YANGON: A US journalist detained for months by Myanmar’s junta has been charged with terrorism and sedition, his lawyer tsaid on Wednesday, and could face life in prison if convicted.
Danny Fenster, who was arrested as he tried to leave the country in May, was hit with “two charges under section 50(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law and 124(a) of the Penal Code,” his lawyer Than Zaw Aung said.
Conviction under the counter-terrorism law carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Fenster, 37, is already on trial for allegedly encouraging dissent against the military, unlawful association and breaching immigration law.
The new charges come days after former US diplomat and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, handing the increasingly isolated junta some rare publicity.
Fenster is believed to have contracted COVID-19 during his detention, family members said during a conference call with American journalists in August.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power in a February 1 coup and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.
More than 1,200 people have been killed by security forces in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.
The press has also been squeezed as the junta tries to tighten control over the flow of information, throttling Internet access and revoking the licenses of local media outlets.
Myanmar charges US journalist with terrorism, sedition: lawyer
https://arab.news/g2ctb
Myanmar charges US journalist with terrorism, sedition: lawyer
- Conviction under the counter-terrorism law carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
- Danny Fenster was arrested as he tried to leave the country in May
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.
