistance Association for Political Prisoners’ figures
OpenAI’s Altman says world ‘urgently’ needs AI regulation
- Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology
NEW DELHI: Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology.
An organization could be set up to coordinate these efforts, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.
Altman is one of a host of top tech CEOs in New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit, the fourth annual global meeting on how to handle advanced computing power.
“Democratization of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes,” he said on stage, adding that “centralization of this technology in one company or country could lead to ruin.”
“This is not to suggest that we won’t need any regulation or safeguards,” Altman said.
“We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies.”
Many researchers and campaigners believe stronger action is needed to combat emerging issues, ranging from job disruption to sexualized deepfakes and AI-enabled online scams.
“We expect the world may need something like the IAEA for international coordination of AI,” with the ability to “rapidly respond to changing circumstances,” Altman said.
“The next few years will test global society as this technology continues to improve at a rapid pace. We can choose to either empower people or concentrate power,” he added.
“Technology always disrupts jobs; we always find new and better things to do.”
Generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users in India, more than a third of whom are students, he said.
Earlier on Thursday, OpenAI announced with Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) a plan to build data center infrastructure in the South Asian country.
