US targets South Africans who promote race-based discrimination, violence or EWC
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced US visa restrictions targeting people it accuses of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority. The Trump administration has criticised South Africa over several issues, including policies aimed at addressing racial inequality that it says discriminate against Afrikaners. Rubio said: “The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns”. The visa restrictions would target those who promote “race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation in South Africa”. He did not name individuals targeted by the restrictions.
Zuckerberg says AI developers incentivised to make models safe
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says competition and liability give AI companies enough reason to act individually on safety. In a social media post, he said every lab had the responsibility and incentive to move at the pace required to train its models safely, and the ability to take its own actions to ensure that happened. This comes days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI companies to slow the pace of AI development amid concerns that the technology poses an existential threat to humanity. Rival OpenAI’s chief Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk both publicly endorsed Amodei’s call.
Probe possible war crimes in Gaza – Israeli legal scholars
A group of 14 international law scholars from Israeli academic institutions called for an independent investigation of suspected violations of international law in Gaza. This follows sharp criticism by Israeli officials of the makers of the documentary “NAZA,” which purports to reveal “the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza”. The scholars said that, like Israel Defense Forces officers, they had not seen the film, but argued that irrespective of it, the allegations raised throughout the war required an independent and effective investigation. The scholars, some of whom are experts in the laws of war, said they had approached the Israeli authorities numerous times during the Gaza campaign over possible violations, including incitement to war crimes, destruction of infrastructure without military necessity, disproportionate harm to civilians and the obstruction or delay of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, more than a thousand Israeli filmmakers signed a petition expressing solidarity with “NAZA” creators Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, stating that “we have witnessed an unprecedented campaign of incitement” against Abraham and Szor, “and the distance between it and the incitement to violence and physical threat to their lives is shrinking.” The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. On Sunday, Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he would seek to revoke Abraham and Szor’s citizenship, describing their film as “vile” and saying it “constitutes treason”.
Singapore to pay people to read to boost critical thinking
The city state has devised a strategy to pay its citizens to pick up a book for at least 15 minutes a day in an effort to fight the rise of doomscrolling. It hopes the plan will improve concentration, critical thinking and the imagination of Singaporeans. Readers accrue points that can be redeemed for a few cents. People will have to log 50 daily reading sessions on a government website to earn S$1 (80c). A session of 15 minutes or more is rewarded with 20 virtual coins, with 1,000 coins needed for a dollar payment. One reading session is allowed daily.
Sheeran tour embattled after rapper dumped over pro-Palestine remarks
All of the remaining support acts on Ed Sheeran’s US tour have quit after the rapper Macklemore was dropped from the line-up for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. The acts include Finneas, the brother of pop star Billie Eilish, Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish folk band Beoga. Earlier this month, Macklemore (whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty) called for a “free Palestine” and showed images of devastation in Gaza during two concerts in New Jersey. His comments drew criticism from Jewish groups, after which some venues put pressure on the tour promoters to drop him from the tour. In a statement, Sheeran said: “I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes”, adding: “I choose to use my fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed. If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.” Writing on Instagram, Lukas Graham said: “We should be able to speak about war, about civilians being killed, about children who deserve to grow up. Wherever they live. Whatever flag flies over them.” In their post, Beoga said: “As musicians, playing to those crowds every night is the stuff of dreams but to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for a Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.”
Sources: Haaretz, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters