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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/americas/40021790

Facebook parent Meta is preparing large-scale layoffs this week – WSJ

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2022

Reuters

Meta Platforms Inc is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week that will affect thousands of employees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (November 6) citing people familiar with the matter, with an announcement planned as early as Wednesday (November 09).

Meta declined to comment on the WSJ report.

Facebook parent Meta in October forecasted a weak holiday quarter and significantly more costs next year wiping about $67 billion off Meta’s stock market value, adding to the more than half a trillion dollars in value already lost this year.
 

The disappointing outlook comes as Meta is contending with slowing global economic growth, competition from TikTok, privacy changes from Apple, concerns about massive spending on the metaverse and the ever-present threat of regulation.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said he expects the metaverse investments to take about a decade to bear fruit. In the meantime, he has had to freeze hiring, shutter projects and reorganize teams to trim costs.

The social media company had in June cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30%, with Zuckerberg warning employees to brace for an economic downturn.

Meta’s shareholder Altimeter Capital Management in an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg had previously said the company needs to streamline by cutting jobs and capital expenditure, adding that Meta has lost investor confidence as it ramped up spending and pivoted to the metaverse.

Reuters

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Japanese train station turns into bright seascape in the hands of an artist

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2022

A local artist finished painting a quaint little train station in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture six years after starting the project, customising nearly the entire structure in colourful swirls.

Using her unique touch to render the town’s natural environment, 36-year-old Yume Matsuo finally completed painting the entire building of West Japan Railway Company (JR West)’s Kii-Arita Station.

“This station has become a very special place for me,” Matsuo said. “I hope many people will come to see the artwork.”

As an aspiring artist who had drawn for many years, Matsuo began her creative activities in earnest in 2015 under the name “Artist: Matsuo” after working as a company employee and at other jobs. She began painting the Kii-Arita Station the following year while participating in Kinokuni Trainart, a JR West art event featuring the Kisei Line.

Matsuo was unfamiliar with Kushimoto but was taken by the beauty of the town’s seascapes while snorkelling. During her dives, she saw colonies of table corals on the seabed in the clear waters and colourful tropical fish swimming gracefully around the coral.

“It was amazing. I didn’t know such scenery existed in Wakayama Prefecture,” Matsuo said.

Matsuo sojourned in the town on four occasions for one month each time until 2021 to paint the station as part of the Trainart event.

Yume Matsuo paints at Kushimoto Marine Park in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture. The Yomiuri Shimbun

The work, titled “E? Konna tokoro ni konna eki?” (What? This station in this place?), turns nearly the entire station – including the ceiling, flooring of the waiting room, platform, and interior and exterior walls – into her canvas.

The paintings feature an abundance of natural scenes, such as the vast ocean and deep green mountains. Using water-based paint in blue and green hues, Matsuo incorporated many motifs featuring her favourite shape: the circle.

Feeling that the work was not quite complete, Matsuo stayed in Kushimoto for about a month from September to finish it, even though the Trainart event ended last year.

“I can finally call it finished,” Matsuo said.

The exterior of JR Kii-Arita Station, as painted by Yume Matsuo The Yomiuri Shimbun

After the work was done, she held live painting performances at Kushimoto Marine Park, which is near the station. Over the course of three weeks, she painted sea creatures and other subjects on a 2×2.5 metre canvas. The painting will be on display until January 31.

“I honed my skills painting [the station],” she said. “I hope [my artwork] will help promote the station as well as the charms of Kushimoto.”

The Japan News

Asia News Network

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asean/40021778

Hun Sen explains why his wife will be absent from upcoming Asean summit

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2022

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued an apology, saying his wife Bun Rany will not be receiving the spouses of Asean leaders at the summit next week.

In a social media post on Sunday morning, Hun said: “There have been a lot of doubts regarding the absence of my wife at major events lately and during the coming Asean Summit. My wife has health problems related to her spine and the doctor has instructed her not to sit for too long.

“I would like to apologise to the spouses of the heads of state and governments of all countries that will come to Cambodia in the coming days that my wife will be unable to welcome you as she is receiving medical treatment,” he said.

The Asean Summit and related meetings will begin on November 8 and continue until November 13 in Phnom Penh.

