Trump posts image of fake Taylor Swift endorsement

Several Swift fans and watchdog groups said many of the images posted by Trump appeared to be deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence. (Reuters)
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Updated 20 August 2024
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Trump posts image of fake Taylor Swift endorsement

  • Trump also posted photos of young women wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts, and a satirical article with the headline “Swifties Turning to Trump After Daesh Foiled Taylor Swift Concert”

LOS ANGELES: Former President Donald Trump has posted a fake social media image of pop superstar Taylor Swift asking people to vote for him in the November election.
A Sunday entry by the Republican candidate on Truth Social showed Swift dressed in red, white and blue with a caption that said “Taylor Swift Wants You To Vote For Donald Trump.”
“I accept!” Trump wrote.
Swift has not publicly endorsed a candidate in the 2024 race but has supported Democrats in the past.
The singer backed President Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris in 2020. Harris is set to be formally nominated as the 2024 Democratic candidate at the party’s national convention in Chicago this week. She also criticized Trump in a 2020 documentary.
Spokespeople for Swift and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump also posted photos of young women wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts, and a satirical article with the headline “Swifties Turning to Trump After Daesh Foiled Taylor Swift Concert.” The article was marked “SATIRE” above the headline.
Swift canceled three shows in Vienna this month after authorities said they had foiled a planned attack. Local officials arrested a 19-year-old man who they said was inspired by Islamic State.
Several Swift fans and watchdog groups said many of the images posted by Trump appeared to be deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence.
Advocates in the music industry, Hollywood and Washington have been pushing for federal legislation and other measures to fight the explosion of fake AI images online.
Trump’s post was “yet another example of AI’s power to create misinformation,” consumer group Public Citizen said.
“The potential harms to our society that could result from such misinformation, including abuses of our elections, are wide-reaching and immensely damaging,” the group added.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Swift fan Rebecca Goff handed out friendship bracelets, a common practice among the singer’s fans, at a Nevada Democratic Party breakfast.
Goff, 39, said she felt Trump was the antithesis of what she believes Swift stands for, including celebrating girlhood and womanhood. “That’s like the antithesis of what Trump and the GOP are trying to do, especially to women. They’re trying to make us smaller. They want us to go back to being just housewives, child bearers,” Goff said.


Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi

Updated 24 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi

  • Last September, about 50 agreements were signed under Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council
  • Saudi Vision 2030, India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 are complementary for new partnerships, Jaishankar says

NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia and India held talks on Wednesday in New Delhi, led by their foreign ministers, aimed at identifying new partnerships.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan and India’s S. Jaishankar co-chaired the second meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Political, Security, Cultural and Social Affairs, which falls under the Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council.

Their talks follow the council’s first leaders’ meeting last September, during which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the signing of about 50 initial pacts.

They had also agreed to form a joint task force to enable a $100 billion Saudi investment in India.

In a livestreamed video of his opening remarks, Prince Faisal said: “The inaugural meeting of the Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council … has set the stage for a new era of cooperation across various fields and we look forward to further enhancing the council’s capabilities and efficiency in achieving our shared objectives.”

He added: “We are confident that advancing cooperation serves our mutual interests as well as benefits the region more broadly, and I look forward to exploring the diverse aspects of our cooperation.”

Saudi Arabia is home to about 2.6 million Indian nationals, making it the third-largest host country for the diaspora, after the UAE and the US.

The Kingdom is also India’s fifth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two countries at around $43 billion in 2023-2024.

Trade and investments are “important pillars” in Saudi-India relations, Jaishankar said during the meeting as he highlighted recent efforts to boost cooperation, including in technology and renewable energy.

“Saudi’s Vision 2030 and Viksit Bharat 2047 hold complementarities for our industries to build new partnerships. I am glad to note that our businesses are collaborating intensively,” he said, referring to the Kingdom’s transformation plan and India’s goal to become a developed nation.

“While we may be time-tested friends, but our partnership is premised on progress and focused on the future.”

 


COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?

Updated 13 November 2024
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COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?

  • Trump’s victory in US election has overshadowed COP29 talks over expectations he will halt US climate finance contributions
  • Developing countries say specific amount needed to tackle climate change should be starting point for negotiations 

BAKU: The main task for nearly 200 countries at the UN’s COP29 climate summit is to broker a deal that ensures up to trillions of dollars in financing for climate projects worldwide.
Here is what you need to know about the Nov. 11-22 summit talks on finance.

