UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged a global fight against the tyranny of algorithm-driven online media supercharged by artificial intelligence (AI) that promotes disinformation and puts “lives at stake”.

“You are the majority, and this is a fight we can win — together,” he said on Monday. “Demand accountability; demand choice; demand control.”

Releasing the UN’s Global Principles for Information Integrity, he said, “No one should be at the mercy of an algorithm they don’t control, which was not designed to safeguard their interests, and which tracks their behaviour to collect personal data and keep them hooked.”

“Opaque algorithms push people into information bubbles and reinforce prejudices including racism, misogyny, and discrimination of all kinds,” he said.

He warned that threats to information integrity are not new, “they are proliferating and expanding with unprecedented speed on digital platforms, supercharged by AI technologies” becoming vehicles for spreading hate.

“When information integrity is targeted, so is democracy — which depends on a shared, fact-based perception of reality,” he said.

He appealed to the media to “raise and enforce editorial standards” against the onslaught of disinformation and manipulation.

“Do your part to safeguard our future by providing quality journalism based on facts and reality,” he said.

Exorciating the big tech companies for “the damage your products are inflicting on people and communities”, he told them to acknowledge the harm they have done and take responsibility for it.

“You have the power to change business models that profit from disinformation and hate” and “to mitigate harm to people and societies around the world,” he said.

Turning to the role of governments, he said, “Commit to creating and maintaining a free, viable, independent, and plural media landscape.”

He urged governments to “guarantee strong protection for journalists” and ensure “regulations to uphold human rights”.

He also came out against “drastic measures, including blanket internet shutdowns”.

Guterres said that he had himself been the victim of campaigns of disinformation, citing the example of the campaign falsely claiming that he had never condemned Hamas, which carried out brutal attacks on Israel last year.

A fact check showed that he had, in fact, condemned Hamas 102 times.

The UN’s Global Principles for Information Integrity, as outlined by him, are based on five rubrics:

The principles were arrived at after broad consultations with member nations, youth leaders, academia, civil society, and the private sector including tech companies and the media, he said.

They are “based on an overriding vision of a more humane (information) ecosystem”, he said.

While Guterres unequivocally — and the principles — come out against internet shutdown and enshrine the right of everyone to “express themselves freely without fear of attack” and “to access a range of views and information sources”, they do not adequately address what can be done to limit harm in situations of civil unrest, or war. IANS

The death toll has risen to five after torrential rains triggered mountain torrents in a county in central China’s Hunan Province, authorities said on Tuesday.

Yuanling County initially reported four deaths and one person missing on Monday. The body of the missing individual was retrieved earlier on Tuesday, according to the county’s emergency management department, reports Xinhua news agency.

Yuanling County saw record rainfall in Wuqiangxi Town from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. local time on Saturday, with precipitation reaching 337.8 mm. The heavy rains triggered mountain torrents and caused severe waterlogging in the town.

In response to the disaster, the county has activated emergency measures, organising efforts to ensure the availability of necessary supplies and the restoration of power, telecommunications and transportation services. AGENCIES

 The death toll from Sunday’s attacks in southern Russia’s Republic of Dagestan has risen to 20, the region’s Health Minister has said.

“As a result of the terrorist attack in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent on June 23, 46 people were injured,” Tatyana Belyaeva said on social media on Monday, adding that 20 people had been killed, including law enforcement officers and civilians.

The shootings occurred on Sunday at two orthodox churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in the coastal city of Derbent and Dagestan’s capital city of Makhachkala, with previous reports indicating that 15 people had been killed and dozens injured, Xinhua news agency reported.Monday to Wednesday were declared as days of mourning for the victims of the attacks. AGENCIES

 Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed the news that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to be released by US authorities.

Assange, 52, on Tuesday agreed to plead guilty to US espionage charges in a deal that ended his imprisonment in the United Kingdom (UK), allowing him to return to Australia pending court proceedings in Saipan on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Albanese welcomed the news and said he plans to speak more once the legal process is complete.

“While this is a welcome development, we recognise these proceedings are crucial and delicate,” he said.

“We have engaged and advocated Australia’s interest using all appropriate channels to support a positive outcome, and I have done that since very early on in my prime ministership.”

He reiterated that the US case against Assange has dragged on so long that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration.

Penny Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in the Senate that Albanese had raised Assange’s case with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since coming to office in 2022 and that the government had offered Assange and his family consular support while he was imprisoned in the UK.

