Italian Prime Minister Meloni on Friday announced a new initiative to address debt burdens of African countries at an international meeting held in Rome. She co-chaired the meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which was attended by representatives from some African countries and international financial institutions.

The initiative is in part intended to reduce migration from Africa to Europe by boosting economic development in African countries, highlighting an alignment between Italy’s ambitious Mattei Plan for Africa and European Union's Global Gateway investment plan, which prioritizes investment in Africa's infrastructure.

According to her, the initiative is also expected to help reduce the debt of lower-middle income African countries by 50 percent. The "shared commitments towards the African continent" presented by the EU and Italy at the meeting were worth 1.2 billion euros, according to a statement.

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For the first time in Viet Nam, an AI-based system combining remote sensing and machine learning is being used to monitor seawater quality in Hạ Long Bay and Cửa Lục, Quảng Ninh Province. These areas are not only ecological and scenic treasures but also economic and tourism hubs, making water management a strategic priority.

The system is developed through a joint effort by Vietnamese and Polish scientists. It leverages satellite imagery, machine learning algorithms, and Google Cloud computing to analyze key water quality indicators and provide early pollution warnings. Initial tests show the AI system achieves over 73% accuracy, offering promising potential for wider adoption across Viet Nam’s coastal regions.

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Chile received 300 new electric buses, which will increase its public transport fleet to 3,339 units, making it the second country - after China - with the largest number of these vehicles in the world.

The electrification of urban public transport is accelerating in Chile, especially in Santiago, where more than half of the country's nearly 20 million inhabitants live, and which in winter suffers high levels of air pollution. The new units were unloaded at the port of San Antonio, some 120 km from Santiago, according to the media’s journalists.

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Russia’s Defense Ministry has released official footage of an Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket launching from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome around 800 km north of Moscow on June 19. Onboard were military satellites, marking the fifth flight of the Angara‑A5 family. 

This mission utilized Plesetsk Cosmodrome’s Site 35, a high-latitude military Launchpad ideal for polar orbit insertions.  Angara series was developed post‑1990s to reduce reliance on Baikonur/Central Asian launches and foreign components.

Clean-burning and modular, the rocket family is to replace older Proton boosters for both civilian and military roles, including launching modules to the planned Russian orbital station. This mission underscores Russia’s progress toward reliable, independent access to space, essential for deploying strategic military satellites.

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Chile received 300 new electric buses, which will increase its public transport fleet to 3,339 units, making it the second country - after China - with the largest number of these vehicles in the world.

The electrification of urban public transport is accelerating in Chile, especially in Santiago, where more than half of the country's nearly 20 million inhabitants live, and which in winter suffers high levels of air pollution. The new units were unloaded at the port of San Antonio, some 120 km from Santiago, according to the media’s journalists.

Source: MITV

The Basel Art Fair opens its doors to the public, offering an opportunity to take the temperature of the contemporary art market which has been dampened by economic and geopolitical uncertainties. "they have every expectation that it'll be a really successful week," said Art Basel's CEO.

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the United States for another 90 days, allowing his administration more time to negotiate a deal under the "sell-or-ban" law.

Thus, TikTok can continue functioning for its 170 million users in the United States. This is the third time for Trump to extend the TikTok ban deadline. By Thursday's executive order, the deadline will be further extended to September 17, 2025.

Before then, Trump has extended the deadline twice each by 75 days on January 20 and April 4, 2025, respectively. TikTok, originally known as Douyin in China, was launched in September 2016. It launched its international version, TikTok, later that year, but it wasn't until August 2018 that TikTok merged with the lip-syncing app Musically and became widely available in the United States.

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SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -The head of China's central bank pledged to expand the international use of the digital yuan and called for the development of a multi-polar global currency system, where several currencies dominate the world economy.

China will establish an international operation centre for e-CNY in Shanghai, People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng said on Wednesday at the Lujiazui Forum, a high-profile gathering of local and foreign financial industry executives and regulators.

