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The present policy brief is focused on how threats to information integrity are having an impact on

progress on global, national and local issues. In Our Common Agenda, I called for empirically backed consensus around facts, science and knowledge. To that end, the present brief outlines potential principles for a code of conduct that will help to guide Member States, the digital platforms and other stakeholders in their efforts to make the digital space more inclusive and safe for all, while vigorously defending the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to access information. The Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms is being developed in the context of reparations for the Summit of the Future. My hope is that it will provide a gold standard for guiding action to strengthen information integrity.

Digital platforms are crucial tools that have transformed social, cultural and political interactions

everywhere. Across the world, they connect concerned global citizens on issues that matter. Platforms help the United Nations to inform and engage people directly as we strive for peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet. They have given people hope in times of crisis and struggle, amplified voices that were previously unheard and breathed life into global movements.

Yet these same platforms have also exposed a darker side of the digital ecosystem. They have enabled the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real harm on a global scale. Optimism over the potential of social media to connect and engage people has been dampened as mis- and disinformation and hate speech have surged from the margins of digital space into the mainstream. The danger cannot be overstated. Social mediaenabled hate speech and disinformation can lead to violence and death.

The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity (A/75/982, para. 26) and endangers democratic institutions and fundamental human rights. These risks have further intensified because of rapid advancements in technology, such as generative artificial intelligence. Across the world, the United Nations is monitoring how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can threaten progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It has become clear that business as usual is not an option.

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US-China competition driving middle powers like Australia, India and Japan to redraw their strategies, priorities and policies

By ALEXANDER M HYND And THOMAS WILKINS JUNE 16, 2023 AsiaTimes

The Indo-Pacific is increasingly defined by strategic competition between the United States and China. But this dynamic is further complicated by the presence of a class of diverse but consequential second-tier states.

Their middling economic and military capabilities are often combined with valuable geographic positioning around the flashpoints of potential conflict, or elevated social status in elite global clubs such as the G20 or OECD – making them important regional players whose roles and preferences cannot be ignored.

Al Jazeera English – 15/6/2023

China’s economy showed further signs of weakness in May. Industrial output and retail sales both missed forecasts. Beijing is expected to increase its efforts to boost the economy to try to shore up its post-COVID-19 recovery.

Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu reports from Beijing, China.

The governments of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America released the following Joint Declaration on 9 June 2023.

From: Department for Business and Trade Published9 June 2023

The use of trade-related economic coercion and non-market-oriented policies and practices (“non-market policies and practices”) threatens and undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system and harms relations between countries. The purpose of this Declaration is to express our shared concern and affirm our commitment to enhance international cooperation in order to effectively deter and address trade-related economic coercion and non-market policies and practices.

Continue reading Joint Declaration Against Trade-Related Economic Coercion and Non-Market Policies and Practices →

SÁNG ÁNH – 11/06/2023 11:42 GMT+7

TTCT – Ngày 28-5-2023, ông Recep Tayyip Erdogan trúng cử lần thứ ba nhiệm kỳ tổng thống Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ với 52,18% số phiếu ở vòng 2.

Bầu cử tổng thống ở Thổ cần 2 vòng và đa số tuyệt đối, nhưng sau khi ở vòng 1, ông Erdogan về đầu với 49,52% thì kể như xong vì đối thủ của ông thuộc Đảng Xã hội chỉ có 44,88% và người thứ ba thuộc thành phần quốc gia cực đoan có 5,17%.

Trừ khi có phép lạ nào đó xảy ra, thì thực tế là ngay từ hôm bầu vòng 1 (14-5), cử tri Thổ đã quyết định rồi. 

Đây là quyết định có thể dự đoán được nhưng vẫn bất ngờ, vì sau 20 năm cầm quyền, dư luận nghĩ quần chúng đã chán ông Erdogan – nhất là trong hoàn cảnh kinh tế lạm phát cực kỳ hiện nay và đồng tiền mất giá. 

Việc cứu trợ động đất tháng 2 với 50.000 người chết cũng được cho là không tốt và làm nhiều người bất mãn.

Ảnh: The Times

Continue reading Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ và ông Erdogan: 20 năm 1 lựa chọn →