AFP Asia Business

Having shattered assumptions in the tech sector and beyond about the cost of artificial intelligence, Chinese startup DeepSeek’s new chatbot is now roiling another industry: energy companies.The firm says it developed its open-source R1 model using around 2,000 Nvidia chips, just a fraction of the computing power generally thought necessary to train similar programmes.That has …

DeepSeek breakthrough raises AI energy questions Read More »

Fears of upheaval in the AI gold rush rocked Wall Street on Monday following the emergence of a popular ChatGPT-like model from China, with US President Donald Trump saying it was a “wake-up call” for Silicon Valley.Last week’s release of the latest DeepSeek model initially received limited attention, overshadowed by the inauguration of Trump on …

Trump warns of ‘wake-up call’ as low-cost Chinese AI jolts sector Read More »

Japanese tech firms sank Tuesday following a rout on Wall Street after China’s DeepSeek chatbot upended the artificial intelligence sector and sparked questions about huge investments by US titans.The dollar rallied on a report saying Washington was considering universal tariffs on a range of goods, fanning fresh fears about a trade war.Tokyo-listed companies linked to …

Japanese tech stocks hit by AI fears, dollar boosted by tariff talk Read More »

Thousands of displaced Palestinians were returning to the north of war-ravaged Gaza after Israel and Hamas reached a deal for the release of another six hostages.The Israeli government said on Monday that eight of the hostages held in Gaza who were due for release in the truce’s first phase are dead.The fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is intended to bring an end to more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Israel had prevented Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after a new agreement was reached.Hamas had said blocking the returns amounted to a truce violation.Large crowds of people moved through the now-open Netzarim Corridor into the north, watched over by Israeli tanks. Some pulled carts weighed down with mattresses and other essentials. Others carried what belongings they could.Late Monday, the Hamas government in Gaza said “more than 300,000 displaced” had returned during the day “to the governorates of the north”, an area of Gaza severely battered by the war.After reaching the area, men embraced each other.”Welcome to Gaza,” read a newly erected banner hanging above a dirt road in front of a collapsed building in Gaza City.”This is the happiest day of my life,” said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City after being displaced several times.”I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me,” she said. “We will rebuild our homes, even if it’s with mud and sand.”With the joy of return came shock at the extent of destruction wrought by more than a year of war.According to the Hamas-run government’s media office, 135,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families.Still, Hamas called the return “a victory” for Palestinians that “signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement”.The comments came after US President Donald Trump floated an idea to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt, drawing condemnation from regional leaders.President Mahmud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a “strong rejection and condemnation of any projects” aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said.- Dark memories -Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Monday, Trump reiterated his desire to move Palestinians from Gaza, which he described as “hell for so many years”, to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.”I wish he would take some (Palestinians),” Trump said of Egypt’s president, adding, “I think the king of Jordan would do it too”.For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.”We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gazan Rashad al-Naji.Moving Gaza’s 2.4 million people could be done “temporarily or could be long term”, Trump said on Saturday.Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Trump’s suggestion “a great idea”.The Arab League warned against “attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land”, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi issued a “firm” rejection of Palestinian displacement.”Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” Safadi said.Egypt’s foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians’ “inalienable rights”.- Visibly distraught -Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians’ passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who it maintained should have been freed on Saturday.But Netanyahu’s office later said a deal had been reached for the release of three hostages on Thursday, including Yehud, as well as another three on Saturday.Hamas confirmed the agreement in its own statement Monday.Later, another Gaza militant group, Islamic Jihad, released video footage of a visibly distressed Yehud.She called on Netanyahu to do everything in his power to secure the release of the remaining hostages.In southern Gaza, the European Union agreed on Monday to restart a monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Italy said the main aim “is to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick”.During the first phase of the truce, which began on January 19, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.The second such swap, on Saturday, saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, exchanged for 200 prisoners, all Palestinians except for one Jordanian.On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.”The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives,” he said, without disclosing their names.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 Israel says are dead.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.burs-ser/tym/lb

They have lived for years in Zaatari, the world’s biggest refugee camp for Syrians, but many are unsure they want to return home from Jordan even after the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad.They fear the security situation might once again deteriorate after 13 years of civil war, and some say their homes have been destroyed while others lost their jobs and feel they have nothing to go back to.In 2012, a year into the war in Syria, neighbouring Jordan opened Zaatari camp to host people fleeing the conflict.It is now home to 75,000 people, according to UN figures.To begin with, it was a squalid collection of tents dotting an arid landscape, but over time, it grew into a town of prefabricated homes, supplied with free electricity, water, health and schools.On a street named the Champs-Elysees, after the famed Parisian avenue, 60-year-old shop owner Yousef Hariri told AFP he wanted to stay in Zaatari with his family, where they feel safe.”I can’t go back. That would mean losing everything and selling the shop would be hard,” said Hariri, whose store sells construction materials.”The situation in Syria is not good at the moment and it is not clear what will happen. Prices are through the roof and there are armed rebels. Our houses are destroyed.”The war in Syria, which began with Assad’s crackdown on democracy protests in 2011, forced millions of people to flee the country, with most of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.Tens of thousands have returned since an Islamist-led coalition ousted Assad on December 8, but most refugees have yet to make the journey home.- ‘Injustice and tyranny’ -Most of the refugees in Zaatari came from the south Syrian province of Daraa, near the Jordanian border.It was, earlier in the conflict, home to 140,000 people.Refugees in the camp receive cash assistance for food, and they have the right to work outside the camp.”Where are we going to go back to?” said Khaled al-Zoabi, 72, who has lived in the camp since 2012, and who cited the destruction wrought by the war.”The refugees’ finances aren’t good enough for anyone to return, and no one knows what will happen in Syria,” he said.”We fled the injustice and tyranny of Assad’s gangs in Syria, where human life had no value. Here, I feel I am a human being, and I prefer to stay,” said the shop owner.To date, there is no financial assistance to help people return.Radwan al-Hariri, a 54-year-old father of three, said his contacts in Syria had all advised him to stay put.An imam at a mosque, the grandfather of 12 children all born in Zaatari said that in Syria, “no one helps you and there is no work”.- ‘Destiny’ -According to the Jordanian authorities, 52,000 Syrians have returned home through the Jaber border crossing between the two countries since Assad’s overthrow.”Insecurity remains a concern. There is still a lot of instability, armed clashes in some parts of the country and an increasing number of civilian casualties due to remnants of war and unexploded ordnance,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson in Jordan Roland Schoenbauer told AFP.”Every refugee has the right to return to their homeland,” he said. “However, when it is the right time to voluntarily cross into Syria will have to remain their decision.”The UN says around 680,000 Syrians were registered in Jordan from 2011 onwards, though the kingdom says it welcomed 1.3 million.Not all Syrians in Zaatari were hesitant to return.Mariam Masalmeh, 63, said she and her husband have decided to go home, as have their children.But she said she would be “sad to leave Zaatari, which has become my homeland”, as she showed off her garden of rosebushes and apple trees.Mohammed Atme, 50, could not wait to go home.”It is time to go back to my family, I haven’t seen my mother and brothers for 13 years,” he said.”Here, we were treated with respect and our dignity was preserved. But everyone’s destiny is to go back to their country.”

Fears of upheaval in the AI gold rush rocked Wall Street on Monday following the emergence of a popular ChatGPT-like model from China, with US President Donald Trump saying it was a “wake-up call” for Silicon Valley.Last week’s release of the latest DeepSeek model initially received limited attention, overshadowed by the inauguration of Trump on …

Trump warns of ‘wake-up call’ as low-cost Chinese AI jolts Silicon Valley Read More »