INDONESIA
UN candidacy announced
The nation on Friday announced its candidacy for membership on the UN Security Council, saying its commitment and contribution to the world body make it a true partner for world peace. In a speech at the UN General Assembly, Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla said the UN needs reforms to make it stronger and more relevant to 21st-century challenges and realities. Kalla said the nation has a commitment to increase its peacekeeping force to 4,000 personnel by 2019 and fights terrorism both regional and globally. As the world’s most populous Muslim nation and its third-largest democracy, Jakarta sees Islam modernity and women’s empowerment as going hand-in-hand with democracy, tolerance, pluralism and peace, he said. Selections of the new non-permanent Security Council members in 2019-2020 will be made in mid-2019.
MONTENEGRO
Sniper kills man in jail
A sniper has shot dead a prisoner in broad daylight in a yard at the Balkan nation’s highest-security jail, officials said on Friday. The victim, named only by the initials D.Dj, was shot in the chest on Thursday while walking in the grounds of the main jail in the capital, Podgorica, prison authorities said in a statement. The prisoner died of his injuries later on Thursday, the statement said, adding that he had been jailed for extortion in 2014. “Clearly this is a clash of criminal groups and this brutal murder requires the maximum engagement of all institutions involved in implementing justice,” the statement said. Local media identified the victim as Dalibor Djuric, saying he was the 10th person killed in feuds between drugs gangs in the past two years. Earlier this month, police arrested nine men suspected of belonging to a drugs gang responsible for a surge in violence in the nation’s top tourist destination.
UNITED STATES
Boy blamed for fire
Police say a 12-year-old boy riding a push scooter set fire to the arts-and-crafts section of a Wal-Mart store in the Southern California desert, leading to losses of more than US$1 million. The store in Barstow remained closed for a third day on Friday because of the damage. Barstow police said in a statement that the boy, who was not with his parents, set the fire with a lighter on Wednesday afternoon. Wal-Mart employees tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but failed and some had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze, but serious damage was done by both fire and water. Police looked at surveillance video and saw the boy with a scooter and a backpack. He was found on a street corner later in the day. He was arrested and taken to juvenile hall.
UNITED STATES
Dummy caught in truck
A California driver has been cited for using a mannequin — not the required human being — while driving in a carpool lane. The Orange County Register reported that Brea police found the mannequin on Wednesday in a truck on the congested No. 57 freeway. The truck veered out of the carpool lane close to an officer’s motorcycle. As the officer attempted to warn the driver to be careful, he noticed the passenger was not a passenger. Police say the driver acknowledged using the mannequin in the carpool lane for some time. The driver told police that he would now accept that he needs to sit in traffic like everyone else. California requires that a vehicle have a minimum of two people for carpool lanes. Driving alone can bring a fine of at least US$481.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
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