World leaders like US president Joe Biden, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and many others have confirmed their attendance at the annual diplomatic forum, which will bring them together with leaders from Asean member states.

The Phnom Penh Post

Asia News Network

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40021773

Seoul lights spiral way to urban regeneration in Asia

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2022

A derelict city-centre car park in Seoul has been transformed into a helter-skelter arts museum, blazing a trail for urban regeneration in Asia.

The spiral ramp leading to the rooftop car park of the former Seoul Railway Station now flashes with vivid colours of various fluorescent installations. At the hollow centre of the ramp stands a giant, blue sculpture resembling a rotating galaxy.

Dubbed “Docking Seoul”, the once-abandoned architecture right in the centre of the capital has been turned into a unique cultural space with immersive art experiences.

The ramp closed in 2004 when Seoul’s new railway station, built to accommodate KTX bullet trains, opened.

Last year, the Seoul government finally decided to give the abandoned structure a new lease of life.

For the renovation project, the city partnered with local artists and Hanwha Engineering & Construction.

As visitors walk up or down the spiral ramp, they are led into five different sections with a total of seven eye-catching installations.

The first two sections near the entrance feature two circular digital installations shaped like spaceship windows. Created by artist Yang Jeong-wok and dubbed “Moving Daily Life”, the portals reveal images of building or factory interiors that change or move when viewed from different angles.

Visitors who wander to the ground floor are confronted by a 5.2-metre-long blue vortex created by local artist Chung So-young. Named “Deep Surface”, its spiral shape suggests a galaxy’s birth while large rings above conjure up the image of a halo.

Walk to the top floor and you encounter a glowing metal artwork called “Net of Life”, created by Kim Ju-hyeon. Iron pipes are stacked together, illuminated by yellow light. The artwork reflects the links between individuals and society, as if intertwined in a huge net, the artist explains.

“Docking Seoul” opened to the public on October 18. The name was inspired by its old function as a channel for traffic to Seoul Station, which serves as a gateway to the capital.

“The building’s old industrial interior design is well preserved, but with the addition of modern artworks and lighting. It creates a unique atmosphere,” said Cho Eun-ji, a 32-year-old office worker who visited the place on a recent Wednesday.

Visitors can find the entrance to Docking Seoul at the end of Seoullo 7017, an overpass-turned-sky garden. The ramp is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am-8pm. Admission is free.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40021765

Man, woman glue themselves to Goya’s paintings at Madrid museum in climate protest

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2022

Two activists glued themselves to Francisco de Goya’s Maja paintings in Madrid’s Prado Museum on Saturday in a protest over climate change.

The man and a woman glued themselves to Goya’s “La Maja Vestida” (The Clothed Maja) and “La Maja Desnuda” (The Naked Maja), two of the Spanish painter‘s best-known works.

The protesters, from a group calling itself Futuro Vegetal, also daubed “+1.5C” on the wall in black paint between the two paintings, in reference to the limit fixed by the 2016 Paris climate agreement on rising temperatures.

Futuro Vegetal tweeted: “We glued ourselves to Goya‘s Las Majas in the Prado. Last week the UN recognised the impossibility of keeping us below the limit of 1.5 Celsius [agreed at the 2015 Paris climate agreement].”

“We need change now.”

The Prado Museum did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Representatives from nearly 200 countries will gather in Egypt next week for the COP27 climate change conference, as pressure for tougher action to tackle global warming grows.

Last week, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that there was “no credible path to 1.5C in place today” despite legal binding promises made by countries at the 2015 Paris climate change conference. “Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster,” said UNEP executive director Inger Andersen.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40021764

Train crosses North Korea border into Russia after arms sales report: think tank

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2022

A train crossed from North Korea into Russia on Friday (November 4), two days after the United States said it had information indicating Pyongyang is covertly supplying Russia with artillery shells for its war in Ukraine, a Washington think tank said, citing commercial satellite imagery.

The 38 North project, which monitors North Korean developments, said it was the first time such a train movement had been observed on the route in several years. Russia’s veterinary service said on Wednesday that a train had crossed the border into North Korea carrying horses.

“It is impossible to determine the purpose of the train from the imagery, but the crossing comes amid reports of arms sales from North Korea to Russia and a general expectation of the resumption of trade between the two countries,” 38 North said.

