Tag Archives: prime-minister

Amazon’s AWS to invest $15 billion to expand cloud computing in Japan – Yahoo! Voices

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Friday it plans to invest 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in Japan by 2027 to expand cloud computing infrastructure that serves as a backbone for artificial technology (AI) services.

The Amazon.com unit is spending to expand facilities in the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand, it said in a statement.

That comes on top of 1.51 trillion yen spent from 2011 to 2022 to build up cloud capacity in Japan, AWS said. The company offers generative AI services to Japanese corporate customers including Asahi Group, Marubeni and Nomura Holdings, it said.

The investment comes as Japan's government and corporate sector race to catch up in AI development. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with the heads of ChatGPT creator OpenAI and advanced chipmaker Nvidia in the past year to discuss AI regulation and infrastructure.

($1 = 148.2700 yen)

(This story has been refiled to add dropped words 'creator OpenAI' after 'ChatGPT', in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)

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Amazon's AWS to invest $15 billion to expand cloud computing in Japan - Yahoo! Voices

NATO top job should go to country that pays up on defense, Latvian FM says – POLITICO Europe

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Latvian Foreign Minister Krijnis Kari, who has joined the race to become NATO's next secretary-general, thinks the job should go to someone from a country that walks the talk on defense spending.

Latvia is investing "about 2.4 percent of our GDP into defense this year, and we're heading up to 3 percent in the next three years," Kari told POLITICO's Power Play podcast.

"We sort of put our money where our mouths are," the foreign minister added. "Which is important, I think, for any secretary-general to be able to speak to those members who are not yet doing it."

Several European leaders have expressed interest in taking over as head of the military alliance after NATO's current chief, Jens Stoltenberg, announced he would step down at the end of his term, which was extended until October.

Aside from Kari, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who could become the alliance's first female boss, and the Netherlands' outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte have also said they are interested in the job.

While Rutte is considered to be the front-runner, he has faced criticism over his country's failure to meet the alliance's defense spending target, set at 2 percent of each country's gross domestic product. Estonia's spending has surpassed that mark since 2015, according to NATO. Latvia has contributed more than 2 percent of its GDP to defense since 2018.

Aside from the role of NATO chief, the race for top jobs in the European Union has otherwise already started in Brussels, after European Council President Charles Michel announced he would run in the European election in June.

If elected, Michel would take office in July, meaning that EU leaders would have to rush through what are usually lengthy negotiations to find his replacement.

Otherwise, they risk having Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbn who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin step in to temporarily chair the meetings between EU leaders as his country takes on the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1.

Kari said Michel's announcement took him "a little bit by surprise," and added it was "very difficult to imagine how an agreement could be taken before the elections."

If he doesn't get the NATO job, Kari who is a former member of the European Parliament said he would not rule out coming back to the European capital. Although he would seek to do so as an EU commissioner instead.

"Politics is a fickle business ... I can certainly close no doors today," Kari said.

"Who knows what tomorrow will bring," he concluded.

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NATO top job should go to country that pays up on defense, Latvian FM says - POLITICO Europe

Chrystia Freeland definitely running in the next election amid Liberal freefall in polls – True North

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Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland confirmed her plans to run in the next federal election and even predicted a Liberal win.

Freeland, who has been a member of Parliament since 2013 and a member of Trudeaus cabinet since 2015, deflected questions about her ambitions for the Liberal partys leadership.

I am focused first and foremost on supporting Canadians right now, Freeland said in an interview with CTV.

Recent polling by Ipsosshows that 72% of Canadians think Trudeau should step down as party leader. Even 33% of Canadians who plan to vote Liberal want Trudeau to step down, up from 28% in September. Of all potential replacements, Freeland received the most positive reviews in the poll.

Freeland sidestepped the question but said the Liberals can absolutely win the next election.

I am also absolutely supporting our Prime Minister, who is leading our team doing a really, really great job, she added.

Freeland said that while journalists never believe her, her focus is not on the polls but her neighbours.

When you are put by your fellow Canadians in a position like mine, your job is to wake up every day and think, what are the problems people have? And what can I try to do today to make it better? Thats what I focus on, said Freeland.

Throughout the interview, Freeland discussed the economic challenges being faced by Canadians. She said that in her personal life, the thing that brings the challenge home to her most is that her church has a food bank every Wednesday, where the lines have been getting longer. True North previously reported that food banks across Canada were near a breaking point.

Facing questions about her political future after a decade in office, speculation had arisen about Freeland possibly pursuing an international role post-politics. However, when queried about these prospects, she firmly stated her intention to continue her political career in Canada.

Im definitely running in the next election. Up to my neighbours to decide whether I get re-elected, Freeland said.

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Chrystia Freeland definitely running in the next election amid Liberal freefall in polls - True North

Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece, says ex-Brexit minister – Yahoo News UK

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Lord David Frost argued the ancient sculptures housed in the British Museum were 'a special situation' (Image: PA)

THE UK should hand back the disputed Parthenon Marbles to Greece in a grand gesture, former Brexit minister Lord Frost has said.

The Conservative peer argued the ancient sculptures housed in the British Museum were a special situation which required a special solution.

Cautioning against a loan to Athens which keeps the issue and the arguments alive, he pressed for a permanent settlement with the formation of a new Anglo-Greek cultural partnership to the benefit of both nations.

He was speaking during a debate in the House of Lords after Rishi Sunak sparked a diplomatic row with Greece by refusing to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, when he compared the artefacts removal with cutting the Mona Lisa in half.

READ MORE:Neal Ascherson: 'Elgin Marbles' and British Empire's racist history

Greece has long demanded the return of the historic works, which were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Part of friezes that adorned the 2500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, the ParthenonMarbles have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.

Most of the remaining sculptures are in a purpose-built museum in Athens.

Lord Frost, who previously served as chief Brexit negotiator, told Parliament: I do think that Lord Elgins actions possibly were a little murky, but I do think nevertheless our legal case is good. I also think its not the point. The point is what we do now rather than what happened in the past.

I have never personally been so convinced by the moral, artistic and cultural arguments for the position we take. I think the Parthenon Marbles are a special situation and we should try and find a special solution.

They arent just random museum exhibits. For as long as they are not seen as a whole they are less than the sum of their parts.

Lord Frost, who learned Greek in Greece and has lived in Cyprus, said: For Greece they are part of the national identity, they are a national cultural cause.

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As we saw from the, I am afraid, slightly dismissive treatment of Prime Minister Mitsotakis the other week they do have the capacity to disrupt a relationship that really ought to be a lot better than it is.

READ MORE:Top SNP MSP calls out Scottish estate over its private 'Elgin Marbles'

I do also wonder whether a loan is the right way forward. I admit I am slightly unconvinced by it.

It seems like a solution that has been shaped by the existence of the 1963 Act which rightly prohibits the museum from alienating its collections, and I am afraid nowadays that is a very necessary protection against the tendencies of too many museum curators.

But the problem with a loan is that it keeps the issue and the arguments alive. I think we should try and settle this for good.

My personal view on this is that it is time for a grand gesture and only the Government can make it. It is to offer to return the marbles as a one-off gift to Greece from this country, but as part of and on condition of a new wider Anglo-Greek cultural partnership.

He added: Such a partnership would have to definitively set aside for good the rights and wrongs of the individual acquisition. It would also have to be clear it wasnt a precedent for restitution demands for any other museum exhibit.

But it would show that we actually mean it when we see these marbles as part of our common inheritance, that we can move beyond the what we have we hold approach we take on so many occasions.

Perhaps we could rise to the occasion this time.

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Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece, says ex-Brexit minister - Yahoo News UK