Biden said in April that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution of Assange over WikiLeaks’ 2010 release of classified military records relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and diplomatic cables. AGENCIES

The Australian government has welcomed UNESCO’s recommendation that the Great Barrier Reef remain off the World Heritage in-danger list.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday released a draft report urging Australia to set more ambitious climate change targets to preserve the reef but recommending against the 21-member World Heritage Committee listing it as in danger at its meeting in July, reports Xinhua news agency.

Responding to the report, Australian Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said the decision recognised the ongoing efforts of the governments of Australia and the state of Queensland to make significant progress on climate change, water quality and sustainable fishing.

In a joint statement with Nita Green, Australia’s Special Envoy for the Reef, Queensland Premier Steven Miles and Di Farmer, Queensland’s Acting Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Plibersek said the two governments have invested a combined 2.2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) in protecting the reef.

“The Great Barrier Reef is part of our national heritage. We have a duty to safeguard it, to care for it, and to pass it on, so our kids and grandkids can enjoy it like we do,” she said.

“Together with the Queensland Government, we are acting on climate change, improving local water quality, protecting our marine life, dealing with invasive species, and investing a record amount of money into reef programs.”

In its report, UNESCO experts expressed their utmost concern over a mass coral bleaching event that occurred across the reef in the summer of 2023/24.

It was the fifth time in eight years that the reef has experienced mass coral bleaching, a phenomenon whereby coral enduring heat stress expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue, turning the coral completely white and increasing the risk of starvation.

The UNESCO report also raised concerns about ongoing water quality problems on the reef, calling for tougher laws to prevent land clearing in the reef’s catchment area.

Australia will be required to provide further progress reports on its reef management efforts to UNESCO in February 2025 and 2026. AGENCIES

South Korean fire department officials have said that around 17 Chinese nationals were killed in the massive fire at a battery plant in Hwaseong, city south of Seoul, but the exact figures still need to be further confirmed.

South Korean officials, including Gyeonggi Province Second Vice Governor Oh Who-seok, Hwaseong City Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun, and officials from the fire department, briefed Chinese Ambassador to South Korea, Xing Haiming, late on Monday on the accident and the progress of the search and rescue efforts at the scene.

South Korean officials said the accident has killed 22 people, 17 of them presumably to be Chinese nationals. Eight other people were injured, including one Chinese who was slightly wounded, and all the injured have been properly treated. Firemen are still searching for the missing, Xinhua news agency reported.

The South Korean side deeply mourns the tragic death of Chinese citizens in the accident and will assist China in doing its utmost to rescue and deal with the aftermath.

Xing urged the South Korean side to find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible, properly deal with the aftermath, and provide all necessary support for the families of the Chinese victims.

Xing told media at the scene that the Chinese embassy is working with the South Korean side to do its best to deal with the accident’s aftermath. It is hoped that South Korean businesses will learn a painful lesson, refrain from similar incidents in the future and earnestly safeguard the safety of Chinese citizens in South Korea. AGENCIES

Thousands of yogis created an island of stillness in the frenetic whirl of ‘Crossroads of the World’.

Aptly named, ‘Mind Over Madness’, the day-long yoga event featured seven massed yoga practices that included lessons for newbies at Times Square, on Thursday, the Summer Solstice Day.

“People seek stillness, they seek that peace in a frenetic world that we live in, and what better place than at Times Square to really practise that,” said Tracy Warfield, a yoga teacher, as she prepared to lead a session.

Cealia Brannan, another yoga teacher who led a session, said the day’s celebration “I feel like it’s kind of homage to yoga”.

In the microcosm of the world — people with origins across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and beyond — stood with Swati of Indian origin warming up for a session with her husband and two sons.

“I’m immensely proud that it has become a global phenomenon,” she said.

“I love it that people are coming to embrace the Indian culture and Indian values and they are adapting and embracing spirituality,” she said.

The Indian Consulate General was the sponsor of the first event of the day and Consul General Binaya Pradhan greeted the yogis and highlighted the benefits of the ancient art.

It was the longest day, and also the hottest so far this year at 33 degrees Celsius.

About 8,000 people had pre-registered for the event, according to the organisers, and thousands more dropped by.

As the yogis reached for Nirvana in the media strip of Times Square, overhead ads for movies, luxury watches, clothes and food and drinks floated by on electronic billboards, the NASDAQ building flashed the ups and downs of the stock market, characters dressed as the Statue of Liberty and Walt Disney characters sauntered, the area fixture “Naked Cowboy” strummed his guitar, and gawking tourists stopped to watch and sometimes imitate the asanas impromptu.