It said North Korea closed the 800-metre Tumangang Friendship Bridge (Korea-Russia Friendship Bridge), the only land link between the countries, in February 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report said that at 10.24am local time (0124 GMT) a three-car set of enclosed railcars was visible on the Korean side of the border, and by 1.10pm local time it appeared to be in Russia behind a locomotive, about 200 metres from the end of the railway bridge.

At 2.29pm, the locomotive and three railcars were visible on tracks at Russia’s Khasan Station, approximately 2km from the border, and three smaller covered railcars, or possible containers on flatcars, were parked alongside the newly arrived train on an adjacent track.

“Whether a transfer of material was in progress could not be determined, and the parked locations of these train sets may have been unrelated,” the report said.

The White House had said on Wednesday (November 2) that Washington had information indicating North Korea was covertly supplying Russia with a “significant” number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine and was attempting to obscure the shipments by funnelling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

North Korea said in September it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so.

According to a statement from Russia’s state veterinary service on Wednesday, Russia and North Korea restarted train travel for the first time since the pandemic with a cargo of 30 grey thoroughbred Orlov Trotter horses into North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is known as a keen horseman. He was shown in 2019 by North Korean media trekking through mountain snow astride a white stallion. Russian customs data shows North Korea has spent thousands of dollars on thoroughbred horses from Russia in previous years.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40021760

Germany far from achieving climate targets for 2030: report

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2022

Xinhua

Germany aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to be climate neutral by 2045, five years earlier than originally planned.

Europe’s largest economy is a long way from achieving its climate targets for 2030, according to a report by the German government’s expert council on climate issues published on Friday.
 

“The emission reduction rates achieved so far are far from sufficient to meet the 2030 climate protection targets,” council member Thomas Heimer said, stressing that the targets have been missed by individual sectors as well as the economy as a whole.

Germany aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to be climate neutral by 2045, five years earlier than originally planned.

Annual emissions reductions would have to more than double to achieve these targets, Heimer stressed. Meanwhile, Germany’s transport sector would require a 14-fold increase in reductions.

Photo taken on March 18, 2022 shows vehicles traveling on a road in Frankfurt, Germany.
 

During the review period 2000-2021, greenhouse gas emissions in Germany fell by around 27 percent. The country’s energy sector contributed almost half of this reduction, according to the government’s report, presented in the run-up to the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from Nov. 6 to 18.

On the other hand, Germany’s industry, and buildings and transport sectors saw a “phase of stagnation or even a slight increase” in emissions. Although emissions in industry and transport fell due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this trend was reversed in 2021, the report found.

The effects of emission-reducing technologies were offset by more prosperity and economic growth. “Efficiency gains have been counteracted by overall economic growth, larger living spaces, and increased transport volumes,” the council’s chairman Hans-Martin Henning said.

Photo taken on Oct. 9, 2021 shows stacks being torn down aiming to achieve carbon neutrality at the Berlin-Wilmersdorf power station in Berlin, capital of Germany.

Xinhua

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Experts say climate change accelerating conflicts in Africa

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2022

Xinhua

The Horn of Africa has registered a rise in conflicts because of an increase in climate disasters, experts said on Friday.

The Horn of Africa has registered a rise in conflicts because of an increase in climate disasters, experts said on Friday.
 

Linda Ogallo, a climate adaptation expert at the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), said drought and floods are some of the climate events that have accelerated conflicts in the Horn of Africa.

“A big block of communities in the Horn of Africa are farmers who rely on agriculture and pastoralism. Therefore, their lives are tied to climate. Any negative event leads to disruption of livelihoods and displacement that push people to new areas leading to inter-community or cross-border conflicts,” said Ogallo during a virtual forum on climate change, peace and security.

She identified South Sudan, Kenya and Somalia as the countries where climate events are causing conflict.

She said South Sudan has endured the worst flooding in the past months while drought is ravaging Somalia and Kenya.

shows a man and a herd of cows standing in the sandstorms in the town of Laisamis, Marsabit County, Kenya, Aug. 27, 2022.

More than 800,000 people have been affected by floods in South Sudan that have caused displacements and food insecurity challenges increase conflicts between communities, according to the United Nations.

A woman carrying a child is seen at a camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, Jan. 13, 2022.

In Kenya, the movement of pastoralists in search of pasture in other areas due to drought has led to fights between communities, causing deaths.