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

Wealthy countries pledged in 2009 to contribute $100 billion a year to help developing nations cope with the costs of a transition to clean energy and adapting to the conditions of a warming world.
Those payments began in 2020 but were only fully met in 2022. The $100 billion pledge expires this year.
Countries are negotiating a higher target for payments starting next year, but some have been reluctant to confirm its size until it is clear which countries will contribute.
Instead, they are circling around the idea of a multi-layered target, with a core amount from wealthy countries’ government coffers, and a larger sum that includes financing from other sources such as multilateral lending institutions or private investors.
In the past, public money made up the bulk of contributions to the $100 billion goal.

WHO SHOULD CONTRIBUTE?

Donald Trump’s victory in the US election has overshadowed the COP29 talks, because of expectations he will halt US climate finance contributions.
That would leave a hole in any new global target that other donors would struggle to fill. Some climate negotiators also expect the overall target agreed at COP29 to be smaller, given the expected lack of contributions from the world’s biggest economy.
The US provided nearly $10 billion in international climate finance last year, less than the European Union’s $31 billion contribution.
So far, only a few dozen rich countries have been obliged to pay UN climate finance and they want fast-developing nations, such as China and Gulf oil nations to start paying as well.
Beijing opposes this, saying that as a developing country it does not have the same responsibility as long-industrialized nations like Britain and the United States.
While China is already investing hundreds of billions of dollars in electric vehicles and renewable energy abroad, it does so on its own terms.
Any COP29 deal would need consensus approval.

HOW MUCH IS NEEDED?

Developing countries say the specific amount needed to tackle climate change should be the starting point for negotiations to ensure the final target adequately covers their needs.
By most estimates, developing countries need more than $1 trillion, opens new tab per year to meet their climate goals and protect their societies from extreme weather.
Many countries have come to the Baku talks with a number in mind.
Arab countries including Saudi Arabia want a funding target of $1.1 trillion per year, with $441 billion directly from developed country governments in grants.
India, African countries and small island nations have also said more than $1 trillion should be raised per year, but with mixed views on how much should come from wealthy governments.
The rich countries expected to provide the money have not specified a target sum, though the US and the EU have agreed it must be more than the previous $100 billion target.
Some developed country diplomats say that, with national budgets already stretched by other economic pressures, a major increase beyond $100 billion is unrealistic.

WHY IT MATTERS

Climate change has accelerated. Human activities — mainly, burning fossil fuels — have heated up the planet’s long-term average temperature by around 1.3 Celsius, turbocharging disastrous floods, hurricanes and extreme heatwaves.
Countries’ plans for emissions cuts are not enough to slow climate change, and would instead lead to far worse warming.
Next year’s UN deadline for countries to update their national climate plans is a last opportunity to avert disaster, scientists say.
Negotiators have said a failure at COP29 to produce a major funding deal could result in countries offering weak climate plans on the grounds that they cannot afford to implement more ambitious ones.
Most of the world’s climate-friendly spending so far has been skewed toward major economies such as China and the United States. Africa’s 54 countries received just 2 percent of global renewable energy investments over the last two decades.

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UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain

Updated 13 November 2024
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UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain

  • A fresh draft of a UN climate deal released Wednesday proposes concrete options to raise funding for poorer countries

BAKU: A fresh draft of a UN climate deal released Wednesday proposes concrete options to raise funding for poorer countries, but leaves unresolved sticking points that have long delayed an agreement.
Landing a new accord to boost money for climate action in developing countries is the top priority of negotiators at the UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.
But it is deeply contentious, and consensus has eluded negotiators from nearly 200 nations for the better part of a year.
Most developing countries favor an annual commitment from wealthy countries of at least $1.3 trillion, according to the latest draft of the long-sought climate finance pact.
This figure is more than 10 times the $100 billion annually that a small pool of developed countries — among them the United States, the European Union and Japan — currently pay.
Some donors are reluctant to promise large new amounts of public money from their budgets at a time when they face economic and political pressure at home.
An earlier version of the draft was rejected outright by developing countries, which considered the proposed terms weighted too heavily toward wealthy nations.


