Gun-related violence — including mass shootings, suicides and accidents — has become so common in the United States that 84 percent of US adults say they have taken precautions to protect themselves and their families from the danger of being shot, according to health research group KFF, which released the survey.More than one third of those surveyed said they have avoided large crowds due to the possibility of gun violence. Some 29 percent have bought firearms to protect themselves and their families.The data was released one day after the latest mass shooting to hit the country, at a bank in…
Author: Mike Harrison
By Reuters  April 12, 2023 | 09:30 am GMT+7 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conducts joint media availability at the State Department with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, and Defense Chief Carlito Galvez Jr., in Washington, US, April 11, 2023. Photo by Reuters/ Elizabeth Frantz The top defense and diplomatic officials from the US and Philippines agreed on Tuesday to complete a road map on US security assistance to the Philippines in the next five to 10 years, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday. Austin said the long-time allies discussed the…
H3N8 is known to have been circulating since 2002 after first emerging in North American waterfowl. It is known to infect horses, dogs and seals.It had not been detected in humans before two prior non-fatal cases emerged — both also in China — in April and May last year.The woman who died was a 56-year-old from Guangdong province in southeast China.She fell ill on February 22, was hospitalized for severe pneumonia on March 3 and died on March 16, the WHO said.”The patient had multiple underlying conditions. She had a history of exposure to live poultry before the onset of…
By Ha Anh  April 12, 2023 | 06:38 am GMT+7 Many people express their surprise when they learn that my husband and I don’t want to have children of our own. They think that is selfish of us, that we just want to live a comfortable life on our own and that we will face the consequences when we get old.I’m 31 and my husband is 32. We have been together for five years now. We both enjoy our daily life of going to work in the morning and coming home to finish our work or pursuing our shared or…
“That was the only space left for parking my car,” Thuy, who comes from the northern town of Ha Long, said. Allegedly, she was only trying to visit a local bank for some paperwork and had not violated any parking laws, Thuy decided to ignore the shop employee’s harsh words.But then an employee from the flower shop physically assaulted her, arguing that her car taking up space was deterring potential customers away from the store. “She hit me and threw my phone away,” she said.The incident ended with an official legal complaint issued by Thuy to the local police department,…
AI-generated models have replaced human beings on the cover of Vogue Sinapore and in a Levi’s ad campaign recently. Vogue Singapore’s March issue cover shoot was modeled entirely by AI-generated avatars. The women avatars have South Asian features and represent the area’s “unique ethnicity and heritage”.In one picture, an AI model can be seen wearing a ‘maang tikka’, a piece of jewelery that is typically seen on Indian women on their foreheads.It is the first time that AI models have graced the cover of a famous fashion magazine – one that dictates the fashion world to a large extent, said…
By Reuters  April 11, 2023 | 03:57pm GMT+7 A woman holds her smart phone, which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016. Photo by Reuters South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google 42.1 billion won ($31.88 million) for blocking the release of mobile video games on a competitor’s platform. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday that Google bolstered its market dominance, and hurt local app market One Store’s revenue and value as a platform, by requiring video game makers to exclusively release their titles on Google Play in exchange…
By Reuters  April 11, 2023 | 03:01pm GMT+7 Residents look at buildings being burned down by wildfire in Gangneung, South Korea, April 11, 2023. Photo by Yonhap via Reuters About 300 people evacuated from their homes in South Korea’s eastern coastal city of Gangneung as strong winds and dry weather fanned a wildfire on Tuesday, officials said. Firefighters were struggling to control the blaze that started at around 8:30 am local time (2330 GMT on Monday) in Gangneung, with water-bombing aircraft unable to take off due to the winds, officials said. The flames had consumed more than 170 hectares (420…
Applicants check their appearance before being tested during a recruiting session for cabin crew jobs at Hainan Airlines in Beijing, China, March 30, 2023. Photo by Reuters In contrast to Western countries, where cabin crew roles are relatively low-paid and mostly do not require a university degree, becoming a flight attendant in China typically requires a bachelor’s degree and preferably passing a challenging government-administered English test. During the pandemic, the total number of flight attendants in China fell by around 11,000, or an 11% drop from the pre-pandemic level of 108,955 in 2019, according to data from the Civil Aviation…
For several weeks last month, the city topped air quality information platform IQAir’s global list of poor air quality, ahead of Lahore and New Delhi.Chiang Mai, known for its scenic mountain vistas, temples and chic cafes, welcomed 10.8 million visitors in 2019 before the pandemic, but hotel bookings in the city have fallen to 45 percent of occupancy, the president of the Northern Chapter of the Thai Hotel Association said. Phunut Thanalaopanich, told Reuters Monday.That’s far less than the 80 to 90 percent expected ahead of this week’s Thai New Year holiday, known as Songkran.”It has affected my business… people…