According to a report released on Wednesday, 167 American investors participated in 401 transactions worth $40.2 billion, which is 37% of the total investments raised between 2015 and 2021, in Chinese artificial intelligence companies. This revelation came against the backdrop of the Biden administration considering new restrictions on US funding of Chinese tech companies.
The Democracy Index 2022 reported on Wednesday that Russia recorded the biggest fall last year, with a score of 2.28 out of 10 and rank of 146 out of 165 countries, after the Ukraine war began. The report claimed Moscow “has been on a trajectory away from democracy for a long time and is now acquiring many of the features of a dictatorship.”
Myanmar’s military government announced on Wednesday that it is extending the country’s state of emergency by another six months. The emergency was imposed when it seized power two years ago. The move appears to have been taken to further delay the planned general election in August. The state of emergency allows ruling General Min Aung Hlaing to continue exercising legislative, judicial, and executive powers.
In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US State Department opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara on 27 January. The move comes after a 30-year absence, as the US seeks to boost its diplomatic presence in the South Pacific to counter China.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that Turkey’s view on Finland joining NATO is “positive”, but Sweden’s entry is doubtful. He warned that Ankara would not approve Stockholm’s bid “as long as [Sweden allows] the Quran to be burnt and torn apart.” Erdoğan was referring to the desecration of the Quran during a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm last month.
Israeli jets bombed a Hamas site in Gaza on Thursday, hours after several rocket sirens went off in Sderot — a trigger for missile attacks from the enclave. Israel’s missile defence system, Iron Dome, intercepted one rocket that crossed into Israeli airspace.
Three Haitian Americans and a Colombian citizen appeared in US federal court on Wednesday to face charges regarding the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot 12 times at his residence near Port-au-Prince on 7 July, 2021. The three Haitians face up to life imprisonment for charges including conspiring to commit murder outside the US. The Colombian suspect faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of smuggling goods from the US, including 20 ballistic vests. The judge in the case has provided each defendant with a public attorney as they could not afford one themselves.
Around 500,000 teachers, civil servants, and train drivers participated in “Walkout Wednesday” to pressure the British government to increase their salaries as inflation surged to over 10%. The UK has previously seen protests organised by healthcare and transport employees, along with other private and public workers.