Fresh submissions were called, and the new document summarises three broad positions.
The first argues that rich, industrialized nations most responsible for climate change to date pay from their budgets.
The second option calls for other countries to share the burden, a key demand of developed countries, while the third puts forward a mix of the two.
A bloc of least-developed nations, mostly from Africa, are asking for $220 billion while small-island states at threat from rising seas want $39 billion.
“The new text proposes more concrete options for reaching an agreement on the total amount, as well as specific objectives for the least developed or most vulnerable countries,” said Friederike Roder from Global Citizen, a non-government organization.
“Unfortunately, this search for precision stops there. The proposals aimed at clearly defining what constitutes climate finance, and ensuring close and transparent monitoring, remain insufficient,” she told AFP.
The latest 34-page draft reflects all the options on the table, said David Waskow, director at the World Resources Institute, a think tank.
“Negotiators now need to work to boil it down to some key decisions for the ministers to wrestle with next week,” he said.
COP29 runs until November 22 but climate talks often run into overtime.


Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali

Updated 13 November 2024
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Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali

  • Several international airlines have canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali because of an ongoing volcanic eruption

DENPASAR: Several international airlines canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travelers stranded at airports.
Tourists told The Associated Press that they have been stuck at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly canceled.
“The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us stranded at this airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.
Another Australian tourist, Issabella Butler, opted to find another airline that could fly her home.
“The important thing is that we have to be able to get out of here,” she said.
Media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but an exact number wasn’t given.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov. 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 kilometers (5½ miles) high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.
Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again to 9 kilometers (5½ miles) as volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater on Friday.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said. Over the past three days, 46 flights, including 30 scheduled to depart and 16 due to arrive, were affected.
Shahab said that at least 12 domestic flights and 22 overseas one were canceled on Tuesday alone. For these cancelations, the airlines were offering travelers a refund, or to reschedule or reroute, he said.
Three Australian airlines have also canceled or delayed a number of flights. Jetstar has paused its flights to Bali until at least Thursday, it said on its website, saying it was “currently not safe” to operate the route.
Virgin Australia’s website showed 10 services to and from Bali were canceled on Wednesday. Qantas said it has delayed three flights. Some airlines are offering fare refunds for upcoming Bali flights to passengers who don’t want to travel.
Air New Zealand canceled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for Wednesday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali on Thursday. Passengers would be rebooked and the airline would continue to monitor the movement of ash in the coming days, Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said.
Korean Air said two of its flights headed to Bali were forced to turn back because of volcanic ash caused by the eruption.
The airline said Wednesday that the two flights — carrying about 400 passengers combined — that departed South Korea’s Incheon international airport on Tuesday turned back toward the origin departure a few hours later, following forecasts that said Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by the volcanic ash. The two planes arrived in Incheon early Wednesday.
About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed because of seismic activity.
Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning because of volcanic ash.
Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It’s one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people.
The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.


South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump

Updated 13 November 2024
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South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump

  • Trump, who owns several courses in the United States and abroad, is a self-confessed golf addict
  • World leaders have tried — with mixed results — to cultivate personal bonds with Trump through golf

Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking up golf after years away from the game to prepare for future encounters with US President-elect Donald Trump, his office said Wednesday.
Yoon, 63, has not played in nearly a decade, an official told AFP, but in anticipation of the second Trump administration will dust off his clubs.
“In order for smooth conversations” President Yoon “needs to hit the ball properly,” a president’s office official said in a background briefing earlier this week.
Yoon previously regularly scored in the 90s, the daily Kyeongin Ilbo reported, citing a playing partner.
Trump, who owns several courses in the United States and abroad, is a self-confessed golf addict who frequently boasts about his ability on social media and claims a single-digit handicap.
At a press conference last week Yoon said people had told him he would have “good chemistry” with Trump, noting both had first been elected to top office as political novices.
Yoon was a former prosecutor before taking office in 2022.
World leaders have tried — with mixed results — to cultivate personal bonds with Trump through golf.
Late former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe played with Trump on multiple occasions and is reported to have gifted him a set of gold-plated clubs.
Video footage of Abe tumbling into a bunker during a round with Trump in 2017 went viral at the time.
Despite the golf diplomacy, Trump’s repeated vows to make Asian security allies pay a larger share of the financial burden for their protection, and his threats of tariffs to fix the US trade deficit, have sparked consternation in Seoul.
Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a pamphlet on X on Tuesday titled: “Korea Matters to the US,” which featured detailed statistics on South Korea’s economic contributions to its ally.
In one section, it boasts that South Korea has created 470,000 jobs in the US, providing “the highest annual salary” among Asian foreign direct investors in the country.
South Korea is also a “key importer of US weapons,” it said, and spends “2.8 of GDP” on defense.