“I think it’s very easy to get caught up in the world, especially all the things that are going on now,” said Warfield. “And you get this opportunity to just be together. Enjoy the practice. Enjoy your body. Enjoy your breath, and enjoy life”.

Swati said of the differing approaches to ancient art, “In India, it’s more intense here is more fun”.

Warfield brought that out asking the yogis at the start to “smile, turn your head, make contact, say, ‘I love you’”.

“It’s that kind of yoga,” she told the participants in the session she was leading.

The ‘Mind Over Madness’ yoga celebrations at Times Square on Solstice Day have been going on for 22 years, starting a dozen years before the United Nations General Assembly created the International Day of Yoga.

Cofounder of the event, Douglas Stewart said that the millennia-old yoga from India is relevant to the people of New York as everywhere as it is “a template for living” relating mind, body and spirit creating a relationship with nature”.

“It slowly begins to unfold to other parts of the world and will continue to express itself as a template for life,” he said.

According to the Centres for Disease Control, one in about six Americans now practise yoga — 17 per cent or about 55 million people.

About 30 per cent of them do yoga to treat and manage pain, the federal agency said in a brief published this month.

Many of the yoga enthusiasts at Times Square like Brannan and Warfield said they first came to yoga seeking a panacea for pain.

“I started because I had low back pain,” Brannan said. “But then I just started realising all the other awesome ways that I felt after” starting yoga.

Swati said that as a parent coordinator at her sons’ international school “I promote yoga there”.

“I promoted it to other friends who are not Indian, and they are here today,” she added.

She said they also practise yoga at her gym.

The Indian Consulate had earlier arranged yoga classes at Bryant Park and Central Park. AGENCIES

Counterfeit diabetes drugs have been in circulation since 2022, a problem affecting all regions of the world, the WHO warned in a statement.

The health authority on Thursday referred specifically to findings in Britain, the US and Brazil since October 2023.

The drug concerns Ozempic, a medicine containing the active ingredient semaglutide, which is also approved in the EU for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

The counterfeit version looks identical to the real medicine. Because the product also suppresses the appetite, it is increasingly being prescribed for weight loss.

But counterfeit drugs may not contain the right amount of active ingredients and could therefore lead to uncontrolled sugar in diabetics, the WHO said, adding they may also contain other active ingredients that pose health risks.

The WHO called on doctors, pharmacists, regulatory authorities and the public to be vigilant.

People should only buy medicines on prescription from pharmacies and not online, the WHO said.

Users should ensure that the dosage scale on insulin pens is displayed correctly, the label looks correct and there are no spelling mistakes on the box, the global health agency added. AGENCIES

 The US government has expressed its anger at statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he asserted that Washington is withholding arms deliveries to Israel.

White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby on Thursday called Netanyahu’s recent video message “perplexing to say the least,” “deeply disappointing” and “vexing”.

“This President put fighter aircraft up in the air in the middle of April to help shoot down several hundred drones and missiles, including ballistic missiles, that were fired from Iran proper at Israel,” Kirby noted.

Kirby said “no other country was doing more” to help Israel in its fight against Hamas and that the White House had “no idea” what prompted Netanyahu to make the comments in a video released on Tuesday.

In it, Netanyahu said it was “inconceivable” that the US had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” but did offer specifics.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently met with Netanyahu, has also pushed back.

Blinken said earlier that all arms shipments were moving as they “normally” would to Israel, apart from certain bombs that could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza. Those explosives have been paused pending a review.

Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden have been at loggerheads for months.

Biden and other high-ranking US government officials have made it unusually clear that they do not agree with Netanyahu’s actions in the Gaza war.

Criticism has been levelled in particular at the high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian hardship in the Gaza Strip. AGENCIES

The US government plans to postpone the delivery of some military equipment to other countries to prioritise strengthening Ukraine’s air defences. White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that given Kiev’s urgent needs, the US government had made the “difficult but necessary” decision to postpone certain planned arms sales to other countries, in particular missiles for the Patriot and NASAMS air defence systems.

These should go instead to Ukraine, whose armed forces urgently need additional air defence capacities, he added.

The countries concerned had been informed, Kirby said, though he did not say which countries were involved.

All are to receive what they had ordered, just a little later than originally planned, he added.

This was first mentioned by US President Joe Biden during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a few days ago on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy. AGENCIES