“In Somalia, it started with drought, then desert locusts, then floods, followed by the pandemic, and now drought. It has been one extreme event after another that communities have had no chance to recover,” she said.

Ogallo said the frequent climate events are putting financial strain on African governments, which now have to use development money for emergency response activities.

She said IGAD is hoping to have a coordinated mechanism for dealing with security challenges arising from climate change.

Elizabeth Carabine, the climate security advisor at the Office of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the Horn of Africa, said climate events force people to move, increasing competition for resources and leading to conflicts.

“People displaced by climate events are more prone to conflicts that lead to instabilities. Climate change has become a threat to peace and security, and that is a discussion African governments, African Union, and other regional bodies must be prepared to have and find solutions,” she said.

Xinhua

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Major glaciers, including Dolomites and Yosemite, to disappear by 2050 – UNESCO report

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2022

Reuters

Some of the world’s most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania will disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature rise scenario, according to a UNESCO report.

The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO monitors some 18,600 glaciers across 50 of its World Heritage sites and said that a third of those are set to disappear by 2050.
 

While the rest can be saved by keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) relative to pre-industrial levels, in a business-as-usual emissions scenario, about 50% of these World Heritage glaciers could almost entirely disappear by 2100.

World Heritage glaciers as defined by UNESCO represent about 10 percent of the world’s glacier areas and include some of the world’s best-known glaciers, whose loss is highly visible as they are focal points for global tourism.

The report’s lead author Tales Carvalho told Reuters that World Heritage glaciers lose on average some 58 billion tons of ice every year – equivalent to the total annual volume of water used in France and Spain together – and contribute to almost 5% of global observed sea-level rise.

The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, or Kibo, is seen from an aircraft in northeastern Tanzania October 31, 2005
 

“This could lead to coastal erosion for instance, but also a higher risk of cyclones, storms and tsunamis,” he said.

Carvalho said that the single most important protective measure to prevent major glacier retreat worldwide would be to drastically reduce carbon emissions.

UNESCO recommends that given the inevitable further shrinking of many of these glaciers in the near future, local authorities should make glaciers a focus of policy, by improving monitoring and research and by implementing disaster risk reduction measures.

Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/russia-central-asia/40021738

Zelenskyy thanks G7 ministers for supporting Ukraine

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2022

Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday thanked the G7 nations for announcing today a coordination mechanism to help rebuild Ukraine’s shattered energy infrastructure.

Earlier in the day, the foreign ministers of the G7 and Australia met in Germany where they reiterated their support for Ukraine for as “long as it takes.”
 

The president went on to say that fierce fighting was underway in the east of the country, while brigades in the south were inflicting heavy losses on the Russian military. He said that Russia was continuing to draft men to fight despite announcements that the mobilization was over.

“Today we have a very important statement from the ministers of foreign affairs of the G7, a very thorough one.” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy

“It covers key aspects of the situation in our defence against Russian aggression. I especially want to thank the partners for creating a coordination mechanism to help our country rebuild its critical energy infrastructure.”

“Today we have a new defence assistance package from our American friends. The amount of the package is $400 million. And in particular, it is armored vehicles, which we very much need to move forward at the front. I am grateful to President Biden, the U.S. Congress and the entire American people for the continued and vital assistance.”
 

“During the day, an air alert was announced several times in most regions of our country. There are downed Shaheds, there are downed Kalibrs.”

“In particular, eight Shaheds were shot down by the unit of the 301st Nikopol anti-aircraft missile regiment.”

“Two Kalibrs were destroyed by the units of the South and Center air commands. I thank you warriors for this result.In the south, as usual, the fighters of the Yakov Handziuk 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade have good results.”

“They destroyed enemy equipment, Russian manpower.”

“The fighters of the 406th Separate Artillery Brigade are also doing a great job – very precisely.The fiercest fighting throughout this week is concentrated in Donbas – Bakhmut and Soledar. We are holding our positions. And in these and some other directions in the Donetsk region, the Russian army has already spent as many lives of its people and as much ammunition as it probably did not spend in the two Chechen wars combined.”

He went on to laud foreign leaders for being cautious of talks with Russia, stating that the global community was aware of Russia’s bad faith approach to talks.

Reuters