The remarks come in the wake of renewed appetite for a global yuan, as international trade tensions sparked by U.S. tariff policies prompt investors to seek alternatives to dollar-based investments.

At the same time, China is accelerating efforts to develop financial systems independent of Western institutions, moves that have gained fresh impetus as shifting trade patterns and geopolitical realignments reshape the global economic landscape.

"Developing a multi-polar international monetary system will help strengthen policy constraints on sovereign currency countries, enhance the resilience of the system, and better safeguard global financial stability," Pan said.

Such a system would pave the way for some currencies to hold sway in their respective regions, lessening reliance on the dollar.

Pan expects several key global currencies to coexist in mutual competition with checks and balances in place.

Washington's aggressive and chaotic rollout of tariffs has shaken faith in the U.S. currency and other U.S. assets, prompting a broader shift by investors away from the U.S. dollar and towards Asian currencies and the euro.

The eroding U.S. dollar appeal also comes amid rising global interest in cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins - a type of virtual currency that is backed by an asset and holds a stable price.

GLOBAL YUAN AMBITIONS

China has long harboured ambitions for the yuan to be a global currency, similar to the euro or dollar and reflective of the importance of the world's second-biggest economy.

But that goal has been hampered by unwillingness to open the capital account, and while there's no sign of that changing, progress on other fronts, where it has gained in places such as Russia and other trading partners, stands to accelerate.

On Wednesday, six foreign banks including Standard Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank agreed to use China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), the yuan-based international settlement system in future, state broadcaster CCTV reported, a step that further expands the use of yuan in global trade.

Pan said that digital technologies have exposed weakness in traditional cross-border payment systems, which are less efficient, and vulnerable to geopolitical risks.

"Traditional cross-border payment infrastructures can be easily politicised and weaponised, and used as a tool for unilateral sanctions, damaging global economic and financial order," Pan said.

Speaking at the forum, China's foreign exchange regulator vowed to keep the yuan exchange rate basically stable and fend off external shocks and risks.

China's ability to counter forex market volatility has improved, said Zhu Hexin, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Beijing will also further open up its financial market to foreign players, Li Yunze, director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, told the forum.

"Foreign institutions are important bridges and links for attracting investment, talent, and are important participants and active contributors to the construction of China's modern financial system," said Li.

China will create a transparent, stable and predictable environment for foreign players and will explore options to open up a wider range of financial areas, said Li.

Li added that China's rapidly growing consumer market would also bring more opportunities for foreign institutions.

(Reporting by Winni Zhou, Samuel Shen, Bian Jing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Writing by Ziyi Tang and Yukun Zhang in Beijing; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Shri Navaratnam)

Ref : Reuters

NEW Zealand on Wednesday approved the medicinal use of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound notably found in socalled “magic mushrooms”.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said rules had been relaxed so psilocybin could be used to treat certain types of depression. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in some species of mushroom and can cause hallucinations and an altered state of mind.
“Psilocybin remains an unapproved medicine, but a highly experienced psychiatrist has been granted authority to prescribe it to patients with treatment-resistant depression,” Seymour said.
“This is huge for people with depression who’ve tried everything else and are still suffering. “If a doctor believes psilocybin can help, they should have the tools to try.” There will be tight rules for prescribing the drug.
Only psychiatrists who have been involved in psilocybin clinical trials will be allowed to prescribe it, and they must strictly report its use and keep detailed records. — AFP

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

A stunning drone light show in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday night successfully clinched the Guinness World Record for the aerial image formed by most drones.

The record-breaking technological and artistic display, titled “Charming Chongqing,” showcased the spectacular natural landscape, profound cultural heritage and vibrant urban landscape of China’s mountainous metropolis with a super-large-scale drone formation.

The Guinness World Records certification authority confirmed that its scale far exceeded that of other regular drone performances in the country and is also exceptionally rare globally. A Guinness World Records certification officer said “Today, the target to beat was 10,197 drones. The final validated count was 11,787 drones, which successfully broke the existing record and set a new Guinness World Records title,”

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